Emil. [Within.] What ho! my lord, my lord!
Oth.

Who's there? Emil. [Within.] O, good my lord! I would speak a

word with you.

Oth. Yes;-'tis Emilia,-By and by.-She's dead. 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death; The noise was high.-Ha! no more moving? Still as the grave.-Shall she come in? Were't good? I think she stirs again :-no.-What's the best? If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife: My wife! my wife! what wife?-I have no wife: O, insupportable, O heavy hour!

Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse

Of sun and moon, and that th' affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.

Emil. [Within.] I do beseech you, I may speak with

you.

O, good my lord!

Oth. I had forgot thee.

O! come in, Emilia.

Soft, by and by:-let me the curtains draw.

Where art thou? What's the matter with thee now?

Enter EMILIA.

[Unlocks the Door.

Emil. O, good my lord! yonder's foul murder done. Oth. What! now?

Emil.

But now, my lord!

Oth. It is the very error of the moon;

She comes more near the earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad.

Emil. Cassio, my lord, has kill'd a young Venetian, Call'd Roderigo.

stifled or smothered Desdemona, (for the stage-direction in the old copies is varied) stabs her, in order to put an end to her sufferings. This may be so, but the quartos and folios say nothing about it; and the argument of Steevens, that Desdemona was more likely to speak afterwards, when she had been stabbed as well as smothered, seems a little extraordinary.

3 The noise was HIGH.] Both the quartos have, "The noise was here." In the last line of the speech, they have "Should yawn " for "Did yawn" of the

folio.

Oth.

And Cassio kill'd?

Emil.

Roderigo kill'd!

No: Cassio is not kill'd.

Oth. Not Cassio kill'd? Then murder's out of tune,

And sweet revenge grows harsh.

Des. O, falsely, falsely murder'd!

Emil.

Oth. That! what?

Alas! what cry is that?

Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice1:Help! Help, ho! help!-O lady, speak again! Sweet Desdemona! O, sweet mistress, speak !

Des. A guiltless death I die.

Emil.

This deed?

Des.

O! who hath done

Nobody; I myself; farewell: Commend me to my kind lord. O farewell! Oth. Why, how should she be murder'd? Emil.

[Dies.

Alas, who knows? Oth. You heard her say herself, it was not I. Emil. She said so; I must needs report a truth. Oth. She's like a liar gone to burning hell: "Twas I that kill'd her.

Emil.

O! the more angel she,

And you the blacker devil.

Oth. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
Oth. She was false as water.

Emil.
Thou art rash as fire, to say
That she was false: O! she was heavenly true.

Oth. Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.
O! I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell,
But that I did proceed upon just grounds
To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
Emil. My husband?

4 THAT WAS my lady's voice:] The quarto, 1622, only, "it is my lady's voice." Lower down, the folio has, “You hear her say," for "You heard her say;" and "the truth" for "a truth" of the quartos.

Oth. Thy husband.

Emil. That she was false to wedlock?

Oth. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true3, If heaven would make me such another world

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,

I'd not have sold her for it.

Emil. My husband?

Oth.

Ay, 'twas he that told me first:

An honest man he is, and hates the slime

That sticks on filthy deeds.

Emil.

My husband?

Oth. What needs this iteration, woman? I say, thy husband.

Emil. O mistress! villainy hath made mocks with

love'.

My husband say, that she was false?

Oth.
He, woman;
I say, thy husband: dost understand the word?
My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

Emil. If he say so, may his pernicious soul
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart:
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
Oth. Ha!

This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven,
Than thou wast worthy her.

Oth.
Peace! you were best.
Emil. Thou hast not half the power3 to do me harm,

Ay, with Cassio. NAY, had she been true,] So the line stands in the quartos, 1622 and 1630: the folio, to the injury of the metre, omits "Nay," and modern editors, deserting all the old impressions as regards the versification, have regulated the passage differently. In Othello's next speech, the folio reads, "that told me on her first," not so given in any other copy.

6 What needs this ITERATION,] The folio alone has iterance: no such word has been pointed out in any other author.

7 O mistress! villainy hath made mocks with love.] This, and the speech by Othello which follows it, are not in the quarto, 1622, but in the folio, and in the quarto, 1630. The quarto, 1630, corrects the folio, by reading, "My husband say, that she was false."

8

half THE power-] The folio alone," half that power."

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!

As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed,—
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives.-Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor has kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, and IAGO.

Mon. What is the matter?-How now, general!
Emil. O are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murders on your neck.
Gra. What is the matter?

Emil. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man:
He says, thou told'st him that his wife was false.
I know, thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain.
Speak, for my heart is full.

Iago. I told him what I thought; and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true.

Emil. But did you ever tell him, she was false?
Iago. I did.

Emil. You told a lie; an odious, damned lie;
Upon my soul, a lie; a wicked lie.—

She false with Cassio!--Did you say with Cassio? Iago. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.

Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to

speak.

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed.

All. O heavens forfend!

Emil. And your reports have set the murder on.

Oth. Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.
Gra. "Tis a strange truth.

Mon. O monstrous act!

Emil.

Villainy villainy! villainy!

I think upon't,—I think,-I smell't:-O villainy!

"My mistress here lies murdered in her bed.] A line not in the quarto, 1622, but in both the other old authorities.

I thought so then :-I'll kill myself for grief.—
O villainy, villainy!

Iago. What are you mad? I charge you, get you

home.

Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak : 'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home. Oth. O! O! O!

[Falling on the Bed.

Nay, lay thee down and roar,

Emil.
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,

That e'er did lift up eye.

Oth.

O! she was foul.- [Rising.

I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece, Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd. I know, this act shows terrible and grim1o.

Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead. Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now, This sight would make him do a desperate turn, Yea, curse his better angel from his side,

And fall to reprobation'.

Oth. 'Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows,

That she with Cassio hath the act of shame

A thousand times committed: Cassio confess'd it;
And she did gratify his amorous works

With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand ;
It was a handkerchief, an antique token

My father gave my mother.

10

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
Iago.

Come, hold your peace.

Emil. "Twill out, 'twill out:-I hold my peace, sir?

no2;

shows terrible and grim.] The folio alone has horrible for “terrible."

1 And fall to REPROBATION.] Here also the folio is singular in reading reprobance for "reprobation." Like iterance, p. 621, we have no other authority for the word reprobance.

"Twill out, 'twill out:-I hold my peace, sir? no ;] So the quarto, 1630: the folio, imperfectly as regards metre, ""Twill out, 'twill out: I peace?"