Enter EMILIA. Emil. Good morrow, good lieutenant; I am sorry For your displeasure; 1 but all will soon be well. you; And needs no other suitor, but his likings, To bring you in again. 2 Yet, I beseech you, If you think fit, or that it may be done,- With Desdemona alone. Emil. 'Pray you, come in; I will bestow you where you shall have time To speak your bosom freely. Cas. I am much bound to you.3 SCENE II. A Room in the Castle. Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen. Oth. These letters give, Iago, to the pilot; Iago. [Exeunt. Well, my good lord, I'll do't. Oth. This fortification, gentlemen, -shall we see't? Gent. We'll wait upon your lordship. [Exeunt. Cassio means to say, I never experienced more honesty and kindness even in one of my own countrymen. 1 i. e. the displeasure you have incurred from Othello. 2 This line is wanting in the folio. 3 This speech is omitted in the first quarto. 4 Thus the quarto 1622; folio, "to the senate." SCENE III. Before the Castle. Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA. Des. Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do All my abilities in thy behalf. Emil. Good madam, do; I know it grieves my husband, As if the case 1 were his. Des. O, that's an honest fellow. -Do not doubt, Cassio, But I will have my lord and you again As friendly as you were. Cas. Bounteous madam, Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio, He's never any thing but your true servant. Des. O sir, I thank you. You do love my lord ; You have known him long; and be you well assured He shall in strangeness stand no further off Than in a politic distance. Cas. Ay, but, lady, That policy may either last so long, Des. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here, 1 Folio reads, "As if the cause were his." 2 Thus the quarto of 1622. The folio reads, " I know't, I thank you.' 3 Hawks and other birds are tamed by keeping them from sleep. And hear me speak. Cas. Madam, not now; I am very ill at ease; Unfit for mine own purposes. Des. Well, well, Do your discretion. [Exit CASSIO. Iago. Ha! I like not that. Oth. What dost thou say? Iago. Nothing, my lord; or if--I know not what. Oth. Was not that Cassio, parted from my wife? Iago. Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it, That he would steal away so guiltylike, Seeing you coming. Oth. I do believe 'twas he. Des. How now, my lord? I have been talking with a suitor here, A man that languishes in your displeasure. Des. Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord, If I have any grace, or power to move you, His present reconciliation 1 take; For, if he be not one that truly loves you, I have no judgment in an honest face. I pr'ythee call him back. Oth. Went he hence now? Des. Ay, sooth; so humbled, That he hath left part of his grief with me; I suffer with him. Good love, call him back. Oth. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time. Des. But shall't be shortly? Oth. The sooner, sweet, for you. 1 i. e. "take his present atonement," or submission. The words were formerly synonymous. 2 Cunning here signifies knowledge, the ancient sense of the word. Des. Shall't be to-night at supper? Des. To-morrow dinner, then? No, not to-night. I shall not dine at home; I meet the captains at the citadel. Des. Why then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday morn; Or stand so mammering on. What, Michael Cassio, To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much, Oth. 'Pr'ythee, no more. Let him come when he will; I will deny thee nothing. Des. Why, this is not a boon; 'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves, Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm ; Or sue to you to do peculiar profit To your own person. Nay, when I have a suit, Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed, It shall be full of poize and difficulty, And fearful to be granted. Oth. I will deny thee nothing; Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this, To leave me but a little to myself. Des. Shall I deny you? no. Farewell, my lord. Oth. Farewell, my Desdemona; I will come to thee Des. Emilia, come. --Be it as your fancies teach you; Whate'er you be, I am obedient. (Exit with EMILIA. Oth. Excellent wretch!1 Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again. straight. 1 The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. 2 So hesitating, in such doubtful suspense. 3 See Act i. Sc. 2. 4 i. e. of weight. Iago. My noble lord, What dost thou say, lago? Iago. Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady, Know of your love? Oth. He did, from first to last. Why dost thou ask? Iago. But for a satisfaction of my thought; No further harm. Oth. Why of thy thought, Iago? Iago. I did not think he had been acquainted with her. Oth. O yes; and went between us very oft. Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed.-Discern'st thou aught in that? Think, my lord! By Heaven, he echoes me, As if there were some monster in his thought Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something; I heard thee say but now-Thou lik'dst not that, And, when I told thee, he was of my counsel 1 "The meaning of the word wretch is not generally understood. It is now in some parts of England a term of the fondest and softest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection." Sir W. Davenant, in his Cruel Brother, uses the word twice with the same meaning:-" Excellent wretch! with a timorous modesty she stifleth up her utterance." 2 Ere I cease to love thee, the world itself shall be reduced to its primitive chaos. |