SCENE III. The garden of the castle. Othello, the Moore of Venice  Shakespeare homepage  |  Othello  | Act 3, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE III. The garden of the castle. 

 Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA  DESDEMONA  Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do 

 All my abilities in thy behalf. 

 EMILIA  Good madam, do: I warrant it grieves my husband, 

 As if the case were his. 

 DESDEMONA  O, that's an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio, 

 But I will have my lord and you again 

 As friendly as you were. 

 CASSIO  Bounteous madam, 

 Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio, 

 He's never any thing but your true servant. 

 DESDEMONA  I know't; I thank you. You do love my lord: 

 You have known him long; and be you well assured 

 He shall in strangeness stand no further off 

 Than in a polite distance. 

 CASSIO  Ay, but, lady, 

 That policy may either last so long, 

 Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet, 

 Or breed itself so out of circumstance, 

 That, I being absent and my place supplied, 

 My general will forget my love and service. 

 DESDEMONA  Do not doubt that; before Emilia here 

 I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee, 

 If I do vow a friendship, I'll perform it 

 To the last article: my lord shall never rest; 

 I'll watch him tame and talk him out of patience; 

 His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift; 

 I'll intermingle every thing he does 

 With Cassio's suit: therefore be merry, Cassio; 

 For thy solicitor shall rather die 

 Than give thy cause away. 

 EMILIA  Madam, here comes my lord. 

 CASSIO  Madam, I'll take my leave. 

 DESDEMONA  Why, stay, and hear me speak. 

 CASSIO  Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease, 

 Unfit for mine own purposes. 

 DESDEMONA  Well, do your discretion. 



 Exit CASSIO 

 Enter OTHELLO and IAGO  IAGO  Ha! I like not that. 

 OTHELLO  What dost thou say? 

 IAGO  Nothing, my lord: or if--I know not what. 

 OTHELLO  Was not that Cassio parted from my wife? 

 IAGO  Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it, 

 That he would steal away so guilty-like, 

 Seeing you coming. 

 OTHELLO  I do believe 'twas he. 

 DESDEMONA  How now, my lord! 

 I have been talking with a suitor here, 

 A man that languishes in your displeasure. 

 OTHELLO  Who is't you mean? 

 DESDEMONA  Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord, 

 If I have any grace or power to move you, 

 His present reconciliation take; 

 For if he be not one that truly loves you, 

 That errs in ignorance and not in cunning, 

 I have no judgment in an honest face: 

 I prithee, call him back. 

 OTHELLO  Went he hence now? 

 DESDEMONA  Ay, sooth; so humbled 

 That he hath left part of his grief with me, 

 To suffer with him. Good love, call him back. 

 OTHELLO  Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time. 

 DESDEMONA  But shall't be shortly? 

 OTHELLO  The sooner, sweet, for you. 

 DESDEMONA  Shall't be to-night at supper? 

 OTHELLO  No, not to-night. 

 DESDEMONA  To-morrow dinner, then? 

 OTHELLO  I shall not dine at home; 

 I meet the captains at the citadel. 

 DESDEMONA  Why, then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday morn; 

 On Tuesday noon, or night; on Wednesday morn: 

 I prithee, name the time, but let it not 

 Exceed three days: in faith, he's penitent; 

 And yet his trespass, in our common reason-- 

 Save that, they say, the wars must make examples 

 Out of their best--is not almost a fault 

 To incur a private cheque. When shall he come? 

 Tell me, Othello: I wonder in my soul, 

 What you would ask me, that I should deny, 

 Or stand so mammering on. What! Michael Cassio, 

 That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time, 

 When I have spoke of you dispraisingly, 

 Hath ta'en your part; to have so much to do 

 To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much,-- 

 OTHELLO  Prithee, no more: let him come when he will; 

 I will deny thee nothing. 

 DESDEMONA  Why, this is not a boon; 

 'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves, 

 Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm, 

 Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit 

 To your own person: nay, when I have a suit 

 Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed, 

 It shall be full of poise and difficult weight 

 And fearful to be granted. 

 OTHELLO  I will deny thee nothing: 

 Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this, 

 To leave me but a little to myself. 

 DESDEMONA  Shall I deny you? no: farewell, my lord. 

 OTHELLO  Farewell, my Desdemona: I'll come to thee straight. 

 DESDEMONA  Emilia, come. Be as your fancies teach you; 

 Whate'er you be, I am obedient. 



 Exeunt DESDEMONA and EMILIA  OTHELLO  Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, 

 But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, 

 Chaos is come again. 

 IAGO  My noble lord-- 

 OTHELLO  What dost thou say, Iago? 

 IAGO  Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady, 

 Know of your love? 

 OTHELLO  He did, from first to last: why dost thou ask? 

 IAGO  But for a satisfaction of my thought; 

 No further harm. 

 OTHELLO  Why of thy thought, Iago? 

 IAGO  I did not think he had been acquainted with her. 

 OTHELLO  O, yes; and went between us very oft. 

 IAGO  Indeed! 

 OTHELLO  Indeed! ay, indeed: discern'st thou aught in that? 

 Is he not honest? 

 IAGO  Honest, my lord! 

 OTHELLO  Honest! ay, honest. 

 IAGO  My lord, for aught I know. 

 OTHELLO  What dost thou think? 

 IAGO  Think, my lord! 

 OTHELLO  Think, my lord! 

 By heaven, he echoes me, 

 As if there were some monster in his thought 

 Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something: 

 I heard thee say even now, thou likedst not that, 

 When Cassio left my wife: what didst not like? 

 And when I told thee he was of my counsel 

 In my whole course of wooing, thou criedst 'Indeed!' 

 And didst contract and purse thy brow together, 

 As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain 

 Some horrible conceit: if thou dost love me, 

 Show me thy thought. 

 IAGO  My lord, you know I love you. 

 OTHELLO  I think thou dost; 

 And, for I know thou'rt full of love and honesty, 

 And weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath, 

 Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more: 

 For such things in a false disloyal knave 

 Are tricks of custom, but in a man that's just 

 They are close delations, working from the heart 

 That passion cannot rule. 

 IAGO  For Michael Cassio, 

 I dare be sworn I think that he is honest. 

 OTHELLO  I think so too. 

 IAGO  Men should be what they seem; 

 Or those that be not, would they might seem none! 

 OTHELLO  Certain, men should be what they seem. 

 IAGO  Why, then, I think Cassio's an honest man. 

 OTHELLO  Nay, yet there's more in this: 

 I prithee, speak to me as to thy thinkings, 

 As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts 

 The worst of words. 

 IAGO  Good my lord, pardon me: 

 Though I am bound to every act of duty, 

 I am not bound to that all slaves are free to. 

 Utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and false; 

 As where's that palace whereinto foul things 

 Sometimes intrude not? who has a breast so pure, 

 But some uncleanly apprehensions 

 Keep leets and law-days and in session sit 

 With meditations lawful? 

 OTHELLO  Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago, 

 If thou but think'st him wrong'd and makest his ear 

 A stranger to thy thoughts. 

 IAGO  I do beseech you-- 

 Though I perchance am vicious in my guess, 

 As, I confess, it is my nature's plague 

 To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy 

 Shapes faults that are not--that your wisdom yet, 

 From one that so imperfectly conceits, 

 Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble 

 Out of his scattering and unsure observance. 

 It were not for your quiet nor your good, 

 Nor for my manhood, honesty, or wisdom, 

 To let you know my thoughts. 

 OTHELLO  What dost thou mean? 

 IAGO  Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 

 Is the immediate jewel of their souls: 

 Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 

 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands: 

 But he that filches from me my good name 

 Robs me of that which not enriches him 

 And makes me poor indeed. 

 OTHELLO  By heaven, I'll know thy thoughts. 

 IAGO  You cannot, if my heart were in your hand; 

 Nor shall not, whilst 'tis in my custody. 

 OTHELLO  Ha! 

 IAGO  O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; 

 It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock 

 The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss 

 Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; 

 But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er 

 Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves! 

 OTHELLO  O misery! 

 IAGO  Poor and content is rich and rich enough, 

 But riches fineless is as poor as winter 

 To him that ever fears he shall be poor. 

 Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend 

 From jealousy! 

 OTHELLO  Why, why is this? 

 Think'st thou I'ld make a lie of jealousy, 

 To follow still the changes of the moon 

 With fresh suspicions? No; to be once in doubt 

 Is once to be resolved: exchange me for a goat, 

 When I shall turn the business of my soul 

 To such exsufflicate and blown surmises, 

 Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous 

 To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company, 

 Is free of speech, sings, plays and dances well; 

 Where virtue is, these are more virtuous: 

 Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw 

 The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt; 

 For she had eyes, and chose me. No, Iago; 

 I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; 

 And on the proof, there is no more but this,-- 

 Away at once with love or jealousy! 

 IAGO  I am glad of it; for now I shall have reason 

 To show the love and duty that I bear you 

 With franker spirit: therefore, as I am bound, 

 Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof. 

 Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; 

 Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure: 

 I would not have your free and noble nature, 

 Out of self-bounty, be abused; look to't: 

 I know our country disposition well; 

 In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks 

 They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience 

 Is not to leave't undone, but keep't unknown. 

 OTHELLO  Dost thou say so? 

 IAGO  She did deceive her father, marrying you; 

 And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks, 

 She loved them most. 

 OTHELLO  And so she did. 

 IAGO  Why, go to then; 

 She that, so young, could give out such a seeming, 

 To seal her father's eyes up close as oak- 

 He thought 'twas witchcraft--but I am much to blame; 

 I humbly do beseech you of your pardon 

 For too much loving you. 

 OTHELLO  I am bound to thee for ever. 

 IAGO  I see this hath a little dash'd your spirits. 

 OTHELLO  Not a jot, not a jot. 

 IAGO  I' faith, I fear it has. 

 I hope you will consider what is spoke 

 Comes from my love. But I do see you're moved: 

 I am to pray you not to strain my speech 

 To grosser issues nor to larger reach 

 Than to suspicion. 

 OTHELLO  I will not. 

 IAGO  Should you do so, my lord, 

 My speech should fall into such vile success 

 As my thoughts aim not at. Cassio's my worthy friend-- 

 My lord, I see you're moved. 

 OTHELLO  No, not much moved: 

 I do not think but Desdemona's honest. 

 IAGO  Long live she so! and long live you to think so! 

 OTHELLO  And yet, how nature erring from itself,-- 

 IAGO  Ay, there's the point: as--to be bold with you-- 

 Not to affect many proposed matches 

 Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, 

 Whereto we see in all things nature tends-- 

 Foh! one may smell in such a will most rank, 

 Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural. 

 But pardon me; I do not in position 

 Distinctly speak of her; though I may fear 

 Her will, recoiling to her better judgment, 

 May fall to match you with her country forms 

 And happily repent. 

 OTHELLO  Farewell, farewell: 

 If more thou dost perceive, let me know more; 

 Set on thy wife to observe: leave me, Iago: 

 IAGO  [Going]  My lord, I take my leave. 

 OTHELLO  Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless 

 Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds. 

 IAGO  [Returning]  My lord, I would I might entreat 

 your honour 

 To scan this thing no further; leave it to time: 

 Though it be fit that Cassio have his place, 

 For sure, he fills it up with great ability, 

 Yet, if you please to hold him off awhile, 

 You shall by that perceive him and his means: 

 Note, if your lady strain his entertainment 

 With any strong or vehement importunity; 

 Much will be seen in that. In the mean time, 

 Let me be thought too busy in my fears-- 

 As worthy cause I have to fear I am-- 

 And hold her free, I do beseech your honour. 

 OTHELLO  Fear not my government. 

 IAGO  I once more take my leave. 



 Exit  OTHELLO  This fellow's of exceeding honesty, 

 And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit, 

 Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard, 

 Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings, 

 I'ld whistle her off and let her down the wind, 

 To pray at fortune. Haply, for I am black 

 And have not those soft parts of conversation 

 That chamberers have, or for I am declined 

 Into the vale of years,--yet that's not much-- 

 She's gone. I am abused; and my relief 

 Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage, 

 That we can call these delicate creatures ours, 

 And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad, 

 And live upon the vapour of a dungeon, 

 Than keep a corner in the thing I love 

 For others' uses. Yet, 'tis the plague of great ones; 

 Prerogatived are they less than the base; 

 'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death: 

 Even then this forked plague is fated to us 

 When we do quicken. Desdemona comes: 



 Re-enter DESDEMONA and EMILIA  If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself! 

 I'll not believe't. 

 DESDEMONA  How now, my dear Othello! 

 Your dinner, and the generous islanders 

 By you invited, do attend your presence. 

 OTHELLO  I am to blame. 

 DESDEMONA  Why do you speak so faintly? 

 Are you not well? 

 OTHELLO  I have a pain upon my forehead here. 

 DESDEMONA  'Faith, that's with watching; 'twill away again: 

 Let me but bind it hard, within this hour 

 It will be well. 

 OTHELLO  Your napkin is too little: 



 He puts the handkerchief from him; and it drops  Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you. 

 DESDEMONA  I am very sorry that you are not well. 



 Exeunt OTHELLO and DESDEMONA  EMILIA  I am glad I have found this napkin: 

 This was her first remembrance from the Moor: 

 My wayward husband hath a hundred times 

 Woo'd me to steal it; but she so loves the token, 

 For he conjured her she should ever keep it, 

 That she reserves it evermore about her 

 To kiss and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out, 

 And give't Iago: what he will do with it 

 Heaven knows, not I; 

 I nothing but to please his fantasy. 



 Re-enter Iago  IAGO  How now! what do you here alone? 

 EMILIA  Do not you chide; I have a thing for you. 

 IAGO  A thing for me? it is a common thing-- 

 EMILIA  Ha! 

 IAGO  To have a foolish wife. 

 EMILIA  O, is that all? What will you give me now 

 For the same handkerchief? 

 IAGO  What handkerchief? 

 EMILIA  What handkerchief? 

 Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona; 

 That which so often you did bid me steal. 

 IAGO  Hast stol'n it from her? 

 EMILIA  No, 'faith; she let it drop by negligence. 

 And, to the advantage, I, being here, took't up. 

 Look, here it is. 

 IAGO  A good wench; give it me. 

 EMILIA  What will you do with 't, that you have been 

 so earnest 

 To have me filch it? 

 IAGO  [Snatching it]  Why, what's that to you? 

 EMILIA  If it be not for some purpose of import, 

 Give't me again: poor lady, she'll run mad 

 When she shall lack it. 

 IAGO  Be not acknown on 't; I have use for it. 

 Go, leave me. 



 Exit EMILIA  I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin, 

 And let him find it. Trifles light as air 

 Are to the jealous confirmations strong 

 As proofs of holy writ: this may do something. 

 The Moor already changes with my poison: 

 Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons. 

 Which at the first are scarce found to distaste, 

 But with a little act upon the blood. 

 Burn like the mines of Sulphur. I did say so: 

 Look, where he comes! 



 Re-enter OTHELLO  Not poppy, nor mandragora, 

 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 

 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 

 Which thou owedst yesterday. 

 OTHELLO  Ha! ha! false to me? 

 IAGO  Why, how now, general! no more of that. 

 OTHELLO  Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack: 

 I swear 'tis better to be much abused 

 Than but to know't a little. 

 IAGO  How now, my lord! 

 OTHELLO  What sense had I of her stol'n hours of lust? 

 I saw't not, thought it not, it harm'd not me: 

 I slept the next night well, was free and merry; 

 I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips: 

 He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n, 

 Let him not know't, and he's not robb'd at all. 

 IAGO  I am sorry to hear this. 

 OTHELLO  I had been happy, if the general camp, 

 Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body, 

 So I had nothing known. O, now, for ever 

 Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content! 

 Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, 

 That make ambition virtue! O, farewell! 

 Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, 

 The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, 

 The royal banner, and all quality, 

 Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war! 

 And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats 

 The immortal Jove's dead clamours counterfeit, 

 Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone! 

 IAGO  Is't possible, my lord? 

 OTHELLO  Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore, 

 Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof: 

 Or by the worth of man's eternal soul, 

 Thou hadst been better have been born a dog 

 Than answer my waked wrath! 

 IAGO  Is't come to this? 

 OTHELLO  Make me to see't; or, at the least, so prove it, 

 That the probation bear no hinge nor loop 

 To hang a doubt on; or woe upon thy life! 

 IAGO  My noble lord,-- 

 OTHELLO  If thou dost slander her and torture me, 

 Never pray more; abandon all remorse; 

 On horror's head horrors accumulate; 

 Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed; 

 For nothing canst thou to damnation add 

 Greater than that. 

 IAGO  O grace! O heaven forgive me! 

 Are you a man? have you a soul or sense? 

 God be wi' you; take mine office. O wretched fool. 

 That livest to make thine honesty a vice! 

 O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world, 

 To be direct and honest is not safe. 

 I thank you for this profit; and from hence 

 I'll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence. 

 OTHELLO  Nay, stay: thou shouldst be honest. 

 IAGO  I should be wise, for honesty's a fool 

 And loses that it works for. 

 OTHELLO  By the world, 

 I think my wife be honest and think she is not; 

 I think that thou art just and think thou art not. 

 I'll have some proof. Her name, that was as fresh 

 As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black 

 As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives, 

 Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, 

 I'll not endure it. Would I were satisfied! 

 IAGO  I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion: 

 I do repent me that I put it to you. 

 You would be satisfied? 

 OTHELLO  Would! nay, I will. 

 IAGO  And may: but, how? how satisfied, my lord? 

 Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on-- 

 Behold her topp'd? 

 OTHELLO  Death and damnation! O! 

 IAGO  It were a tedious difficulty, I think, 

 To bring them to that prospect: damn them then, 

 If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster 

 More than their own! What then? how then? 

 What shall I say? Where's satisfaction? 

 It is impossible you should see this, 

 Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, 

 As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross 

 As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say, 

 If imputation and strong circumstances, 

 Which lead directly to the door of truth, 

 Will give you satisfaction, you may have't. 

 OTHELLO  Give me a living reason she's disloyal. 

 IAGO  I do not like the office: 

 But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far, 

 Prick'd to't by foolish honesty and love, 

 I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately; 

 And, being troubled with a raging tooth, 

 I could not sleep. 

 There are a kind of men so loose of soul, 

 That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs: 

 One of this kind is Cassio: 

 In sleep I heard him say 'Sweet Desdemona, 

 Let us be wary, let us hide our loves;' 

 And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, 

 Cry 'O sweet creature!' and then kiss me hard, 

 As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots 

 That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg 

 Over my thigh, and sigh'd, and kiss'd; and then 

 Cried 'Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!' 

 OTHELLO  O monstrous! monstrous! 

 IAGO  Nay, this was but his dream. 

 OTHELLO  But this denoted a foregone conclusion: 

 'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream. 

 IAGO  And this may help to thicken other proofs 

 That do demonstrate thinly. 

 OTHELLO  I'll tear her all to pieces. 

 IAGO  Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done; 

 She may be honest yet. Tell me but this, 

 Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief 

 Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand? 

 OTHELLO  I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift. 

 IAGO  I know not that; but such a handkerchief-- 

 I am sure it was your wife's--did I to-day 

 See Cassio wipe his beard with. 

 OTHELLO  If it be that-- 

 IAGO  If it be that, or any that was hers, 

 It speaks against her with the other proofs. 

 OTHELLO  O, that the slave had forty thousand lives! 

 One is too poor, too weak for my revenge. 

 Now do I see 'tis true. Look here, Iago; 

 All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven. 

 'Tis gone. 

 Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell! 

 Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne 

 To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught, 

 For 'tis of aspics' tongues! 

 IAGO  Yet be content. 

 OTHELLO  O, blood, blood, blood! 

 IAGO  Patience, I say; your mind perhaps may change. 

 OTHELLO  Never, Iago: Like to the Pontic sea, 

 Whose icy current and compulsive course 

 Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on 

 To the Propontic and the Hellespont, 

 Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, 

 Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, 

 Till that a capable and wide revenge 

 Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble heaven, 



 Kneels  In the due reverence of a sacred vow 

 I here engage my words. 

 IAGO  Do not rise yet. 



 Kneels  Witness, you ever-burning lights above, 

 You elements that clip us round about, 

 Witness that here Iago doth give up 

 The execution of his wit, hands, heart, 

 To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command, 

 And to obey shall be in me remorse, 

 What bloody business ever. 



 They rise  OTHELLO  I greet thy love, 

 Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous, 

 And will upon the instant put thee to't: 

 Within these three days let me hear thee say 

 That Cassio's not alive. 

 IAGO  My friend is dead; 'tis done at your request: 

 But let her live. 

 OTHELLO  Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! 

 Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw, 

 To furnish me with some swift means of death 

 For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant. 

 IAGO  I am your own for ever. 



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