From this time for the never will speak word

The last words of various famous characters in Shakespeare. In a minority of cases, a description of a character’s off-stage death is included.

Antony and Cleopatra[edit]

I am dying, Egypt, dying:

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. . .

The miserable change now at my end

Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts

In feeding them with those my former fortunes

Wherein I lived, the greatest prince o’ the world,

The noblest; and do now not basely die,

Not cowa

h’d. Now my spirit is going;

I can no more.

— Antony

As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,—

O Antony!—Nay, I will take thee too.

What should I stay—

— Cleopatra, as she applies the second asp to her arm.

Hamlet[edit]

O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt!

— Claudius

O, I am slain!

— Polonius

He is justly served;

It is a poison temper’d by himself.

Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:

Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee,

Nor thine on me.

— Laertes, talking of Claudius

O God, Horatio, what a wounded name,

Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart

Absent thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,

To tell my story. . .

O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o’er-crows my spirit:

I cannot live to hear the news from England;

But I do prophesy the election lights

On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;

So tell him, with the occurrences, more and less,

Which have solicited. The rest is silence.

— Hamlet

No, no, the drink, the drink!—O my dear Hamlet! —

The drink, the drink! I am poison’d.

— Gertrude

Henry IV, part 1[edit]

O, Harry, thou hast robb’d me of my youth!
I better brook the loss of brittle life
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts worse than sword my flesh:
But thought’s the slave of life, and life time’s fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust
And food for—

Dies

Henry IV, part 2[edit]

Laud be to God! even there my life must end.

It hath been prophesied to me many years,

I should not die but in Jerusalem;

Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land:

But bear me to that chamber; there I’ll lie;

In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

— King Henry IV

Henry V [edit]

a’ parted even just between twelve

and one, even at the turning o’ the tide: for after

I saw him fumble with the sheets and play with

flowers and smile upon his fingers’ ends, I knew

there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as

a pen, and a’ babbled of green fields. ‘How now,

sir John!’ quoth I ‘what, man! be o’ good

cheer.’ So a’ cried out ‘God, God, God!’ three or

four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him a’

should not think of God; I hoped there was no need

to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So

a’ bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my

hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as

cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and

they were as cold as any stone, and so upward and

upward, and all was as cold as any stone.

— Mistress Quickly

They say he cried out of sack.

— Nym

Ay, that a’ did.

— Mistress Quickly

And of women.

— Bardolph

Nay, that a’ did not.

— Mistress Quickly

Yes, that a’ did; and said they were devils incarnate.

— Boy describing Falstaff’s death. Falstaff actually dies offstage.

Julius Caesar[edit]

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

— Julius Caesar

Caesar, thou art revenged,

Even with the sword that kill’d thee.

— Cassius

Caesar, now be still:

I kill’d not thee with half so good a will.

— Brutus, as he runs on his sword

King John[edit]

O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye:

The tackle of my heart is crack’d and burn’d,

And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail

Are turned to one thread, one little hair:

My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,

Which holds but till thy news be uttered;

And then all this thou seest is but a clod

And module of confounded royalty.

— King John

King Lear[edit]

And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,

Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,

Look there, look there!

— King Lear

Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;

And give the letters which thou find’st about me

To Edmund Earl of Gloucester, seek him out

Upon the British party: O, untimely death!

— Oswald

Macbeth[edit]

I will not yield,

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,

And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.

Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,

And thou opposed, being of no woman born,

Yet I will try the last. Before my body

I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,

And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’

— Macbeth

He has kill’d me, mother:

Run away, I pray you!

— Macduff’s son

O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge-O slave!

— Banquo

Othello[edit]

O, who hath done this deed?

— Emilia

Nobody; I myself. Farewell.

Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!

— Desdemona

What did thy song bode, lady?

Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,

And die in music. [sings] ‘Willow, willow, willow.’—

Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;

So come my soul to bliss as I speak true;

So speaking as I think, I die… I die.

— Emilia

Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.

— Iago, who does not die onstage, but who is being led to his immediate torture and eventual death.

Soft you; a word or two before you go.

I have done the state some service, and they know’t.

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 loved 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 subdued eyes,

Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;

And say besides, that in Aleppo once,

Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk

Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,

I took by the throat the circumcised dog,

And smote him, thus.

— Othello

Stabs himself

O bloody period!

— Lododvico

All that’s spoke is marr’d.

— Gratiano

I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee: no way but this;

Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

— Othello

Falls on the bed, and dies

Richard II[edit]

O, spare me not, my brother Edward’s son,

For that I was his father Edward’s son;

That blood already, like the pelican,

Hast thou tapp’d out and drunkenly caroused:

My brother Gloucester, plain well-meaning soul,

Whom fair befal in heaven ‘mongst happy souls!

May be a precedent and witness good

That thou respect’st not spilling Edward’s blood:

Join with the present sickness that I have;

And thy unkindness be like crooked age,

To crop at once a too long wither’d flower.

Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee!

These words hereafter thy tormentors be!

Convey me to my bed, then to my grave:

Love they to live that love and honour have.

— John of Gaunt

That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire

That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand

Hath with the king’s blood stain’d the king’s own land.

Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high;

Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.

— King Richard II

Richard III[edit]

Which of you, if you were a prince’s son,

Being pent from liberty, as I am now,

if two such murderers as yourselves came to you,

Would not entreat for life?

My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks:

O, if thine eye be not a flatterer,

Come thou on my side, and entreat for me,

As you would beg, were you in my distress

A begging prince what beggar pities not?

— Clarence

Slave, I have set my life upon a cast,

And I will stand the hazard of the die:

I think there be six Richmonds in the field;

Five have I slain to-day instead of him.

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

— King Richard III, just before he engages in the fight with Richmond in which he dies.

Let’s to it pell-mell

If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell!

— Richard III, Ian McKellen and Richard Loncraine movie adaptation, taken from Richard’s speech earlier in the play.

Romeo and Juliet[edit]

Here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!

Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!

Here’s to my love!

O true apothecary!

Thy drugs are quick. Thus, with a kiss, I die.

— Romeo

Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.

What’s here? a cup, closed in my true love’s hand?

Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:

O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop

To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;

Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,

To make die with a restorative.

Thy lips are warm.

Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!

This is thy sheath;

there rust, and let me die.

— Juliet

Help me into some house, Benvolio,

Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses!

They have made worms’ meat of me: I have it,

And soundly too: your houses!

— Mercutio

Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,

Shall with him hence.

— Tybalt

O, I am slain! If thou be merciful,

Open the tomb; lay me with Juliet.

— Count Paris

Titus Andronicus[edit]

O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done:

Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did

Would I perform, if I might have my will;

If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very soul.

— Aaron the Moor

External links[edit]

• Full versions of all of Shakespeare’s plays can be found at Wikisource

Synopsis:

Desdemona is asleep in bed when Othello enters. He kisses her and wakes her and once again charges her with infidelity. Over her protests of innocence, he smothers her. When Emilia comes to tell Othello about the violence in the streets, he acknowledges the killing, telling her that Iago had informed him of Desdemona’s infidelity. Emilia’s cries of “Murder” bring Iago, Montano, and Gratiano. Iago, under pressure, admits accusing Desdemona. When Emilia discloses the truth about the handkerchief, Othello tries, unsuccessfully, to kill Iago, and Iago kills Emilia. Othello, aware of his enormous error in regarding Desdemona as unfaithful, stabs himself, falling dead on the bed beside Emilia and Desdemona. Iago is taken away to be tortured and killed.

Enter Othello ⟨with a light,⟩ and Desdemona in her bed.

OTHELLO 
3247
 It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
3248
 Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars.
3249
 It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
3250
 Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
3251
5 And smooth as monumental alabaster.
3252
 Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
3253
 Put out the light, and then put out the light.
3254
 If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
3255
 I can again thy former light restore
3256
10 Should I repent me. But once put out thy light,
3257
 Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
3258
 I know not where is that Promethean heat
3259
 That can thy light relume. When I have plucked ⟨the⟩
3260
 rose,

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237

3261
15 I cannot give it vital growth again.
3262
 It needs must wither. I’ll smell ⟨it⟩ on the tree.
3263
 O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
3264
 Justice to break her sword! ⌜He kisses her.⌝ One
3265
 more, one more.
3266
20 Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee
3267
 And love thee after. One more, and ⟨this⟩ the last.
⟨He kisses her.⟩
3268
 So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
3269
 But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly:
3270
 It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA 
3271
25 Who’s there? Othello?
OTHELLO 
3272
 Ay, Desdemona.
DESDEMONA 
3273
Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLO 
3274
 Have you prayed tonight, Desdemon?
DESDEMONA 
3275
Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO 
3276
30 If you bethink yourself of any crime
3277
 Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
3278
 Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA 
3279
 Alack, my lord,
3280
 What may you mean by that?
OTHELLO 
3281
35 Well, do it, and be brief. I will walk by.
3282
 I would not kill thy unpreparèd spirit.
3283
 No, ⟨heaven⟩ forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA 
3284
Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO 
3285
 Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA 
3286
40 Then heaven have mercy on me.
OTHELLO 
3287
Amen, with all my heart.
DESDEMONA 
3288
 If you say ⟨so,⟩ I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO 
3289
Humh.

p.
239

DESDEMONA 
3290
 And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then
3291
45 When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know
3292
 not,
3293
 Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO 
3294
 Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA 
3295
 They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO 
3296
50Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA 
3297
 That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.
3298
 Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
3299
 Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.
3300
 These are portents, but yet I hope, I hope
3301
55 They do not point on me.
OTHELLO 
3302
 Peace, and be still.
DESDEMONA 
3303
 I will so. What’s the matter?
OTHELLO 
3304
 That handkerchief
3305
 Which I so loved, and gave thee, thou gav’st to
3306
60 Cassio.
DESDEMONA 
3307
 No, by my life and soul! Send for the man
3308
 And ask him.
OTHELLO 
3309
 Sweet soul, take heed, take heed of perjury.
3310
 Thou art on thy deathbed.
DESDEMONA 
3311
65 Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO 
3312
 ⟨Yes,⟩ presently.
3313
 Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin.
3314
 For to deny each article with oath
3315
 Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
3316
70 That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA 
3317
 ⟨Then Lord⟩ have mercy on me!

p.
241

OTHELLO 
3318
 I say “Amen.”
DESDEMONA 
3319
 And have you mercy, too. I never did
3320
 Offend you in my life, never loved Cassio
3321
75 But with such general warranty of heaven
3322
 As I might love. I never gave him token.
OTHELLO 
3323
 By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ’s hand!
3324
 O perjured woman, thou dost stone my heart
3325
 And ⟨mak’st⟩ me call what I intend to do
3326
80 A murder, which I thought a sacrifice!
3327
 I saw the handkerchief!
DESDEMONA 
3328
 He found it, then.
3329
 I never gave it him. Send for him hither.
3330
 Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO 
3331
85 He hath confessed.
DESDEMONA 
3332
What, my lord?
OTHELLO 
3333
 That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA 
3334
 How? Unlawfully?
OTHELLO 
3335
Ay.
DESDEMONA 
3336
90 He will not say so.
OTHELLO 
3337
 No. His mouth is stopped.
3338
 Honest Iago hath ta’en order for ’t.
DESDEMONA 
3339
 O, my fear interprets. What, is he dead?
OTHELLO 
3340
 Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
3341
95 Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA 
3342
 Alas, he is betrayed, and I undone.⌜She weeps.⌝
OTHELLO 
3343
 Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA 
3344
 O banish me, my lord, but kill me not!

p.
243

OTHELLO 
3345
Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA 
3346
100 Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight.
OTHELLO 
3347
Nay, if you strive—
DESDEMONA 
3348
 But half an hour!
[OTHELLO 
3349
 Being done, there is no pause.]
DESDEMONA 
3350
 But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO 
3351
105 It is too late.
⟨He⟩ smothers her.
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝ 
3352
 My lord, my lord? What ho! My lord, my lord!
OTHELLO 
3353
 What noise is this?—Not dead? Not yet quite dead?
3354
 I that am cruel am yet merciful.
3355
 I would not have thee linger in thy pain.
3356
110 So, so.
EMILIA, within 
3357
 What, ho! My lord, my lord!
OTHELLO 
3358
 Who’s
3359
 there?
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝ 
3360
 O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you.
OTHELLO 
3361
115 Yes. ’Tis Emilia.—By and by.—She’s dead.
3362
 ’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.
3363
 The noise was ⟨here.⟩ Ha, no more moving?
3364
 Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were ’t good?
3365
 I think she stirs again. No. What’s best to do?
3366
120 If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.
3367
 My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.
3368
 O insupportable! O heavy hour!
3369
 Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
3370
 Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
3371
125 ⟨Should⟩ yawn at alteration.
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝ 
3372
 I do beseech you
3373
 That I may speak with you. O, good my lord—

p.
245

OTHELLO 
3374
 I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.—
3375
 Soft, by and by, let me the curtains draw.—
3376
130 Where art thou?

Enter Emilia.

3377
 What’s the matter with thee now?
EMILIA 
3378
 O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done.
OTHELLO 
3379
What? Now?
EMILIA 
3380
But now, my lord.
OTHELLO 
3381
135 It is the very error of the moon.
3382
 She comes more nearer Earth than she was wont
3383
 And makes men mad.
EMILIA 
3384
 Cassio, my lord, hath killed
3385
 A young Venetian called Roderigo.
OTHELLO 
3386
140 Roderigo killed? And Cassio killed?
EMILIA 
3387
No, Cassio is not killed.
OTHELLO 
3388
 Not Cassio killed? Then murder’s out of tune,
3389
 And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA 
3390
O falsely, falsely murdered.
EMILIA 
3391
145 ⟨O Lord,⟩ what cry is that?
OTHELLO 
3392
 That? What?
EMILIA 
3393
 Out, and alas, that was my lady’s voice!
3394
 Help! Help ho! Help! O lady, speak again!
3395
 Sweet Desdemona, O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA 
3396
150A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA 
3397
O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA 
3398
Nobody. I myself. Farewell.
3399
 Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell.
⟨She dies.⟩

p.
247

OTHELLO 
3400
 Why, how should she be murdered?
EMILIA 
3401
155 Alas, who
3402
 knows?
OTHELLO 
3403
 You ⟨heard⟩ her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA 
3404
 She said so. I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO 
3405
 She’s like a liar gone to burning hell!
3406
160 ’Twas I that killed her.
EMILIA 
3407
 O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO 
3408
 She turned to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA 
3409
 Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil!
OTHELLO 
3410
She was false as water.
EMILIA 
3411
165Thou art rash as fire to say
3412
 That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO 
3413
 Cassio did top her. Ask thy husband else.
3414
 O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell
3415
 But that I did proceed upon just grounds
3416
170 To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA 
3417
My husband?
OTHELLO 
3418
Thy husband.
EMILIA 
3419
That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO 
3420
 Ay, with Cassio. Had she been true,
3421
175 If heaven would make me such another world
3422
 Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
3423
 I’d not have sold her for it.
EMILIA 
3424
My husband?
OTHELLO 
3425
 Ay, ’twas he that told me on her first.

p.
249

3426
180 An honest man he is, and hates the slime
3427
 That sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA 
3428
My husband?
OTHELLO 
3429
 What needs this iterance, woman? I say, thy
3430
 husband.
[EMILIA 
3431
185 O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!—
3432
 My husband say she was false?
OTHELLO 
3433
 He, woman.
3434
 I say thy husband. Dost understand the word?
3435
 My friend, thy husband; honest, honest Iago.]
EMILIA 
3436
190 If he say so, may his pernicious soul
3437
 Rot half a grain a day! He lies to th’ heart!
3438
 She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
⌜He draws his sword.⌝
OTHELLO 
3439
Hah?
EMILIA 
3440
Do thy worst!
3441
195 This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
3442
 Than thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO 
3443
 Peace, you were best!
EMILIA 
3444
 Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
3445
 As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt,
3446
200 As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed—
3447
 I care not for thy sword. I’ll make thee known,
3448
 Though I lost twenty lives. Help! Help, ho! Help!
3449
 The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder, murder!

Enter Montano, Gratiano, and Iago.

MONTANO 
3450
 What is the matter? How now, general?
EMILIA 
3451
205 O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,
3452
 That men must lay their murders on your neck.

p.
251

GRATIANO 
3453
What is the matter?
EMILIA, ⌜to Iago⌝ 
3454
 Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.
3455
 He says thou told’st him that his wife was false.
3456
210 I know thou didst not. Thou ’rt not such a villain.
3457
 Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO 
3458
 I told him what I thought, and told no more
3459
 Than what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA 
3460
 But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO 
3461
215I did.
EMILIA 
3462
 You told a lie, an odious, damnèd lie!
3463
 Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!
3464
 She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?
IAGO 
3465
 With Cassio, mistress. Go to! Charm your tongue.
EMILIA 
3466
220 I will not charm my tongue. I am bound to speak.
3467
 [My mistress here lies murdered in her bed.
ALL 
3468
O heavens forfend!
EMILIA, ⌜to Iago⌝ 
3469
 And your reports have set the murder on!
OTHELLO 
3470
 Nay, stare not, masters; it is true indeed.
GRATIANO 
3471
225’Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO 
3472
 O monstrous act!
EMILIA 
3473
 Villainy, villainy, villainy!
3474
 I think upon ’t, I think! I smell ’t! O villainy!
3475
 I thought so then. I’ll kill myself for grief!
3476
230 O villainy! Villainy!]
IAGO 
3477
 What, are you mad? I charge you get you home.

p.
253

EMILIA 
3478
 Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak.
3479
 ’Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
3480
 Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.
OTHELLO 
3481
235 O, O, O!⟨Othello falls on the bed.⟩
EMILIA 
3482
 Nay, lay thee down, and roar!
3483
 For thou hast killed the sweetest innocent
3484
 That e’er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO, ⌜standing⌝ 
3485
 O, she was foul!—
3486
240 I scarce did know you, uncle. There lies your niece,
3487
 Whose breath indeed these hands have newly
3488
 stopped.
3489
 I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO 
3490
 Poor Desdemon, I am glad thy father’s dead.
3491
245 Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
3492
 Shore his old thread in twain. Did he live now,
3493
 This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
3494
 Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
3495
 And fall to reprobance.
OTHELLO 
3496
250 ’Tis pitiful. But yet Iago knows
3497
 That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
3498
 A thousand times committed. Cassio confessed it,
3499
 And she did gratify his amorous works
3500
 With that recognizance and pledge of love
3501
255 Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand.
3502
 It was a handkerchief, an antique token
3503
 My father gave my mother.
EMILIA 
3504
O ⟨God!⟩ O heavenly ⟨God!⟩
IAGO 
3505
 ⟨Zounds,⟩ hold your peace!
EMILIA 
3506
260 ’Twill out, ’twill out. I peace?
3507
 No, I will speak as liberal as the north.
3508
 Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
3509
 All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
IAGO 
3510
Be wise, and get you home.
⌜He draws his sword.⌝

p.
255

EMILIA 
3511
265 I will not.
GRATIANO 
3512
 Fie, your sword upon a woman!
EMILIA 
3513
 O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st
3514
 of
3515
 I found by fortune, and did give my husband—
3516
270 For often, with a solemn earnestness
3517
 (More than indeed belonged to such a trifle),
3518
 He begged of me to steal ’t.
IAGO 
3519
 Villainous whore!
EMILIA 
3520
 She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it,
3521
275 And I did give ’t my husband.
IAGO 
3522
 Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA 
3523
 By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen!
3524
 ⌜To Othello.⌝ O murd’rous coxcomb, what should
3525
 such a fool
3526
280 Do with so good a wife?
OTHELLO 
3527
Are there no stones in heaven
3528
 But what serves for the thunder?—Precious villain!
⟨The Moor runs at Iago ⌜but is disarmed.⌝
Iago kills his wife.⟩
GRATIANO 
3529
 The woman falls! Sure he hath killed his wife.
EMILIA 
3530
 Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress’ side.⟨Iago exits.⟩
GRATIANO 
3531
285He’s gone, but his wife’s killed.
MONTANO 
3532
 ’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon
3533
 Which I have ⟨here⟩ recovered from the Moor.
3534
 Come, guard the door without. Let him not pass,
3535
 But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,
3536
290 For ’tis a damnèd slave.
⟨Montano and Gratiano⟩ exit.
OTHELLO 
3537
I am not valiant neither,

p.
257

3538
 But every puny whipster gets my sword.
3539
 But why should honor outlive honesty?
3540
 Let it go all.
[EMILIA 
3541
295 What did thy song bode, lady?
3542
 Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan
3543
 And die in music.
⌜She sings.⌝
3544
 Willow, willow, willow.]
3545
 Moor, she was chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor.
3546
300 So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true.
3547
 So speaking as I think, alas, I die. ⟨She dies.⟩
OTHELLO 
3548
 I have another weapon in this chamber.
3549
 It ⟨is⟩ a sword of Spain, the ice brook’s temper.
3550
 O, here it is.—Uncle, I must come forth.
GRATIANO, ⟨within⟩ 
3551
305 If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;
3552
 Thou hast no weapon and perforce must suffer.
OTHELLO 
3553
 Look in upon me, then, and speak with me,
3554
 Or naked as I am I will assault thee.

⌜Enter Gratiano.⌝

GRATIANO 
3555
 What is the matter?
OTHELLO 
3556
310 Behold, I have a weapon.
3557
 A better never did itself sustain
3558
 Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day
3559
 That with this little arm and this good sword
3560
 I have made my way through more impediments
3561
315 Than twenty times your stop. But—O vain boast!—
3562
 Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.
3563
 [Be not afraid, though you do see me weaponed.
3564
 Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt
3565
 And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
3566
320 Do you go back dismayed? ’Tis a lost fear.
3567
 Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,

p.
259

3568
 And he retires. Where should Othello go?
⌜He looks toward the bed.⌝
3569
 Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starred wench,]
3570
 Pale as thy smock, when we shall meet at compt,
3571
325 This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
3572
 And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
3573
 Even like thy chastity.—O cursèd, cursèd slave!—
3574
 Whip me, you devils,
3575
 From the possession of this heavenly sight!
3576
330 Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulfur,
3577
 Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
3578
 O Desdemon! Dead, Desdemon! Dead! O, O!

 Enter Lodovico, Cassio ⟨in a chair,⟩ Montano, and Iago,
with Officers.

LODOVICO 
3579
 Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
OTHELLO 
3580
 That’s he that was Othello. Here I am.
LODOVICO 
3581
335 Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.
⌜Iago is brought forward.⌝
OTHELLO 
3582
 I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.—
3583
 If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
⌜He stabs Iago.⌝
LODOVICO 
3584
 Wrench his sword from him.
⌜Othello is disarmed.⌝
IAGO 
3585
 I bleed, sir, but not killed.
OTHELLO 
3586
340 I am not sorry neither. I’d have thee live,
3587
 For in my sense ’tis happiness to die.
LODOVICO 
3588
 O thou Othello, that ⟨wert⟩ once so good,
3589
 Fall’n in the practice of a ⟨damnèd⟩ slave,
3590
 What shall be said to thee?

p.
261

OTHELLO 
3591
345 Why, anything.
3592
 An honorable murderer, if you will,
3593
 For naught I did in hate, but all in honor.
LODOVICO 
3594
 This wretch hath part confessed his villainy.
3595
 Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?
OTHELLO 
3596
350Ay.
CASSIO 
3597
 Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTHELLO 
3598
 I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
3599
 Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
3600
 Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
IAGO 
3601
355 Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
3602
 From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO 
3603
What? Not to pray?
GRATIANO 
3604
Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO 
3605
Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO 
3606
360Sir,
3607
 You shall understand what hath befall’n,
3608
 Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
3609
 Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
3610
 And here another. ⌜He shows papers.⌝ The one of
3611
365 them imports
3612
 The death of Cassio, to be undertook
3613
 By Roderigo.
OTHELLO 
3614
 O villain!
CASSIO 
3615
 Most heathenish and most gross.
LODOVICO 
3616
370 Now here’s another discontented paper
3617
 Found in his pocket, too; and this it seems
3618
 Roderigo meant t’ have sent this damnèd villain,
3619
 But that, belike, Iago in the interim
3620
 Came in and satisfied him.
OTHELLO 
3621
375O, thou pernicious caitiff!—

p.
263

3622
 How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
3623
 That was my wife’s?
CASSIO 
3624
 I found it in my chamber.
3625
 And he himself confessed it but even now,
3626
380 That there he dropped it for a special purpose
3627
 Which wrought to his desire.
OTHELLO 
3628
 O fool, fool, fool!
CASSIO 
3629
 There is besides, in Roderigo’s letter,
3630
 How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
3631
385 Brave me upon the watch, whereon it came
3632
 That I was cast. And even but now he spake,
3633
 After long seeming dead: Iago hurt him,
3634
 Iago set him on.
LODOVICO, ⌜to Othello⌝ 
3635
 You must forsake this room and go with us.
3636
390 Your power and your command is taken off,
3637
 And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
3638
 If there be any cunning cruelty
3639
 That can torment him much and hold him long,
3640
 It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
3641
395 Till that the nature of your fault be known
3642
 To the Venetian state.—Come, bring away.
OTHELLO 
3643
 Soft you. A word or two before you go.
3644
 I have done the state some service, and they
3645
 know ’t.
3646
400 No more of that. I pray you in your letters,
3647
 When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
3648
 Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,
3649
 Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
3650
 Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
3651
405 Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
3652
 Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
3653
 Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away
3654
 Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued
3655
 eyes,

p.
265

3656
410 Albeit unused to the melting mood,
3657
 Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees
3658
 Their medicinable gum. Set you down this.
3659
 And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
3660
 Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk
3661
415 Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
3662
 I took by th’ throat the circumcisèd dog,
3663
 And smote him, thus.⟨He stabs himself.⟩
LODOVICO 
3664
O bloody period!
GRATIANO 
3665
All that is spoke is marred.
OTHELLO, ⌜to Desdemona⌝ 
3666
420 I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
3667
 Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.⟨He⟩ dies.
CASSIO 
3668
 This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon,
3669
 For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO, ⌜to Iago⌝ 
3670
 O Spartan dog,
3671
425 More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,
3672
 Look on the tragic loading of this bed.
3673
 This is thy work.—The object poisons sight.
3674
 Let it be hid.—Gratiano, keep the house,
3675
 And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
3676
430 For they succeed on you. ⌜To Cassio.⌝ To you, lord
3677
 governor,
3678
 Remains the censure of this hellish villain.
3679
 The time, the place, the torture, O, enforce it.
3680
 Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
3681
435 This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
They exit.

SCENE II. A bedchamber in the castle: DESDEMONA in bed asleep; a light burning.

Enter OTHELLO

OTHELLO
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 the rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again.
It must needs wither: I’ll smell it on the tree.

Kissing her

Ah 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.

DESDEMONA
Who’s there? Othello?

OTHELLO
Ay. Desdemona.

DESDEMONA
Will you come to bed, my lord?

OTHELLO
Have you pray’d to-night, Desdemona?

DESDEMONA
Ay, my lord.

DESDEMONA
If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.

OTHELLO
Hum!

DESDEMONA
And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.

OTHELLO
Think on thy sins.

DESDEMONA
They are loves I bear to you.

OTHELLO
Ay, and for that thou diest.

DESDEMONA
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.

OTHELLO
Peace, and be still!

DESDEMONA
I will so. What’s the matter?

OTHELLO
That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee
Thou gavest to Cassio.

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

OTHELLO
Sweet soul, take heed,
Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.

DESDEMONA
Ay, but not yet to die.

OTHELLO
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.

DESDEMONA
Then Lord have mercy on me!

OTHELLO
I say, amen.

DESDEMONA
And have you mercy too! I never did
Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.

OTHELLO
By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in’s hand.
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,
And makest me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
I saw the handkerchief.

DESDEMONA
He found it then;
I never gave it him: send for him hither;
Let him confess a truth.

OTHELLO
He hath confess’d.

DESDEMONA
What, my lord?

OTHELLO
That he hath used thee.

DESDEMONA
How? unlawfully?

OTHELLO
Ay.

DESDEMONA
He will not say so.

OTHELLO
No, his mouth is stopp’d;
Honest Iago hath ta’en order for’t.

DESDEMONA
O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?

OTHELLO
Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.

DESDEMONA
Alas! he is betray’d and I undone.

OTHELLO
Out, strumpet! weep’st thou for him to my face?

DESDEMONA
O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!

OTHELLO
Down, strumpet!

DESDEMONA
Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!

OTHELLO
Nay, if you strive—

DESDEMONA
But half an hour!

OTHELLO
Being done, there is no pause.

DESDEMONA
But while I say one prayer!

OTHELLO
It is too late.
He stifles her

EMILIA
[Within] My lord , my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!

OTHELLO
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.

EMILIA
[Within] What, ho! my lord, my lord!

OTHELLO
Who’s there?

EMILIA
[Within] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!

OTHELLO
Yes: ’tis Emilia. By and by. She’s dead.
‘Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.—
The noise was here. 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! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
O insupportable! O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.

EMILIA
[Within] I do beseech you
That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!

OTHELLO
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?

EMILIA
O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done!

OTHELLO
What, now?

EMILIA
But now, my lord.

OTHELLO
It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more nearer earth than she was won’t,
And makes men mad.

EMILIA
Cassio, my lord, hath kill’d a young Venetian
Call’d Roderigo.

OTHELLO
Roderigo kill’d!
And Cassio kill’d!

EMILIA
No, Cassio is not kill’d.

OTHELLO
Not Cassio kill’d! then murder’s out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows harsh.

DESDEMONA
O, falsely, falsely murder’d!

EMILIA
Alas, what cry is that?

OTHELLO
That! what?

EMILIA
Out, and alas! that was my lady’s voice.
Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!

DESDEMONA
A guiltless death I die.

EMILIA
O, who hath done this deed?

DESDEMONA
Nobody; I myself. Farewell
Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!

Dies

OTHELLO
Why, how should she be murder’d?

EMILIA
Alas, who knows?

OTHELLO
You heard her say herself, it was not I.

EMILIA
She said so: I must needs report the truth.

OTHELLO
She’s, like a liar, gone to burning hell:
‘Twas I that kill’d her.

EMILIA
O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!

OTHELLO
She turn’d to folly, and she was a whore.

EMILIA
Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.

OTHELLO
She was false as water.

EMILIA
Thou art rash as fire

, to say
That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!

OTHELLO
Cassio did top 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.

EMILIA
My husband!

OTHELLO
Thy husband.

EMILIA
That she was false to wedlock?

OTHELLO
Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and Perfect chrysolite,
I’ld not have sold her for it.

EMILIA
My husband!

OTHELLO
Ay, ’twas he that told me first:
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds.

EMILIA
My husband!

OTHELLO
What needs this iteration, woman? I say thy husband.

EMILIA
O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love,
My husband say that she was false!

OTHELLO
He, woman;
I say thy husband: dost understand the word?
My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

EMILIA
If he say so, may his pernicious soul
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart:
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.

OTHELLO
Ha!

EMILIA
Do thy worst:
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
Than thou wast worthy her.

OTHELLO
Peace, you were best.

EMILIA
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 I lost twenty lives.—Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor hath kill’d my mistress! Murder! murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and others

MONTANO
What is the matter? How now, general!

EMILIA
O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murders on your neck.

GRATIANO
What is the matter?

EMILIA
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.

EMILIA
But did you ever tell him she was false?

IAGO
I did.

EMILIA
You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;
Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie.
She false with Cassio!—did you say with Cassio

?

IAGO
With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.

EMILIA
I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
My mistress here lies murder’d in her bed,—

ALL
O heavens forfend!

EMILIA
And your reports have set the murder on.

OTHELLO
Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.

GRATIANO
‘Tis a strange truth.

MONTANO
O monstrous act!

EMILIA
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.

EMILIA
Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:
‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.

OTHELLO
O! O! O!

He falls on the bed

EMILIA
Nay, lay thee down and roar;
For thou hast kill’d the sweetest innocent
That e’er did lift up eye.

OTHELLO
[Rising] O, she was foul!
I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece,
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp’d:
I know this act shows horrible and grim.

GRATIANO
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.

OTHELLO
‘Tis 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.

EMILIA
O heaven! O heavenly powers!

IAGO
Come, hold your peace.

EMILIA
‘Twill out, ’twill out: I peace!
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.

EMILIA
I will not.

IAGO offers to stab EMILIA

GRATIANO
Fie!
Your sword upon a woman?

EMILIA
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 it.

IAGO
Villanous whore!

EMILIA
She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it,
And I did give’t my husband.

IAGO
Filth, thou liest!

EMILIA
By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a woman?

OTHELLO
Are there no stones in heaven
But what serve for the thunder?—Precious villain!

He runs at IAGO IAGO, from behind, stabs EMILIA, and exit

GRATIANO
The woman falls; sure, he hath kill’d his wife.

EMILIA
Ay, ay: O, lay me by my mistress’ side.

GRATIANO
He’s gone, but his wife’s kill’d.

MONTANO
‘Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
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.

Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO

OTHELLO
I am not valiant neither,
But ever puny whipster gets my sword:
But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go all.

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

Singing

Willow, willow, willow,—
Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die, I die.

Dies

OTHELLO
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.

GRATIANO
[Within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

OTHELLO
Look in upon me then and speak with me,
Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO

GRATIANO
What is the matter?

OTHELLO
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!
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 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 Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! Oh! Oh!

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

LODOVICO
Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?

OTHELLO
That’s he that was Othello: here I am.

LODOVICO
Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.

OTHELLO
I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.
If that thou best a devil, I cannot kill thee.

Wounds IAGO

LODOVICO
Wrench his sword from him.

IAGO
I bleed, sir; but not kill’d.

OTHELLO
I am not sorry neither: I’ld have thee live;
For, in my sense, ’tis happiness to die.

LODOVICO
O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,
Fall’n in the practise of a damned slave,
What shall be said to thee?

OTHELLO
Why, any thing:
An honourable murderer, if you will;
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.

LODOVICO
This wretch hath part confess’d his villany:
Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?

OTHELLO
Ay.

CASSIO
Dear general, I never gave you cause.

OTHELLO
I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

IAGO
Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.

LODOVICO
What, not to pray?

GRATIANO
Torments will ope your lips.

OTHELLO
Well, thou dost best.

LODOVICO
Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
And here another: the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.

OTHELLO
O villain!

CASSIO
Most heathenish and most gross!

LODOVICO
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.

OTHELLO
O the pernicious caitiff!
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
That was my wife’s?

CASSIO
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.

OTHELLO
O fool! fool! fool!

CASSIO
There is besides in Roderigo’s letter,
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast: and even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.

LODOVICO
You must forsake this room, and go 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.

OTHELLO
Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know’t.
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 loved 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 subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.

Stabs himself

LODOVICO
O bloody period!

GRATIANO
All that’s spoke is marr’d.

OTHELLO
I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee: no way but this;
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

Falls on the bed, and dies

CASSIO
This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart.

LODOVICO
[To IAGO] O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
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.

Exeunt

отелло, мимоходом

Дочитал Отелло какое-то время назад. С тех пор часто прокручиваю в голове фразу «Put out the light, and then put out the light.» Собственно, этим объясняется предыдушая запись.

Что мне не понравилось: почти все разы, когда Яго остается один на сцене и рассказывает зрителям, какой он плохой и что задумал дальше творить. Меня это в какой-то момент настолько стало раздражать, что я начал воображать в уме, как бы я поставил Отелло без этих монологов. Придумал два способа: чтобы он в эти моменты просто стоял на сцене и смотрел на зрителей (столько же времени, сколько занимает произнести эти строки); или чтобы стоял, смотрел, а за ним открывался экран с субтитрами, по которому эти строки бы бежали.

Что очень понравилось: все остальное.

Интересно следить за тем, как одни слова и фразы совершенно меняют смысл, или не весь смысл, но важные нюансы — а в других словах ничто не изменилось совершенно за 400 лет. Меня впечатлили строки, полностью построенные на многозначности слова «любовь». Акт 4, сцена 1: Дездемона объясняет, почему вступается за Кассио:

LODOVICO
He did not call; he’s busy in the paper.
Is there division ‘twixt my lord and Cassio?

DESDEMONA
A most unhappy one: I would do much
To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.

OTHELLO
Fire and brimstone!

DESDEMONA
My lord?

OTHELLO
Are you wise?

Дездемона, со своей точки зрения, говорит совершенно невинные слова о дружеской симпатии, которую испытывает к Кассио. Отелло, уверенный уже в ее измене, не может понять эти слова иначе, как говорящие о романтической любви, и потрясен открытым признанием жены: сначала он не может сдержать восклицания, что-то вроде «черт побери!» (Дездемона не понимает, в чем дело, и с удивлением спрашивает: «My lord?»), потом интересуется: «вы в своем уме?»

Двусмысленность этих строк, и неизбежная многозначность «любви», никуда не делась и сейчас; смысл этого диалога очевиден современному читателю, пусть даже сегодняшняя Дездемона и не скажет «for the love I bear to Cassio».

Чтобы сохранить правдоподобность непонимания — учитывая то, что современная Дездемона не скажет так по-английски, и не скажет «любовь, что я питаю к Кассио» по-русски, Лозинский в своем переводе решил заменить «любовь» на другое слово. Мне немного жалко love, но по-моему, решение хорошее, потому что действительно можно поверить, что Дездемона говорит это невинно, а Отелло понимает это, как очевидное признание в измене:

Лодовико
Нет, он не к вам; он поглощен письмом.
Так между ним и Кассио нелады?

Дездемона
И пребольшие. Я была бы рада
Их помирить. Мне Кассио очень дорог.

Отелло
О, серный пламень!

Дездемона
Синьор?

Отелло
В уме ли ты?