SCENE II. A bedchamber in the castle: DESDEMONA in bed asleep; Othello, the Moore of Venice  Shakespeare homepage  |  Othello  | Act 5, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  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. 

 OTHELLO  If you bethink yourself of any crime 

 Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace, 

 Solicit for it straight. 

 DESDEMONA  Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that? 

 OTHELLO  Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by: 

 I would not kill thy unprepared spirit; 

 No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul. 

 DESDEMONA  Talk you of killing? 

 OTHELLO  Ay, I do. 

 DESDEMONA  Then heaven 

 Have mercy on me! 

 OTHELLO  Amen, with all my heart! 

 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 wont, 

 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 