Othello (4 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
MAJOR PARTS:
(
with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage
) Iago (31%/272/12), Othello (25%/274/12), Desdemona (11%/165/9), Cassio (8%/110/9), Emilia (7%/103/8), Brabantio (4%/30/3), Rodorigo (3%/59/7), Lodovico (2%/33/4), Duke of Venice (2%/25/1), Montano (2%/24/3).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM:
80% verse, 20% prose.
DATE:
1604. Performed at court, November 1604; apparently uses Knolles’
Historie of the Turkes,
published late 1603; probably post-dates the period when theaters were closed due to the plague from May 1603 to April 1604. The Turkish wars in the eastern Mediterranean were of interest to King James, who had written a poem about the 1571 naval battle of Lepanto, which was reprinted in 1603, the year of his accession to the English throne. Some scholars, however, argue for a slightly earlier date.
SOURCES:
Based on a novella in Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio’s
Gli Hecatommithi
(1565), perhaps read in a 1584 French translation by Gabriel Chappuys. Context probably provided by Richard Knolles,
The Generall Historie of the Turkes
(1603), Sir Lewis Lewkenor’s translation of Gasparo Contarini’s
The Commonwealth and Government of Venice
(1599), and John Pory’s translation of Leo Africanus’
Geographical Historie of Africa
(1600).
TEXT:
There are two early texts, markedly different from each other: a Quarto published in 1622 and the First Folio of 1623. The Folio contains over 150 lines that are not in the Quarto. The Quarto has fuller stage directions, a handful of lines that are absent from the Folio, and a large number of oaths that were watered down or omitted in the Folio, as a result of the prohibition on stage swearing. In all, there are about a thousand verbal variants. The two texts seem to derive from different theatrical manuscripts, the Folio possibly having being set from a transcript by Ralph Crane, scribe to the King’s Men. Scholars are divided as to whether the Folio-only passages, which include Othello’s “Pontic sea” speech and Desdemona’s willow song, are theatrically purposeful additions or theatrically pragmatic cuts. We respect the integrity of the Folio text, but in correcting its manifest errors—which are many, largely due to the presence of “Compositor E,” the apprentice who was the poorest of the Folio’s typesetters—we have been greatly helped by the existence of the Quarto.
OTHELLO,
THE MOOR OF VENICE
OTHELLO
, the Moor (a general in the military service of Venice)
BRABANTIO
(a senator) father to Desdemona
CASSIO
, an honourable lieutenant
IAGO
, a villain (Othello’s flagbearer)
RODORIGO
, a
gulled
gentleman
DUKE
of Venice
SENATORS
MONTANO
, Governor of Cyprus
LODOVICO
, noble Venetian (kinsmen of Brabantio)
GRATIANO
, noble Venetian (kinsmen of Brabantio)
SAILORS
CLOWN
(servant to Othello)
DESDEMONA
(daughter of Brabantio) wife to Othello
EMILIA
, wife to Iago
BIANCA
, a courtesan
(Officers, Messenger, Herald, Musicians and Attendants)
running scene 1
Location: Venice (street)
Enter Rodorigo and Iago
RODORIGO
Never tell me!
1
I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of
this
3
.
IAGO
But you’ll not hear me: if ever I did dream
Of such a matter, abhor me.
RODORIGO
Thou told’st me
Thou didst hold
him
7
in thy hate.
IAGO
Despise me
If I do not. Three
great ones
9
of the city,
In personal
suit
10
to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capped
11
to him, and by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them with a
bombast circumstance
14
Horribly stuffed with
epithets of war
15
,
Nonsuits my mediators
16
. For ‘Certes’, says he,
‘I have already chose my officer.’
And what was he?
Forsooth
19
, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a
Florentine
20
—
A fellow
almost damned in a fair wife
21
—
That never set a
squadron
22
in the field
Nor the
division of a battle knows
23
More than a
spinster
24
, unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the
toga’d consuls
25
can propose
As masterly as he. Mere
prattle
26
without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir,
had th’election
27
;
And I — of whom
his
28
eyes had seen the proof
At
Rhodes
29
, at Cyprus and on others’ grounds,
Christened
30
and heathen — must be beleed and calmed
By
debitor and creditor
31
: this counter-caster,
He —
in good time
32
— must his lieutenant be,
And I —
bless the mark
33
! — his Moorship’s ancient.
RODORIGO
By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
IAGO
Why, there’s no remedy: ’tis the curse of
service
35
;
Preferment
36
goes by letter and affection,
And not by
old gradation
37
, where each second
Stood heir to th’first. Now, sir, be judge yourself
Whether I in any just
term
39
am affined
To love the Moor.
RODORIGO
I would not
follow
41
him then.
IAGO
O, sir, content you:
I follow him to
serve my turn
43
upon him.
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be
truly
45
followed. You shall mark
Many a duteous and
knee-crooking
46
knave
That — doting on his own obsequious bondage —
Wears out his
time
48
, much like his master’s ass,
For nought but
provender
49
, and when he’s old, cashiered:
Whip me
50
such honest knaves. Others there are
Who,
trimmed
51
in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts
attending on
52
themselves,
And throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them,
And when they have
lined their coats
55
Do themselves homage
56
: these fellows have some soul,
And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Rodorigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago
59
:
In following him, I follow but myself.
Heaven is my judge,
not I for
61
love and duty,
But seeming so, for my
peculiar
62
end,
For when my outward action doth
demonstrate
63
The
native
64
act and figure of my heart
In
compliment extern
65
, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For
daws
67
to peck at: I am not what I am.
RODORIGO
What a
full
68
fortune does the thick-lips owe
If he can
carry’t
69
thus!
IAGO
Call up her father:
Rouse him,
make after
71
him, poison his delight,
Proclaim
72
him in the streets, incense her kinsmen,
And
though
73
he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies:
though that
74
his joy be joy,
Yet throw such
chances
75
of vexation on’t
As it may
76
lose some colour.
RODORIGO
Here is her father’s house, I’ll call aloud.
IAGO
Do, with
like timorous accent
78
and dire yell
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.
RODORIGO
What, ho, Brabantio! Signior Brabantio, ho!
IAGO
Awake! What, ho! Brabantio, thieves, thieves!
Look to your house, your daughter and your
bags
83
!
Thieves, thieves!
BRABANTIO
What is the reason of this terrible summons?
At a window
What is the matter there?
RODORIGO
Signior, is all your family within?
IAGO
Are your doors locked?
BRABANTIO
Why?
Wherefore
89
ask you this?
IAGO
Sir, you’re robbed. For shame, put on your
gown
90
!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul:
Even now, now, very now, an old black
ram
92
Is
tupping
93
your white ewe. Arise, arise!
Awake the
snorting
94
citizens with the bell,
Or else the
devil
95
will make a grandsire of you.
Arise, I say!
BRABANTIO
What, have you lost your wits?
RODORIGO
Most
reverend
98
signior, do you know my voice?
BRABANTIO
Not I: what are you?
RODORIGO
My name is Rodorigo.
BRABANTIO
The worser welcome.
I have
charged
102
thee not to haunt about my doors:
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say
My daughter is not for thee: and now in madness —
Being full of supper and
distemp’ring draughts
105
—
Upon malicious knavery dost thou come
To
start
107
my quiet.
RODORIGO
Sir, sir, sir—
BRABANTIO
But thou must needs be sure
My
spirits and my place
110
have in their power
To make this bitter to thee.
RODORIGO
Patience, good sir.
BRABANTIO
What tell’st thou me of robbing?
This is Venice: my house is not a
grange
114
.
RODORIGO
Most
grave
115
Brabantio,
In
simple
116
and pure soul I come to you.
IAGO
Sir, you are one of those that will not serve God if
the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service and you
think we are ruffians, you’ll have your daughter
covered
119
with a
Barbary horse
120
: you’ll have your nephews neigh to
you: you’ll have
coursers
121
for
cousins and jennets for
germans
122
.
BRABANTIO
What
profane
123
wretch art thou?
IAGO
I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter
and the Moor are
making the beast with two backs
125
.
BRABANTIO
Thou art a villain.
IAGO
You are a senator.
BRABANTIO
This thou shalt
answer
128
. I know thee, Rodorigo.
RODORIGO
Sir, I will answer anything. But I beseech you
If’t be your
pleasure
130
and most wise consent —
As partly I find it is — that your fair daughter,
At this
odd-even
132
and dull watch o’th’night,
Transported with
133
no worse nor better guard
But with
134
a knave of common hire, a gondolier,
To the
gross
135
clasps of a lascivious Moor:
If this be known to you and your
allowance
136
We then have done you bold and
saucy
137
wrongs:
But if you know not this, my manners tell me
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe
That,
from
140
the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with
your reverence
141
.
Your daughter — if you have not given her
leave
142
—
I say again, hath made a
gross
143
revolt,
Tying her duty, beauty,
wit
144
and fortunes
In
145
an extravagant and wheeling stranger
Of here and everywhere.
Straight
146
satisfy yourself:
If she be in her chamber or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.
BRABANTIO
Strike on the tinder
150
, ho!
Give me a
taper
151
! Call up all my people!
This
accident
152
is not unlike my dream:
Belief of it oppresses me already.
Light, I say, light!
Exit [above]
IAGO
Farewell, for I must leave you:
It seems not
meet
156
nor wholesome to my place
To be
producted
157
— as, if I stay, I shall —
Against the Moor, for I do know the state,
However this may
gall
159
him with some check,
Cannot with safety
cast
160
him, for he’s embarked
With such
loud reason
161
to the Cyprus wars,
Which even now
stands in act
162
, that, for their souls,
Another of his
fathom
163
they have none,
To lead their business: in which regard,
Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains.
Yet for necessity of present
life
166
I must show out a flag and
sign
167
of love,
Which is indeed but sign.
That
168
you shall surely find him,
Lead to the
Sagittary
169
the raisèd search,
And there will I be with him. So farewell.
Exit
Enter Brabantio with Servants and torches
BRABANTIO
It is too true an evil: gone she is,
And what’s to come of
my despisèd time
172
Is nought but bitterness. Now, Rodorigo,
Where didst thou see her?— O,
unhappy
174
girl!—
With the Moor, say’st thou?— Who would be a father?—
How didst thou know ’twas she?— O, she deceives me
Past thought
177
!— What said she to you?— Get more tapers:
Raise all my kindred.— Are they married, think you?
RODORIGO
Truly, I think they are.
BRABANTIO
O heaven! How got she out? O
treason of the blood
180
!
Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds
By what you see them act. Is there not
charms
182
By which the
property
183
of youth and maidhood
May be abused? Have you not read, Rodorigo,
Of some such thing?
RODORIGO
Yes, sir, I have indeed.
BRABANTIO
Call up my brother.—
O, would you had had her!—
To Rodorigo
Some one way, some another.— Do you know
Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?
RODORIGO
I think I can
discover
190
him, if you please
To get good guard and go along with me.
BRABANTIO
Pray you lead on. At every house I’ll call:
I
may command
193
at most.— Get weapons, ho!
And raise some special officers of might.—
On, good Rodorigo: I will
deserve your pains
195
.
