TPTT The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice: ACT IV
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the castle.
SCENE II. A room in the castle.
SCENE III. Another room In the castle.
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE III. Another room In the castle.
Enter OTHELLO, LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, EMILIA and Attendants
LODOVICO
      I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.
OTHELLO
      O, pardon me: 'twill do me good to walk.
LODOVICO
      Madam, good night; I humbly thank your ladyship.
DESDEMONA
      Your honour is most welcome.
OTHELLO
5     Will you walk, sir?
      O,--Desdemona,--
DESDEMONA
      My lord?
OTHELLO
      Get you to bed on the instant; I will be returned
      forthwith: dismiss your attendant there: look it be done.
DESDEMONA
10    I will, my lord.
Exeunt OTHELLO, LODOVICO, and Attendants
EMILIA
      How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did.
DESDEMONA
      He says he will return incontinent:
      He hath commanded me to go to bed,
      And bade me to dismiss you.
EMILIA
15    Dismiss me!
DESDEMONA
      It was his bidding: therefore, good Emilia,.
      Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu:
      We must not now displease him.
EMILIA
      I would you had never seen him!
DESDEMONA
20    So would not I my love doth so approve him,
      That even his stubbornness, his cheques, his frowns--
      Prithee, unpin me,--have grace and favour in them.
EMILIA
      I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
DESDEMONA
      All's one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds!
25    If I do die before thee prithee, shroud me
      In one of those same sheets.
EMILIA
      Come, come you talk.
DESDEMONA
      My mother had a maid call'd Barbara:
      She was in love, and he she loved proved mad
30    And did forsake her: she had a song of 'willow;'
      An old thing 'twas, but it express'd her fortune,
      And she died singing it: that song to-night
      Will not go from my mind; I have much to do,
      But to go hang my head all at one side,
35    And sing it like poor Barbara. Prithee, dispatch.
EMILIA
      Shall I go fetch your night-gown?
DESDEMONA
      No, unpin me here.
      This Lodovico is a proper man.
EMILIA
      A very handsome man.
DESDEMONA
40    He speaks well.
EMILIA
      I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot
      to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.
DESDEMONA
      (Singing) The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
      Sing all a green willow:
45    Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
      Sing willow, willow, willow:
      The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans;
      Sing willow, willow, willow;
      Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;
50    Lay by these:--

Singing

      Sing willow, willow, willow;
      Prithee, hie thee; he'll come anon:--

Singing

      Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
      Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve,-
55    Nay, that's not next.--Hark! who is't that knocks?
EMILIA
      It's the wind.
DESDEMONA
      (Singing) I call'd my love false love; but what
      said he then?
      Sing willow, willow, willow:
60    If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!
      So, get thee gone; good night Ate eyes do itch;
      Doth that bode weeping?
EMILIA
      'Tis neither here nor there.
DESDEMONA
      I have heard it said so. O, these men, these men!
65    Dost thou in conscience think,--tell me, Emilia,--
      That there be women do abuse their husbands
      In such gross kind?
EMILIA
      There be some such, no question.
DESDEMONA
      Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
EMILIA
70    Why, would not you?
DESDEMONA
      No, by this heavenly light!
EMILIA
      Nor I neither by this heavenly light;
      I might do't as well i' the dark.
DESDEMONA
      Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
EMILIA
75    The world's a huge thing: it is a great price.
      For a small vice.
DESDEMONA
      In troth, I think thou wouldst not.
EMILIA
      In troth, I think I should; and undo't when I had
      done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a
80    joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for
      gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty
      exhibition; but for the whole world,--why, who would
      not make her husband a cuckold to make him a
      monarch? I should venture purgatory for't.
DESDEMONA
85    Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong
      For the whole world.
EMILIA
      Why the wrong is but a wrong i' the world: and
      having the world for your labour, tis a wrong in your
      own world, and you might quickly make it right.
DESDEMONA
90    I do not think there is any such woman.
EMILIA
      Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would
      store the world they played for.
      But I do think it is their husbands' faults
      If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,
95    And pour our treasures into foreign laps,
      Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
      Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,
      Or scant our former having in despite;
      Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,
100   Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
      Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell
      And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
      As husbands have. What is it that they do
      When they change us for others? Is it sport?
105   I think it is: and doth affection breed it?
      I think it doth: is't frailty that thus errs?
      It is so too: and have not we affections,
      Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
      Then let them use us well: else let them know,
110   The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
DESDEMONA
      Good night, good night: heaven me such uses send,
      Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!
Exeunt
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