OTHELLO

Act 4 Scene 3

(Enter Othello, Desdemona, Lodovico, Emilia, and attendants)
l1l	Lodovico	 I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.
l2l	Othello	O, pardon me, ’twill do me good to walk.
l3l	Lodovico	(to Desdemona)
		 Madam, good night. I humbly thank your ladyship.
l4l	Desdemona	Your honour is most welcome.
	Othello	Will you walk, sir?
l5l		O, Desdemona!
l6l	Desdemona	My lord?
l7l	Othello	 Get you to bed on th’ instant. I will be returned
l8l		forthwith. Dismiss your attendant there. Look ’t be done.
l9l	Desdemona	 I will, my lord.
		(Exeunt Othello, Lodovico, and attendants)
l10l	Emilia	 How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.
l11l	Desdemona	 He says he will return incontinent.
l12l		He hath commanded me to go to bed,
l13l		And bid me to dismiss you.
	Emilia	Dismiss me?
l14l	Desdemona	It was his bidding. Therefore, good Emilia,
l15l		Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu.
l16l		We must not now displease him.
l17l	Emilia	I would you had never seen him.
l18l	Desdemona	So would not I. My love doth so approve him
l19l		That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns—
l20l		Prithee unpin me—have grace and favour in them.
		(Emilia helps Desdemona to undress)
l21l	Emilia	 I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
l22l	Desdemona	All’s one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds!
l23l		If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me
l24l		In one of these same sheets.
	Emilia	Come, come, you talk.
l25l	Desdemona	My mother had a maid called Barbary.
l26l		She was in love, and he she loved proved mad
l27l		And did forsake her. She had a song of willow.
l28l		An old thing ’twas, but it expressed her fortune,
l29l		And she died singing it. That song tonight
l30l		Will not go from my mind. I have much to do
l31l		But to go hang my head all at one side
l32l		And sing it, like poor Barbary. Prithee, dispatch.
l33l	Emilia	Shall I go fetch your nightgown?
	Desdemona	No. Unpin me here.
l34l		This Lodovico is a proper man.
l35l	Emilia	A very handsome man.
	Desdemona	He speaks well.
l36l	Emilia	 I know a lady in Venice would have walked
l37l		barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.
l38l	Desdemona	(sings)
		> “The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
l39l		Sing all a green willow.
l40l		Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
l41l		Sing willow, willow, willow.
l42l		The fresh streams ran by her and murmured her moans,
l43l		Sing willow, willow, willow.
l44l		Her salt tears fell from her and softened the stones,
l45l		Sing willow”—
l46l		Lay by these.—
l47l		> “willow, willow.”
l48l		Prithee, hie thee. He’ll come anon.
l49l		> “Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
l50l		“Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve”—
l51l		Nay, that’s not next. Hark, who is ’t that knocks?
l52l	Emilia	It’s the wind.
l53l	Desdemona	(sings)
		> “I called my love false love, but what said he then?
l54l		Sing willow, willow, willow.
l55l		If I court more women, you’ll couch with more men.”
l56l		So, get thee gone. Good night. Mine eyes do itch.
l57l		Doth that bode weeping?
	Emilia	’Tis neither here nor there.
l58l	Desdemona	I have heard it said so. O, these men, these men!
l59l		Dost thou in conscience think—tell me, Emilia—
l60l		That there be women do abuse their husbands
l61l		In such gross kind?
	Emilia	There be some such, no question.
l62l	Desdemona	Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
l63l	Emilia	Why, would not you?
	Desdemona	No, by this heavenly light.
l64l	Emilia	 Nor I neither, by this heavenly light. I might do ’t
l65l		as well i’ th’ dark.
l66l	Desdemona	 Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
l67l	Emilia	 The world’s a huge thing. It is a great price for
l68l		a small vice.
l69l	Desdemona	 In truth, I think thou wouldst not.
l70l	Emilia	 In truth, I think I should, and undo ’t when I had
l71l		done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint
l72l		ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns,
l73l		petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition# but for
l74l		all the whole world? Ud’s pity, who would not make
l75l		her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I
l76l		should venture purgatory for ’t.
l77l	Desdemona	 Beshrew me if I would do such a wrong
l78l		For the whole world.
l79l	Emilia	 Why, the wrong is but a wrong i’ th’ world, and
l80l		having the world for your labour, ’tis a wrong in your
l81l		own world, and you might quickly make it right.
l82l	Desdemona	 I do not think there is any such woman.
l83l	Emilia	Yes, a dozen, and as many
l84l		To th’ vantage as would store the world they played for.
l85l		But I do think it is their husbands’ faults
l86l		If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties,
l87l		And pour our treasures into foreign laps,
l88l		Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
l89l		Throwing restraint upon us# or say they strike us,
l90l		Or scant our former having in despite:
l91l		Why, we have galls# and though we have some grace,
l92l		Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
l93l		Their wives have sense like them. They see, and smell,
l94l		And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
l95l		As husbands have. What is it that they do
l96l		When they change us for others? Is it sport?
l97l		I think it is. And doth affection breed it?
l98l		I think it doth. Is ’t frailty that thus errs?
l99l		It is so, too. And have not we affections,
l100l		Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
l101l		Then let them use us well, else let them know
l102l		The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
l103l	Desdemona	Good night, good night. God me such uses send
l104l		Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!
		(Exeunt)