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Lord. The queen desires you, to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play. Ham. She well instructs me. [Exit Lord. Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord! Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. But thou would'st not think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter. Hor. Nay, good my lord,

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving, as would, perhaps, trouble a woman. Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it! I will forestal their repair hither, and say, you are

not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what i'st to leave betimes? Let be! Enter King, Queen, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and Attendants, with foils, etc.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand

from me!

[The King puts the hand of Laertes into that of Hamlet.

Ham. Give me your pardon, sir! I have done you

wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman!
This presence knows, and you must needs have heard,
How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.
What I have done,

That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never, Hamlet!
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it then? His madness: if't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.

Sir, in this audience,

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer. I am satisfied in nature,

Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but, in my terms of honour,

I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungor'd: but till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

Ham. I embrace it freely;

And will this brother's wager frankly play.—
Give us the foils; come on!

Laer. Come, one for me.

Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes! in mine ignorance Your skill shall, like a star i'the darkest night, Stick fiery off indeed.

Laer. You mock me, sir! Ham. No, by this hand!

King. Give them the foils, young Osric!- Cousin Hamlet,

lord!

You know the wager?
Ham. Very well, my
Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.
King. I do not fear it: I have seen you both:-
But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds.
Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another!

:

Ham. This likes me well: length?

Osr. Ay, my good lord!

these foils have all a [They prepare to play.

King. Set me the stoúps of wine upon that table!— If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit in answer of the third exchange, Let all the battlement their ordnance fire; The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups! And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth, Now the king drinks to Hamlet. — Come, begin!And you, the judges, bear a wary eye! Ham. Come on, sir! Laer. Come, my lord! Ham. One.

I

Laer. No.
Ham. Judgment.

-

[They play.

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.
King. Stay, give me drink! Hamlet, this pearl is
Laer. Well, again!

thine;

Here's to thy health. Give him the cup!

Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile. [Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within. Come, another hit! What say you? [They play. Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win.

Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath. Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows! The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet! Ham. Good madam,

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King. Gertrude, do not drink!
Queen. I will, my lord; -I pray you, pardon me!
King. It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.

[Aside.

Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face!
Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now.
King. I do not think it.

Laer. And yet it is almost against my conscience.

[Aside.

Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes! You do but dally;

pray you, pass with your best violence;

I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.
Laer. Say you so? come on!

Osr. Nothing neither way.

Laer. Have at you now.

[They play.

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling,
they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds
Laertes.

King. Part them, they are incens'd!
Ham. Nay, come again!

[The Queen falls.

Osr. Look to the queen there, ho!
Hor. They bleed on both sides. — How is it, my

lord?

Osr. How is't, Laertes?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,
Osric;

I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the queen?

King. She swoons to see them bleed.
Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink, O my dear
Hamlet! -

The drink, the drink!—I am poison'd! [Dies.
Ham. O villainy! Ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out!
[Laertes falls.
Laer. It is here, Hamlet! Hamlet, thou art slain!
No medicine in the world can do thee good,

In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated, and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd;
I can no more; the king, the king's to blame!
Ham. The point

Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work!
[Stabs the King.
Osr. et Lords. Treason! treason!
King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.
Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned
Dane,

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And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither? [March within.

Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and
Others.

Fort. Where is this sight?

Hor. What is it, you would see?

If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search!
Fort. This quarry cries on havock! - O proud
death!

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
So bloodily hast struck?

1 Amb. The sight is dismal;

[King dies. And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing,
To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

It is a poison temper'd by himself.
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet!
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee!
Nor thine on me!

[Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee! I am dead, Horatio! Wretched queen, adieu ! – You that look pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes or audience to this act, Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant, death, Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,But let it be - Horatio, I am dead; Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied.

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If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

[March afar off, and shot within. What warlike noise is this?

Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from
Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham. O, I die, Horatio!

The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;

I cannot live to hear the news from England;

But I do prophecy the election lights

On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;

So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less, Which have solicited.-The rest is silence. [Dies. Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;

sweet prince!

good night

Hor. Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd; give order, that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things come about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort. Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me,

I

night||

with sorrow I embrace my fortune; have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more But let this same be presently perform'd, Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance,

On plots, and errors, happen.
Fort. Let four captains

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage!
For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-

Take up the bodies! - Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot! [A dead march [Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies: after which, a peal of ordnance is shot off.

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RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman.

MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus.

Clown, servant to Othello. Herald.

DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio, and wife to Othello.

EMILIA, wife to Iago.

BIANCA, a courtezan, mistress to Cassio.

Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians, Sailors, Attendants, etc.

SCENE,-for the first Act, in Venice: during the rest of the Play, at a Sea-port in Cyprus.

A C T I.

SCENE I. - Venice. A street.

Enter RODERICO and lAGO.

Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much unkindly, That thou, Jago, who hast had my purse, As if the strings were thine-should'st know of this. Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me;If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy

hate.

Iago. Despise me, if I do not! Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him; - and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for, certes, says he,
I have already chose my officer.
And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damo'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows

More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose

As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds,
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I, (God bless the mark!)his Moor- ship's ancient.
Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his
hangman.

Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse of service;
Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affin'd
To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him them.

lago. O, sir, content you!

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark

Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and, when he's old, cash-
ier'd;

Whip me such honest knaves. Other's there are
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd
their coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;
And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,

It is as sure, as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve,

For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe, If he can carry't thus!.

Iago. Call up her father,

Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.
Iago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What, ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves ! thieves! thieves!

Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summons?

What is the matter there?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?

Bra. Why? wherefore ask you this?

Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame, pat

on your gown;

Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul; Even now, very now, an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,

Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you: Arise, I say!

Bra. What, have you lost your wits?

Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,
Yet, for necessity of present life,

I must show out a flag and sign of love,
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely
find him,

Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know my voice? Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search;

Bra. Not I; what are you?

Rod. My name is Roderigo.
Bra. The worse welcome:

I have charg'd thee not to haunt about my doors:
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say,
My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness,
Being full of supper, and distempering draughts,
Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come
To start my quiet.

Rod. Sir, sir, sir, sir,

Bra. But thou must needs be sure,

My spirit, and my place, have in them power

To make this bitter to thee.

Rod. Patience, good sir!

And there will I be with him. So, farewell! [Erit.
Enter below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with torches.
Bra. It is too true an evil: gone she is;
And what's to come of my despised time,
Is nought but bitterness.-Now, Roderigo,
Where didst thou see her?-0, unhappy girl!-
With the Moor, say'st thou? - Who would be a
father!-

How didst thou know 'twas she? - O, thou de-
ceiv'st me

Past thought!

more tapers;

What said she to you? -Get

Raise all my kindred.-Are they married, think you?
Rod. Truly, I think, they are.

Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is Venice; Bra. O heaven! -How got she out? — O treason

My house is not a grange.

Rod. Most grave Brabantio,

In simple and pure soul I come to you. Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians: you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans. Bra. What profaue wretch art thou?

Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast

with two backs.

Bra. Thou art a villain.
Iago. You are-a senator.

Bra. This thou shalt answer; I know thee, Roderigo!
Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech you,
If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent
(As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daughter,
As this odd-even and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,—
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility,

I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter, if you have not given her leave,
I say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
In an extravagant and wheeling stranger,

Of here and every where. Straight satisfy yourself:
If she be in her chamber, or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.

Bra. Strike on the tinder, ho!

Give me a taper! - call up all my people! -
This accident is not unlike my dream,
Belief of it oppresses me already :-
Light, I say! light!

[Exit from above.

Iago. Farewell! for I must leave you: It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place, To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,) Against the Moor: for, I do know, the state, However this may gall him with some check, Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars, (Which even now stand in act.) that, for their souls, Another of his fathom they have not,

To lead their business: in which regard,

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SCENE II. The same. Another street.

Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants. Jago. Though in the trade of war I have slain men, Yet do I hold it very stuff o'the conscience To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity Sometimes, to do me service. Nine or ten times I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs. Oth. 'Tis better as it is.

Iago. Nay, but he prated,

And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour,

That, with the little godliness I have,

I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, sir,
Are you fast married? for, be sure of this,
That the magnifico is much beloved;
And hath, in his effect, a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you;
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law (with all his might, to enforce it on,)
Will give him cable.

Oth. Let him do his spite:

My services, which I have done the signiory,
Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know,
(Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,
I shall promulgate,) I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege; and my demerits
May speak, unbonneted, to as proud a fortune,
As this that I have reach'd: for know, lago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition,
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights
yonder?

come

Enter Cassio, at a distance, and certain Officers with torches.

Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends: You were best go in.

Oth. Not I: I must be found;

My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
Jago. By Janus, I think no.

Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends! What is the news?

Cas. The duke does greet you, general!

And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance, Even on the instant.

Oth. What is the matter, think you?

Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine;
It is a business of some heat: the gallies
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels;
And many of the consuls, rais'd, and met,

Are at the duke's already: you have been hotly call'd

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Re-enter OTHELLO.

Jago. Marry, to Come, captain, will you go? Oth Have with you.

Cas. Here comes another troop to seek for you. Enter BRABANTIO, RODERICO, and Officers of night, with torches and weapons.

Iago. It is Brabantio:- general, be advised: He comes to bad intent.

Oth. Holla! stand there!

Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.

Bra. Down with him, thief!

[They draw on both sides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, 1 am for you. Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.

Good signior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter?

Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her:
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid - so tender, fair, and happy;
So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,
That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms;
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or mineral,
That waken'd motion:- I'll have it disputed on;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.

I therefore apprehend and do attach thee,
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant: -
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth. Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the rest:
Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter.- Where will you, that I go
To answer this your charge?

Bra. To prison! till fit time

Of law, and course of direct session,
Call thee to answer.

Oth. What if I do obey?

How may the duke be therewith satisfied,
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?

Off. 'Tis true, most worthy signior,
The duke's in council; and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.

Bra. How! the duke in council!

In this time of the night!

Bring him away! Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself,. Or any of my brothers of the state,. Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own: For if such actions may have passage free, Bond-slaves, and pagans, shall our statesmen be.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The same. A council-chamber. The Duke and Senators, sitting at a table; Officers attending.

Duke. There is no composition in these news, That gives them credit.

1 Sen. Indeed, they are disproportion'd; My letters say, a hundred and seven gallies. Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty.

2 Sen. And mine, two hundred: But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the aim reports, 'Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus. Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment; do not so secure me in the error, But the main article I do approve In fearful sense.

Sailor. [Within.] What ho! what ho! what ho!
Enter an Officer, with a Sailor.
Off. A messenger from the gallies.
Duke. Now? the business?

Sail. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes;
So was I bid report here to the state,
By signior Angelo.

Duke. How say you by this change?
1 Sen. This cannot be,

By no assay of reason; 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze. When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk;
And let ourselves again but understand,
That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace,
But altogether lacks th' abilities

That Rhodes is dress'd in:- if we make thought

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