By Roderigo, and fellows that are scap'd: He's almost slain, and Roderigo* dead.

EMIL. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio! IAGO. This is the fruits of whoring.-Pr'ythee, Emilia,

Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night :What, do you shake at that?

BIAN. He supp'd at my house; but I therefore shake not.

IAGO. O, did he so? I charge you, go with me. EMIL. Fie,† fie upon thee, strumpet ! BIAN. I am no strumpet; but of life as honest As that thus abuse me. you

Cassio

EMIL.
As I? foh! fie upon thee!
IAGO. Kind gentlemen, let's
dress'd.-

go see poor

Come, mistress, you must tell's another tale.Emilia, run you to the citadel,

And tell my lord and lady what hath happ'd.— Will you go on afore?—This is the night

[Aside.

Отн. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul," Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars !— It is the cause.-Yet I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she 'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light! If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me:-but once put out thy light, Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd

Отн.
DES. If you say so,* I hope you will not kill me.
ОTH. Hum!

DES. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then,

When your eyes

not,

roll so why I should fear I know

Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear. ОTH. Think on thy sins.

DES.

They are loves I bear to you. Отн. Ay, and for that thou diest.

DES. That death's unnatural that kills for loving.

Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame :
These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
They do not point on me.
Отн.

DES. I will so.

Peace, and be still! What's the matter?

Отн. That handkerchief, which I so lov'd and

gave thee,

Thou gav'st to Cassio. DES.

No, by my life and soul! Send for the man, and ask him.

Отн. Sweet soul, take heed, Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy death-bed. DES. Ay, but not yet to die.

Отн.

Yes,† presently; Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin; For to deny each article with oath

(*) First folio omits, so.

received."-STEEVENS.

(†) First folio omits, Yes.

b Put out the light, and then put out the light!] This regulation of the line, which certainly imparts to it a spirit and beauty we miss in the old punctuation, was suggested both by Upton and Warburton, and is now very generally adopted.

There is no pause.

DES.

But half an hour!

Being done,

Отн. That! what?

But while I say one prayer!

Отн. It is too late.
[Smothers her.
EMIL. [Without.] My lord! my lord! what
ho! my
lord! my lord!

Oгн. What noise is this?-Not dead? not yet
quite dead?

I that am cruel am yet merciful;

I would not have thee linger in thy pain :-
So, so.

EMIL. [Without.] What ho! my lord! my lord!
Отн.
Who's there?

EMIL. [Without.] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you! [dead.Oтн. Yes: 't is Emilia ;-by and by.-She's 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death; The noise was high.-Ha! no more moving? Still as the grave.-Shall she come in? were 't good?

I think she stirs again :—no.- -What's best to do?
If she come in, she 'll sure speak to my wife:
My wife! wife! what wife?-I have no wife!
O, insupportable! O, heavy hour!

my

Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse

Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe Should yawn at alteration.

EMIL. [Without.] I do beseech you that I may speak with you,

good my lord!

OTH. I had forgot thee:-O, come in, Emilia:Soft, by and by:-let me the curtains draw.— Where art thou? [Unlocks the door.

Enter EMILIA.

What's the matter with thee now? EMIL. O, my good lord, yonder's foul murder done!

*) First folio, Did.

to folly,-] That is, to wantonness.

Alas, what cry is that?

Отн. Why, how should she be murder'd?
EMIL.
Alas, who knows?
Отн. You heard her say herself, it was not I.
EMIL. She said so: I must needs report the
truth.

Отн. She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell! "T was I that kill'd her.

EMIL.

O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil! Отн. She turn'd to folly," and she was a whore. EMIL. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.

Отн. She was false as water. EMIL. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false; O, she was heavenly true! Отн. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity! Thy husband knew it all. EMIL. My husband!

a

EMIL. You told a lie; an odious, damned lie;

(*) First folio omits, that.

charm your tongue.] A familiar expression in the poet's day, meaning restrain, or put a spell upon your tongue. So in "Henry VI." Part III. Act V. Sc. 5,- Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue." See also additional examples of the phrase in the Variorum ad l.

b a strange truth.] "Strange" is one of the many words which have lost weight and emphasis since Shakespeare's time. With us, it imports no more than unusual, not customary, &c.; but when Desdemona spoke of the Moor's adventures as

EMIL.

Villany, villany, villany! I think upon't,-I think I smell 't;-O, villany!

I thought so then ; —I'll kill myself for grief:O villany, villany!

IAGO. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.

EMIL. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:

'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.—
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
OTH. O! O! O!
EMIL.

[Falling on the bed.
Nay, lay thee down and roar;
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,
That e'er did lift up eye.

Отн.

O, she was foul !—

[Rising.

Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation. d

OтH. "T is pitiful; but yet Iago knows,
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it:
And she did gratify his amorous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand :
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
My father gave my mother.

"strange," she meant they were wonderful, incredible; and it is in this deeper sense of the word that Gratiano employs it here. c I thought so then;-] "That is, at the instant when she gave Desdemona's handkerchief to Iago; for even then Emilia appears to have suspected it was sought after for no honest purpose, and therefore asks her husband

'What will you do with it?'" &c.-STEEVENS.

d And fall to reprobation.] So the quartos; the folio has,"And fail to reprobance."

Your sword upon a woman?

Fie!

EMIL. O, thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of

I found by fortune, and did give my husband;
For often with a solemn earnestness,-

More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,—
He begg❜d of me to steal 't.

IAGO.
Villanous whore !
EMIL. She give it Cassio! no, alas, I found it,
And I did give't my husband.

IAGO.
Filth, thou liest!
EMIL. By heaven, I do not! I do not, gentle-
men!-

O, murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a wife?

[IAGO stabs EMILIA, and then runs out. Отн. Are there no stones in heaven, But what serve for the thunder ?-Precious villain ! GRA. The woman falls! sure, he hath kill'd his wife!

EMIL. Ay, ay:-0, lay me by my mistress' side!

GRA. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
MON. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this

So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die,*-I die! [Dies.
Отн. I have another weapon in this chamber,
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper ;-
O, here it is.-Uncle, I must come forth.

GRA. [Without.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. Отн. Look in upon me, then, and speak with

me,

Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO.

GRA. What is the matter?
Отн.

Behold! I have a weapon;

A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop:-but, O, vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.-
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd ;-
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires-where should Othello go?
?-
Now, how dost thou look now? O, ill-starr'd
wench!

b

Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it!-Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity.--

O, cursed, cursed slave!-Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!-
O, Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead! O, O!