Page 1572 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

GRATIANO

(Within)
If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

OTHELLO
Look in upon me then, and speak to me,

Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Enter Gratiano.

GRATIANO
What is the matter?

OTHELLO
Behold, I have a weapon, [260]
A better never did itself sustain

Upon a soldier’s thigh: I have seen the day,
That with this little arm, and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop: but O vain boast, [265]
Who can control his fate? ’tis not so now.

Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon’d:
Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.

Do you go back dismay’d? ’tis a lost fear: [270]
Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,
And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Now: how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench,
Pale as thy smock, when we shall meet at count,

This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven, [275]
And fiends will snatch at it: cold, cold, my girl,
Even like thy chastity; O cursed slave!

Whip me, you devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight,
Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur, [280]
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona, Desdemona dead,