quotes, notes, timelines & more

Home » Quotes » Othello » Soft you. A word or two before you go

Soft you. A word or two before you go

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,
Perplexed in the extreme

Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum. Set you down this.
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by th’ throat the circumcisèd dog,
And smote him, thus.  He stabs himself.
Lodovico
O bloody period!
Gratiano
All that is spoke is marred.
Othello, to Desdemona
I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.  He dies.
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 Cassio.  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.
 They exit.

Source:
Act 5
Scene 2
Line 397

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, , ,