Desdemona, Emilia, Cassio, Iago, Othello
SCENE III. The garden of the castle.
Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA
DESDEMONA
Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.EMILIA
Good madam, do: I warrant it grieves my husband,
As if the case were his.DESDEMONA
O, that's an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.CASSIO
Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He's never any thing but your true servant.DESDEMONA
I know't; 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 polite distance.CASSIO
Ay, but, lady,
That policy may either last so long,
Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That, I being absent and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service.DESDEMONA
Do not doubt that; before Emilia here
I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I'll perform it
To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I'll watch him tame and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does
With Cassio's suit: therefore be merry, Cassio;
For thy solicitor shall rather die
Than give thy cause away.EMILIA
Madam, here comes my lord.CASSIO
Madam, I'll take my leave.DESDEMONA
Why, stay, and hear me speak.CASSIO
Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease,
Unfit for mine own purposes.DESDEMONA
Well, do your discretion.Exit CASSIO
Enter OTHELLO and IAGO
IAGO
Ha! I like not that.OTHELLO
What dost thou say?IAGO
Nothing, my lord: or if—I know not what.OTHELLO
Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?IAGO
Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.OTHELLO
I do believe 'twas he.DESDEMONA
How now, my lord!
I have been talking with a suitor here,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.OTHELLO
Who is't you mean?DESDEMONA
Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,
If I have any grace or power to move you,
His present reconciliation take;
For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance and not in cunning,
I have no judgment in an honest face:
I prithee, call him back.OTHELLO
Went he hence now?DESDEMONA
Ay, sooth; so humbled
That he hath left part of his grief with me,
To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.OTHELLO
Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time.DESDEMONA
But shall't be shortly?
YOU ARE READING
Othello, The Moor of Venice || William Shakespeare || 1604 ✓
ClássicosIntrigue, revenge, disastrous results. One of Shakespeare's masterpieces that deals with race, class, and the deadly sin of envy.