[Enter OTHELLO and IAGO]
IAGO Will you think so?
OTHELLO Think so, Iago!
IAGO What,
To kiss in private?
OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO Or
to be naked with her friend in bed
An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
IAGO So
they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip:
But if I give my wife a handkerchief,--
OTHELLO What then?
IAGO Why,
then, 'tis hers, my lord; and, being hers,
She may, I think, bestow't on any man.
OTHELLO She is
protectress of her honour too:
May she give that?
IAGO Her
honour is an essence that's not seen;
But, for the handkerchief,--
OTHELLO By
heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
Thou said'st, it comes o'er my memory,
As doth the raven o'er the infected house,
Boding to all--he had my handkerchief.
IAGO Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO That's not so good now.
IAGO What,
If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
Or heard him say—
OTHELLO Hath he said any thing?
IAGO He
hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
No more than he'll unswear.
OTHELLO What hath he said?
IAGO 'Faith, that he did--I know not what he did.
OTHELLO What? what?
IAGO Lie—
OTHELLO With her?
IAGO With her, on her; what you will.
OTHELLO Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when they belie her.
Lie with her! that's
fulsome. --Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--
To confess, and be hanged for his labour;--first, to be
hanged, and then to confess.--I tremble at it.
It is not words that shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips.
--Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O devil!—
[Falls in a trance]
IAGO Work
on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught;
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
All guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! my lord!
My lord, I say! Othello!
[Enter CASSIO]
How now, Cassio!
CASSIO What's the matter?
IAGO My
lord is fall'n into an epilepsy:
This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
CASSIO Rub him about the temples.
IAGO No,
forbear;
The lethargy must have his quiet course:
If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
Breaks out to savage madness. Look he stirs:
Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
He will recover straight: when he is gone,
I would on great occasion speak with you.
[Exit CASSIO]
How is it, general? have you not hurt your head?
OTHELLO Dost thou mock me?
IAGO I
mock you! no, by heaven.
Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
OTHELLO A horned man's a monster and a beast.
IAGO There's many a beast then in a populous city.