Act V. Scene I

SCENE I. Cyprus. A street.

Enter IAGO and RODERIGO
IAGO
Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will he come:
Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home:
Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow:
It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,
And fix most firm thy resolution.

RODERIGO
Be near at hand; I may miscarry in't.

IAGO
Here, at thy hand: be bold, and take thy stand.

Retires

RODERIGO
I have no great devotion to the deed;
And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons:
'Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword: he dies.

IAGO
I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,
And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my gain: live Roderigo,
He calls me to a restitution large
Of gold and jewels that I bobb'd from him,
As gifts to Desdemona;
It must not be: if Cassio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life
That makes me ugly; and, besides, the Moor
May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril:
No, he must die. But so: I hear him coming.

Enter CASSIO

RODERIGO
I know his gait, 'tis he.--Villain, thou diest!

Makes a pass at CASSIO

CASSIO
That thrust had been mine enemy indeed,
But that my coat is better than thou know'st
I will make proof of thine.

Draws, and wounds RODERIGO

RODERIGO
O, I am slain!

IAGO from behind wounds CASSIO in the leg, and exit

CASSIO
I am maim'd for ever. Help, ho! murder! murder!

Falls

Enter OTHELLO

OTHELLO
The voice of Cassio: Iago keeps his word.

RODERIGO
O, villain that I am!

OTHELLO
It is even so.

CASSIO
O, help, ho! light! a surgeon!

OTHELLO
'Tis he:--O brave Iago, honest and just,
That hast such noble sense of thy friend's wrong!
Thou teachest me. Minion, your dear lies dead,
And your unblest fate hies: strumpet, I come.
Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted;
Thy bed, lust-stain'd, shall with lust's blood be spotted.

Exit

Enter LODOVICO and GRATIANO

CASSIO
What, ho! no watch? no passage? murder! murder!

GRATIANO
'Tis some mischance; the cry is very direful.

CASSIO
O, help!

LODOVICO
Hark!

RODERIGO
O wretched villain!

LODOVICO
Two or three groan: it is a heavy night:
These may be counterfeits: let's think't unsafe
To come in to the cry without more help.

RODERIGO
Nobody come? then shall I bleed to death.

LODOVICO
Hark!

Re-enter IAGO, with a light

GRATIANO
Here's one comes in his