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What conjuration 102and what mighty magic —

For such proceeding I am charged withal 103—

I won his daughter.BRABANTIO A maiden never bold,

Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion 106

Blushed at herself: and she, in spite of nature,

Of years 108, of country, credit, everything,

To fall in love with what she feared to look on!

It is a judgement maimed and most imperfect

That will confess perfection so could err

Against all rules of nature, and must be driven

To find out practices 113of cunning hell

Why this should be. I therefore vouch 114again

That with some mixtures 115pow’rful o’er the blood,

Or with some dram 116, conjured to this effect,

He wrought 117upon her.DUKE To vouch this is no proof,

Without more wider and more overt test 119

Than these thin habits 120and poor likelihoods

Of modern seeming 121do prefer against him.FIRST SENATOR But, Othello, speak:

Did you by indirect 123and forcèd courses

Subdue and poison this young maid’s affections?

Or came it by request and such fair question 125

As soul to soul affordeth 126?OTHELLO I do beseech you,

Send for the lady to the Sagittary

And let her speak of me before her father:

If you do find me foul in her report,

The trust, the office 131I do hold of you

Not only take away, but let your sentence

Even fall upon my life.DUKE Fetch Desdemona hither.OTHELLO Ancient, conduct them: you best know To Iago

the place.— [Exeunt Iago and Attendants]

And, till she come, as truly as to heaven

I do confess the vices of my blood 137,

So justly 138to your grave ears I’ll present

How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love,

And she in mine.DUKE Say it, Othello.OTHELLO Her father loved me, oft invited me,

Still 143questioned me the story of my life

From year to year: the battle, sieges, fortune,

That I have passed 145.

I ran it through, even from my boyish days

To th’very moment that he bade me tell it,

Wherein I spoke of most disastrous 148chances,

Of moving 149accidents by flood and field,

Of hair-breadth scapes 150i’th’imminent deadly breach,

Of being taken by the insolent 151foe

And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,

And portance 153in my traveller’s history,

Wherein of antres 154vast and deserts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks, hills whose head touch heaven,

It was my hint 156to speak: such was my process.

And of the cannibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi 158and men whose heads

Grew beneath their shoulders: these things to hear

Would Desdemona seriously 160incline,

But still the house-affairs would draw her thence,

Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

She’d come again, and with a greedy ear

Devour up my discourse: which I observing,

Took once a pliant 165hour, and found good means

To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart

That I would all my pilgrimage 167dilate,

Whereof by parcels 168she had something heard,

But not intentively 169. I did consent,

And often did beguile her of 170her tears,

When I did speak of some distressful stroke 171

That my youth suffered. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of kisses 173:

She swore, ‘In faith ’twas strange, ’twas passing 174strange,

’Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful!’

She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished

That heaven had made her 177such a man. She thanked me,

And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,

I should but teach him how to tell my story,

And that would woo her. Upon this hint 180I spake:

She loved me for the dangers I had passed,

And I loved her that she did pity them.

This only is the witchcraft I have used.

Here comes the lady: let her witness 184it.

Enter Desdemona, Iago, Attendants DUKE I think this tale would win my daughter too.

Good Brabantio,

Take up this mangled matter at the best 187:

Men do their broken weapons rather use

Than their bare hands.BRABANTIO I pray you hear her speak:

If she confess that she was half the wooer,

Destruction on my head if my bad 192blame

Light on the man!— Come hither, gentle To Desdemona mistress.

Do you perceive in all this noble company

Where most you owe obedience?DESDEMONA My noble father,

I do perceive here a divided duty.

To you I am bound for life and education 198:

My life and education both do learn 199me

How to respect you. You are the lord of duty,

I am hitherto 201your daughter. But here’s my husband,

And so much duty as my mother showed

To you, preferring 203you before her father,

So much I challenge 204that I may profess

Due to the Moor my lord.BRABANTIO God be with you! I have done.

Please it 207your grace, on to the state affairs.

I had rather to adopt a child than get 208it.

Come hither, Moor:

I here do give thee that with all my heart

Which but 211thou hast already, with all my heart

I would keep from thee.— For your sake 212, jewel, To Desdemona I am glad at soul I have no other child,

For thy escape 214would teach me tyranny, To the Duke To hang clogs 215on them.— I have done, my lord.DUKE Let me speak like yourself 216, and lay a sentence

Which, as a grise 217or step, may help these lovers.

When remedies are past 218, the griefs are ended

By seeing the worst, which late 219on hopes depended.

To mourn a mischief 220that is past and gone

Is the next 221way to draw new mischief on.

What cannot be preserved when fortune takes 222,

Patience her injury a mock’ry makes 223.

The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief:

He robs himself that spends 225a bootless grief.BRABANTIO So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile 226,

We lose it not, so long as we can smile.

He bears the sentence well that nothing bears 228

But the free 229comfort which from thence he hears:

But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow

That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow 231.

These sentences, to sugar or to gall, 232

Being strong on both sides, are equivocal.

But words are words: I never yet did hear

That the bruisèd 235heart was pierced through the ears.

I humbly beseech you proceed to th’affairs of state.DUKE The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for

Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude 238of the place is best known to

you, and though we have there a substitute of most allowed 239

sufficiency, yet opinion 240, a more sovereign mistress of effects,

throws a more safer voice on you 241: you must therefore be

content to slubber 242the gloss of your new fortunes with this

more stubborn 243and boisterous expedition.OTHELLO The tyrant custom, most grave senators,

Hath made the flinty 245and steel couch of war

My thrice-driven 246bed of down: I do agnize

A natural and prompt alacrity 247

I find in hardness 248, and do undertake

This present wars against the Ottomites.

Most humbly therefore bending to your state 250,

I crave fit disposition 251for my wife,

Due reference of place and exhibition 252,

With such accommodation 253and besort

As levels with 254her breeding.DUKE Why, at her fathers.BRABANTIO I will not have it so.OTHELLO Nor I.DESDEMONA Nor would I there reside,

To put my father in impatient thoughts

By being in his eye 260. Most gracious duke,

To my unfolding 261lend your prosperous ear,

And let me find a charter 262in your voice