Back to main page
Othello - Act 4, scene 3
Cite
Download Othello
Last updated: Fri, Jul 31, 2015
- PDF Download as PDF
- DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) without line numbers Download as DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) without line numbers
- DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) with line numbers Download as DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) with line numbers
- HTML Download as HTML
- TXT Download as TXT
- XML Download as XML
- TEISimple XML (annotated with MorphAdorner for part-of-speech analysis) Download as TEISimple XML (annotated with MorphAdorner for part-of-speech analysis)
Navigate this work
Othello - Act 4, scene 3Act 4, scene 3
Scene 3
Synopsis:
Othello, walking with Lodovico, orders Desdemona to go to bed and to dismiss Emilia. As Emilia helps Desdemona prepare for bed, they discuss marital infidelity, with Desdemona arguing that no woman would be unfaithful to her husband and Emilia arguing that women have the same desires as men do.
Enter Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia, andAttendants.
LODOVICO
2979 I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.
OTHELLO
2980 O, pardon me, ’twill do me good to walk.
LODOVICO
2981 Madam, good night. I humbly thank your Ladyship.
DESDEMONA 2982 Your Honor is most welcome.
OTHELLO
2983 5 Will you walk, sir?—O, Desdemona—
DESDEMONA 2984 My lord?
OTHELLO 2985 Get you to bed on th’ instant. I will be
2986 returned forthwith. Dismiss your attendant there.
2987 Look ’t be done.
DESDEMONA 2988 10I will, my lord.
⌜All but Desdemona and Emilia⌝ exit.
EMILIA
2989 How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.
DESDEMONA
2990 He says he will return incontinent,
2991 And hath commanded me to go to bed,
2992 And ⟨bade⟩ me to dismiss you.
EMILIA 2993 15 Dismiss me?
DESDEMONA
2994 It was his bidding. Therefore, good Emilia,
p.
213
2995
Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu.2996 We must not now displease him.
EMILIA 2997 I would you had never seen him.
DESDEMONA
2998 20 So would not I. My love doth so approve him
2999 That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns—
3000 Prithee, unpin me—have grace and favor ⟨in them.⟩
EMILIA
3001 I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
DESDEMONA
3002 All’s one. Good ⟨faith,⟩ how foolish are our minds!
3003 25 If I do die before ⟨thee,⟩ prithee, shroud me
3004 In one of ⟨those⟩ same sheets.
EMILIA 3005 Come, come, you talk!
DESDEMONA
3006 My mother had a maid called Barbary.
3007 She was in love, and he she loved proved mad
3008 30 And did forsake her. She had a song of willow,
3009 An old thing ’twas, but it expressed her fortune,
3010 And she died singing it. That song tonight
3011 Will not go from my mind. [I have much to do
3012 But to go hang my head all at one side
3013 35 And sing it like poor Barbary. Prithee, dispatch.
EMILIA 3014 Shall I go fetch your nightgown?
DESDEMONA 3015 No, unpin me here.
3016 This Lodovico is a proper man.
EMILIA 3017 A very handsome man.
DESDEMONA 3018 40He speaks well.
EMILIA 3019 I know a lady in Venice would have walked
3020 barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.
DESDEMONA, ⌜singing⌝
3021 The poor soul sat ⌜sighing⌝ by a sycamore tree,
3022 Sing all a green willow.
3023 45 Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
3024 Sing willow, willow, willow.
p.
215
3025
The fresh streams ran by her and murmured her3026 moans,
3027 Sing willow, willow, willow;
3028 50 Her salt tears fell from her, and softened the
3029 stones—
3030 Lay by these.
3031 Sing willow, willow, willow.
3032 Prithee hie thee! He’ll come anon.
3033 55 Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
3034 Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve.
3035 Nay, that’s not next.] Hark, who is ’t that knocks?
EMILIA 3036 It’s the wind.
DESDEMONA
3037 [I called my love false love, but what said he then?
3038 60 Sing willow, willow, willow.
3039 If I court more women, you’ll couch with more
3040 men.]—
3041 So, get thee gone. Good night. Mine eyes do itch;
3042 Doth that bode weeping?
EMILIA 3043 65 ’Tis neither here nor there.
[DESDEMONA
3044 I have heard it said so. O these men, these men!
3045 Dost thou in conscience think—tell me, Emilia—
3046 That there be women do abuse their husbands
3047 In such gross kind?
EMILIA 3048 70 There be some such, no
3049 question.]
DESDEMONA
3050 Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
EMILIA
3051 Why, would not you?
DESDEMONA 3052 No, by this heavenly light!
EMILIA
3053 75 Nor I neither, by this heavenly light.
3054 I might do ’t as well i’ th’ dark.
DESDEMONA
3055 Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
p.
217
EMILIA
3056
The world’s a huge thing. It is a great price3057 for a small vice.
DESDEMONA 3058 80In troth, I think thou wouldst not.
EMILIA 3059 In troth, I think I should, and undo ’t when I
3060 had done ⟨it.⟩ Marry, I would not do such a thing for
3061 a joint ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for
3062 gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition.
3063 85 But for the whole world—⟨’Uds pity!⟩ Who
3064 would not make her husband a cuckold to make
3065 him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for ’t.
DESDEMONA 3066 Beshrew me if I would do such a wrong
3067 for the whole world!
EMILIA 3068 90Why, the wrong is but a wrong i’ th’ world;
3069 and, having the world for your labor, ’tis a wrong in
3070 your own world, and you might quickly make it
3071 right.
DESDEMONA 3072 I do not think there is any such woman.
EMILIA 3073 95Yes, a dozen; and as many to th’ vantage as
3074 would store the world they played for.
3075 [But I do think it is their husbands’ faults
3076 If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties,
3077 And pour our treasures into foreign laps;
3078 100 Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
3079 Throwing restraint upon us. Or say they strike us,
3080 Or scant our former having in despite.
3081 Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,
3082 Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
3083 105 Their wives have sense like them. They see, and
3084 smell,
3085 And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
3086 As husbands have. What is it that they do
3087 When they change us for others? Is it sport?
3088 110 I think it is. And doth affection breed it?
3089 I think it doth. Is ’t frailty that thus errs?
3090 It is so too. And have not we affections,
3091 Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
p.
219
3092
Then let them use us well. Else let them know,3093 115 The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.]
DESDEMONA
3094 Good night, good night. ⟨God⟩ me such uses send,
3095 Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend.
They exit.