I do attend here on the general,

And think it no addition, nor my wish,

To have him see me womaned.

BIANCA Why, I pray you?

CASSIO

Not that I love you not.

BIANCA But that you do not love me.

I pray you bring me on the way a little,

And say if I shall see you soon at night.

CASSIO

’Tis but a little way that I can bring you,

For I attend here; but I’ll see you soon.

BIANCA

’Tis very good. I must be circumstanced. Exeunt

4.1 Enter Iago and Othello

IAGO

Will you think so?

OTHELLO Think so, Iago?

IAGO

What, to kiss in private?

OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.

IAGO

Or to be naked with her friend in bed

An hour or more, not meaning any harm?

OTHELLO

Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?

It is hypocrisy against the devil.

They that mean virtuously and yet do so,

The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.

IAGO

If they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.

But if I give my wife a handkerchief—

OTHELLO What then?

IAGO

Why then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,

She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.

OTHELLO

She is protectress of her honour, too.

May she give that?

IAGO

Her honour is an essence that’s not seen.

They have it very oft that have it not.

But for the handkerchief—

OTHELLO

By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.

Thou said‘st—O, it comes o’er my memory

As doth the raven o’er the infectious house,

Boding to all!—he had my handkerchief.

IAGO

Ay, what of that?

OTHELLO That’s not so good now.

IAGO

What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong,

Or heard him say—as knaves be such abroad,

Who having by their own importunate suit

Or voluntary dotage of some mistress

Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose

But they must blab—

OTHELLO Hath he said anything?

IAGO

He hath, my lord. But, be you well assured,

No more than he’ll unswear.

OTHELLO What hath he said?

IAGO

Faith, that he did—I know not what he did.

OTHELLO

What, what?

IAGO Lie—

OTHELLO With her?

IAGO With her, on her, what you will.

OTHELLO Lie with her? Lie on her? We say ‘lie on her’ when they belie her. Lie with her? ’Swounds, that’s fulsome! Handkerchief—confessions—hankerchief. To confess and be hanged for his labour. First to be hanged and then to confess! I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shakes me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips! Is’t possible? Confess? Handkerchief? O devil!

He falls down in a trance

IAGO

Work on; my medicine works. Thus credulous fools

are caught,

And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,

All guiltless, meet reproach. What ho, my lord!

My lord, I say. Othello!

Enter Cassio

How now, Cassio?

CASSIO What’s the matter?

IAGO

My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.

This is his second fit. He had one yesterday.

CASSIO

Rub him about the temples.

IAGO No, forbear.

The lethargy must have his quiet course.

If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by

Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs.

Do you withdraw yourself a little while,

He will recover straight. When he is gone

I would on great occasion speak with you.

Exit Cassio

How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?

OTHELLO

Dost thou mock me?

IAGO I mock you not, by heaven.

Would you would bear your fortune like a man.

OTHELLO

A hornèd man’s a monster and a beast.

IAGO

There’s many a beast then in a populous city,

And many a civil monster.

OTHELLO Did he confess it?

IAGO Good sir, be a man.

Think every bearded fellow that’s but yoked

May draw with you. There’s millions now alive

That nightly lie in those unproper beds

Which they dare swear peculiar. Your case is better.

O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,

To lip a wanton in a secure couch

And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know,

And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.

OTHELLO

O, thou art wise, ’tis certain.

IAGO Stand you a while apart.

Confine yourself but in a patient list.

Whilst you were here, o‘erwhelmèd with your grief—

A passion most unsuiting such a man—

Cassio came hither. I shifted him away,

And laid good ’scuse upon your ecstasy,

Bade him anon return and here speak with me,

The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,

And mark the fleers, the gibes and notable scorns

That dwell in every region of his face.

For I will make him tell the tale anew,

Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when

He hath and is again to cope your wife.

I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience,

Or I shall say you’re all-in-all in spleen,

And nothing of a man.

OTHELLO Dost thou hear, Iago?

I will be found most cunning in my patience,

But—dost thou hear?—most bloody.

IAGO That’s not amiss,

But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?

Othello stands apart

Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,

A hussy that by selling her desires

Buys herself bread and cloth. It is a creature

That dotes on Cassio—as ’tis the strumpet’s plague

To beguile many and be beguiled by one.

He, when he hears of her, cannot restrain

From the excess of laughter.

Enter Cassio