Othello Retold In Plain and Simple English: A Modern Translation and the Original Version

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Oh, that’s an honest fellow!’ said Desdemona. ‘Don’t worry, Cassio, I’ll make sure that you and my husband are as friendly as you were.’ Generous madam,’ said Cassio. ‘Whatever happens to Michael Cassio, he will always be your true servant.’

Othello gripped his shoulder. ‘No, there’s more to this. Please tell me what you’re thinking, exactly what’s in your mind, and speak plainly.’ Help! Help!’ cried Emilia. ‘Ho, help.’ She began slapping Desdemona’s face. ‘Oh lady, speak again,’ she said, again and again. ‘Sweet Desdemona.’ Iago arrives at Othello’s lodgings, where he warns the general that Brabanzio will not hesitate to attempt to force a divorce between Othello and Desdemona. Othello sees a party of men approaching, and Iago, thinking that Brabanzio and his followers have arrived, counsels Othello to retreat indoors. Othello stands his ground, but the party turns out to be Cassio and officers from the Venetian court. They bring Othello the message that he is wanted by the duke of Venice about a matter concerning Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea controlled by Venice. She broke down then, and that enraged Othello. ‘Out, whore!’ he stormed. ‘Weeping for him to my face!’ You can well lie down there and roar,’ said Emilia, ‘for you have killed the sweetest, most innocent, creature that ever was born.’Desdemona is quite sympathetic to Cassio’s request and promises that she will do everything she can to make Othello forgive his former lieutenant. As Cassio is about to leave, Othello and Iago return. Feeling uneasy, Cassio leaves without talking to Othello. Othello inquires whether it was Cassio who just parted from his wife, and Iago, beginning to kindle Othello’s fire of jealousy, replies, “No, sure, I cannot think it, / That he would steal away so guilty-like, / Seeing your coming” (III.iii. 37–39).

Roderigo was at the front of the oncoming group, walking at Brabantio’s side. ‘Signor,’ he said. ‘It’s the Moor.’ I don’t like doing this,’ said Iago. ‘But since I’ve gone so far, moved to it by my foolish honesty and love, I’ll tell you. I stayed with Cassio recently, and being troubled with a raging toothache, I couldn’t sleep. There are some people who are so unguarded that they expose their private affairs by talking in their sleep. Cassio is one of those. I heard him say, while still asleep: ‘Sweet Desdemona, we must be careful, we must hide our love.’ And then, Sir, he gripped my hand and wrung it, and cried ‘Oh sweet creature!’ and kissed me passionately as though he was pulling up by the roots the kisses that grew on my lips. Then he put his leg over my thigh and sighed and kissed me and then cried ‘Cursed fate, that gave you to the Moor!’’ Roderigo slumped down and put his head in his hands. ‘It would be silly to live when life is such a torment,’ he said. ‘Death would be the best medicine right now.’ Othello paced for a moment then turned to Emilia. ‘She’s like a liar gone to burning hell! It was I who killed her!’

Yes, very soon. Therefore, confess your sin freely, because denying any of it under oath can’t remove my strong belief in your guilt. You’re going to die.’ Brabantio, unable to contain his frustration, interrupted. ‘A modest young girl. So calm and reserved that any act of hers made her blush. And she, in spite of her reticent nature, her age, her country, her history, everything, to fall in love with what she feared to look at! Such flawed judgment breaks all the laws of nature and forces us to look for evil practices to explain why it should happen. I’m therefore telling you again that he made her take a powerful drug or some such thing.’ And while we’re waiting, as sincerely as I admit the vices of my blood, I’ll tell you honestly how this beautiful lady fell in love with me and I with her.’

Meanwhile, Othello stands over his sleeping wife in their bedchamber, preparing to kill her. Desdemona wakes and attempts to plead with Othello. She asserts her innocence, but Othello smothers her. Emilia enters with the news that Roderigo is dead. Othello asks if Cassio is dead too and is mortified when Emilia says he is not. After crying out that she has been murdered, Desdemona changes her story before she dies, claiming that she has committed suicide. Emilia asks Othello what happened, and Othello tells her that he has killed Desdemona for her infidelity, which Iago brought to his attention. Iago stepped in front of Othello and drew his sword. ‘You, Roderigo,’ he said. ‘Come on, I am for you.’ If he said that then may his evil soul rot slowly in hell. He lies to the core. She was too fond of her filthy marriage to you.’But tell me Sir, did you get married? Because one thing you can be sure of is that the Magnifico is very popular and can command at least twice as many votes as the Duke can. He will dissolve the marriage or penalise you as much as the law, with all his ability to enforce it, will allow him to.’ He got up again and faced the visitors. ‘Oh she was foul,’ he said.’ I hardly knew you, Uncle,’ he said to Gratiano. ‘There’s your niece lying there, who I have, indeed, killed. I realise this act seems horrible and grim.’

Signor Angelo sent me to report that the Turkish fleet is making for Rhodes,’ the messenger told them.The Duke nodded his approval. ‘Decide between yourselves whether she should stay or go. But this business is urgent and we must move fast. You must leave tonight.’ Act 1, scene 1 In the streets of Venice, Iago tells Roderigo of his hatred for Othello, who has given Cassio the lieutenancy that Iago wanted and has made Iago a mere ensign. At Iago’s suggestion, he and Roderigo, a former suitor to Desdemona, awake Desdemona’s father to tell him that Desdemona has eloped with Othello. This news enrages Brabantio, who organizes an armed band to search out Othello. Wake her father up,’ said Iago. ‘Let them disturb him and pursue him and spoil his pleasure. Shout his name out in the streets; get her relatives worked up, let the fertile climate he’s enjoying be plagued with flies. You can take the shine off his pleasure.’ After having been prepared for a passionate and possibly violent personage in Othello, the quiet calm of Othello’s character—his dismissal of Roderigo’s alleged insult and his skillful avoidance of conflict—is surprising. In fact, far from presenting Othello as a savage barbarian, Shakespeare implicitly compares him to Christ. The moment when Brabanzio and his men arrive with swords and torches, tipped off to Othello’s whereabouts by Othello’s disloyal friend, vividly echoes John 18: 1– 11. In that Gospel, Christ and his followers are met by officers carrying swords and torches. The officers were informed of Christ’s whereabouts by Judas, who pretends to side with Christ in the ensuing confrontation. When Othello averts the violence that seems imminent with a single sentence, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust ’em” (I.ii. 60), he echoes Christ’s command to Peter, “Put up thy sword into the sheath” (John 18: 11). However, whereas Christ’s calm restraint is due to his resigned acceptance of his fate, Othello’s is due to his sense of his own authority.