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O monstrous! monstrous!

IAGO.

Nay, this was but his dream.

OTHELLO.

But this denoted a foregone conclusion.

'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.

IAGO.

And this may help to thicken other proofs

That do demonstrate thinly.

OTHELLO.

I'll tear her all to pieces.

IAGO.

Nay, but be wise; yet we see nothing done;

She may be honest yet. Tell me but this;

Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief

Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand?

OTHELLO.

I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift.

IAGO.

I know not that; but such a handkerchief-

I am sure it was your wife's- did I today

See Cassio wipe his beard with.

OTHELLO.

If it be that-

IAGO.

If it be that, or any that was hers,

It speaks against her with the other proofs.

OTHELLO.

O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!

One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.

Now do I see 'tis true. Look here, Iago,

All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven.

'Tis gone.

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!

Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne

To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,

For 'tis of aspics' tongues!

IAGO.

Yet be content.

OTHELLO.

O, blood, blood, blood!

IAGO.

Patience, I say; your mind perhaps may change.

OTHELLO.

Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea,

Whose icy current and compulsive course

Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on

To the Propontic and the Hellespont,

Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,

Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,

Till that a capable and wide revenge

Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble heaven,

In the due reverence of a sacred vow Kneels.

I here engage my words.

IAGO.

Do not rise yet.

Kneels.

Witness, you ever-burning lights above,

You elements that clip us round about,

Witness that here Iago doth give up

The execution of his wit, hands, heart,

To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,

And to obey shall be in me remorse,

What bloody business ever. They rise.

OTHELLO.

I greet thy love,

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,

And will upon the instant put thee to't:

Within these three days let me hear thee say

That Cassio's not alive.

IAGO.

My friend is dead, 'tis done at your request;

But let her live.

OTHELLO.

Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!

Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,

To furnish me with some swift means of death

For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.

IAGO.

I am your own forever.

Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Before the castle.

Enter Desdemona, Emilia, and Clown.

DESDEMONA. Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?

CLOWN.

I dare not say he lies anywhere.

DESDEMONA.

Why, man?

CLOWN.

He's a soldier; and for one to say a soldier lies, is stabbing.

DESDEMONA.

Go to! Where lodges he?

CLOWN.

To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where I lie.

DESDEMONA.

Can anything be made of this?

CLOWN.

I know not where he lodges, and for me to devise a lodging,

and say he lies here or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.

DESDEMONA.

Can you inquire him out and be edified by report?

CLOWN.

I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions

and by them answer.

DESDEMONA.

Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my

lord on his behalf and hope all will be well.

CLOWN.

To do this is within the compass of man's wit, and therefore

I will attempt the doing it.

Exit.

DESDEMONA.

Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?

EMILIA.

I know not, madam.

DESDEMONA.

Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse

Full of crusadoes; and, but my noble Moor

Is true of mind and made of no such baseness

As jealous creatures are, it were enough

To put him to ill thinking.

EMILIA.

Is he not jealous?

DESDEMONA.

Who, he? I think the sun where he was born

Drew all such humors from him.

EMILIA.

Look, where he comes.

DESDEMONA.

I will not leave him now till Cassio

Be call'd to him.

Enter Othello.

How is't with you, my lord?

OTHELLO.

Well, my good