Chapter: ACT II. SCENE I.
A seaport in Cyprus. An open place near the quay.

Enter Montano and two Gentlemen.

  MONTANO. What from the cape can you discern at sea?
  FIRST GENTLEMAN. Nothing at all. It is a high-wrought flood;
    I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main,
    Descry a sail.
  MONTANO. Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
    A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements.
    If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
    What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
    Can hold the mortise? What shall we hear of this?
  SECOND GENTLEMAN. A segregation of the Turkish fleet.
    For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
    The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
    The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
    Seems to cast water on the burning bear,
    And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole.
    I never did like molestation view
    On the enchafed flood.
  MONTANO.                 If that the Turkish fleet
    Be not enshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd;
    It is impossible to bear it out.

                       Enter a third Gentleman.

  THIRD GENTLEMAN. News, lads! Our wars are done.
    The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks,
    That their designment halts. A noble ship of Venice
    Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance
    On most part of their fleet.
  MONTANO. How? Is this true?
  THIRD GENTLEMAN.            The ship is here put in,
    A Veronesa. Michael Cassio,
    Lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello,
    Is come on shore; the Moor himself at sea,
    And is in full commission here for Cyprus.
  MONTANO. I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor.
  THIRD GENTLEMAN. But this same Cassio, though he speak of
comfort
    Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly
    And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted
    With foul and violent tempest.
  MONTANO.                         Pray heavens he be,
    For I have served him, and the man commands
    Like a full soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho!
    As well to see the vessel that's come in
    As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
    Even till we make the main and the aerial blue
    An indistinct regard.
  THIRD GENTLEMAN. Come, let's do so,
    For every minute is expectancy
    Of more arrivance.

                            Enter Cassio.

  CASSIO. Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,
    That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens
    Give him defense against the elements,
    For I have lost him on a dangerous sea.
  MONTANO. Is he well shipp'd?
  CASSIO. His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot
    Of very expert and approved allowance;
    Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
    Stand in bold cure.
                              A cry within, "A sail, a sail, a
sail!"

                      Enter a fourth Gentleman.

                        What noise?
  FOURTH GENTLEMAN. The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea
    Stand ranks of people, and they cry, "A sail!"
  CASSIO. My hopes do shape him for the governor.
                                                          Guns
heard.
  SECOND GENTLEMAN. They do discharge their shot of courtesy--
    Our friends at least.
  CASSIO.                 I pray you, sir, go forth,
    And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived.
  SECOND GENTLEMAN. I shall.
Exit.
  MONTANO. But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?
  CASSIO. Most fortunately: he hath achieved a maid
    That paragons description and wild fame,
    One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
    And in the essential vesture of creation
    Does tire the ingener.

                      Re-enter second Gentleman.

                           How now! who has put in?
  SECOND GENTLEMAN. 'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
  CASSIO. He has had most favorable and happy speed:
    Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
    The gutter'd rocks, and congregated sands,
    Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,
    As having sense of beauty, do omit
    Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
    The divine Desdemona.
  MONTANO.                What is she?
  CASSIO. She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
    Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
    Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
    A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
    And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
    That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
    Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
    Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits,
    And bring all Cyprus comfort.

       Enter Desdemona, Emilia Iago, Roderigo, and Attendants.

                                  O, behold,
    The riches of the ship is come on shore!
    Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
    Hall to thee, lady! And the grace of heaven,
    Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
    Enwheel thee round!
  DESDEMONA.            I thank you, valiant Cassio.
    What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
  CASSIO. He is not yet arrived, nor know I aught
    But that he's well and will be shortly here.
  DESDEMONA. O, but I fear--How lost you company?
  CASSIO. The great contention of the sea and skies
    Parted our fellowship--But, hark! a sail.
                          A cry within, "A sail, a sail!" Guns
heard.
  SECOND GENTLEMAN. They give their greeting to the citadel;
    This likewise is a friend.
  CASSIO.                      See for the news.
                                                      Exit
Gentleman.
    Good ancient, you are welcome. [To Emilia.] Welcome,
mistress.
    Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,
    That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding
    That gives me this bold show of courtesy.             Kisses
her.
  IAGO. Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
    As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
    You'ld have enough.
  DESDEMONA.            Alas, she has no speech.
  IAGO. In faith, too much;
    I find it still when I have list to sleep.
    Marry, before your ladyship I grant,
    She puts her tongue a little in her heart
    And chides with thinking.
  EMILIA. You have little cause to say so.
  IAGO. Come on, come on. You are pictures out of doors,
    Bells in your parlors, wildcats in your kitchens,
    Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
    Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.
  DESDEMONA. O, fie upon thee, slanderer!
  IAGO. Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk:
    You rise to play, and go to bed to work.
  EMILIA. You shall not write my praise.
  IAGO.                                  No, let me not.
  DESDEMONA. What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst
    praise me?
  IAGO. O gentle lady, do not put me to't,
    For I am nothing if not critical.
  DESDEMONA. Come on, assay--There's one gone to the harbor?
  IAGO. Ay, madam.
  DESDEMONA. I am not merry, but I do beguile
    The thing I am by seeming otherwise.
    Come, how wouldst thou praise me?
  IAGO. I am about it, but indeed my invention
    Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frieze;
    It plucks out brains and all. But my Muse labors,
    And thus she is deliver'd.
    If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit,
    The one's for use, the other useth it.
  DESDEMONA. Well praised! How if she be black and witty?
  IAGO. If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
    She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
  DESDEMONA. Worse and worse.
  EMILIA. How if fair and foolish?
  IAGO. She never yet was foolish that was fair,
    For even her folly help'd her to an heir.
  DESDEMONA. These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i'
the
    alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for her that's foul
and
    foolish?
  IAGO. There's none so foul and foolish thereunto,
    But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do.
  DESDEMONA. O heavy ignorance! Thou praisest the worst best. But
what
    praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed, one
that
    in the authority of her merit did justly put on the vouch of
very
    malice itself?
  IAGO. She that was ever fair and never proud,
    Had tongue at will and yet was never loud,
    Never lack'd gold and yet went never gay,
    Fled from her wish and yet said, "Now I may";
    She that, being anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
    Bade her wrong stay and her displeasure fly;
    She that in wisdom never was so frail
    To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail;
    She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind,
    See suitors following and not look behind;
    She was a wight, if ever such wight were--
  DESDEMONA. To do what?
  IAGO. To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.
  DESDEMONA. O most lame and impotent conclusion! Do not learn of
him,
    Emilia, though he be thy husband. How say you, Cassio? Is he
not
    a most profane and liberal counselor?
  CASSIO. He speaks home, madam. You may relish him more in the
    soldier than in the scholar.
  IAGO. [Aside.] He takes her by the palm; ay, well said,
whisper.
    With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as
    Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own
    courtship. You say true; 'tis so, indeed. If such tricks as
these
    strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had been better you
had
    not kissed your three fingers so oft, which now again you are
    most apt to play the sir in. Very good. Well kissed! an
excellent
    courtesy! 'tis so, indeed. Yet again your fingers to your
lips?
    Would they were clyster-pipes for your sake! [Trumpet
within.]
    The Moor! I know his trumpet.
  CASSIO. 'Tis truly so.
  DESDEMONA. Let's meet him and receive him.
  CASSIO. Lo, where he comes!

                    Enter Othello and Attendants.

  OTHELLO. O my fair warrior!
  DESDEMONA.                  My dear Othello!
  OTHELLO. It gives me wonder great as my content
    To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
    If after every tempest come such calms,
    May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
    And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas
    Olympus-high, and duck again as low
    As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die,
    'Twere now to be most happy; for I fear
    My soul hath her content so absolute
    That not another comfort like to this
    Succeeds in unknown fate.
  DESDEMONA.                  The heavens forbid
    But that our loves and comforts should increase,
    Even as our days do grow!
  OTHELLO.                    Amen to that, sweet powers!
    I cannot speak enough of this content;
    It stops me here; it is too much of joy.
    And this, and this, the greatest discords be          Kisses
her.
    That e'er our hearts shall make!
  IAGO.                     [Aside.] O, you are well tuned now!
    But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
    As honest as I am.
  OTHELLO.             Come, let us to the castle.
    News, friends: our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd.
    How does my old acquaintance of this isle?
    Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus;
    I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
    I prattle out of fashion, and I dote
    In mine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago,
    Go to the bay and disembark my coffers.
    Bring thou the master to the citadel;
    He is a good one, and his worthiness
    Does challenge much respect. Come, Desdemona,
    Once more well met at Cyprus.
                                    Exeunt all but Iago and
Roderigo.
  IAGO. Do thou meet me presently at the harbor. Come hither. If
thou
    be'st valiant--as they say base men being in love have then a
    nobility in their natures more than is native to them--list
me.
    The lieutenant tonight watches on the court of guard. First,
I
    must tell thee this: Desdemona is directly in love with him.
  RODERIGO. With him? Why, 'tis not possible.
  IAGO. Lay thy finger thus, and let thy soul be instructed. Mark
me
    with what violence she first loved the Moor, but for bragging
and
    telling her fantastical lies. And will she love him still for
    prating? Let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be
    fed; and what delight shall she have to look on the devil?
When
    the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should
be,
    again to inflame it and to give satiety a fresh appetite,
    loveliness in favor, sympathy in years, manners, and
beauties--
    all which the Moor is defective in. Now, for want of these
    required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find
itself
    abused, begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the
Moor;
    very nature will instruct her in it and compel her to some
second
    choice. Now sir, this granted--as it is a most pregnant and
    unforced position--who stands so eminently in the degree of
this
    fortune as Cassio does? A knave very voluble; no further
    conscionable than in putting on the mere form of civil and
humane
    seeming, for the better compass of his salt and most hidden
loose
    affection? Why, none, why, none--a slipper and subtle knave,
a
    finder out of occasions, that has an eye can stamp and
    counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present
    itself--a devilish knave! Besides, the knave is handsome,
young,
    and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green
minds
    look after--a pestilent complete knave, and the woman hath
found
    him already.
  RODERIGO. I cannot believe that in her; she's full of most
blest
    condition.
  IAGO. Blest fig's-end! The wine she drinks is made of grapes.
If
    she had been blest, she would never have loved the Moor.
Blest
    pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his
hand?
    Didst not mark that?
  RODERIGO. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
  IAGO. Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure prologue to
the
    history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so near with
their
    lips that their breaths embraced together. Villainous
thoughts,
    Roderigo! When these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at
hand
    comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate
conclusion.
    Pish! But, sir, be you ruled by me. I have brought you from
    Venice. Watch you tonight; for the command, I'll lay't upon
you.
    Cassio knows you not. I'll not be far from you. Do you find
some
    occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or
    tainting his discipline, or from what other course you
please,
    which the time shall more favorably minister.
  RODERIGO. Well.
  IAGO. Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply may
    strike at you. Provoke him, that he may; for even out of that
    will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny, whose qualification
shall
    come into no true taste again but by the displanting of
Cassio.
    So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by the
means
    I shall then have to prefer them, and the impediment most
    profitably removed, without the which there were no
expectation
    of our prosperity.
  RODERIGO. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity.
  IAGO. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel. I must
    fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell.
  RODERIGO. Adieu.
Exit.
  IAGO. That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it;
    That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit.
    The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
    Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
    And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona
    A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too,
    Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
    I stand accountant for as great a sin,
    But partly led to diet my revenge,
    For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
    Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof
    Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards,
    And nothing can or shall content my soul
    Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife.
    Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
    At least into a jealousy so strong
    That judgement cannot cure. Which thing to do,
    If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash
    For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
    I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,
    Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb
    (For I fear Cassio with my nightcap too),
    Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me
    For making him egregiously an ass
    And practicing upon his peace and quiet
    Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confused:
    Knavery's plain face is never seen till used.
Exit.

 The ships of the Turks are miraculously destroyed in a storm before Othello and his forces can reach them. They land in Cyprus, on different ships, and Desdemona has arrived first. She greets Othello warmly. Iago pretends to be joyful as well, but he makes some cruel jokes, for which his wife Emilia, yells at him. Iago then speaks to Roderigo, who has sold all of his possessions and traveled to Cyprus, and convinces him that Desdemona is in love with Cassio, and Cassio should be fired from his position. Roderigo, sick with love, believes this, and Iago gains a powerful pawn.

