SCENE I. A Sea-port in Cyprus. An open place near the quay. Othello, the Moore of Venice  Shakespeare homepage  |  Othello  | Act 2, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE I. A Sea-port in Cyprus. An open place near the quay. 

 Enter MONTANO and two Gentlemen  MONTANO  What from the cape can you discern at sea? 

 First Gentleman  Nothing at all: it is a highwrought flood; 

 I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main, 

 Descry a sail. 

 MONTANO  Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land; 

 A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements: 

 If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea, 

 What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them, 

 Can hold the mortise? What shall we hear of this? 

 Second Gentleman  A segregation of the Turkish fleet: 

 For do but stand upon the foaming shore, 

 The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds; 

 The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane, 

 seems to cast water on the burning bear, 

 And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole: 

 I never did like molestation view 

 On the enchafed flood. 

 MONTANO  If that the Turkish fleet 

 Be not enshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd: 

 It is impossible they bear it out. 



 Enter a third Gentleman  Third Gentleman  News, lads! our wars are done. 

 The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks, 

 That their designment halts: a noble ship of Venice 

 Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance 

 On most part of their fleet. 

 MONTANO  How! is this true? 

 Third Gentleman  The ship is here put in, 

 A Veronesa; Michael Cassio, 

 Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello, 

 Is come on shore: the Moor himself at sea, 

 And is in full commission here for Cyprus. 

 MONTANO  I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor. 

 Third Gentleman  But this same Cassio, though he speak of comfort 

 Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly, 

 And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted 

 With foul and violent tempest. 

 MONTANO  Pray heavens he be; 

 For I have served him, and the man commands 

 Like a full soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho! 

 As well to see the vessel that's come in 

 As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello, 

 Even till we make the main and the aerial blue 

 An indistinct regard. 

 Third Gentleman  Come, let's do so: 

 For every minute is expectancy 

 Of more arrivance. 



 Enter CASSIO  CASSIO  Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle, 

 That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens 

 Give him defence against the elements, 

 For I have lost us him on a dangerous sea. 

 MONTANO  Is he well shipp'd? 

 CASSIO  His bark is stoutly timber'd, his pilot 

 Of very expert and approved allowance; 

 Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death, 

 Stand in bold cure. 



 A cry within 'A sail, a sail, a sail!' 

 Enter a fourth Gentleman  CASSIO  What noise? 

 Fourth Gentleman  The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea 

 Stand ranks of people, and they cry 'A sail!' 

 CASSIO  My hopes do shape him for the governor. 



 Guns heard  Second Gentlemen  They do discharge their shot of courtesy: 

 Our friends at least. 

 CASSIO  I pray you, sir, go forth, 

 And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived. 

 Second Gentleman  I shall. 



 Exit  MONTANO  But, good lieutenant, is your general wived? 

 CASSIO  Most fortunately: he hath achieved a maid 

 That paragons description and wild fame; 

 One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, 

 And in the essential vesture of creation 

 Does tire the ingener. 



 Re-enter second Gentleman  How now! who has put in? 

 Second Gentleman  'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general. 

 CASSIO  Has had most favourable and happy speed: 

 Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds, 

 The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands-- 

 Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,-- 

 As having sense of beauty, do omit 

 Their mortal natures, letting go safely by 

 The divine Desdemona. 

 MONTANO  What is she? 

 CASSIO  She that I spake of, our great captain's captain, 

 Left in the conduct of the bold Iago, 

 Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts 

 A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard, 

 And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath, 

 That he may bless this bay with his tall ship, 

 Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms, 

 Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits 

 And bring all Cyprus comfort! 



 Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Attendants  O, behold, 

 The riches of the ship is come on shore! 

 Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees. 

 Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven, 

 Before, behind thee, and on every hand, 

 Enwheel thee round! 

 DESDEMONA  I thank you, valiant Cassio. 

 What tidings can you tell me of my lord? 

 CASSIO  He is not yet arrived: nor know I aught 

 But that he's well and will be shortly here. 

 DESDEMONA  O, but I fear--How lost you company? 

 CASSIO  The great contention of the sea and skies 

 Parted our fellowship--But, hark! a sail. 



 Within 'A sail, a sail!' Guns heard  Second Gentleman  They give their greeting to the citadel; 

 This likewise is a friend. 

 CASSIO  See for the news. 



 Exit Gentleman  Good ancient, you are welcome. 



 To EMILIA  Welcome, mistress. 

 Let it not gall your patience, good Iago, 

 That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding 

 That gives me this bold show of courtesy. 



 Kissing her  IAGO  Sir, would she give you so much of her lips 

 As of her tongue she oft bestows on me, 

 You'll have enough. 

 DESDEMONA  Alas, she has no speech. 

 IAGO  In faith, too much; 

 I find it still, when I have list to sleep: 

 Marry, before your ladyship, I grant, 

 She puts her tongue a little in her heart, 

 And chides with thinking. 

 EMILIA  You have little cause to say so. 

 IAGO  Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors, 

 Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, 

 Saints m your injuries, devils being offended, 

 Players in your housewifery, and housewives' in your beds. 

 DESDEMONA  O, fie upon thee, slanderer! 

 IAGO  Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk: 

 You rise to play and go to bed to work. 

 EMILIA  You shall not write my praise. 

 IAGO  No, let me not. 

 DESDEMONA  What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst 

 praise me? 

 IAGO  O gentle lady, do not put me to't; 

 For I am nothing, if not critical. 

 DESDEMONA  Come on assay. There's one gone to the harbour? 

 IAGO  Ay, madam. 

 DESDEMONA  I am not merry; but I do beguile 

 The thing I am, by seeming otherwise. 

 Come, how wouldst thou praise me? 

 IAGO  I am about it; but indeed my invention 

 Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frize; 

 It plucks out brains and all: but my Muse labours, 

 And thus she is deliver'd. 

 If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit, 

 The one's for use, the other useth it. 

 DESDEMONA  Well praised! How if she be black and witty? 

 IAGO  If she be black, and thereto have a wit, 

 She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit. 

 DESDEMONA  Worse and worse. 

 EMILIA  How if fair and foolish? 

 IAGO  She never yet was foolish that was fair; 

 For even her folly help'd her to an heir. 

 DESDEMONA  These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' 

 the alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for 

 her that's foul and foolish? 

 IAGO  There's none so foul and foolish thereunto, 

 But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do. 

 DESDEMONA  O heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst best. 

 But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving 

 woman indeed, one that, in the authority of her 

 merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself? 

 IAGO  She that was ever fair and never proud, 

 Had tongue at will and yet was never loud, 

 Never lack'd gold and yet went never gay, 

 Fled from her wish and yet said 'Now I may,' 

 She that being anger'd, her revenge being nigh, 

 Bade her wrong stay and her displeasure fly, 

 She that in wisdom never was so frail 

 To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail; 

 She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind, 

 See suitors following and not look behind, 

 She was a wight, if ever such wight were,-- 

 DESDEMONA  To do what? 

 IAGO  To suckle fools and chronicle small beer. 

 DESDEMONA  O most lame and impotent conclusion! Do not learn 

 of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband. How say 

 you, Cassio? is he not a most profane and liberal 

 counsellor? 

 CASSIO  He speaks home, madam: You may relish him more in 

 the soldier than in the scholar. 

 IAGO  [Aside]  He takes her by the palm: ay, well said, 

 whisper: with as little a web as this will I 

 ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon 

 her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. 

 You say true; 'tis so, indeed: if such tricks as 

 these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had 

 been better you had not kissed your three fingers so 

 oft, which now again you are most apt to play the 

 sir in. Very good; well kissed! an excellent 

 courtesy! 'tis so, indeed. Yet again your fingers 

 to your lips? would they were clyster-pipes for your sake! 



 Trumpet within  The Moor! I know his trumpet. 

 CASSIO  'Tis truly so. 

 DESDEMONA  Let's meet him and receive him. 

 CASSIO  Lo, where he comes! 



 Enter OTHELLO and Attendants  OTHELLO  O my fair warrior! 

 DESDEMONA  My dear Othello! 

 OTHELLO  It gives me wonder great as my content 

 To see you here before me. O my soul's joy! 

 If after every tempest come such calms, 

 May the winds blow till they have waken'd death! 

 And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas 

 Olympus-high and duck again as low 

 As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die, 

 'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear, 

 My soul hath her content so absolute 

 That not another comfort like to this 

 Succeeds in unknown fate. 

 DESDEMONA  The heavens forbid 

 But that our loves and comforts should increase, 

 Even as our days do grow! 

 OTHELLO  Amen to that, sweet powers! 

 I cannot speak enough of this content; 

 It stops me here; it is too much of joy: 

 And this, and this, the greatest discords be 



 Kissing her  That e'er our hearts shall make! 

 IAGO  [Aside]  O, you are well tuned now! 

 But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, 

 As honest as I am. 

 OTHELLO  Come, let us to the castle. 

 News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks 

 are drown'd. 

 How does my old acquaintance of this isle? 

 Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus; 

 I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet, 

 I prattle out of fashion, and I dote 

 In mine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago, 

 Go to the bay and disembark my coffers: 

 Bring thou the master to the citadel; 

 He is a good one, and his worthiness 

 Does challenge much respect. Come, Desdemona, 

 Once more, well met at Cyprus. 



 Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants  IAGO  Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come 

 hither. If thou be'st valiant,-- as, they say, base 

 men being in love have then a nobility in their 

 natures more than is native to them--list me. The 

 lieutenant tonight watches on the court of 

 guard:--first, I must tell thee this--Desdemona is 

 directly in love with him. 

 RODERIGO  With him! why, 'tis not possible. 

 IAGO  Lay thy finger thus, and let thy soul be instructed. 

 Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor, 

 but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies: 

 and will she love him still for prating? let not 

 thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed; 

 and what delight shall she have to look on the 

 devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of 

 sport, there should be, again to inflame it and to 

 give satiety a fresh appetite, loveliness in favour, 

 sympathy in years, manners and beauties; all which 

 the Moor is defective in: now, for want of these 

 required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will 

 find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge, 

 disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will 

 instruct her in it and compel her to some second 

 choice. Now, sir, this granted,--as it is a most 

 pregnant and unforced position--who stands so 

 eminent in the degree of this fortune as Cassio 

 does? a knave very voluble; no further 

 conscionable than in putting on the mere form of 

 civil and humane seeming, for the better compassing 

 of his salt and most hidden loose affection? why, 

 none; why, none: a slipper and subtle knave, a 

 finder of occasions, that has an eye can stamp and 

 counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never 

 present itself; a devilish knave. Besides, the 

 knave is handsome, young, and hath all those 

 requisites in him that folly and green minds look 

 after: a pestilent complete knave; and the woman 

 hath found him already. 

 RODERIGO  I cannot believe that in her; she's full of 

 most blessed condition. 

 IAGO  Blessed fig's-end! the wine she drinks is made of 

 grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never 

 have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou 

 not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst 

 not mark that? 

 RODERIGO  Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy. 

 IAGO  Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure prologue 

 to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met 

 so near with their lips that their breaths embraced 

 together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these 

 mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes 

 the master and main exercise, the incorporate 

 conclusion, Pish! But, sir, be you ruled by me: I 

 have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; 

 for the command, I'll lay't upon you. Cassio knows 

 you not. I'll not be far from you: do you find 

 some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking 

 too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what 

 other course you please, which the time shall more 

 favourably minister. 

 RODERIGO  Well. 

 IAGO  Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply 

 may strike at you: provoke him, that he may; for 

 even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to 

 mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true 

 taste again but by the displanting of Cassio. So 

 shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by 

 the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the 

 impediment most profitably removed, without the 

 which there were no expectation of our prosperity. 

 RODERIGO  I will do this, if I can bring it to any 

 opportunity. 

 IAGO  I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel: 

 I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell. 

 RODERIGO  Adieu. 



 Exit  IAGO  That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it; 

 That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit: 

 The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not, 

 Is of a constant, loving, noble nature, 

 And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona 

 A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too; 

 Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure 

 I stand accountant for as great a sin, 

 But partly led to diet my revenge, 

 For that I do suspect the lusty Moor 

 Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof 

 Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards; 

 And nothing can or shall content my soul 

 Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife, 

 Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor 

 At least into a jealousy so strong 

 That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do, 

 If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash 

 For his quick hunting, stand the putting on, 

 I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip, 

 Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb-- 

 For I fear Cassio with my night-cap too-- 

 Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward me. 

 For making him egregiously an ass 

 And practising upon his peace and quiet 

 Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confused: 

 Knavery's plain face is never seen tin used. 



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