Othello
()
About this ebook
Othello is one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, a complex tragedy revolving around four characters, whose story consists of racism, jealousy, love and betrayal. It is still one of the most performed plays in the world.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.
Read more from William Shakespeare
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: All 214 Plays, Sonnets, Poems & Apocryphal Plays (Including the Biography of the Author): Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors… Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare Quotes Ultimate Collection - The Wit and Wisdom of William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo & Juliet & Vampires Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shakespeare in Autumn (Seasons Edition -- Fall): Select Plays and the Complete Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's First Folio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare's Love Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Othello
Related ebooks
Othello Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello: Including The Life of William Shakespeare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello: "The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam Shakespeare's Othello - Unabridged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello, the Moor of Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello - William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tragedie of Othello Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello, the Moore of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello: The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello (Dream Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tragedies Volume Two: Othello, Macbeth, Henry IV Part One, and Henry IV Part Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello Retold In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello Retold In Plain and Simple English: (A Modern Translation and the Original Version) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello, with line numbers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello: Bilingual Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello: A Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poetaster, or, His Arraignment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night or, What You Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello (Pocket Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Taming of the Shrew: Including "The Life of William Shakespeare" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love in the Suds: a Town Eclogue: Being the Lamentation of Roscius for the Loss of His Nyky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Alchemist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night: Including "The Life of William Shakespeare" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Othello
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Othello - William Shakespeare
OTHELLO
..................
William Shakespeare
MASQUERADE PRESS
Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.
This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2015 by William Shakespeare
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Othello
Character List
ACT I
SCENE I. Venice. A street.
SCENE II. Venice. Another street.
SCENE III. Venice. A council chamber.
ACT II
SCENE I. A seaport in Cyprus. A Platform.
SCENE II. A street.
SCENE III. A Hall in the Castle.
ACT III
SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Room in the Castle.
SCENE III. Cyprus. The Garden of the Castle.
SCENE IV. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
ACT IV
SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Room in the Castle.
SCENE III. Cyprus. Another Room in the Castle.
ACT V
SCENE I. Cyprus. A Street.
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Bedchamber in the castle: Desdemona in bed asleep; a light burning.
Othello
By
William Shakespeare
Othello
Published by Masquerade Press
New York City, NY
First published 1604
Copyright © Masquerade Press, 2015
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
About Masquerade Press
Masquerade Press publishes the greatest dramas ever written and performed, from the Ancient Greek playwrights to icons like Shakespeare and modern poets like Oscar Wilde.
OTHELLO
..................
CHARACTER LIST
..................
DUKE OF VENICE
BRABANTIO, a Senator
Other Senators
GRATIANO, Brother to Brabantio
LODOVICO, Kinsman to Brabantio
OTHELLO, a noble Moor, in the service of Venice
CASSIO, his Lieutenant
IAGO, his Ancient
MONTANO, Othello’s predecessor in the government of Cyprus
RODERIGO, a Venetian Gentleman
CLOWN, Servant to Othello
DESDEMONA, Daughter to Brabantio and Wife to Othello
EMILIA, Wife to Iago
BIANCA, Mistress to Cassio
Officers, Gentlemen, Messenger, Musicians, Herald, Sailor, Attendants, &c.
________________________________________
SCENE: The First Act in Venice; during the rest of the Play at a Seaport in Cyprus.
________________________________________
ACT I
..................
SCENE I. VENICE. A STREET.
..................
[Enter Roderigo and Iago.]
RODERIGO
Tush, never tell me; I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this,—
IAGO
‘Sblood, but you will not hear me:—
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.
RODERIGO
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,
Off-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 bumbast 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 damn’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 belee’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 Moorship’s ancient.
RODERIGO
By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
IAGO
Why, there’s no remedy; ‘tis the curse of service,
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by 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.
RODERIGO
I would not follow him, then.
IAGO
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, cashier’d:
Whip me such honest knaves. Others 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 demónstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement 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.
RODERIGO
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 color.
RODERIGO
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.
RODERIGO
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 appears above at a window.]
BRABANTIO
What is the reason of this terrible summons?
What is the matter there?
RODERIGO
Signior, is all your family within?
IAGO
Are your doors locked?
BRABANTIO
Why, wherefore ask you this?
IAGO
Zounds, sir, you’re robb’d; for shame, put on your gown;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;
Even now, 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.
BRABANTIO
What, have you lost your wits?
RODERIGO
Most reverend signior, do you know my voice?
BRABANTIO
Not I; what are you?
RODERIGO
My name is Roderigo.
BRABANTIO
The worser welcome:
I have charged 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.
RODERIGO
Sir, sir, sir,—
BRABANTIO
But thou must needs be sure
My spirit and my place have in them power
To make this bitter to thee.
RODERIGO
Patience, good sir.
BRABANTIO
What tell’st thou me of robbing? this is Venice;
My house is not a grange.
RODERIGO
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, and 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.