**OTHELLO** It is the cause, it is the...

OTHELLO It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,--

Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!--

It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;

Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,

And smooth as monumental alabaster.

Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.

Put out the light, and then put out the light:

If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,

I can again thy former light restore,

Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,

Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,

I know not where is that Promethean heat

That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,

I cannot give it vital growth again.

It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.

Kissing her

Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade

Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.

Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,

And love thee after. One more, and this the last:

So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,

But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;

It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

DESDEMONA Who's there? Othello?

OTHELLO Ay. Desdemona.

DESDEMONA Will you come to bed, my lord?

OTHELLO Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?

DESDEMONA Ay, my lord.

OTHELLO If you bethink yourself of any crime

Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,

Solicit for it straight.

DESDEMONA Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?

OTHELLO Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:

I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;

No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.

DESDEMONA Talk you of killing?

OTHELLO Ay, I do.

DESDEMONA Then heaven

Have mercy on me!

OTHELLO Amen, with all my heart!

DESDEMONA If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.

OTHELLO Hum!

DESDEMONA And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then

When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,

Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.

OTHELLO Think on thy sins.

DESDEMONA They are loves I bear to you.

OTHELLO Ay, and for that thou diest.

DESDEMONA That death's unnatural that kills for loving.

Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?

Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:

These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,

They do not point on me.

OTHELLO Peace, and be still!

DESDEMONA I will so. What's the matter?

OTHELLO That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee

Thou gavest to Cassio.

DESDEMONA No, by my life and soul!

Send for the man, and ask him.

OTHELLO Sweet soul, take heed,

Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.

DESDEMONA Ay, but not yet to die.

OTHELLO Yes, presently:

Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;

For to deny each article with oath

Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception

That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.

DESDEMONA Then Lord have mercy on me!

OTHELLO I say, amen.

DESDEMONA And have you mercy too! I never did

Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio

But with such general warranty of heaven

As I might love: I never gave him token.

OTHELLO By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand.

O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,

And makest me call what I intend to do

A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:

I saw the handkerchief.

DESDEMONA He found it then;

I never gave it him: send for him hither;

Let him confess a truth.

OTHELLO He hath confess'd.

DESDEMONA What, my lord?

OTHELLO That he hath used thee.

DESDEMONA How? unlawfully?

OTHELLO Ay.

DESDEMONA He will not say so.

OTHELLO No, his mouth is stopp'd;

Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.

DESDEMONA O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?

OTHELLO Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge

Had stomach for them all.

DESDEMONA Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.

OTHELLO Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?

DESDEMONA O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!

OTHELLO Down, strumpet!

DESDEMONA Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!

OTHELLO Nay, if you strive--

DESDEMONA But half an hour!

OTHELLO Being done, there is no pause.

DESDEMONA But while I say one prayer!

OTHELLO It is too late.

He stifles her