Act 4 scene 2

 

O Desdemona! away! away! away!

 

Othello, Desdemona

 

OTHELLO              She says enough; yet she's a simple bawd
That cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore,
A closet lock and key of villainous secrets
And yet she'll kneel and pray; I have seen her do't.

 

                               [Enter DESDEMONA with EMILIA]

 

DESDEMONA       My lord, what is your will?

 

OTHELLO              Pray, chuck, come hither.

 

DESDEMONA       What is your pleasure?

 

OTHELLO              Let me see your eyes;
Look in my face.

 

DESDEMONA       What horrible fancy's this?

 

OTHELLO              [To EMILIA] Some of your function, mistress;
Leave procreants alone and shut the door;
Cough, or cry 'hem,' if any body come:
Nay, dispatch.

 

                               [Exit EMILIA]

 

DESDEMONA       Upon my knees, what doth your speech import?
I understand a fury in your words.
But not the words.

 

OTHELLO              Why, what art thou?

 

DESDEMONA       Your wife, my lord; your true
And loyal wife.

 

OTHELLO              Come, swear it, damn thyself
Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves
Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd:
Swear thou art honest.

 

DESDEMONA       Heaven doth truly know it.

 

OTHELLO              Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.

 

DESDEMONA       To whom, my lord? with whom? how am I false?

 

OTHELLO              O Desdemona! away! away! away!

 

DESDEMONA       Alas the heavy day! Why do you weep?
Am I the motive of these tears, my lord?

 

OTHELLO              Had it pleased heaven
To try me with affliction; had they rain'd
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head.
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience: but, alas, to make me
A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow unmoving finger at!
Yet could I bear that too; well, very well:
But there, where I have garner'd up my heart,
Where either I must live, or bear no life.

 

DESDEMONA       I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.

 

OTHELLO              O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles,
That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed,
Who art so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet
That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst
ne'er been born!

 

DESDEMONA       Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?

 

OTHELLO              Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,
Made to write 'whore' upon? What committed!
Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks,
The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets
Is hush'd within the hollow mine of earth,
And will not hear it. What committed!
Impudent strumpet!

 

DESDEMONA       By heaven, you do me wrong.

OTHELLO              Are you not a strumpet?

 

DESDEMONA       No, as I am a Christian:
If to preserve this vessel for my lord
From any other foul unlawful touch
Be not to be a strumpet, I am none.

 

OTHELLO              What, not a whore?

 

DESDEMONA       No, as I shall be saved.

 

OTHELLO              Is't possible?

 

DESDEMONA       O, heaven forgive us!

 

OTHELLO              I cry you mercy, then:
I took you for that cunning whore of Venice
That married with Othello.

 

                               [Raising his voice]

 

You, mistress,
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter,
And keep the gate of hell!

 

                               [Re-enter EMILIA]

 

You, you, ay, you!
We have done our course; there's money for your pains.

 

            [Exit]