![]() I don’t know if you know or approve of this, but in the wee hours of the morning your daughter left your house, with no better escort than a hired gondolier, to go into the rough embrace of a lustful Moor. But, I beseech you, If’t be your pleasure and most wise consent (As partly I find it is) that your fair daughter At this odd-even and dull watch o' th' night The kind that tells you that the Moor is having sex with your daughter right now. You shall mark Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave That (doting on his own obsequious bondage) Wears out his time much like his master’s ass For naught but provender, and when he’s old, cashiered. We cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly followed. And when they have lined their coats, Do themselves homage. Others there are Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty, Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves And, throwing but shows of service on their lords, Do well thrive by them. ![]() Guys like that have soul, and that’s the kind of guy I am. By pretending to serve their lords, these men get rich, and when they’ve saved up enough they can be their own masters. But then there’s another kind of servant who looks dutiful and devoted, but who’s really looking out for himself. They ought to be whipped for being so stupid. Look at all the devoted servants who work for their masters their whole lives for nothing but their food, and then when they get old they’re terminated. We can’t all be masters, and not all masters should be followed. I’m serving under him to take advantage of him. I’m not who I appear to be.Ħ5 And such a one do I profess myself. If my outward appearance started reflecting what I really felt, soon enough I’d be wearing my heart on my sleeve for birds to peck at. I may seem to love and obey him, but in fact, I’m just serving him to get what I want. you, as sure as your name’s Roderigo, if I were the Moor I wouldn’t want to be Iago. For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In compliment extern, ’tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so, for my peculiar end. It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago. He’s got no more hands-on knowledge of warfare than an old woman - unless you count what he’s read in books, And he’s definitely never commanded men in battle. He has a pretty wife but he can’t even control her. And who does he choose? A guy who knows more about numbers then fighting! This guy from Florence named Michael Cassio. “I’ve already chosen my lieutenant,” he says. But he wants to have things his own way, so he sidesteps the issue with a lot of military talk and r efuses their request. And I know my own worth well enough to know I deserve that position. Three of Venice’s most important noblemen took their hats off to him and asked him humbly to make me his lieutenant, the second in command. This accountant is now lieutenant, while I end up as tflag- bearer. My career is cut short by some bookkeeper, even though the general saw my fighting skills first-hand in Rhodes and Cyprus. His military understanding is all theory, no practice. This counter-caster He (in good time) must his lieutenant be And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient. But he, sir, had th' election And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed By debitor and creditor. Mere prattle without practice Is all his soldiership. RODERIGO By God, I’d rather be his executioner.ģ5 RODERIGO By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.Īs masterly as he. Now sir, be judge yourself, Whether I in any just term am affinedĤ0 IAGO Why, there’s no remedy. Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second Stood heir to th' first. Three great ones of the city (In personal suit to make me his lieutenant) Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man I know my price, I am worth no worse a place. Act 1, Scene 1 Enter RODMERIGO and IAGO RODERIGO and IAGO enter.
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