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Ayil. You told a lie; an odious, damned
Upon my soul, a lie; a wicked lie:+ [lie;
She false with Cassio!-Did you say with
Cassio?
[your tongue.
Jago. With Cassio, mistress; Go to, charm
Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am
bound to speak;

!

(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
And I did give't my husband.
Iago.

[it, Filth, thou liest.

Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gen-
tlemen :

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed.
All. O heavens forefend
Emil. And your reports have set the mur-Do with so good a wife?
der on.

[fool O murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a

Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true,
Gra. 'Tis a strange truth.
Mon. O monstrous act!
Emil

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[indeed. Villany, villany, villany!I think upon't, I think,-I smell't;-0 villany! I thought so then; I'll kill myself for grief.. O villany, villany! [get you home. Iago. What, are you mad? I charge you, Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak;

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'Tis proper I obey him, but not now :-
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
Oth. 01 O! O! [Hanging over his wife.
Emil. Nay, lay thee down, and roar;
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,
That e'er did lift up eye.
Oth.
O, she was foul
[Rising.
I scarce did know you, uncle: There lies your
niece,
[stopp'd
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly
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...

Oth. 'Tis pitiful: but yet Iago knows,
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'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!
lago.
Come, hold your peace.
Emil. Twill out, 'twill out;-I hold my
peace, sir? no:

No, I will speak as liberal + as the air;
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.
1 will not.
[IAGO offers to stab his Wife.

Gra.

Your sword upon a woman?
Emil. O thou dull Moor! that
chief thou speak'st of,

Fie!

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[IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out.
Oth.
Are there no stones in heaven,
But what serve for the thunder?-Precious
villain!
[his wife.
Gra. The woman falls; sure, he has kill'd
Emil. Ay, ay; 0, lay me by my mistress'
Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd. [side!
Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take yon
this weapon,

Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:
Come, guard the door without; let him not
pass,
[lain,
But kill him rather; I'll after that same vil-
For 'tis a damned slave.

,』,

[Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO.
Oth.
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,
[low.-
And die in music;--Willow, willow, wil
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.
Oth. I have another weapon in this cham-
[pert;

ber,

It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's tem-
O, here it is :-Uncle, I must come forth.
Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will

cost thee dear;
[fer.
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suf-
Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with
Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. [me,

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Re-enter GRATIANO.

Gra. What is the matter?
Oth.

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 impedi-

ments

[boast!

Than twenty times your stop:-But, O vain
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,
handker-And he retires; Where should Othello go?-
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd
[compt,
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at

found by fortune, and did give my husband; For often, with a solemn earnestness, + Free.

• Forbid.

wench!

Steel is hardened by being put red-hot into very cold water.

§ Account,

This look of thine will hurt my soul from
heaven,
[girl?
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my
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 Desdemona! Desdemonal dead?
Dead O! O! O!

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

Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? [am. Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. (that's a fable: Oth. I look down towards his feet;-but If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [OTHELLO Wounds IAGO. Lod. Wrench his sword from him. Iago. I bleed, sir; but not killed. Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. [live; Lod. O thou Othello, that was once so good, Fall'n in the practice+ of a cursed slave, What shall be said to thee?

Oth.
Why, any thing:
An honourable murderer, if you will;
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.
Lod. This wretch hath part confessed his
villany:

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

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil, Why he hath thus insnared my soul and body? Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know, you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.
Lod. What? not to pray?
Gra.

Torments will ope your lips.
Oth. Well, thou dost best.
Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath'
befall'n,

[letter,
Which, as I think, you know not: Here is a
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigu;
And here, another: the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
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 vilBut that, belike, Iago in the interim [lain; Came in and satisfied him.

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

Cas.

And he himself confess'd, but even now
That there he dropp'd it, for a special purpose,
Which wrought to his desire.
Oth.
O fool! fool! fool!
Cas. 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.
[with us;

Lod. You must forsake this room, and go
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.
[go.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you I have done the state some service, and they know it;

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 Judean, threw a pearl away,
Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose sub-
dued 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.

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 no
For he was great of heart.
[weapon;
Lod.
O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea;
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;

[To IAGO. 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 to you.-To you, lord go

vernor

Remains the censure of this hellish villain; The time, the place, the torture,-O enforce it! Myself will straight abroad; and, to the state, This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

I found it in my chamber: 164 + By the stratagem.

To see if his feet be cloven.

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05

beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the attention of the reader, that ey can draw no aid from critical illustration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs, and studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakspeare's skill ín human naturas, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to inflame him, are so artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be said of him as he says of himself, that he is a man not easily jealous, yet we cannot but pity him, when at last we find him perplexed in the extreme.

There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the character of Lago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised.

Even the inferior characters of this play would be very conspicuous in any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio is brave, benevolent, and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation. Roderigo's suspicions credulity, and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and which by persuasion he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind be trayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; and the virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast of, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villanies.

The scenes from the beginning to the end are busy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello.

Had the scene openedin Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and scrupulous regularity.-JOHNSON.

THE END

London, Printed by William Clowes, Northumberland-court.

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