OTHELLO (sinking exhausted upon a stool)
Desdemona false!...

IAGO
(at the back, looking surreptitiously at the handkerchief,
then replacing it carefully in his doublet)
With these threads shall I weave
the proof of the sin of love.
It shall be hidden in Cassio’s lodging.

OTHELLO
... Monstrous thought!

IAGO (looking fixedly at Othello)
My poison does its work.

OTHELLO
... False toward me! Toward me!!!

IAGO
Suffer and roar!

OTHELLO
Monstrous! Monstrous!

IAGO
(having approached Othello, good-naturedly)
Think no more of it.

OTHELLO (taken by surprise)
You! Hence! Avaunt!
You have lashed me to the cross! Alas!...
More monstrous than the most monstrous abuse
of abuse itself is suspicion.
Of her stolen hours of lust
(and stolen from me!)
had I no presentiment in my breast?
I was contented, merry...
Nothing knew I as yet;
I found not on her sweet body
which I so love
or on her lying lips
Cassio’s ardent kisses!
And now!... And now...
Now, and forever farewell, sacred memories,
farewell, sublime enchantments of the mind!
Farewell, shining battalions and victories,
the flying arrow and the flying steed!
Farewell to the standard triumphant and holy
and the shrill fife that sounded to reveille!
Pride, pomp and circumstance of war,
farewell! Farewell, Othello’s glory’s at an end!

IAGO
Be calm, my lord.

OTHELLO
Villain! Be sure to find a proof secure
that Desdemona’s unchaste...
Stay! Do not flee!
It would avail you nought!
Bring me the sure, the ocular proof!
Or on your head accumulate
and fall the bolts
of my terrible
wakened wrath!
(He seizes Iago by the throat and hurls him to the floor.)

IAGO
0 heavenly grace defend me!
(rising)
May heaven protect you!
1 am no longer your ensign.
The world may be my witness
that honesty is dangerous.
(He turns as if to leave.)

OTHELLO
No... stay.
You may be honest.

IAGO (by the door, making a pretence of leaving)
’Twere better had I been a charlatan.

OTHELLO
By the world!
I believe Desdemona to be loyal
and believe her not to be so;
I think that you are honest
and think you disloyal...
I’ll have some proof!
I must have certainty!

IAGO (moving towards Othello)
My lord, curb your anxieties.
What proof would satisfy you?
To see them clasped together?

OTHELLO
Oh! Death and damnation!

IAGO
That would be a difficult undertaking;
but of what assurance are you dreaming
if the filthy deed itself
forever must escape you?
But yet if reason be the guide to [bad word] I may propose a circumstance so strong
that it will lead you near to certainty.
Listen.