ACT III SCENE I

Othello

ACT III SCENE I	Before the castle.
	Enter CASSIO and some Musicians.
CASSIO	Masters, play here; I will content your pains;
	Something that’s brief; and bid ‘Good morrow, general.’
	Music
	Enter Clown.
Clown	Why masters, have your instruments been in Naples,
	that they speak i’ the nose thus?	5
First Musician	How, sir, how!
Clown	Are these, I pray you, wind-instruments?
First Musician	Ay, marry, are they, sir.
Clown	O, thereby hangs a tail.
First Musician	Whereby hangs a tale, sir?	10
Clown	Marry. sir, by many a wind-instrument that I know.
	But, masters, here’s money for you: and the general
	so likes your music, that he desires you, for love’s
	sake, to make no more noise with it.
First Musician	Well, sir, we will not.	15
Clown	If you have any music that may not be heard, to’t
	again: but, as they say to hear music the general
	does not greatly care.
First Musician	We have none such, sir.
Clown	Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I’ll away:	20
	go; vanish into air; away!
	Exeunt Musicians.
CASSIO	Dost thou hear, my honest friend?
Clown	No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you.
CASSIO	Prithee, keep up thy quillets. There’s a poor piece
	of gold for thee: if the gentlewoman that attends	25
	the general’s wife be stirring, tell her there’s
	one Cassio entreats her a little favour of speech:
	wilt thou do this?
Clown	She is stirring, sir: if she will stir hither, I
	shall seem to notify unto her.	30
CASSIO	Do, good my friend.
	Exit Clown.
	Enter IAGO.
	In happy time, Iago.
IAGO	You have not been a-bed, then?
CASSIO	Why, no; the day had broke
	Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,	35
	To send in to your wife: my suit to her
	Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
	Procure me some access.
IAGO	I’ll send her to you presently;
	And I’ll devise a mean to draw the Moor	40
	Out of the way, that your converse and business
	May be more free.
CASSIO	I humbly thank you for’t.
	Exit IAGO.
	I never knew
	A Florentine more kind and honest.	45
	Enter EMILIA
EMILIA	Good morrow, good Lieutenant: I am sorry
	For your displeasure; but all will sure be well.
	The general and his wife are talking of it;
	And she speaks for you stoutly: the Moor replies,
	That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus,	50
	And great affinity, and that in wholesome wisdom
	He might not but refuse you; but he protests he loves you
	And needs no other suitor but his likings
	To take the safest occasion by the front
	To bring you in again.	55
CASSIO	Yet, I beseech you,
	If you think fit, or that it may be done,
	Give me advantage of some brief discourse
	With Desdemona alone.
EMILIA	Pray you, come in;	60
	I will bestow you where you shall have time
	To speak your bosom freely.
CASSIO	I am much bound to you.
	Exeunt

Othello, Act 3, Scene 2

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Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 1

From Othello. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard.

Abbreviations. — A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon: M.E. = Middle English (from the 13th to the 15th century) ; Fr. = French ; Ger. = German ; Gr. = Greek ; Cf. = compare (Lat. confer) ; Abbott refers to the excellent Shakespearean Grammar of Dr. Abbott; Schmidt, to Dr. Schmidt’s invaluable Shakespeare Lexicon.

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24. Quillets, short for quidlibet, anything; you choose.

45. Iago was a Venetian, and Cassio a Florentine.
{Additional Note: This line has prompted some needless debate over Iago’s place of origin. Iago is identified as Venetian in two separate scenes in Acts 3 and 5. Cassio here is stating that he has never met someone — not even a fellow Florentine — as kind and honest as this Venetian Iago.}

47. Displeasure, the disfavor you are in.

61. Bestow, stow, place in secrecy.

How to cite the explanatory notes:Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1892.