No Fear Shakespeare
Othello
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 4, Scene 1, Page 4
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He will recover straight. When he is gone
I would on great occasion speak with you.
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better right away. When he leaves, it’s very important
that I talk to you.
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Exit CASSIO
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CASSIO exits. |
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How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
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What happened, general? Did you hit your head?
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OTHELLO
Dost thou mock me?
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OTHELLO
Are you making fun of me?
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IAGO
I mock you not, by
heaven.
Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
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IAGO
Making fun of you? No, I swear! I wish you could face your bad
news like a man!
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OTHELLO
A hornèd man’s a monster and a beast.
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OTHELLO
A man who’s been cheated on isn’t a real
man. He’s subhuman, like an animal.
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IAGO
There’s many a beast then in a populous city,
And many a civil monster.
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IAGO
In that case there are a lot of animals on the loose in this
city.
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OTHELLO
Did he confess it?
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OTHELLO
Did he confess?
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IAGO
Good sir, be a man,
Think every bearded fellow that’s but yoked
May draw with you. There’s millions now alive
That nightly lie in those unproper beds
Which they dare swear peculiar. Your case is better.
Oh, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s
arch-mock,
To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
And to suppose her chaste. No, let me know,
And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
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IAGO
Sir, be a man. Every married man has been cheated on. Millions of
men sleep with wives who cheat on them, wrongly believing they
belong to them alone. Your case is better than that. At least
you’re not ignorant. The worst thing of all is to kiss
your wife thinking she’s innocent, when in fact
she’s a whore. No, I’d rather know the truth.
Then I’ll know exactly what she is, just as I know what I
am.
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OTHELLO
Oh, thou art wise! 'Tis certain.
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OTHELLO
You’re wise! That’s for sure.
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IAGO
Stand you awhile
apart,
Confine yourself but in a patient list.
Whilst you were here o'erwhelmèd with your
grief—
A passion most resulting such a man—
Cassio came hither. I shifted him away
And laid good ’scuses upon your ecstasy,
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IAGO
Go somewhere else for a while. Calm down. While you were dazed by
grief—which isn’t appropriate for a man like
you—Cassio showed up here. I got him to leave, and made
up an excuse for your trance. I told him to come back and talk to me
in a bit, and he promised he would. So hide here and watch how he
sneers
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