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Othello: Act V, Scene 2

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Othello
Act V, Scene 2

A bedchamber in the castle.

Edmund Kean as Othello

This good sword

Edmund Kean as Othello

Charles Tomkins, W. West, 1818

  1. Enter Othello with a light and Desdemona in her bed asleep.

Othello

1 - 22
  1. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul;
  2. Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,
  3. It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
  4. Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
  5. And smooth as monumental alabaster.
  6. Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
  7. Put out the light, and then put out the light:
  8. If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
  9. I can again thy former light restore,
  10. Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
  11. Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
  12. I know not where is that Promethean heat
  13. That can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d thy rose,
  14. I cannot give it vital growth again,
  15. It needs must wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.
  16. Kisses her.
  17. O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
  18. Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
  19. Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee
  20. And love thee after. One more, and that’s the last.
  21. So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
  22. But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,
  23. It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

Desdemona

23
  1. Who’s there? Othello?

Othello

24
  1.                       Ay, Desdemona.

Desdemona

25
  1. Will you come to bed, my lord?

Othello

26
  1. Have you pray’d tonight, Desdemon?

Desdemona

27
  1.                                    Ay, my lord.

Othello

28 - 30
  1. If you bethink yourself of any crime
  2. Unreconcil’d as yet to heaven and grace,
  3. Solicit for it straight.

Desdemona

31
  1. Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that?

Othello

32 - 34
  1. Well, do it, and be brief, I will walk by.
  2. I would not kill thy unprepared spirit,
  3. No, heaven forefend! I would not kill thy soul.

Desdemona

35
  1. Talk you of killing?

Othello

36
  1.                      Ay, I do.

Desdemona

37 - 38
  1.           Then heaven
  2. Have mercy on me!

Othello

39
  1.                   Amen, with all my heart!

Desdemona

40
  1. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.

Othello

41
  1. Humh!

Desdemona

42 - 44
  1. And yet I fear you; for you’re fatal then
  2. When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know not,
  3. Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.

Othello

45
  1. Think on thy sins.

Desdemona

46
  1.                    They are loves I bear to you.

Othello

47
  1. Ay, and for that thou di’st.

Desdemona

48 - 52
  1. That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.
  2. Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
  3. Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.
  4. These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
  5. They do not point on me.
Tita Brand as Desdemona, Hubert Carter as Othello

Tita Brand as Desdemona, Hubert Carter as Othello

Performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre

Karl August Büchel, 1905

Othello

53
  1.                          Peace, and be still!

Desdemona

54
  1. I will so. What’s the matter?

Othello

55 - 56
  1. That handkerchief which I so lov’d, and gave thee,
  2. Thou gav’st to Cassio.

Desdemona

57 - 58
  1.                        No, by my life and soul!
  2. Send for the man, and ask him.

Othello

59 - 60
  1.                                Sweet soul, take heed,
  2. Take heed of perjury, thou art on thy death-bed.

Desdemona

61
  1. Ay, but not yet to die.

Othello

62 - 66
  1.                         Yes, presently:
  2. Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
  3. For to deny each article with oath
  4. Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
  5. That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.

Desdemona

67
  1. Then Lord have mercy on me!

Othello

68
  1.                             I say, amen.

Desdemona

69 - 72
  1. And have you mercy too! I never did
  2. Offend you in my life; never lov’d Cassio
  3. But with such general warranty of heaven
  4. As I might love. I never gave him token.

Othello

73 - 77
  1. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ’s hand.
  2. O perjur’d woman, thou dost stone my heart,
  3. And mak’st me call what I intend to do
  4. A murder, which I thought a sacrifice.
  5. I saw the handkerchief.

Desdemona

78 - 80
  1.                         He found it then;
  2. I never gave it him. Send for him hither;
  3. Let him confess a truth.

Othello

81
  1.                          He hath confess’d.

Desdemona

82
  1. What, my lord?

Othello

83
  1. That he hath us’d thee.

Desdemona

84
  1.                         How? Unlawfully?

Othello

85
  1.                  Ay.

Desdemona

86
  1. He will not say so.

Othello

87 - 88
  1.                     No—his mouth is stopp’d;
  2. Honest Iago hath ta’en order for’t.

Desdemona

89
  1. O, my fear interprets. What, is he dead?

Othello

90 - 91
  1. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
  2. Had stomach for them all.

Desdemona

92
  1. Alas, he is betray’d and I undone!

Othello

93
  1. Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?

Desdemona

94
  1. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!

Othello

95
  1. Down, strumpet!d

Desdemona

96
  1. Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!

Othello

97
  1. Nay, an’ you strive—

Desdemona

98
  1. But half an hour!

Othello

99
  1.                   Being done, there is no pause.

Desdemona

100
  1. But while I say one prayer!

Othello

101
  1.                             It is too late.
  1. Smothers her.

Look in upon me then and speak with me

L. Marchetti, 1900

Desdemona

102
  1. O Lord, Lord, Lord!

Emilia

103 - 104
  1. At the door, within.
  2. My lord, my lord!
  3. What ho! My lord, my lord!

Othello

105 - 108
  1. What noise is this? Not dead? Not yet quite dead?
  2. I that am cruel am yet merciful,
  3. I would not have thee linger in thy pain.
  4. So, so.

Emilia

109
  1. Within.
  2.         What ho! My lord, my lord!

Othello

110
  1.                            Who’s there?

Emilia

111
  1. Within.
  2. O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!

Othello

112 - 122
  1. Yes.—’Tis Emilia.—By and by.—She’s dead.
  2. ’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death;
  3. The noise was high. Hah, no more moving?
  4. Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were’t good?
  5. I think she stirs again. No. What’s best to do?
  6. If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.
  7. My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.
  8. O insupportable! O heavy hour!
  9. Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
  10. Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
  11. Did yawn at alteration.

Emilia

123 - 124
  1. Within.
  2.                         I do beseech you
  3. That I may speak with you. O, good my lord!

Othello

125 - 128
  1. I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.—
  2. Soft, by and by, let me the curtains draw.—
  3. Where art thou?
  4. Unlocks the door.
  5. Enter Emilia.
  6.                 What’s the matter with thee now?

Emilia

129
  1. O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done!

Othello

130
  1. What? Now?

Emilia

131
  1. But now, my lord.

Othello

132 - 134
  1. It is the very error of the moon,
  2. She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,
  3. And makes men mad.

Emilia

135 - 136
  1. Cassio, my lord, hath kill’d a young Venetian
  2. Call’d Roderigo.

Othello

137 - 138
  1.                  Roderigo kill’d?
  2. And Cassio kill’d?

Emilia

139
  1.                    No, Cassio is not kill’d.

Othello

140 - 141
  1. Not Cassio kill’d? Then murder’s out of tune,
  2. And sweet revenge grows harsh.

Desdemona

142
  1. O, falsely, falsely murder’d!

Emilia

143
  1.                               O Lord, what cry is that?

Othello

144
  1. That? What?

Emilia

145 - 147
  1. Out, and alas, that was my lady’s voice.
  2. Help, help, ho, help! O lady, speak again!
  3. Sweet Desdemona, O sweet mistress, speak!

Desdemona

148
  1. A guiltless death I die.

Emilia

149
  1. O, who hath done this deed?

Desdemona

150 - 151
  1. Nobody; I myself. Farewell!
  2. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!
  1. Dies.
Wesley Charles and Genevieve Lowe as Othello and Desdemona

Wesley Charles and Genevieve Lowe as Othello and Desdemona

2017

Othello

152
  1. Why, how should she be murd’red?

Emilia

153
  1.                                  Alas! Who knows?

Othello

154
  1. You heard her say herself, it was not I.

Emilia

155
  1. She said so; I must needs report the truth.

Othello

156 - 157
  1. She’s like a liar gone to burning hell:
  2. ’Twas I that kill’d her.

Emilia

158 - 159
  1.                          O, the more angel she,
  2. And you the blacker devil!

Othello

160
  1. She turn’d to folly, and she was a whore.

Emilia

161
  1. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.

Othello

162
  1. She was false as water.

Emilia

163 - 164
  1.                         Thou art rash as fire to say
  2. That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!

Othello

165 - 168
  1. Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.
  2. O, I were damn’d beneath all depth in hell
  3. But that I did proceed upon just grounds
  4. To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.

Emilia

169
  1. My husband?

Othello

170
  1. Thy husband.

Emilia

171
  1. That she was false to wedlock?

Othello

172 - 175
  1. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
  2. If heaven would make me such another world
  3. Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
  4. I’ld not have sold her for it.

Emilia

176
  1.                                My husband?

Othello

177 - 179
  1. Ay, ’twas he that told me on her first.
  2. An honest man he is, and hates the slime
  3. That sticks on filthy deeds.

Emilia

180
  1.                              My husband?

Othello

181
  1. What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy husband.

Emilia

182 - 183
  1. O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!
  2. My husband say she was false?

Othello

184 - 186
  1.                               He, woman:
  2. I say thy husband; dost understand the word?
  3. My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

Emilia

187 - 189
  1. If he say so, may his pernicious soul
  2. Rot half a grain a day! He lies to th’ heart.
  3. She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.

Othello

190
  1. Hah?

Emilia

191 - 193
  1. Do thy worst!
  2. This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
  3. Than thou wast worthy her.

Othello

194
  1.                            Peace, you were best.

Emilia

195 - 200
  1. Thou hast not half that pow’r to do me harm
  2. As I have to be hurt. O gull, O dolt,
  3. As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed—
  4. I care not for thy sword, I’ll make thee known,
  5. Though I lost twenty lives. Help, help, ho, help!
  6. The Moor hath kill’d my mistress! Murder, murder!
  1. Enter Montano, Gratiano, and Iago, with others.

Montano

201
  1. What is the matter? How now, general?

Emilia

202 - 203
  1. O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,
  2. That men must lay their murders on your neck.
Othello, at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London

Othello, at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London

Max Cowper, 1905

Gratiano

204
  1. What is the matter?

Emilia

205 - 208
  1. Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.
  2. He says thou toldst him that his wife was false.
  3. I know thou didst not; thou’rt not such a villain.
  4. Speak, for my heart is full.

Iago

209 - 210
  1. I told him what I thought, and told no more
  2. Than what he found himself was apt and true.

Emilia

211
  1. But did you ever tell him she was false?

Iago

212
  1. I did.

Emilia

213 - 215
  1. You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;
  2. Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie.
  3. She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?

Iago

216
  1. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.

Emilia

217 - 218
  1. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak.
  2. My mistress here lies murdered in her bed—

All

219
  1. O heavens forefend!

Emilia

220
  1. And your reports have set the murder on.

Othello

221
  1. Nay, stare not, masters, it is true indeed.

Gratiano

222
  1. ’Tis a strange truth.

Montano

223
  1. O monstrous act!

Emilia

224 - 227
  1.                  Villainy, villainy, villainy!
  2. I think upon’t, I think—I smell’t—O villainy!
  3. I thought so then—I’ll kill myself for grief—
  4. O villainy! Villainy!

Iago

228
  1. What, are you mad? I charge you get you home.

Emilia

229 - 231
  1. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak.
  2. ’Tis proper I obey him; but not now.
  3. Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.

Othello

232
  1. O, O, O!
  1. Othello falls on the bed.

Emilia

233 - 235
  1.          Nay, lay thee down and roar;
  2. For thou hast kill’d the sweetest innocent
  3. That e’er did lift up eye.

Othello

236 - 239
  1. Rising.
  2.                            O, she was foul!
  3. I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece,
  4. Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp’d.
  5. I know this act shows horrible and grim.

Gratiano

240 - 245
  1. Poor Desdemon! I am glad thy father’s dead.
  2. Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
  3. Shore his old thread in twain. Did he live now,
  4. This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
  5. Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
  6. And fall to reprobance.

Othello

246 - 253
  1. ’Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows
  2. That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
  3. A thousand times committed. Cassio confess’d it,
  4. And she did gratify his amorous works
  5. With that recognizance and pledge of love
  6. Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand;
  7. It was a handkerchief, an antique token
  8. My father gave my mother.

Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light.

L. Marchetti, 1900

Emilia

254
  1. O God! O heavenly God!

Iago

255
  1. ’Zounds, hold your peace.

Emilia

256 - 259
  1.                           ’Twill out, ’twill out! I peace?
  2. No, I will speak as liberal as the north:
  3. Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
  4. All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.

Iago

260
  1. Be wise, and get you home.

Emilia

261
  1.                            I will not.
  1. Iago offers to stab Emilia.

Gratiano

262 - 263
  1.             Fie,
  2. Your sword upon a woman?

Emilia

264 - 268
  1. O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st of
  2. I found by fortune, and did give my husband;
  3. For often, with a solemn earnestness
  4. (More than indeed belong’d to such a trifle),
  5. He begg’d of me to steal’t.

Iago

269
  1.                             Villainous whore!

Emilia

270 - 271
  1. She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it,
  2. And I did give’t my husband.

Iago

272
  1.                              Filth, thou liest!

Emilia

273 - 275
  1. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
  2. O murd’rous coxcomb, what should such a fool
  3. Do with so good a wife?

Othello

276 - 277
  1.                         Are there no stones in heaven
  2. But what serves for the thunder?—Precious villain!
  1. The Moor runs at Iago; Montano disarms Othello.
  1. Iago kills his wife.

Gratiano

278
  1. The woman falls; sure he hath kill’d his wife.

Emilia

279
  1. Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress’ side.
  1. Exit Iago.

Gratiano

280
  1. He’s gone, but his wife’s kill’d.

Montano

281 - 285
  1. ’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon
  2. Which I have here recover’d from the Moor.
  3. Come guard the door without; let him not pass,
  4. But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,
  5. For ’tis a damned slave.
  1. Exit with all but Othello and Emilia.

Othello

286 - 289
  1.                          I am not valiant neither,
  2. But every puny whipster gets my sword.
  3. But why should honor outlive honesty?
  4. Let it go all.

Emilia

290 - 296
  1.                What did thy song bode, lady?
  2. Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,
  3. And die in music.
  4. Sings.
  5. Willow, willow, willow.
  6. Moor, she was chaste; she lov’d thee, cruel Moor;
  7. So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
  8. So speaking as I think, alas, I die.
  1. Dies.

Othello

297 - 299
  1. I have another weapon in this chamber;
  2. It was a sword of Spain, the ice-brook’s temper—
  3. O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.

Gratiano

300 - 301
  1. Within.
  2. If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
  3. Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

Othello

302 - 303
  1. Look in upon me then and speak with me,
  2. Or naked as I am I will assault thee.
  1. Enter Gratiano.

Hah, no more moving? Still as the grave.

Max Cowper, circa 1903

Gratiano

304
  1. What is the matter?

Othello

305 - 328
  1.                     Behold, I have a weapon;
  2. A better never did itself sustain
  3. Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day
  4. That with this little arm, and this good sword,
  5. I have made my way through more impediments
  6. Than twenty times your stop. But (O vain boast!)
  7. Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.
  8. Be not afraid though you do see me weapon’d;
  9. Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt
  10. And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
  11. Do you go back dismay’d? ’Tis a lost fear;
  12. Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,
  13. And he retires. Where should Othello go?
  14. Now—how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench,
  15. Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt,
  16. This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
  17. And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
  18. Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!
  19. Whip me, ye devils,
  20. From the possession of this heavenly sight!
  21. Blow me about in winds! Roast me in sulphur!
  22. Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
  23. O Desdemon! Dead, Desdemon! Dead!
  24. O, O!
  1. Enter Lodovico, Cassio in a chair, Montano, and Iago
  2. guarded, with Officers.

Lodovico

329
  1. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?

Othello

330
  1. That’s he that was Othello; here I am.

Lodovico

331
  1. Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.

Othello

332 - 333
  1. I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.
  2. If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
  1. Wounds Iago.

Lodovico

334
  1. Wrench his sword from him.

Iago

335
  1.                            I bleed, sir, but not kill’d.

Othello

336 - 337
  1. I am not sorry neither, I’ld have thee live;
  2. For in my sense, ’tis happiness to die.

Lodovico

338 - 340
  1. O thou Othello, that was once so good,
  2. Fall’n in the practice of a damned slave,
  3. What shall be said to thee?

Othello

341 - 343
  1.                             Why, any thing:
  2. An honorable murderer, if you will;
  3. For nought I did in hate, but all in honor.

Lodovico

344 - 345
  1. This wretch hath part confess’d his villainy.
  2. Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?

Othello

346
  1. Ay.

Cassio

347
  1. Dear general, I never gave you cause.

Othello

348 - 350
  1. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
  2. Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
  3. Why he hath thus ensnar’d my soul and body?

Iago

351 - 352
  1. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know:
  2. From this time forth I never will speak word.

Lodovico

353
  1. What? Not to pray?

Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.

L. Marchetti, 1900

Gratiano

354
  1.                    Torments will ope your lips.

Othello

355
  1. Well, thou dost best.

Lodovico

356 - 361
  1. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,
  2. Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
  3. Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
  4. And here another. The one of them imports
  5. The death of Cassio to be undertook
  6. By Roderigo.

Othello

362
  1. O villain!

Cassio

363
  1.            Most heathenish and most gross!

Lodovico

364 - 368
  1. Now here’s another discontented paper,
  2. Found in his pocket too; and this it seems
  3. Roderigo meant t’ have sent this damned villain;
  4. But that, belike, Iago in the nick
  5. Came in and satisfied him.

Othello

369 - 371
  1.                            O thou pernicious caitiff!—
  2. How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
  3. That was my wive’s?

Cassio

372 - 375
  1.                     I found it in my chamber:
  2. And he himself confess’d it but even now,
  3. That there he dropp’d it for a special purpose
  4. Which wrought to his desire.

Othello

376
  1.                              O fool, fool, fool!

Cassio

377 - 382
  1. There is besides, in Roderigo’s letter,
  2. How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
  3. Brave me upon the watch, whereon it came
  4. That I was cast; and even but now he spake
  5. (After long seeming dead) Iago hurt him,
  6. Iago set him on.

Lodovico

383 - 390
  1. You must forsake this room and go with us.
  2. Your power and your command is taken off,
  3. And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
  4. If there be any cunning cruelty
  5. That can torment him much, and hold him long,
  6. It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
  7. Till that the nature of your fault be known
  8. To the Venetian state. Come, bring away.

Othello

391 - 409
  1. Soft you; a word or two before you go.
  2. I have done the state some service, and they know’t—
  3. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
  4. When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
  5. Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
  6. Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
  7. Of one that lov’d not wisely but too well;
  8. Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
  9. Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand
  10. (Like the base Indian) threw a pearl away
  11. Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu’d eyes,
  12. Albeit unused to the melting mood,
  13. Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees
  14. Their medicinable gum. Set you down this;
  15. And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
  16. Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk
  17. Beat a Venetian and traduc’d the state,
  18. I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog,
  19. And smote him—thus.
  1. He stabs himself.

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul

L. Marchetti, circa 1900

Lodovico

410
  1. O bloody period!

Gratiano

411
  1.                  All that is spoke is marr’d.

Othello

412 - 413
  1. I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee. No way but this,
  2. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
  1. Falls on the bed and dies.

Cassio

414 - 415
  1. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
  2. For he was great of heart.

Lodovico

416 - 426
  1. To Iago.
  2.                            O Spartan dog,
  3. More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
  4. Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
  5. This is thy work. The object poisons sight,
  6. Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
  7. And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
  8. For they succeed on you. To you, Lord Governor,
  9. Remains the censure of this hellish villain,
  10. The time, the place, the torture, O, enforce it!
  11. Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
  12. This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
  1. Exeunt.
finis
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