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Re-enter IAGO, with a light.

Gra. Here's one comes in his shirt, with
light and weapons.

Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this that
cries on murder?
Lod. We do not know.
Iago.
Did not you hear a cry?
Cas. Here, here! for heaven's sake, help me!
Iago.
What's the matter? 50

Gra. This is Othello's ancient, as I take it.
Lod. The same indeed; a very valiant fellow.
Iago. What are you here that cry so griev-
ously?

Cas. Iago? O! I am spoil'd, undone by villains: Give me some help.

Iago. O me, lieutenant! what villains have done this?

Cas. I think that one of them is hereabout,

And cannot make away.

Iago.

O treacherous villains!

Gra. I am sorry to find you thus; I have been to seek you.

Iago. Lend me a garter. So. O! for a chair, To bear him easily hence.

Bian. Alas! he faints. O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!

Iago. Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash To be a party in this injury. Patience awhile, good Cassio. Come, come. Lend me a light. Know we this face or not Alas! my friend and my dear countryman, Roderigo; no: yes, sure. O heaven! Roderigo. | Gra. What! of Venice?

Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him?

Gra.

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Know him! ay. Iago. Signior Gratiano! I cry you gentle pardon;

These bloody accidents must excuse my manners,
That so neglected you.
Gra.

lago. How do you, chair.

Gra. Roderigo!

Iago. He, he, 'tis he.

I am glad to see you. Cassio? O! a chair, a

A chair brought n O! that's well said; the chair.

Some good man bear him carefully from hence; I'll fetch the general's surgeon. To BIANCA For you, mistress,

Save you your labour. He that lies slain here, Cassio,

Was my dear friend. What malice was between you?

Cas. None in the world; nor do I know the

man.

Iago. To BIANCA. What! look you pale! 0! bear him out o' the air.

CASSIO and RODERIGO are borne off.

To LODOVICO and GRATIANO. What are you Stay you, good gentlemen. Look you pale,

there? come in, and give some help!

Rod. O! help me here.
Cus. That's one of them.
Iago.

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O murderous slave! O villain!
Stabs RODERIGO.

Rod. O damn'd Iago! O inhuman dog!

Iago. Kill men i' the dark! Where be these bloody thieves?

How silent is this town! Ho! murder! murder! What may you be? are you of good or evil?

Lod. As you shall prove us, praise us.

Lod. He, sir.

mistress?

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Iago. I cry you mercy. Here's Cassio hurt He's almost slain, and Roderigo dead.

Iago. Signior Lodovico?

Iago. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark

By Roderigo and fellows that are 'scap'd.

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dress'd.

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

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Oth. 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, 11
I know not where is that Promethean heat

That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,

I cannot give it vital growth again,
It needs must wither: I'll smell it on the tree.
Kisses her.
O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one

more.

Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and this the last :
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears; this sorrow's heavenly,
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

Des. Who's there? Othello?
Oth.

No, by my life and soul!

Send for the man and ask him. Oth.

Sweet soul, take heed, 50
Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy death-bed.
Yes, presently;
Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
For to deny each article with oath
Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
Des. Then Lord have mercy on me!
Oth.

Des. Ay, but not yet to die.
Oth.

I sav. amen.

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Ay, Desdemona.

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Being done, there is no pause.

Oth.

Ay, I do.

Des.

Then heaven

Des. But while I say one prayer. Oth.

It is too late.

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

Oth. She's like a liar gone to burning hell;

'Twas I that kill'd her.
Emil.
O! the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil.

131

Oth. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
Oth. She was false as water.
Emil.

Thou art rash as fire to say That she was false: O! she was heavenly true. Oth. 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!

Oth. Thy husband.

Emil. That she was false to wedlock?

140

Oth. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true, If heaven would make me such another world

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,

I'd not have sold her for it.

Emil. My husband!
Oth.

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Emil. Thou hast not half that power to do me
harm

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed, -
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though Ilost twenty lives. Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor has kill'd my mistress! Murder:
murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and Others.
Mon. What is the matter? How now, general!
Emil. O! are you come, Iago? you have done
well,

That men must lay their murders on your neck. Gra. What is the matter?

הו

Emil. Disprove this villain if thou be'st a man: He says thou told'st him that his wife was false. I know thou didst not, thou 'rt not such a villain. Speak, for my heart is full.

Iago. I told him what I thought, and told no

more

Than what he found himself was apt and true. Emil. But did you ever tell him she was false Iago. I did.

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Iago. With Cassio, your tongue.

Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound
to speak.

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed.
All. O heavens forfend!

Emil. And your reports have set the murder on.
Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, indeed.
Gra. 'Tis a strange truth.
Mon. O monstrous act!
Emil.

Villany! villany! villany! 190

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. Falls on the bed

Oth. O!O!Ο!

Emil. Nay, lay thee down and roar,

For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent 2

Ay, 'twas he that told me first: That e'er did lift up eye.

An honest man he is, and hates the slime

That sticks on filthy deeds.

Emil.

My husband!

Oth. Rising.

O! she was foul.

I scarce did know you, uncle. There lies your

niece,

Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly | So come my soul to bliss as I speak true; stopp'd:

I know this act shows horrible and grim.
Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's
dead.

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.

210

Oth. 'Tis pitiful; but yet lago knows
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand timescommitted; Cassioconfess'dit:
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.

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
Iago.

Come, hold your peace. Emil. 'Twill out, 'twill out; I hold my peace, sir; no;

No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
Iago. Be wise, and get you home.
Emil.

Gra.

220

I will not.
IAGO offers to stab EMILIA.
Fie!

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Emil. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a woman?
Oth.
Are there no stones in heaven
But what serve for the thunder? Precious
villain !
He runs at IAGO: IAGO stabs
EMILIA, and exit.

Gra. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd
his wife.

Emil. Ay, ay. O! lay me by my mistress' side.
Gra. He's gone; but his wife's kill'd.

Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this
weapon,

240

Which I have here recover'd from the Moor.
Come, guard the door without; let him not
pass,

But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain,
For 'tis a damned slave.

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So speaking as I think, I die, I die.

Dies.

Oth. 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. Within. If thou attempt it, it will cost
thee dear:

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer,
Oth. 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?
Oth.

260

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!

270

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! 280
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur !
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! oh! oh!

Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO carried in
a chair, and Officers with IAGO, prisoner.

Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate
man?

Oth. That's he that was Othello; here I am.
Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain

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Why, any thing:

An honourable murderer, if you will ;
For nought did I in hate, but all in honour.
Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:

Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?
Oth. Ay.

300

What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in music.

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
Oth. I do believe it, and I ask you pardon,

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Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?
lago. Demand me nothing: what you know,
you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.

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By Roderigo.

Oth. O villain! Cas.

Most heathenish and most gross!
Lod. Now here's another discontented paper,
Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain,
But that, belike, Iago in the interim

Came in and satisfied him.
Oth.

O the pernicious caitiff!
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief 321
That was my wife's?
Cas.

I found it in my chamber;
And he himself confess'd but even now
That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose
Which wrought to his desire.

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Iago set him on.

330

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No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you
speak

Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu'd
eyes,

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Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.
Stabs himself.

Lod. O bloody period!
Gra.
All that's spoke is marr'd.
Oth. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee; no way
but this,
Falling upon DESDEMONA

Killing myself to die upon a kiss.

Dies,

Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had to
weapon;

For he was great of heart.
Lod. To IAGO.

O Spartan dog!

More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,

Lod. You must forsake this room and go Look on the tragic loading of this bed; with us;

Your power and your command is taken off,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,

If there be any cunning cruelty
That can torment him much and hold him long,
It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two before you go.

This is thy work; the object poisons sight:
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain,
The time, the place, the torture; O! enforce it.
Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

Excunt.

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