Othello E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Seltzer Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 302

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Bilingual, English and German. The Shakespeare tragedy, in English with line numbers and translated to German by Christoph Martin Wieland. According to Wikipedia: "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his wife, Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio; and his trusted ensign, Iago."

Zweisprachig, Englisch und Deutsch. Die Shakespeare-Tragödie, in Englisch mit Zeilennummern und von Christoph Martin Wieland ins Deutsche übersetzt. Laut Wikipedia: "Die Tragödie von Othello, der Mohr von Venedig ist eine Tragödie von William Shakespeare, vermutlich um 1603 geschrieben, und basiert auf der italienischen Kurzgeschichte Un Capitano Moro (" Ein maurischer Kapitän ") von Cinthio, ein Schüler von Boccaccio, der erstmals 1565 veröffentlicht wurde. Das Werk dreht sich um vier Hauptfiguren: Othello, ein maurischer General in der venezianischen Armee, seine Frau Desdemona, sein Leutnant Cassio und seine vertraute Fähnrich Jago.

Leseprobe

OTHELLO, BILINGUAL EDITION (IN ENGLISH WITH LINE NUMBERS AND IN GERMAN) 

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Shakespeare tragedies in German translation:

Coriolanus (Tieck)

Hamlet (Wieland)

Julius Caesar (Schlegel)

Lear (Wieland)

Macbeth (Wieland and Tieck)

Othello (Wieland)

Romeo und Juliette (Wieland)

Timon Von Athen (Wieland)

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OTHELLO

OTHELLO, DER MOHR VON VENEDIG, EIN TRAUERSPIEL VON WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ÜBERSETZT VON CHRISTOPH MARTIN WIELAND

___________

OTHELLO BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Dramatis Personae

Othello

Act I

Scene I Venice. A street.

Scene II Another street.

Scene III A council-chamber.

Act II

Scene I A Sea-port in Cyprus. An open place near the quay.

Scene II A street.

Scene III A hall in the castle.

Act III

Scene I Before the castle.

Scene II A room in the castle.

Scene III The garden of the castle.

Scene IV Before the castle.

Act IV

Scene I Cyprus. Before the castle.

Scene II A room in the castle.

Scene III Another room In the castle.

Act V

Scene I Cyprus. A street.

Scene II A bedchamber in the castle: Desdemona in bed asleep; a light burning.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Duke of Venice:

Brabantio, a senator.

Other Senators.

 (Senator:)

 (First Senator:)

 (Second Senator:)

Gratiano, brother to Brabantio.

Lodovico, kinsman to Brabantio.

Othello, a noble Moor in the service of the Venetian state.

Cassio, his lieutenant.

Iago, his ancient.

Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman.

Montano, Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus.

Clown, servant to Othello. (Clown:)

Desdemona, daughter to Brabantio and wife to Othello.

Emilia, wife to Iago.

Bianca, mistress to Cassio.

 Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen,

 Musicians, and Attendants.

 (Sailor:)

 (First Officer:)

 (Messenger:)

 (Gentleman:)

 (First Gentleman:)

 (Second Gentleman:)

 (Third Gentleman:)

 (First Musician:)

SCENE Venice: a Sea-port in Cyprus.

OTHELLO

ACT I

SCENE I Venice. A street.

 [Enter RODERIGO and IAGO]

(1) RODERIGO Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly

 That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse

 As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.

IAGO 'Sblood, but you will not hear me:

 If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

RODERIGO Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.

IAGO Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

(10) In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,

 Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,

 I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:

 But he; as loving his own pride and purposes,

 Evades them, with a bombast circumstance

 Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;

 And, in conclusion,

 Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,

 'I have already chose my officer.'

 And what was he?

(20) Forsooth, a great arithmetician,

 One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,

 A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;

 That never set a squadron in the field,

 Nor the division of a battle knows

 More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,

 Wherein the toged consuls can propose

 As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,

 Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:

 And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof

(30) At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds

 Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd

 By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,

 He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,

 And I--God bless the mark!--his Moorship's ancient.

RODERIGO By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.

IAGO Why, there's no remedy; 'tis the curse of service,

 Preferment goes by letter and affection,

 And not by old gradation, where each second

(40) Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,

 Whether I in any just term am affined

 To love the Moor.

RODERIGO I would not follow him then.

IAGO O, sir, content you;

 I follow him to serve my turn upon him:

 We cannot all be masters, nor all masters

 Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark

 Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,

 That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,

(50) Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,

 For nought but provender, and when he's old, cashier'd:

 Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are

 Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,

 Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,

 And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

 Do well thrive by them and when they have lined

 their coats

 Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;

 And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,

(60) It is as sure as you are Roderigo,

 Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

 In following him, I follow but myself;

 Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,

 But seeming so, for my peculiar end:

 For when my outward action doth demonstrate

 The native act and figure of my heart

 In compliment extern, 'tis not long after

 But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

 For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

(70) RODERIGO What a full fortune does the thicklips owe

 If he can carry't thus!

IAGO Call up her father,

 Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,

 Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,

 And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,

 Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,

 Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,

 As it may lose some colour.

RODERIGO Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.

(80) IAGO Do, with like timorous accent and dire yell

 As when, by night and negligence, the fire

 Is spied in populous cities.

RODERIGO What, ho, Brabantio! Signior Brabantio, ho!

IAGO Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

 Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!

 Thieves! thieves!

 [BRABANTIO appears above, at a window]

BRABANTIO What is the reason of this terrible summons?

 What is the matter there?

(90) RODERIGO Signior, is all your family within?

IAGO Are your doors lock'd?

BRABANTIO Why, wherefore ask you this?

IAGO 'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put on

 your gown;

 Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;

 Even now, now, very now, an old black ram

 Is topping your white ewe. Arise, arise;

 Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,

 Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:

(100) Arise, I say.

BRABANTIO                   What, have you lost your wits?

RODERIGO Most reverend signior, do you know my voice?

BRABANTIO Not I what are you?

RODERIGO My name is Roderigo.

BRABANTIO The worser welcome:

 I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors:

 In honest plainness thou hast heard me say

 My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness,

 Being full of supper and distempering draughts,

(110) Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come

 To start my quiet.

RODERIGO Sir, sir, sir,--

BRABANTIO                   But thou must needs be sure

 My spirit and my place have in them power

 To make this bitter to thee.

RODERIGO Patience, good sir.

BRABANTIO What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is Venice;

 My house is not a grange.

RODERIGO Most grave Brabantio,

(120) In simple and pure soul I come to you.

IAGO 'Zounds, sir, you are one of those that will not

 serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to

 do you service and you think we are ruffians, you'll

 have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse;

 you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have

 coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.

BRABANTIO What profane wretch art thou?

IAGO I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter

(130) and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

BRABANTIO Thou art a villain.

IAGO You are--a senator.

BRABANTIO This thou shalt answer; I know thee, Roderigo.

RODERIGO Sir, I will answer any thing. But, I beseech you,

 If't be your pleasure and most wise consent,

 As partly I find it is, that your fair daughter,

 At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night,

 Transported, with no worse nor better guard

 But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,

(140) To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor--

 If this be known to you and your allowance,

 We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;

 But if you know not this, my manners tell me

 We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe

 That, from the sense of all civility,

 I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:

 Your daughter, if you have not given her leave,

 I say again, hath made a gross revolt;

 Tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes

(150) In an extravagant and wheeling stranger

 Of here and every where. Straight satisfy yourself:

 If she be in her chamber or your house,

 Let loose on me the justice of the state

 For thus deluding you.

BRABANTIO Strike on the tinder, ho!

 Give me a taper! call up all my people!

 This accident is not unlike my dream:

 Belief of it oppresses me already.

 Light, I say! light!

 [Exit above]

(160) IAGO Farewell; for I must leave you:

 It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,

 To be produced--as, if I stay, I shall--

 Against the Moor: for, I do know, the state,

 However this may gall him with some cheque,

 Cannot with safety cast him, for he's embark'd

 With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars,

 Which even now stand in act, that, for their souls,

 Another of his fathom they have none,

 To lead their business: in which regard,

(170) Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains.

 Yet, for necessity of present life,

 I must show out a flag and sign of love,

 Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely find him,

 Lead to the Sagittary the raised search;

 And there will I be with him. So, farewell.

 [Exit]

 [Enter, below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with torches]

BRABANTIO It is too true an evil: gone she is;

 And what's to come of my despised time

 Is nought but bitterness. Now, Roderigo,

 Where didst thou see her? O unhappy girl!

(180) With the Moor, say'st thou? Who would be a father!

 How didst thou know 'twas she? O she deceives me

 Past thought! What said she to you? Get more tapers:

 Raise all my kindred. Are they married, think you?

RODERIGO Truly, I think they are.

BRABANTIO O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood!

 Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds

 By what you see them act. Is there not charms

 By which the property of youth and maidhood

(190) May be abused? Have you not read, Roderigo,

 Of some such thing?

RODERIGO Yes, sir, I have indeed.

BRABANTIO Call up my brother. O, would you had had her!

 Some one way, some another. Do you know

 Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?

RODERIGO I think I can discover him, if you please,

 To get good guard and go along with me.

BRABANTIO Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call;

 I may command at most. Get weapons, ho!

(200) And raise some special officers of night.

 On, good Roderigo: I'll deserve your pains.

 [Exeunt]

SCENE II Another street.

 [Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants with torches]

(1) IAGO Though in the trade of war I have slain men,

 Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience

 To do no contrived murder: I lack iniquity

 Sometimes to do me service: nine or ten times

 I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs.

OTHELLO 'Tis better as it is.

IAGO Nay, but he prated,

 And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms

 Against your honour

(10) That, with the little godliness I have,

 I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray you, sir,

 Are you fast married? Be assured of this,

 That the magnifico is much beloved,

 And hath in his effect a voice potential

 As double as the duke's: he will divorce you;

 Or put upon you what restraint and grievance

 The law, with all his might to enforce it on,

 Will give him cable.

OTHELLO Let him do his spite:

(20) My services which I have done the signiory

 Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know,--

 Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,

 I shall promulgate--I fetch my life and being

 From men of royal siege, and my demerits

 May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune

 As this that I have reach'd: for know, Iago,

 But that I love the gentle Desdemona,

 I would not my unhoused free condition

 Put into circumscription and confine

(30) For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yond?

IAGO Those are the raised father and his friends:

 You were best go in.

OTHELLO Not I I must be found:

 My parts, my title and my perfect soul

 Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?

IAGO By Janus, I think no.

 [Enter CASSIO, and certain Officers with torches]

OTHELLO The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant.

 The goodness of the night upon you, friends!

(40) What is the news?

CASSIO                   The duke does greet you, general,

 And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance,

 Even on the instant.

OTHELLO What is the matter, think you?

CASSIO Something from Cyprus as I may divine:

 It is a business of some heat: the galleys

 Have sent a dozen sequent messengers

 This very night at one another's heels,

 And many of the consuls, raised and met,

(50) Are at the duke's already: you have been

 hotly call'd for;

 When, being not at your lodging to be found,

 The senate hath sent about three several guests

 To search you out.

OTHELLO 'Tis well I am found by you.

 I will but spend a word here in the house,

 And go with you.

 [Exit]

CASSIO                   Ancient, what makes he here?

IAGO 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack:

 If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.

(60) CASSIO I do not understand.

IAGO He's married.

CASSIO To who?

 [Re-enter OTHELLO]

IAGO Marry, to--Come, captain, will you go?

OTHELLO Have with you.

CASSIO Here comes another troop to seek for you.

IAGO It is Brabantio. General, be advised;

 He comes to bad intent.

 [Enter BRABANTIO, RODERIGO, and OFFICERS with torches and weapons]

OTHELLO Holla! stand there!

RODERIGO Signior, it is the Moor.

(70) BRABANTIO Down with him, thief!

 [They draw on both sides]

IAGO You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you.

OTHELLO Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.

 Good signior, you shall more command with years

 Than with your weapons.

BRABANTIO O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter?

 Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her;

 For I'll refer me to all things of sense,

(80) If she in chains of magic were not bound,

 Whether a maid so tender, fair and happy,

 So opposite to marriage that she shunned

 The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,

 Would ever have, to incur a general mock,

 Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom

 Of such a thing as thou, to fear, not to delight.

 Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense

 That thou hast practised on her with foul charms,

 Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals

(90) That weaken motion: I'll have't disputed on;

 'Tis probable and palpable to thinking.

 I therefore apprehend and do attach thee

 For an abuser of the world, a practiser

 Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.

 Lay hold upon him: if he do resist,

 Subdue him at his peril.

OTHELLO Hold your hands,

 Both you of my inclining, and the rest:

 Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it

(100) Without a prompter. Where will you that I go

 To answer this your charge?

BRABANTIO To prison, till fit time

 Of law and course of direct session

 Call thee to answer.

OTHELLO What if I do obey?

 How may the duke be therewith satisfied,

 Whose messengers are here about my side,

 Upon some present business of the state

 To bring me to him?

(110) FIRST OFFICER 'Tis true, most worthy signior;

 The duke's in council and your noble self,

 I am sure, is sent for.

BRABANTIO How! the duke in council!

 In this time of the night! Bring him away:

 Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself,

 Or any of my brothers of the state,

 Cannot but feel this wrong as 'twere their own;

 For if such actions may have passage free,

 Bond-slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be.

 [Exeunt]

SCENE III A council-chamber.

 [The DUKE and SENATORS sitting at a table; OFFICERS attending]

(1) DUKE OF VENICE There is no composition in these news

 That gives them credit.

FIRST SENATOR Indeed, they are disproportion'd;

 My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.

DUKE OF VENICE And mine, a hundred and forty.

SECOND SENATOR And mine, two hundred:

 But though they jump not on a just account,--

 As in these cases, where the aim reports,

 'Tis oft with difference--yet do they all confirm

(10) A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

DUKE OF VENICE Nay, it is possible enough to judgment:

 I do not so secure me in the error,

 But the main article I do approve

 In fearful sense.

SAILOR [Within]  What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!

FIRST OFFICER A messenger from the galleys.

 [Enter a SAILOR]

DUKE OF VENICE Now, what's the business?

SAILOR The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes;

 So was I bid report here to the state

(20) By Signior Angelo.

DUKE OF VENICE How say you by this change?

FIRST SENATOR This cannot be,

 By no assay of reason: 'tis a pageant,

 To keep us in false gaze. When we consider

 The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,

 And let ourselves again but understand,

 That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,

 So may he with more facile question bear it,

 For that it stands not in such warlike brace,

(30) But altogether lacks the abilities

 That Rhodes is dress'd in: if we make thought of this,

 We must not think the Turk is so unskilful

 To leave that latest which concerns him first,

 Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,

 To wake and wage a danger profitless.

DUKE OF VENICE Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes.

FIRST OFFICER Here is more news.

 [Enter a MESSENGER]

MESSENGER The Ottomites, reverend and gracious,

 Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes,

(40) Have there injointed them with an after fleet.

FIRST SENATOR Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess?

MESSENGER Of thirty sail: and now they do restem

 Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance

 Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano,

 Your trusty and most valiant servitor,

 With his free duty recommends you thus,

 And prays you to believe him.

DUKE OF VENICE 'Tis certain, then, for Cyprus.

 Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town?

(50) FIRST SENATOR He's now in Florence.

DUKE OF VENICE Write from us to him; post-post-haste dispatch.

FIRST SENATOR Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.

 [Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Officers]

DUKE OF VENICE Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you

 Against the general enemy Ottoman.

 [To BRABANTIO]

 I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;

 We lack'd your counsel and your help tonight.

BRABANTIO So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me;

 Neither my place nor aught I heard of business

 Hath raised me from my bed, nor doth the general care

(60) Take hold on me, for my particular grief

 Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature

 That it engluts and swallows other sorrows

 And it is still itself.

DUKE OF VENICE Why, what's the matter?

BRABANTIO My daughter! O, my daughter!

DUKE OF VENICE and SENATOR Dead?

BRABANTIO Ay, to me;

 She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted

 By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;

(70) For nature so preposterously to err,

 Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,

 Sans witchcraft could not.

DUKE OF VENICE Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding

 Hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself

 And you of her, the bloody book of law

 You shall yourself read in the bitter letter

 After your own sense, yea, though our proper son

 Stood in your action.

BRABANTIO Humbly I thank your grace.

(80) Here is the man, this Moor, whom now, it seems,

 Your special mandate for the state-affairs

 Hath hither brought.

DUKE OF VENICE and SENATOR                 We are very sorry for't.

DUKE OF VENICE [To OTHELLO]  What, in your own part, can you say to this?

BRABANTIO Nothing, but this is so.

OTHELLO Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,

 My very noble and approved good masters,

 That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,

(90) It is most true; true, I have married her:

 The very head and front of my offending

 Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,

 And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace:

 For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,

 Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used

 Their dearest action in the tented field,

 And little of this great world can I speak,

 More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,

 And therefore little shall I grace my cause

(100) In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

 I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver

 Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,

 What conjuration and what mighty magic,

 For such proceeding I am charged withal,

 I won his daughter.

BRABANTIO A maiden never bold;

 Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion

 Blush'd at herself; and she, in spite of nature,

 Of years, of country, credit, every thing,

(110) To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on!

 It is a judgment maim'd and most imperfect

 That will confess perfection so could err

 Against all rules of nature, and must be driven

 To find out practises of cunning hell,

 Why this should be. I therefore vouch again

 That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,

 Or with some dram conjured to this effect,

 He wrought upon her.

DUKE OF VENICE To vouch this, is no proof,

(120) Without more wider and more overt test

 Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods

 Of modern seeming do prefer against him.

FIRST SENATOR But, Othello, speak:

 Did you by indirect and forced courses

 Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?

 Or came it by request and such fair question

 As soul to soul affordeth?

OTHELLO I do beseech you,

 Send for the lady to the Sagittary,

(130) And let her speak of me before her father:

 If you do find me foul in her report,

 The trust, the office I do hold of you,

 Not only take away, but let your sentence

 Even fall upon my life.

DUKE OF VENICE Fetch Desdemona hither.

OTHELLO Ancient, conduct them: you best know the place.

 [Exeunt IAGO and Attendants]

 And, till she come, as truly as to heaven

 I do confess the vices of my blood,

 So justly to your grave ears I'll present

(140) How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,

 And she in mine.

DUKE OF VENICE Say it, Othello.

OTHELLO Her father loved me; oft invited me;

 Still question'd me the story of my life,

 From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,

 That I have passed.

 I ran it through, even from my boyish days,

 To the very moment that he bade me tell it;

 Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,

(150) Of moving accidents by flood and field

 Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach,

 Of being taken by the insolent foe

 And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence

 And portance in my travels' history:

 Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,

 Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven

 It was my hint to speak,--such was the process;

 And of the Cannibals that each other eat,

(160) The Anthropophagi and men whose heads

 Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear

 Would Desdemona seriously incline:

 But still the house-affairs would draw her thence:

 Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

 She'ld come again, and with a greedy ear

 Devour up my discourse: which I observing,

 Took once a pliant hour, and found good means

 To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart

 That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,

(170) Whereof by parcels she had something heard,

 But not intentively: I did consent,

 And often did beguile her of her tears,

 When I did speak of some distressful stroke

 That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,

 She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

 She swore, in faith, twas strange, 'twas passing strange,

 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

 She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd

 That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me,

(180) And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,

 I should but teach him how to tell my story.

 And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:

 She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,

 And I loved her that she did pity them.

 This only is the witchcraft I have used:

 Here comes the lady; let her witness it.

 [Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, and Attendants]

DUKE OF VENICE I think this tale would win my daughter too.

 Good Brabantio,

 Take up this mangled matter at the best:

(190) Men do their broken weapons rather use

 Than their bare hands.

BRABANTIO I pray you, hear her speak:

 If she confess that she was half the wooer,

 Destruction on my head, if my bad blame

 Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress:

 Do you perceive in all this noble company

 Where most you owe obedience?

DESDEMONA My noble father,

 I do perceive here a divided duty:

(200) To you I am bound for life and education;

 My life and education both do learn me

 How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;

 I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband,

 And so much duty as my mother show'd

 To you, preferring you before her father,

 So much I challenge that I may profess

 Due to the Moor my lord.

BRABANTIO God be wi' you! I have done.

 Please it your grace, on to the state-affairs:

(210) I had rather to adopt a child than get it.

 Come hither, Moor:

 I here do give thee that with all my heart

 Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart

 I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,

 I am glad at soul I have no other child:

 For thy escape would teach me tyranny,

 To hang clogs on them. I have done, my lord.

DUKE OF VENICE Let me speak like yourself, and lay a sentence,

 Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers

(220) Into your favour.

 When remedies are past, the griefs are ended

 By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.

 To mourn a mischief that is past and gone

 Is the next way to draw new mischief on.

 What cannot be preserved when fortune takes

 Patience her injury a mockery makes.

 The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief;

 He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

BRABANTIO So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile;

(230) We lose it not, so long as we can smile.

 He bears the sentence well that nothing bears

 But the free comfort which from thence he hears,

 But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow

 That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.

 These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,

 Being strong on both sides, are equivocal:

 But words are words; I never yet did hear

 That the bruised heart was pierced through the ear.

 I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state.

(240) DUKE OF VENICE The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for

 Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best

 known to you; and though we have there a substitute

 of most allowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a

 sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer

 voice on you: you must therefore be content to

 slubber the gloss of your new fortunes with this

 more stubborn and boisterous expedition.

OTHELLO The tyrant custom, most grave senators,

 Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war

(250) My thrice-driven bed of down: I do agnise

 A natural and prompt alacrity

 I find in hardness, and do undertake

 These present wars against the Ottomites.

 Most humbly therefore bending to your state,

 I crave fit disposition for my wife.

 Due reference of place and exhibition,

 With such accommodation and besort

 As levels with her breeding.

DUKE OF VENICE If you please,

(260) Be't at her father's.

BRABANTIO I'll not have it so.

OTHELLO Nor I.

DESDEMONA      Nor I; I would not there reside,

 To put my father in impatient thoughts

 By being in his eye. Most gracious duke,

 To my unfolding lend your prosperous ear;

 And let me find a charter in your voice,

 To assist my simpleness.

DUKE OF VENICE What would You, Desdemona?

(270) DESDEMONA That I did love the Moor to live with him,

 My downright violence and storm of fortunes

 May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdued

 Even to the very quality of my lord:

 I saw Othello's visage in his mind,

 And to his honour and his valiant parts

 Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.

 So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,

 A moth of peace, and he go to the war,

 The rites for which I love him are bereft me,

(280) And I a heavy interim shall support

 By his dear absence. Let me go with him.

OTHELLO Let her have your voices.

 Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not,

 To please the palate of my appetite,

 Nor to comply with heat--the young affects

 In me defunct--and proper satisfaction.

 But to be free and bounteous to her mind:

 And heaven defend your good souls, that you think

 I will your serious and great business scant

(290) For she is with me: no, when light-wing'd toys

 Of feather'd Cupid seal with wanton dullness

 My speculative and officed instruments,

 That my disports corrupt and taint my business,

 Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,

 And all indign and base adversities

 Make head against my estimation!

DUKE OF VENICE Be it as you shall privately determine,

 Either for her stay or going: the affair cries haste,

 And speed must answer it.

FIRST SENATOR You must away to-night.

(300) OTHELLO With all my heart.

DUKE OF VENICE At nine i' the morning here we'll meet again.

 Othello, leave some officer behind,

 And he shall our commission bring to you;

 With such things else of quality and respect

 As doth import you.

OTHELLO So please your grace, my ancient;

 A man he is of honest and trust:

 To his conveyance I assign my wife,

 With what else needful your good grace shall think

(310) To be sent after me.

DUKE OF VENICE Let it be so.

 Good night to every one.

 [To BRABANTIO]

     And, noble signior,

 If virtue no delighted beauty lack,

 Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.

FIRST SENATOR Adieu, brave Moor, use Desdemona well.

BRABANTIO Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:

 She has deceived her father, and may thee.

 [Exeunt DUKE OF VENICE, Senators, Officers, &c]

OTHELLO My life upon her faith! Honest Iago,

(320) My Desdemona must I leave to thee:

 I prithee, let thy wife attend on her:

 And bring them after in the best advantage.

 Come, Desdemona: I have but an hour

 Of love, of worldly matters and direction,

 To spend with thee: we must obey the time.

 [Exeunt OTHELLO and DESDEMONA]

RODERIGO Iago,--

IAGO What say'st thou, noble heart?

RODERIGO What will I do, thinkest thou?

IAGO Why, go to bed, and sleep.

(330) RODERIGO I will incontinently drown myself.

IAGO If thou dost, I shall never love thee after. Why,

 thou silly gentleman!

RODERIGO It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and

 then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.

IAGO O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four

 times seven years; and since I could distinguish

 betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man

 that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say, I

(340) would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I

 would change my humanity with a baboon.

RODERIGO What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so

 fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it.

IAGO Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus

 or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which

 our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant

 nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up

 thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or

 distract it with many, either to have it sterile

 with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the

(350) power and corrigible authority of this lies in our

 wills. If the balance of our lives had not one

 scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the

 blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us

 to most preposterous conclusions: but we have

 reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal

 stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that

 you call love to be a sect or scion.

RODERIGO It cannot be.

IAGO It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of

 the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself! drown

(360) cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy

 friend and I confess me knit to thy deserving with

 cables of perdurable toughness; I could never

 better stead thee than now. Put money in thy

 purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favour with

 an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It

 cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her

 love to the Moor,-- put money in thy purse,--nor he

 his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou

 shalt see an answerable sequestration:--put but

 money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in

(370) their wills: fill thy purse with money:--the food

 that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be

 to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must

 change for youth: when she is sated with his body,

 she will find the error of her choice: she must

 have change, she must: therefore put money in thy

 purse. If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a

 more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money

 thou canst: if sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt

 an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian not

 too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou

(380) shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of

 drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way: seek

 thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy than

 to be drowned and go without her.

RODERIGO Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on

 the issue?

IAGO Thou art sure of me:--go, make money:--I have told

 thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I

 hate the Moor: my cause is hearted; thine hath no

 less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge

(390) against him: if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost

 thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There are many

 events in the womb of time which will be delivered.

 Traverse! go, provide thy money. We will have more

 of this to-morrow. Adieu.

RODERIGO Where shall we meet i' the morning?

IAGO At my lodging.

RODERIGO I'll be with thee betimes.

IAGO Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo?

RODERIGO What say you?

IAGO No more of drowning, do you hear?

(400) RODERIGO I am changed: I'll go sell all my land.

 [Exit]

IAGO Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:

 For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane,

 If I would time expend with such a snipe.