Kitabı oku: «Othello, the Moor of Venice», sayfa 6

SCENE II. Cyprus. A Bedchamber in the castle: Desdemona in bed asleep; a light burning

[Enter Othello.]

OTHELLO

 
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul, —
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars! —
It is the cause. – Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
 

[Takes off his sword.]

 
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light:
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: – but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd thy rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It must needs wither: – I'll smell it on the tree. —
 

[Kissing her.]

 
O, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! – One more, one more; —
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. – One more, and this the last;
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love. – She wakes.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Who's there? Othello?
 

OTHELLO

 
                                     Ay, Desdemona.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Will you come to bed, my lord?
 

OTHELLO

 
Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
 

DESDEMONA

 
Ay, my lord.
 

OTHELLO

 
If you bethink yourself of any crime
Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that?
 

OTHELLO

 
Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by.
I would not kill thy unpreparèd spirit;
No, – heaven forfend! – I would not kill thy soul.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Talk you of killing?
 

OTHELLO

 
Ay, I do.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Then heaven have mercy on me!
 

OTHELLO

 
Amen, with all my heart!
 

DESDEMONA

 
If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
 

OTHELLO

 
Hum!
 

DESDEMONA

 
And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.
 

OTHELLO

 
Think on thy sins.
 

DESDEMONA

 
                              They are loves I bear to you.
 

OTHELLO

 
Ay, and for that thou diest.
 

DESDEMONA

 
That death's unnatural that kills for loving. —
Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:
These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
They do not point on me.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                          Peace, and be still!
 

DESDEMONA

 
I will so. What's the matter?
 

OTHELLO

 
That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee
Thou gav'st to Cassio.
 

DESDEMONA

 
                                    No, by my life and soul!
Send for the man, and ask him.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                                   Sweet soul, take heed,
Take heed of perjury; thou'rt on thy death-bed.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Ay, but not yet to die.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                    Yes, presently:
Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
For to deny each article with oath
Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Then, Lord have mercy on me!
 

OTHELLO

 
                                                  I say, amen.
 

DESDEMONA

 
And have you mercy too! – I never did
Offend you in my life; never lov'd Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.
 

OTHELLO

 
By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in 's hand.
O perjur'd woman! thou dost stone my heart,
And mak'st me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
I saw the handkerchief.
 

DESDEMONA

 
                                      He found it then;
I never gave it him: – send for him hither;
Let him confess a truth.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                       He hath confess'd.
 

DESDEMONA

 
What, my lord?
 

OTHELLO

 
That he hath us'd thee.
 

DESDEMONA

 
                                     How? unlawfully?
 

OTHELLO

 
Ay.
 

DESDEMONA

 
He will not say so.
 

OTHELLO

 
                              No, his mouth is stopp'd;
Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
 

DESDEMONA

 
O, my fear interprets! – What, is he dead?
 

OTHELLO

 
Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.
 

DESDEMONA

 
Alas, he is betray'd, and I undone!
 

OTHELLO

 
Out, strumpet! Weep'st thou for him to my face?
 

DESDEMONA

 
O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
 

OTHELLO

 
Down, strumpet!
 

DESDEMONA

 
Kill me to-morrow; let me live to-night!
 

OTHELLO

 
Nay, if you strive, —
 

DESDEMONA

 
But half an hour!
 

OTHELLO

 
                             Being done, there is no pause.
 

DESDEMONA

 
But while I say one prayer!
 

OTHELLO

 
                                            It is too late.
 

[Smothers her.]

EMILIA

 
[Within.]  My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!
 

OTHELLO

 
What noise is this? – Not dead? not yet quite dead?
I that am cruel am yet merciful;
I would not have thee linger in thy pain: —
So, so.
 

EMILIA

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

OTHELLO

 
                                                              Who's there?
 

EMILIA

 
[Within.]  O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
 

OTHELLO

 
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 best to do?
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 the affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.
 

EMILIA

 
[Within.]                            I do beseech you
That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
 

OTHELLO

 
I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia: —
Soft, – by and by: – let me the curtains draw. —
Where art thou?
 

[Unlocks the door.]

[Enter Emilia.]

 
                          What's the matter with thee now?
 

EMILIA

 
O, my good lord, yonder's foul murders done!
 

OTHELLO

 
What, now?
 

EMILIA

 
But now, my lord.
 

OTHELLO

 
It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont
And makes men mad.
 

EMILIA

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

OTHELLO

 
                           Roderigo kill'd?
And Cassio kill'd?
 

EMILIA

 
                              No, Cassio is not kill'd.
 

OTHELLO

 
Not Cassio kill'd! then murder's out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows harsh.
 

DESDEMONA

 
O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
 

EMILIA

 
                                             Alas, what cry is that?
 

OTHELLO

 
That! what?
 

EMILIA

 
Out, and alas! That was my lady's voice. —
Help! help, ho! help! – O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
 

DESDEMONA

 
A guiltless death I die.
 

EMILIA

 
O, who hath done this deed?
 

DESDEMONA

 
Nobody; I myself. Farewell:
Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
 

[Dies.]

OTHELLO

 
Why, how should she be murder'd?
 

EMILIA

 
Alas, who knows?
 

OTHELLO

 
You heard her say herself it was not I.
 

EMILIA

 
She said so: I must needs report the truth.
 

OTHELLO

 
She's like a liar, gone to burning hell:
'Twas I that kill'd her.
 

EMILIA

 
                                   O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!
 

OTHELLO

 
She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
 

EMILIA

 
Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
 

OTHELLO

 
She was false as water.
 

EMILIA

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

OTHELLO

 
Cassio did tup 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.
EMILIA
My husband!
 

OTHELLO

 
Thy husband.
 

EMILIA

 
That she was false to wedlock?
 

OTHELLO

 
Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I'd not have sold her for it.
 

EMILIA

 
My husband!
 

OTHELLO

 
                      Ay, 'twas he that told me first:
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds.
 

EMILIA

 
                                            My husband!
 

OTHELLO

 
What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy husband.
 

EMILIA

 
O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love! —
My husband say that she was false!
 

OTHELLO

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

EMILIA

 
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.
 

OTHELLO

 
Ha!
 

EMILIA

 
Do thy worst:
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
Than thou wast worthy her.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                             Peace, you were best.
 

EMILIA

 
Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
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 hath kill'd my mistress! murder, murder!
 

[Enter Montano, Gratiano, and Iago.]

MONTANO

 
What is the matter? – How now, general!
 

EMILIA

 
O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murders on your neck.
 

GRATIANO

 
What is the matter?
 

EMILIA

 
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.
 

EMILIA

 
But did you ever tell him she was false?
 

IAGO

 
I did.
 

EMILIA

 
You told a lie; an odious, damnèd 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.
 

EMILIA

 
I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed, —
 

ALL

 
O heavens forfend!
 

EMILIA

 
And your reports have set the murder on.
 

OTHELLO

 
Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.
 

GRATIANO

 
'Tis a strange truth.
 

MONTANO

 
O monstrous act!
 

EMILIA

 
                             Villany, villany, villany!
I think upon't, – I think, – I smell't; – O villany! —
I thought so then; – I'll kill myself for grief: —
O villany, villany!
 

IAGO

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

EMILIA

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

OTHELLO

 
O! O! O!
 

[Hanging over his wife.]

EMILIA

 
                Nay, lay thee down and roar;
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent
That e'er did lift up eye.
 

OTHELLO

 
[Rising.]                         O, she was foul! —
I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece,
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:
I know this act shows horrible and grim.
 

GRATIANO

 
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 reprobance.
 

OTHELLO

 
'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.
 

EMILIA

 
O heaven! O heavenly powers!
 

IAGO

 
Come, hold your peace.
 

EMILIA

 
                                       'Twill out, 'twill out: – I peace!
No, I will speak as liberal as the north:
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
 

IAGO

 
Be wise, and get you home.
 

EMILIA

 
                                             I will not.
 

[Iago offers to stab his wife.]

GRATIANO

 
                                                               Fie!
Your sword upon a woman?
 

EMILIA

 
O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of
I found by fortune and did give my husband;
For often with a solemn earnestness, —
More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle, —
He begg'd of me to steal it.
 

IAGO

 
                                           Villanous whore!
 

EMILIA

 
She give it Cassio! no, alas, I found it,
And I did give't my husband.
 

IAGO

 
                                               Filth, thou liest!
 

EMILIA

 
By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen. —
O murderous coxcomb! What should such a fool
Do with so good a wife?
 

OTHELLO

 
                                        Are there not stones in heaven
But what serve for thunder? – Precious villain!
 

[Iago stabs Emilia, and then runs out.]

GRATIANO

 
The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife.
 

EMILIA

 
Ay, ay: – O, lay me by my mistress' side.
 

GRATIANO

 
He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
 

MONTANO

 
'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:
Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,
But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain,
For 'tis a damnèd slave.
 

[Exit Montano and Gratiano.]

OTHELLO

 
                                      I am not valiant neither,
But every puny whipster gets my sword: —
But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go all.
 

EMILIA

 
                    What did thy song bode, lady?
Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,
And die in music: —
 

[Sings.]

 
"Willow, willow, willow."
Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die, – I die.
 

[Dies.]

OTHELLO

 
I have another weapon in this chamber;
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper: —
O, here it is. – Uncle, I must come forth.
 

GRATIANO

 
[Within.]  If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
 

OTHELLO

 
Look in upon me then, and speak with me,
Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.
 

[Re-enter Gratiano.]

GRATIANO

 
What is the matter?
 

OTHELLO

 
                                Behold, I have a weapon;
A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day
That with this little arm and this good sword
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop: – but, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now. —
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires: – where should Othello go? —
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity. —
O cursèd, cursèd slave! – Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire! —
O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead! O!
 

[Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers with Iago prisoner.]

LODOVICO

 
Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
 

OTHELLO

 
That's he that was Othello; – here I am.
 

LODOVICO

 
Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
 

OTHELLO

 
I look down towards his feet; – but that's a fable. —
If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
 

[Wounds Iago.]

LODOVICO

 
Wrench his sword from him.
 

IAGO

 
                                               I bleed, sir, but not kill'd.
 

OTHELLO

 
I am not sorry neither: I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.
 

LODOVICO

 
O thou Othello, that wert once so good,
Fall'n in the practice of a damnèd slave,
What shall be said to thee?
 

OTHELLO

 
                                            Why, anything;
An honourable murderer, if you will;
For naught did I in hate, but all in honour.
 

LODOVICO

 
This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:
Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?
 

OTHELLO

 
Ay.
 

CASSIO

 
Dear general, I never gave you cause.
 

OTHELLO

 
I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?
 

IAGO

 
Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.
 

LODOVICO

 
What, not to pray?
 

GRATIANO

 
                              Torments will ope your lips.
 

OTHELLO

 
Well, thou dost best.
 

LODOVICO

 
Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
And here another: the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.
 

OTHELLO

 
O villain!
 

CASSIO

 
                 Most heathenish and most gross!
 

LODOVICO

 
Now here's another discontented paper,
Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
Roderigo meant to have sent this damnèd villain;
But that, belike, Iago in the interim
Came in and satisfied him.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                           O the pernicious caitiff! —
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
That was my wife's?
 

CASSIO

 
                                 I found it in my chamber;
And he himself confess'd but even now
That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose
Which wrought to his desire.
 

OTHELLO

 
                                               O fool! fool! fool!
 

CASSIO

 
There is besides in Roderigo's letter, —
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast: and even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead, – Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.
 

LODOVICO

 
You must forsake this room, and go with us:
Your power and your command is taken off,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, —
If there be any cunning cruelty
That can torment him much and hold him long,
It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian state. – Come, bring away.
 

OTHELLO

 
Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't. —
No more of that. – I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu'd eyes,
Albeit unusèd to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, – that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog
And smote him – thus.
 

[Stabs himself.]

LODOVICO

 
O bloody period!
 

GRATIANO

 
                             All that's spoke is marr'd.
 

OTHELLO

 
I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: – no way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. [Falling upon Desdemona.]
 

CASSIO

 
This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart.
 

LODOVICO

 
[To Iago.]                         O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: – the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. – Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. – To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture, – O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard; and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
 

[Exeunt.]