60

But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.
Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in his hand.

Des.

Oth.

O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,

And makest me call what I intend to do

A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:

I saw the handkerchief.

He found it then;

I never gave it him: send for him hither;

Let him confess a truth.

Des. What, my lord?

65

He hath confess'd.

Honest Iago hath ta'en order for 't.

Des. O, my fear interprets! what, is he dead?

Oth. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge

Had stomach for them all.

Des. Alas, he is betray'd, and I undone!

Oth. Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?

75

62. in his] Qq, Jennens, Steevens; in's Ff, Globe. 63. my] thy Q I. 68. Let] And let Q I. 70. hath used thee.] Ff, 73. O,.. interprets!] Globe, Oh, . . . interprets.

64. makest] makes F 1. hath-uds death. Q I. Ff. 77. Out] O Qq.

72. ta'en order] taken measures, arranged. Compare Richard II. v. i. 53, and Measure for Measure, II. i. 246. 74. hairs been lives] Compare Lyly's Mydas, I. i., 1592: "Desirest thou to be fortunate in thy love, or in thy victories famous, or to have the yeeres

of thy life as many as the haires on thy head?" A similar expression occurs in Macbeth, v. viii. 48. Steevens quotes from two later plays, where the same thought occurs; both are perhaps echoes of Othello's words in this famous

scene.

Des. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
Oth. Down, strumpet!

Des. Kill me to-morrow; let me live to-night!
Oth. Nay, if you strive,—

Des. But half an hour!
Oth.

Being done, there is no pause.

Des. But while I say one prayer!
Oth.

80

It is too late. [He smothers her.

Emil. [Within] My lord, my lord! what,ho! my lord, my lord! Oth. What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead? 85 I that am cruel am yet merciful;

I would not have thee linger in thy pain:

So, so.

Emil. [Within] What, ho! my lord, my lord!

Oth.

Who's there?

Emil. [Within] O, good my lord, I would speak a word

with you!

81. if] Ff, an Qq. 82, 83. Oth. Being pause. Des.] omitted Q 1, reading Des. But halfe an houre, but while I say one prayer. followed by Pope, Hanmer. 83. It is too] Ff, Tis too Q1; [He smothers her] Smothers her Ff, He stifles her Qq (after prayer). 83, 84. late. Emil.] late. Des. O Lord, Lord, Lord. Em. Q 1, Jennens. 84. Emil. [Within]] Steevens, etc., Emillia calls within Qq (after omitted Lord Q1, after late Q 2, 3), Emilia at the door. Ff. 85. noise] Ff, voyce Qq. 88. [Stabbing her.] Rann; [Within]] Ff, omitted Qq. 89, 100. [Within]] Malone, Steevens (1793) et seq.; omitted Qq, Ff.

Oth. Yes: 'tis Emilia. By and by. She's dead.
'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death.
The noise was high. Ha! no more moving?

90

95

Emil.

If she come in, she 'll sure speak to my wife:

My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
O, insupportable! O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse

Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.

[Within] I do beseech you That I may speak with you, O, good my lord! Oth. I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia.

100

92. high] Ff, Steevens, Dyce, Craig; here Qq, Jennens, Globe. 94. best to do] the best Qq, Steevens. 96. what wife?] my wife; QI. 100. Should] Qq, Did Ff. IOI. That] omitted Qq, reading I... lord one line; O] 102. forgot] forgotten Q 2, 3; O] omitted Q 2, 3.

omitted QI.

90. by and by] presently. See II. i.

290.

92. high] Probably refers to the attack upon Cassio, where there was undoubtedly much noise.

97. heavy] See IV. ii. 43. 98-100. eclipse. yawn at alteration] The chaos that Othello foretells for himself "when I love thee not," should now be here. See III. iii. 93. For the connection between eclipses and earthquakes, to us a meaningless one, Shakespeare had his authority in Holland's Plinie. In Book ii. ch. 80, "Of the Gaping Chinkes of the Earth," I find: "In one place the walls of cities are laid along in another they be swallowed up in a deep and wide chawme: here are cast up mightie heapes of earth: there are let out rivers of water, because in those times all

tempests are asleepe and laid to rest.

They [earthquakes] fortune also to be when the Sune and Moone are eclipsed." Here we have alterations indeed, and a vividly poetical description of them, coupled with chawmes [yawns, or chasms] of the globe, as it "travelleth and waggeth to and fro," and eclipses of sun and moon. Theobald accuses Shakespeare of profanity in this passage, an accusation which (though obviously just to him) seems quite groundless, even apart from the extract from Pliny. Eclipses, like comets, have at all times been connected with mundane calamities by superstition. See Lear, I. ii. III et seq. I see no occasion to deem that Shakespeare refers here to the Crucifixion (Matt. xxvii.), as Theobald finds necessary.

[Unlocks the door.

Soft; by and by. Let me the curtains draw.

Where art thou?

Enter EMILIA.

Emil. O, my good

What's the matter with thee now?
lord, yonder's foul murders done! 105

Oth. It is the very error of the moon;

She comes more near the earth than she was wont
And makes men mad.

Emil. Cassio, my lord, has kill'd a young Venetian

IIO

Oth. Not Cassio kill'd! then murder's out of tune,

And sweet revenge grows harsh.

Des. O, falsely, falsely murder'd!

Emil.

Oth. That! what?

Alas, what cry is that? 115

Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.

Help! help, ho! help!

O lady, speak again!

Sweet Desdemona ! O sweet mistress, speak!

Des. A guiltless death I die.

120

104. [Unlocks the door.] Theobald et seq. 105. murders] Qq, Globe;
murthers Ff; murder (or murther) Steevens, etc., Craig. 106. What,] Q I,
What? the rest. 108. near the] Qq, Steevens, Craig; nearer Ff, Globe.
115. Alas] O Lord Qq. 117. that was] Ff; it is Q 1; it was Q 2, 3.

Emil. O, who hath done this deed?
Des. Nobody; I myself. Farewell:

Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
Oth. Why, how should she be murder'd?
Emil.

[Dies.

Alas, who knows?

Oth. You heard her say herself, It was not I.
Emil. She said so: I must needs report the truth.
Oth. She's like a liar gone to burning hell:
'Twas I that kill'd her.

Emil.

O, the more angel she,

And you the blacker devil!

Oth. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
Oth. She was false as water.
Emil.

125

130

Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false: O, she was heavenly true! Oth. Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.

135

Emil. My husband!

Oth. Thy husband.

Emil. That she was false to wedlock?

Oth. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,

140

123. [Dies] She dies Qq, omitted Ff. 125. heard] Qq, hear Ff. the truth] Ff, a truth Qq. 132. art rash] as rash Q 1. omitted Ff.

130. folly] See II. i. 137 (note).

138. My husband!] Emilia's repeated astonishment at Iago's complicity is the argument in favour of her not having suspected him to be the "eternal villain," See note at IV. ii. 131. On the other hand (see line 191, below),

126.

I41. Nay]Qq,

some suspicions seem to have flashed across her, but were not attended to in her desire to please Iago. Her conscience was torpidity itself. When it is aroused, she acts nobly out of sudden grief, and love for her mistress.