Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Duke, Senators, and Officers. DUKE, reading a paper
There’s no composition in these news
That gives them credit. FIRST SENATOR, reading a paper
Indeed, they are disproportioned.
My letters say a hundred and seven galleys. DUKE
And mine, a hundred forty. 5 SECOND SENATOR, reading a paper
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
A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus. 10 DUKE
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! 15 Enter Sailor. OFFICER A messenger from the galleys. DUKE Now, what’s the business? SAILOR
The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes.
So was I bid report here to the state
By Signior Angelo. He exits. 20 | The Duke and assorted senators of Venice are dealing with the impending war with the Turks over Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean. The men compare conflicting reports of a Turkish fleet approaching the island, but are interrupted by a messenger, who says that, actually, the Turkish fleet is headed to Rhodes (yet another island, this one in between Greece and Cyprus). |
DUKE
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
Th’ importancy of Cyprus to the Turk, 25
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,
But altogether lacks th’ abilities 30
That Rhodes is dressed in—if we make thought of
this,
We must not think the Turk is so unskillful
To leave that latest which concerns him first,
Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain 35
To wake and wage a danger profitless. DUKE
Nay, in all confidence, he’s not for Rhodes. OFFICER Here is more news. Enter a Messenger. MESSENGER
The Ottomites, Reverend and Gracious,
Steering with due course toward 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 45
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. He exits. DUKE ’Tis certain, then, for Cyprus. 50
Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town? FIRST SENATOR
He’s now in Florence. DUKE Write from us to him.
Post-post-haste. Dispatch. | After much quibbling, the men realize that the Turkish fleet sent to Rhodes was only a decoy, as Cyprus is more strategically important to the enemy. The governor of Cyprus, Montano, has sent a message from his location in Florence to confirm that his city is soon to be under siege: the Turks, with a fleet of thirty ships, really are headed for Cyprus, and he needs help from Venice—right now. |
FIRST SENATOR
Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor. 55 Enter Brabantio, Othello, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, and
Officers. DUKE
Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
Against the general enemy Ottoman.
To Brabantio. I did not see you. Welcome, gentle
signior.
We lacked your counsel and your help tonight. 60 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
Take hold on me, for my particular grief 65
Is of so floodgate and o’erbearing nature
That it engluts and swallows other sorrows
And it is still itself. DUKE Why, what’s the matter? BRABANTIO
My daughter! O, my daughter! 70 FIRST SENATOR Dead? BRABANTIO Ay, to me.
She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;
For nature so prepost’rously to err— 75
Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense—
Sans witchcraft could not. | Brabantio enters the scene with Othello, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, and a bevy of other officers. The Duke is quick to dispatch Othello to fight the Ottomans, but Brabantio pipes up. He says he hasn't come about matters of state, but rather because his daughter's been stolen. And yeah, he brings up the whole witchcraft theory again. |
DUKE
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 80
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter,
After your own sense, yea, though our proper son
Stood in your action. | The Duke says this is awful news, ignoring that this is probably not as awful as the fact that Cyprus is about to be pulverized by the Turks. Still, the Duke promises that whoever the man is that has enchanted Brabantio's daughter, even if it's the Duke's own son, he will get what's coming to him. |
BRABANTIO Humbly I thank your Grace.
Here is the man—this Moor, whom now it seems 85
Your special mandate for the state affairs
Hath hither brought. ALL We are very sorry for ’t. | Good, says Brabantio. Because it's Othello. |
DUKE, to Othello
What, in your own part, can you say to this? BRABANTIO Nothing, but this is so. 90 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,
It is most true; true I have married her.
The very head and front of my offending 95
Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,
And little blessed 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, 100
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
In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious
patience, 105
I will a round unvarnished 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) 110
I won his daughter. | The Duke asks Othello what he has to say for himself. Actually, Othello has quite a bit to say: his only offense is to have married Brabantio's daughter. Othello says he's a man of action, so his speech will be a poor defense, but he'll give them the whole story of how he won Brabantio's daughter, and they can then judge whether he's guilty or not. |
BRABANTIO A maiden never bold,
Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion
Blushed at herself. And she, in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, everything, 115
To fall in love with what she feared to look on!
It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect
That will confess perfection so could err
Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell 120
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. | Brabantio pipes up and insists that his daughter is as pure as the snow, so there's no way she could come to love the Moor except via his trickery. |
DUKE To vouch this is no proof 125
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 forcèd courses 130
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 135
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. 140 DUKE Fetch Desdemona hither. | Othello begs to differ. In fact, he says, they can bring Brabantio's daughter, his new wife, to confirm the story right here and now, if they wish. If Othello is in the wrong, the senators may take away his title and order him to be killed. |
OTHELLO
Ancient, conduct them. You best know the place.
Iago and Attendants exit.
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 145
How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love,
And she in mine. DUKE Say it, Othello. | Othello sends Iago, in whom he trusts, to fetch the girl, and the Duke gives Othello the go ahead to tell his story. |
OTHELLO
Her father loved me, oft invited me,
Still questioned me the story of my life 150
From year to year—the battles, sieges, fortunes
That I have passed.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
To th’ very moment that he bade me tell it,
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances: 155
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hairbreadth ’scapes i’ th’ imminent deadly
breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence, 160
And portance in my traveler’s 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 my process— 165
And of the cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to
hear
Would Desdemona seriously incline. 170
But still the house affairs would draw her thence,
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch
She’d come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse. Which I, observing,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means 175
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not intentively. I did consent,
And often did beguile her of her tears 180
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth suffered. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.
She swore, in faith, ’twas strange, ’twas passing
strange, 185
’Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful.
She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished
That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked
me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, 190
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 passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used. 195
Here comes the lady. Let her witness it. | Othello gives them an earful. He says Brabantio used to invite him over all the time to hear his fantastic tales, including, but not limited to: daring escapes within a hair's breadth of death; being sold into slavery and getting his freedom back; and traveling over the world's caves, deserts, quarries, and hills. Also, there were cannibals, and men whose heads were in their chests. When Othello shared his stories, he noticed that Brabantio's daughter, Desdemona, was always eager to listen in. So...one day Othello made a point of relaxing around the house, making himself available for Desdemona to approach. (Kind of like hanging around near her locker.) When she did, she asked him to tell her all of his tales in full because she'd only heard bits and pieces. He talked, she swooned, and then she told him she wished there was a guy out there like Othello for her. Also (wink, wink) if Othello knew anyone with stories like that who happened to loved Desdemona, she'd definitely love him back. Othello took the hint, and they've been in love ever since. |
Enter Desdemona, Iago, Attendants. DUKE
I think this tale would win my daughter, too.
Good Brabantio,
Take up this mangled matter at the best.
Men do their broken weapons rather use 200
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. 205
Do you perceive in all this noble company
Where most you owe obedience? | Just then Iago enters with Desdemona, the lady in question. Brabantio says he'd like to hear from his daughter whether she was willingly part of the courtship. He asks her where she thinks her loyalty should lie. |
DESDEMONA My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty.
To you I am bound for life and education. 210
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 showed 215
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord. | Desdemona says that while she loves her father and knows that she owes him a lot, she must love her husband more than her father—just like her mother did. |
BRABANTIO God be with you! I have done.
Please it your Grace, on to the state affairs. 220
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, 225
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. | Brabantio is not pleased. He says he'll give Desdemona over to Othello, but still, Brabantio is an unhappy man. Thank goodness he doesn't have another daughter. If he did, he'd lock her up to keep something like this from happening again. |
DUKE
Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence,
Which as a grise or step may help these lovers 230
Into your favor.
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. 235
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the
thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief. 240 | The Duke says Brabantio would only waste his time being sad about what's already over. Besides, his bitterness would likely only bring more trouble. Instead, he should just be happy because he doesn't have a choice but to be happy; he doesn't have a say in the affairs of his daughter anymore. |
BRABANTIO
So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile,
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 245
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 piercèd through the 250
ear.
I humbly beseech you, proceed to th’ affairs of
state. DUKE The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes
for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is 255
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 260
more stubborn and boist’rous expedition. | After Brabantio laments some more, the Duke gets back to the situation in Cyprus. Though they've already got some guys on the ground there, everyone would feel better if Othello went, as he's competent and knowledgeable about the area. The Duke says he's sorry, but Othello will have to spend his wedding night preparing for battle. |
OTHELLO
The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down. I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity 265
I find in hardness, and do undertake
This 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, 270
With such accommodation and besort
As levels with her breeding. | Othello says he's happy to go—he's used to military life and rushing off to fight at short notice. But someone needs to provide Desdemona with a suitable place to sleep while he's gone, something worthy of her. His hard army cot won't do, and he hasn't had time to set up a nice home with her. |
DUKE
Why, at her father’s. BRABANTIO I will not have it so. OTHELLO Nor I. 275 DESDEMONA Nor would I 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 280
T’ assist my simpleness. | The Duke suggests that perhaps Desdemona should stay at her father's house, but nobody thinks that's a good idea. |
DUKE What would you, Desdemona? DESDEMONA
That I love the Moor to live with him
My downright violence and storm of fortunes
May trumpet to the world. My heart’s subdued 285
Even to the very quality of my lord.
I saw Othello’s visage in his mind,
And to his honors and his valiant parts
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, 290
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
The rites for why I love him are bereft me
And I a heavy interim shall support
By his dear absence. Let me go with him. | The Duke asks Desdemona what she wants, and she says she'd like to go with Othello. She says her love is only complete if she can live with him. Besides, she fell in love with Othello's character and profession, and if she's left behind while he's in war, the very qualities she loves will be absent from her. |
OTHELLO Let her have your voice. 295
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. 300
And heaven defend your good souls that you think
I will your serious and great business scant
For she is with me. No, when light-winged toys
Of feathered Cupid seel with wanton dullness
My speculative and officed instruments, 305
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. | Othello agrees with his wife wholeheartedly and assures the Duke she wouldn't be a distraction for him. |
DUKE
Be it as you shall privately determine, 310
Either for her stay or going. Th’ affair cries haste,
And speed must answer it. FIRST SENATOR
You must away tonight. OTHELLO With all my
heart. 315 DUKE
At nine i’ th’ 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. 320 OTHELLO So please your Grace, my
ancient.
A man he is of honesty and trust.
To his conveyance I assign my wife,
With what else needful your good Grace shall think 325
To be sent after me. | The Duke thinks they can settle these domestic disputes on their own. Whether Desdemona is to stay or go, Othello needs to leave for battle now. Othello agrees to this, and leaves his trusted friend Iago to follow, bringing Desdemona and anything else Othello might need. |
DUKE Let it be so.
Good night to everyone. To Brabantio. And, noble
signior,
If virtue no delighted beauty lack, 330
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. He exits. | As everyone is parting, the Duke tries to cheer Brabantio, saying Othello is "more fair than black." Brabantio won't have any of it, and warns Othello that he should watch the girl: she's likely to deceive him the way she deceived her own father. |
OTHELLO
My life upon her faith! 335 The Duke, the Senators, Cassio, and Officers exit. Honest Iago,
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 340
Of love, of worldly matters, and direction
To spend with thee. We must obey the time. Othello and Desdemona exit. | Foreshadowing alert! Othello responds that his life depends upon Desdemona's faithfulness. (Remember that one.) He then instructs Iago to take Desdemona along with Iago's wife, Emilia, on the journey to the battle area. |
RODERIGO Iago— IAGO What sayst thou, noble heart? RODERIGO What will I do, think’st thou? 345 IAGO Why, go to bed and sleep. 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, 350
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 355
man that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say
I 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. 360 | After Othello and Desdemona have left, Iago remains with Roderigo. Roderigo announces he will drown himself out of lovesickness (for Desdemona), and Iago chides him for his foolishness. |
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 365
with many, either to have it sterile with idleness or
manured with industry, why the 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 370
natures would conduct us to most prepost’rous
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. | Iago says that humans have will power and self-control if they would just use it. This love that Roderigo is so ruled by is just another form of lust. He needs to cool his jets and take control of his emotions. |
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
cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy
friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving 380
with cables of perdurable toughness. I could never
better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse.
Follow thou the wars; defeat thy favor with an
usurped beard. I say, put money in thy purse. It
cannot be that Desdemona should long continue 385
her love to the Moor—put money in thy purse—
nor he his to her. It was a violent commencement in
her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration
—put but money in thy purse. These Moors are
changeable in their wills. Fill thy purse with money. 390
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.
Therefore, put money in thy purse. If thou wilt 395
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 be not too hard for my
wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her. 400
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 isn't buying what Iago is selling, but Iago insists that Roderigo is foolish to think about drowning himself. What he should be focusing on is making money. Iago (who has been spending Roderigo's money like there's no tomorrow) hits that point hard: he tells Roderigo to make money eight separate times in this speech. Eight. He also promises that Desdemona's passions for Othello will eventually cool, and that Othello will tire of Desdemona too, as Moors are known for their changing tastes. Plus, Iago is plotting against them, so their relationship will definitely fail. Then Roderigo will have a chance to win Desdemona for himself, so he should be ready with plenty of money to support a wife. |
RODERIGO Wilt thou be fast to my hopes if I depend on 405
the issue? IAGO Thou art sure of me. Go, make money. I have
told thee often, and I retell thee again and again, I
hate the Moor. My cause is hearted; thine hath no
less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge 410
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 tomorrow. Adieu. 415 RODERIGO Where shall we meet i’ th’ morning? IAGO At my lodging. RODERIGO I’ll be with thee betimes. IAGO Go to, farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo? RODERIGO What say you? 420 IAGO No more of drowning, do you hear? RODERIGO I am changed. IAGO Go to, farewell. Put money enough in your
purse. RODERIGO I’ll sell all my land. He exits. 425 | Roderigo says, "Really? You promise you'll help me?" And Iago says, "Of course I will. I hate that guy." He then tells Roderigo two more times to make money (that's ten), and to stop obsessing over drowning himself. Roderigo says he's a changed man thanks to Iago's pep talk. He's going to sell all of his land to raise money for his marriage to Desdemona. |
IAGO
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse.
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane
If I would time expend with such a snipe
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets 430
’Has done my office. I know not if ’t be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surety. He holds me well.
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio’s a proper man. Let me see now: 435
To get his place and to plume up my will
In double knavery—How? how?—Let’s see.
After some time, to abuse Othello’s ear
That he is too familiar with his wife.
He hath a person and a smooth dispose 440
To be suspected, framed to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose
As asses are. 445
I have ’t. It is engendered. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light. He exits. | Once Roderigo's gone, Iago fills us in on his nasty plan. He doesn't care about Roderigo's love for Desdemona. He's just using Roderigo for fun and profit. But Iago has a bone to pick with Othello, since lots of people seem to think that Othello slept with Iago's wife. Whether it's true or not, Iago doesn't care. It's enough that people are talking about it. Iago hatches a plan to make Othello think Cassio, who has the making of a ladies' man, is having an affair with Desdemona. Iago thinks the Moor is easily influenced, and his suspicion of Cassio will ruin both the great arithmetician's military career and Othello's marriage. Double win for Iago. (Cue the villainous laughter.) |