Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is | Past thought! What said she to you?
My house is not a grange.7
Most grave Brabantio, In simple and pure soul I come to you.
Iago. Then, sir, because we come to do you ser
vice, you think we are ruffians.
Bra. What wretch art thou?
- Are they married, think
Rod. Truly, I think, they are.
Bra. O heaven, how got she out!-O treason of the blood!
Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your By what you see them act. Are there not charms, daughter and the Moor are now together.
Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Roderigo.
Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I be-
seech you,
If 't be your pleasure, and most wise consent,
(As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even 8 and dull watch o' the night,
Transported with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,
To the embrace of a lascivious Moor,
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter, if you have not given her
Bra.
Strike on the tinder, ho!
Give me a taper; - call up all my people:
This accident is not unlike my dream
Belief of it oppresses me already :
Light, I say! light!
[Exit from above.
Iago.
Farewell; for I must leave you:
It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,
To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,)
Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state, -
However this may gall him with some check,
Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd
With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars,
(Which even now stand in act,) that, for their souls,
Another of his fathom they have not,
To lead their business: in which regard,
Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
I must show out a flag and sign of love,
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd? Have you not read, Roderigo,
Of some such thing?
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience,
To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity
Sometimes to do me service: Nine or ten times
I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the
ribs.
Oth. 'Tis better as it is.
Nay, but he prated, And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your honour,
That, with the little godliness I have,
I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, sir,
Are you fast married? for, be sure of this, —
That the magnifico3 is much beloved;
And hath, in his effect, a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you;
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law (with all his might, to enforce it on,)
Will give him cable.
Let him do his spite:
My services, which I have done the signiory,
Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know,
(Which when I know that boasting is an honour,
I shall promulgate,) I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege; and my demerits
May speak, unbonneted, to as proud a fortune
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely As this that I have reach'd: For know, Iago,
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
Iago. By Janus, I think no.
Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends! What is the news?
Cas. The duke does greet you, general; And he requires your haste, post-haste appearance, Even on the instant.
Oth. What is the matter, think you? Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine; It is a business of some heat: the gallies Have sent a dozen sequent messengers This very night at one another's heels; And many of the consuls, rais'd, and met,
Are at the duke's already: You have been hotly call'd for ;
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
The senate hath sent about three several quests,
To search you out.
Oth.
'Tis well I am found by you.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.
[Exit. Cas. Ancient, what makes he here? Iago. He hath to-night boarded a land carack 6; If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.
Cas. I do not understand.
Iago. You, Roderigo! come sir, I am for you. Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
Good signior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons.
Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd
my daughter?
Wretch that thou art, thou hast enchanted her :
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magick were not bound,
Whether a maid-so tender, fair, and happy;
So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,
That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms;
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee,
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant :-
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.
By no assay of reason; 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze: When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk
And let ourselves again but understand,
That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question 9 bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace',
But altogether lacks the abilities
That Rhodes is dress'd in: - if we make thought of this,
We must not think, the Turk is so unskilful,
To leave that latest which concerns him first;
Neglecting an attempt of ease, and gain,
To wake and wage, a danger profitless.
Duke. Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes.
Off. Here is more news.
? Consistency.
1 State of defence.
Mess. The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet.
1 Sen. Ay, so I thought: - How many, as you guess?
Mess. Of thirty sail: and now do they re-stem Their backward course, bearing with frank appear
Their purposes toward Cyprus.—Signior Montano,
Your trusty and most valiant servitor,
With his free duty recommends you thus,
And prays you to believe him.
Duke. 'Tis certain then for Cyprus.
Marcus Lucchesé, is he not in town?
1 Sen. He's now in Florence.
Duke. Write from us; wish him post post-haste: 'despatch.
1 Sen. Here comes Brabantio, and the valiant
For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us'd
Their dearest action in the tented field: ✔
And little of this great world can I speak,
And therefore little shall I grace my cause,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle;
In speaking for myself: Yet, by your gracious pa-
I will a round unvarnished tale deliver
tience,
Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what
charms,
What conjuration, and what mighty magick,
(For such proceeding I am charg'd withal,)
I won his daughter with.
A maiden never bold;
Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion
Of years, of country, credit, every thing, —
Blush'd at herself; and she,—in spite of nature,
To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on?
It is a judgment maim'd, and most imperfect,
That will confess - perfection so could err
Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell,
Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ Why this should be. I therefore vouch again,
That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect,
He wrought upon her.
Against the general enemy Ottoman.
I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;
[To BRABANTIO.
We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night.
Bra. So did I yours: Good your grace, pardon
Duke.
To vouch this is no proof;
Without more certain and more overt test 6,
of modern seeming 7, do prefer against him.
Than these thin habits, and poor likelihoods
1 Sen. But, Othello, speak;
Did you by indirect and forced courses
Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?
Or came it by request, or such fair question
As soul to soul affordeth?
I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the Sagittary 8,
And let her speak of me before her father:
If you do find me foul in her report,
The trust, the office, I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life.
Duke.
Fetch Desdemona hither.
Oth. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the
place. [Exeunt IAGO, and Attendants.
And, till she come, as truly as to heaven
I do confess the vices of my blood,
So justly to your grave ears I'll present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And she in mine.
Duke. Say it, Othello.
Oth. Her father lov'd me, oft invited me;
Still question'd me the story of my life,
From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have pass'd.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it.
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth scapes i'the imminent deadly breach;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,
And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance 9 in my travel's history:
Wherein of antres vast, and desarts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch
heaven,
8 The sign of the fictitious creature so called.
It was my hint to speak, such was the process;
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Which, as a grise 3, or step, may help these lovers Into your favour.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended,
Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
Would Desdemona seriously incline:
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste despatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse: Which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour; and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had sometning heard,
But not intentively 2: I did consent;
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke,
That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
She swore,
In faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing
strange;
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To mourn a mischief that is past and gone,
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserv'd when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the thief;
He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief.
Bra. So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile;
We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears
Bat the free comfort which from thence he hears:
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow,
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,
Being strong on both sides are equivocal:
But words are words; I never yet did hear,
That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.
I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state.
Duke. The Turk with a most mighty preparation
makes for Cyprus: - Othello, the fortitude of the
place is best known to you: And though we have
there a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet
opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects, throws a
more safer voice on you: you must therefore be
content to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes
with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition.
Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down: I do agnize 5
A natural and prompt alacrity,
I find in hardness, and do undertake
These present wars against the Ottomites.
Most humbly therefore bending to your state,
I crave fit disposition for my wife;
Due reference of place, and exhibition 6,
With such accommodation, and besort,
As levels with her breeding.
Nor I; I would not there reside, To put my father in impatient thoughts, By being in his eye. Most gracious duke, To my unfolding lend a gracious ear; And let me find a charter in your voice, To assist my simpleness.
Duke. What would you, Desdemona ?
Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him,
My downright violence and storm of fortunes
May trumpet to the world; my heart's subdued
Even to the very quality of my lord:
I saw Othello's visage in his mind;
And to his honours, and his valiant parts,
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
I shall a heavy interim support
By his dear absence: Let me go with him.
Oth. Your voices, lords : — 'beseech you, let her
will
Vouch with me, heaven; I therefore beg it not For my distinct and proper satisfaction;
3 Grise from degrees. * Acknowledge.
But to be free and bounteous to her mind:
And heaven defend7 your good souls, that you think
I will your serious and great business scant,
For she is with me: No, when light-wing'd toys
Of feather'd Cupid seel 9 with wanton dulness
My speculative and active instruments,
That my disports corrupt and taint my business,
Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
And all indign and base adversities
Make head against my estimation!
Duke. Be it as you shall privately determine,
Either for her stay, or going: the affair cries—haste,
And speed must answer it; you must hence to-
night,
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Good night to every one. — And, noble signior,
[To BRABANTIO.
If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.
1 Sen. Adieu, brave Moor! use Desdemona well.
Bra. Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye to see;
She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee.
[Exeunt DUKE, Senators, Officers, &c.
Oth. My life upon her faith. Honest Iago,
My Desdemona must I leave to thee;
I pr'ythee, let thy wife attend on her;
And bring them after in the best advantage.
Come, Desdemona; I have but an hour
Of love, of worldly matters and direction,
To spend with thee: we must obey the time.
[Exeunt OTHELLO and DESDEMONA.
Iago. What say'st thou, noble heart?
Rod. What will I do, thinkest thou?
Iago. Why, go to bed, and sleep.
Rod. I will incontinently drown myself.
shame to be so found; but it is not in my virtue to amend it.
Iago. Virtue? a fig! 'tis in ourselves, that we are thus, or thus. We have reason to cool our raging passions; whereof I take this, that you call -love, to be one.
Iago. Come, be a man: Drown thyself? drown cats, and blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse; follow these wars; defeat thy favour with an usurped beard! I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be, that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor, - put money in thy purse; -nor he his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration;-put but money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in their wills; -fill thy purse with money: drowning thyself is clean out of the way seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy, than to be drowned and go without it.
Rod. Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on the issue? Iago. Thou art sure of me; Go, make money: - I have told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor: My cause is hearted: thine hath no less reason: Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him: go; provide thy money. We will have more of this to-morrow. Adieu, Rod. Where shall we meet i' the morning? Iago. At my lodging.
Rod. I'll be with thee betimes.
Iago. Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo?
Rod. What say you?
Iago. No more of drowning, do you hear?
Rod. I am changed. I'll sell all my land.
Iago. Go to; farewell; put money enough in
[Exit RODERIGO.
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:
For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such a snipe,
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor;
And it is thought abroad, that in my bed
He has done me wrong, I know not if't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do, as if for surety. He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Iago. Well, if thou dost, I shall never love thee Cassio's a proper man: Let me see now; after it. Why, thou silly gentleman!
Rod. It is silliness to live, when to live is a torment and then have we a prescription to die, when death is our physician.
Iago. O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four times seven years! and since I could distinguish between a benefit and an injury, I never found a man that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say, I would drown myself for the love of a Guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.
Rod. What should I do? I confess it is my
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To get his place, and to plume up my will;
A double knavery, - How? how?-Let me see:—
After some time, to abuse Othello's ear,
That he is too familiar with his wife: -
He hath a person, and a smooth dispose,
To be suspected; fram'd to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so ;
And will as tenderly be led by the nose,
As asses are.
I have't; - it is engender'd : - Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light
[Exit.
4 Change your countenance with a false beard.
|
