Excerpt
ACT IV SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle. [Enter Othello and Iago.]
IAGOWill you think so?OTHELLO Think so, Iago?IAGO What,To kiss in private?OTHELLO An unauthoriz'd kiss.IAGOOr to be naked with her friend in bedAn hour or more, not meaning any harm?OTHELLONaked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!It is hypocrisy against the devil:They that mean virtuously and yet do so,The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.IAGOSo they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip:But if I give my wife a handkerchief,—OTHELLOWhat then?IAGOWhy, then, 'tis hers, my lord, and being hers,She may, I think, bestow't on any man.OTHELLOShe is protectress of her honour too:May she give that?IAGOHer honour is an essence that's not seen;They have it very oft that have it not:But, for the handkerchief,—OTHELLOBy heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it:—Thou said'st,—O, it comes o'er my memory,As doth the raven o'er the infected house,Boding to all,—he had my handkerchief.IAGOAy, 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,—as knaves be such abroad,Who having, by their own importunate suit,Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,Convincèd or supplied them, cannot chooseBut they must blab,—OTHELLO Hath he said anything?IAGOHe hath, my lord; but be you well assur'd,No more than he'll unswear.OTHELLO What hath he said?IAGOFaith, that he did,—I know not what he did.OTHELLOWhat? what?IAGOLie,—OTHELLO With her?IAGO With her, on her, what you will.OTHELLOLie 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. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus:—pish!—noses, ears, and lips.—Is't possible?—Confess,—handkerchief!—O devil!—
[Falls in a trance.]IAGOWork 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...!