Read Online Othello by William Shakespeare - Free Book Online Page A

do so,
     The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
    IAGO    If they do nothing, ’tis a venial 11 slip:
     But if I give my wife a handkerchief—
    OTHELLO    What then?
    IAGO    Why, then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,
     She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
    OTHELLO    She is protectress of her honour too:
     May she give that?
    IAGO    Her honour is an essence that’s not seen:
      They have it very oft that have it not 19 .
     But, for the handkerchief—
    OTHELLO    By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
     Thou said’st — O, it comes o’er my memory
     As doth the raven 23 o’er the infectious house,
      Boding 24 to all — he had my handkerchief.
    IAGO    Ay, what of that?
    OTHELLO    That’s not so good now.
    IAGO    What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
     Or heard him say — as knaves be such abroad 28 ,
     Who having by their own importunate 29 suit,
     Or voluntary dotage 30 of some mistress,
      Convincèd 31 or supplied them, cannot choose
     But they must blab—
    OTHELLO    Hath he said anything?
    IAGO    He hath, my lord, but be you well assured,
     No more than he’ll unswear.
    OTHELLO    What hath he said?
    IAGO    Why, that he did 37 : I know not what he did.
    OTHELLO    What? What?
    IAGO    Lie—
    OTHELLO    With her?
    IAGO    With her? On her: what you will.
    OTHELLO    Lie with her? Lie on her 42 ? We say ‘Lie on her’ when
     they belie 43 her. Lie with her! That’s fulsome: handkerchief —
     confessions — handkerchief! To confess and be hanged for
     his labour: first to be hanged and then to confess: I tremble at
     it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing
     passion without some instruction 46 . It is not words that shakes
     me thus. Pish! Noses 48 , ears and lips. Is’t possible? Confess?
     Handkerchief? O devil!
    Falls in a trance
    IAGO    Work on,
     My medicine 51 works! Thus credulous fools are caught,
     And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
     All guiltless, meet reproach 53 .— What, ho? My lord?
     My lord, I say! Othello!—
    Enter Cassio
    How now, Cassio?
    CASSIO    What’s the matter?
    IAGO    My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.
     This is his second fit: he had one yesterday.
    CASSIO    Rub him about the temples.
    IAGO    The lethargy 59 must have his quiet course:
     If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
     Breaks out to savage madness. Look he stirs:
     Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
     He will recover straight. When he is gone,
     I would on great occasion 64 speak with you.
    [
Exit Cassio
]
         How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
    OTHELLO    Dost thou mock me 66 ?
    IAGO    I mock you not, by heaven.
     Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
    OTHELLO    A hornèd 69 man’s a monster and a beast.
    IAGO    There’s many a beast then in a populous city,
     And many a civil 71 monster.
    OTHELLO    Did he confess it?
    IAGO    Good sir, be a man.
     Think every bearded 74 fellow that’s but yoked
     May draw 75 with you: there’s millions now alive
     That nightly lie in those unproper 76 beds
     Which they dare swear peculiar 77 : your case is better.
     O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,
     To lip 79 a wanton in a secure couch
     And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know,
     And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
    OTHELLO    O, thou art wise: ’tis certain.
    IAGO    Stand you awhile apart,
     Confine yourself but in a patient list 84 .
     Whilst you were here o’erwhelmèd with your grief —
     A passion most unsuiting such a man —
     Cassio came