EMILIA. O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA. Nobody; I myself. Farewell
Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
[Dies.]
OTHELLO. Why, how should she be murdered?
EMILIA. Alas, who knows?
OTHELLO. You heard her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA. She said so: I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO. She’s, like a liar, gone to burning hell:
’Twas I that killed her.
EMILIA. O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO. She turned to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
OTHELLO. She was false as water.
EMILIA. Thou art rash as fire, to say
That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO. Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.
O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell,
But that I did proceed upon just grounds
To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA. My husband!
OTHELLO. Thy husband.
EMILIA. That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and Perfect chrysolite,
I’ld not have sold her for it.
EMILIA. My husband!
OTHELLO. Ay, ’twas he that told me first;
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA. My husband!
OTHELLO. What needs this iteration, woman? I say thy husband.
EMILIA. O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love,
My husband say that she was false!
OTHELLO. He, woman:
I say thy husband: dost understand the word?
My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.
EMILIA. If he say so, may his pernicious soul
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart:
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
OTHELLO. Ha!
EMILIA. Do thy worst: This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
Than thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO. Peace, you were best.
EMILIA. Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed –
I care not for thy sword; I’ll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives. – Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder! murder!
[Enter Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others.]
MONTANO. What is the matter? How now, general!
EMILIA. O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murders on your neck.
GRATIANO. What is the matter?
EMILIA. Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man:
He says thou told’st him that his wife was false:
I know thou didst not, thou’rt not such a villain:
Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO. I told him what I thought, and told no more
Than what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA. But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO. I did.
EMILIA. You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;
Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie.
She false with Cassio! – did you say with Cassio?
IAGO. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.
EMILIA. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
My mistress here lies murdered in her bed, –
All. O heavens forfend!
EMILIA. And your reports have set the murder on.
OTHELLO. Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.
GRATIANO. ’Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO. O monstrous act!
EMILIA. Villany, villany, villany!
I think upon’t, I think: I smell’t: O villany! –
I thought so then: – I’ll kill myself for grief: –
O villany, villany!
IAGO. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.
EMILIA. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:
’Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.
OTHELLO. O! O! O!
[He falls on the bed.]
EMILIA. Nay, lay thee down and roar;
For thou hast killed the sweetest innocent
That e’er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO. O, she was foul!
I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece,
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopped:
I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father’s dead:
Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation.
OTHELLO. ’Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed; Cassio confessed it:
And she did gratify his amorous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand:
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
My father gave my mother.
EMILIA. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
IAGO. Come, hold your peace.
EMILIA. ’Twill out, ’twill out: I peace!
No, I will speak as liberal as the north:
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
IAGO. Be wise, and get you home.
EMILIA. I will not.
[Iago offers to stab Emilia.]
GRATIANO. Fie! Your sword upon a woman?
EMILIA. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak’st of
I found by fortune and did give my husband;
For often, with a solemn earnestness,
More than indeed belonged to such a trifle,
He begged of me to steal it.
IAGO. Villanous whore!
EMILIA. She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it,
And I did give’t my husband.
IAGO. Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a woman?
OTHELLO. Are there no stones in heaven
But what serve for the thunder? – Precious villain!
[He runs at Iago, Iago stabs Emilia, and exit.]
GRATIANO. The woman falls; sure, he hath killed his wife.
EMILIA. Ay, ay: O, lay me by my mistress’ side.
GRATIANO. He’s gone, but his wife’s killed.
MONTANO. ’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
Which I have here recovered from the Moor:
Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,
But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,
For ’tis a damned slave.
[Exeunt Montano and Gratiano.]
OTHELLO. I am not valiant neither,
But ever puny whipster gets my sword:
But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all.
EMILIA. What did thy song bode, lady?