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EMIL. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
IAGO. 'Zounds! hold your peace.
EMIL.

"T will out, 't will 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.

EMIL.

GRA.

Your sword upon a woman!

I will not.

[Iago offers to stab Emilia.

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 it.

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

Othello gives another account of the early history of the handkerchief, where it is stated that an "Egyptian charmer" gave it his mother. 223 liberal as the north] as free and as unrestrained as a blast of the north wind. All the early editions read north, save the First Quarto, which has ayre. Cf. Cymb., I, iii, 36-37: "And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, Shakes all our buds from growing."

230

Отн. 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. 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. "T is 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 't is a damned slave. [Exeunt all but Othello and Emilia.
Отн.
I am not valiant neither,

But every puny whipster gets my sword.

But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go

all.

EMIL. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,

237-238 Are there no stones... thunder] Can heaven not spare one bolt for this villain? is it all needed for thunder? Cf. Jul. Cæs., I, iii, 49, "the thunderstone" [i. e., thunderbolt], and Cymb., IV, ii, 272, "the all-dreaded thunder-stone."

238 Precious] Thus all the old editions, save the Second and Third Quartos, which read pernitious.

242 notorious] colloquially used much like "egregious" or "outrageous.” Cf. IV, ii, 141, supra.

247 whipster] "whipper-snapper;" a term of contempt.

248 honour... honesty] Othello is thinking of his own valour and his wife's proven chastity.

249-251 What did . . . willow] The First Quarto omits these lines. 250 I will play the swan] The ancient superstition that the swan sings

for the first time in death is constantly noticed by classical writers and by sixteenth-century English poets. Shakespeare mentions it

240

250

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.

OTн. 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.

[Dies.

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

OTн. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, 260 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? 't is not so now.

many times. Cf. Merch. of Ven., III, ii, 44–45: “he makes a swanlike end Fading in music."

256 It is a sword of Spain . . . temper] The best swords came from Spain, and more especially from Bilboa or Toledo. The steel blades were tempered by plunging the steel while it was red-hot into ice-cold Martial (Epigrams, Bk. i, 49, 12, and iv, 55, 15) mentions that the icy-cold temperature of the Spanish river Xalon effectively tempered steel if it were plunged into it when it was red-hot.

water.

261 naked] sc. of arms, unarmed.

267 your stop] your power of resistance.

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? 't is 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!

269–275] Be not . . . wench!] The First Quarto omits these lines. 270 butt] goal, target of an archer.

271 sea-mark] beacon at sea; cf. Cor., V, iii, 74: “Like a great sea-mark.” 272 lost] useless, profitless.

273 Man but a rush] Direct or aim so weak a weapon as a reed or rush. 275 wench] often used as a term of endearment.

276 at compt] at the day of reckoning or judgment.

282 Blow... winds] Cf. Claudio's speech in Meas. for Meas., III, i, 125-127: “To be imprison'd in the viewless winds And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world.”

284-285 O Desdemona! . . . Oh! Oh! Oh!] Thus substantially the Quartos. The First Folio reads, Oh Desdemon! dead Desdemon: dead. Oh! oh! The Second Folio has dead dead for the second dead. The Third and Fourth Folios accept this last reading, but substitute Desdemona for Desdemon.

270

280

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

LOD. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
Отн. That's he that was Othello: here I am.
LOD. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
Отн. I look down towards his feet; but that's a

fable.

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

LOD. Wrench his sword from him.
IAGO.

[Wounds Iago.

I bleed, sir, but not kill'd.

Отн. I am not sorry neither: I 'ld have thee live; For, in my sense, 't is happiness to die.

LOD. O thou Othello, that wert once so good,

Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave,

What shall be said to thee?

Отн.

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?
Отн. Ау.

CAS. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTн. 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?

289 I look down

cloven feet.

fable] a reference to the story that the Devil has

290 I cannot kill thee] a reference to the belief that devils are immortal. 295 practice] treacherous plot.

290

300

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