Othello Monologue
| Othello Monologue by William Shakespeare | |
| Character: | Othello |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age (range): | ? |
| Style: | Drama |
| Length: | 4 minutes |
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- OTHELLO: Her father loved me, oft invited me;
- Still questioned me the story of my life
- From year to year -- the battles, sieges, fortunes
- That I have passed.
- I ran it through, even from my boyish days
- To th' very moment that he bade me tell it.
- Wherein I spoke of most diastrous chances,
- Of moving accidents by flood and field;
- Of hairbreadth scapes i' the' imminent deadly breach;
- Of being taken by the insolent foe
- And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence
- And portance in my travels' history;
- Wherein of anters vast and deserts idle,
- Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,
- It was my hint to speak -- such was the process;
- And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
- The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
- Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear
- Would Desdemona seriously incline;
- But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
- Which ever she could with haste dispatch,
- She'ld come again, and with a greedy ear
- Devour up my discourse. Which I observing,
- Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
- To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
- That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
- Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
- But not intentively. I did consent,
- And often did beguile her of her tears
- When I did speak of some distressful stroke
- That my youth suffered. My story being done,
- She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.
- She swore, i' faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;
- 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.
- She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished
- That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked me;
- And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
- I should but teach him how to tell my story,
- And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake.
- She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
- And I loved her that she did pity them.
- This only is the witchcraft I have used.
- Here comes the lady. Let her witness it.
