Othello by William Shakespeare Read Free Book Online Page B

Why how now, general? No more of that.
    OTHELLO    Avaunt 372 , be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack:
     I swear ’tis better to be much abused
     Than but to know’t a little.
    IAGO    How now, my lord?
    OTHELLO    What sense had I in her stol’n hours of lust?
     I saw’t not, thought it not, it harmed not me:
     I slept the next night well, fed well, was free 378 and merry:
     I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips.
     He that is robbed, not wanting 380 what is stol’n,
     Let him not know’t and he’s not robbed at all.
    IAGO    I am sorry to hear this.
    OTHELLO    I had been happy, if the general camp,
      Pioneers 384 and all, had tasted her sweet body,
      So 385 I had nothing known. O, now, for ever
     Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content;
     Farewell the plumèd 387 troops and the big wars
     That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!
     Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump 389 ,
     The spirit-stirring drum, th’ear-piercing fife 390 ,
     The royal banner, and all quality 391 ,
      Pride 392 , pomp and circumstance of glorious war!
     And, O, you mortal engines 393 , whose rude throats
     Th’immortal Jove’s dread clamours 394 counterfeit,
     Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone.
    IAGO    Is’t possible, my lord?
    OTHELLO    Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;
    Grabs him
         Be sure of it: give me the ocular proof,
     Or by the worth of mine eternal soul,
     Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
     Than answer my waked wrath!
    IAGO    Is’t come to this?
    OTHELLO    Make me to see’t, or at the least so prove it
     That the probation 404 bear no hinge nor loop
     To hang a doubt on, or woe upon thy life!
    IAGO    My noble lord—
    OTHELLO    If thou dost slander her and torture me,
     Never pray more: abandon all remorse 408 ,
     On horror’s head horrors accumulate,
     Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed 410 ,
     For nothing canst thou to damnation add
     Greater than that.
    IAGO    O grace! O heaven forgive me!
     Are you a man? Have you a soul? Or sense?
      God b’wi’you 415 , take mine office. O wretched fool,
     That lov’st to make thine honesty a vice!
     O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
     To be direct and honest is not safe.
     I thank you for this profit 419 , and from hence
     I’ll love no friend, sith 420 love breeds such offence.
    OTHELLO    Nay, stay: thou shouldst be 421 honest.
    IAGO    I should be 422 wise, for honesty’s a fool
     And loses that 423 it works for.
    OTHELLO    By the world,
     I think my wife be honest and think she is not:
     I think that thou art just and think thou art not.
     I’ll have some proof. My name, that was as fresh
     As Dian 428 ’s visage, is now begrimed and black
     As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives, 429
     Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams ,
     I’ll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!
    IAGO    I see you are eaten up with passion:
     I do repent me that I put it to you.
     You would be satisfied?
    OTHELLO    Would? Nay, and I will.
    IAGO    And may: but, how? How satisfied, my lord?
     Would you the supervision 437 grossly gape on?
     Behold her topped 438 ?
    OTHELLO    Death and damnation! O!
    IAGO    It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
     To bring them to that prospect 441 : damn them then,
     If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster 442
      More 443 than their own. What then? How then?
     What shall I say? Where’s satisfaction 444 ?
     It is impossible you should see this,
     Were they as prime 446 as goats, as hot as