Original: Virtue! a fig! ‘tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus.
Modern: Virtue! Nonsense! It’s up to us to decide what kind of people we become.

Original: Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners:
Modern: Our bodies are like gardens, and our willpower acts as the gardener:

Original: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme,
Modern: so if we choose to plant weeds or lettuce, grow herbs and pull up others,

Original: supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many,
Modern: fill it with just one type of plant, or scatter it with many different kinds,

Original: either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry,
Modern: either let it become barren through laziness, or make it fertile through hard work,

Original: why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.
Modern: well, the power and controlling force behind all this comes from our own choices.

Original: If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality,
Modern: If our lives didn’t have reason on one side to balance out our physical desires on the other,

Original: the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions:
Modern: our animal instincts and lowest nature would lead us to completely ridiculous behavior:

Original: but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts,
Modern: but we have logic to calm our wild impulses, our physical urges, our uncontrolled desires,

Original: whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or scion.
Modern: and I believe that what you call love is just a branch or offshoot of these lusts.

In Act I, Scene 3, Line 331 of “Othello,” Iago begins a soliloquy after Roderigo exits, revealing his true nature and intentions to the audience. Iago declares that he hates the Moor and repeats a rumor that Othello has slept with his wife Emilia, stating that the thought of this gnaws at him like poison. He admits he does not know if this rumor is true, but says that for the purposes of his revenge, his suspicion will serve as well as certainty. Iago also mentions that he lusts after Desdemona himself, partly out of genuine desire and partly to even the score with Othello for the alleged affair with Emilia.

Iago then begins to formulate his plot against Othello and Cassio. He plans to make Othello believe that Cassio is too familiar with Desdemona, exploiting Cassio’s smooth and courteous manners as evidence of an affair. Iago notes that Cassio has a person and bearing that appears honest and trustworthy, which will make the deception easier. He concludes that the Moor is of a free and open nature who thinks men honest if they merely appear so, and can therefore be easily led by the nose like a donkey. Iago ends the soliloquy by declaring that his plan is forming in his mind, though hell and night must work together to bring his monstrous plot to light.

Othello opens in Venice, where the Moorish general Othello has secretly married Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio. When Iago, Othello’s ensign who harbors deep resentment for being passed over for promotion in favor of Cassio, reveals this marriage to Brabantio, the senator accuses Othello of using witchcraft to seduce his daughter. However, when the Duke of Venice summons Othello to lead the Venetian forces against a Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Desdemona herself testifies that she married Othello willingly out of love. The Duke dismisses Brabantio’s charges, and Othello departs for Cyprus with Desdemona, Iago, and his officers.

Once in Cyprus, the Turkish fleet is destroyed by a storm, but Iago begins executing his plan for revenge. He manipulates Cassio into a drunken brawl that results in Cassio’s demotion, then convinces Cassio to seek Desdemona’s help in regaining Othello’s favor. Iago uses these innocent meetings between Desdemona and Cassio as evidence to plant seeds of jealousy in Othello’s mind, suggesting that his wife is having an affair with the former lieutenant. To strengthen his deception, Iago arranges for Othello to overhear him speaking suggestively with Cassio about Bianca, Cassio’s mistress, while Othello believes they are discussing Desdemona.

The manipulation reaches its climax when Iago obtains Desdemona’s handkerchief—Othello’s first gift to her—through his wife Emilia, who serves as Desdemona’s attendant. Iago plants the handkerchief in Cassio’s chambers and later shows it to Othello as proof of the affair. Consumed by jealousy and convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello smothers her in their bed. When Emilia discovers the murder, she reveals Iago’s treachery before he kills her. Othello, realizing he has murdered his innocent wife, stabs himself and dies beside Desdemona. Iago is arrested, Cassio is appointed to govern Cyprus, and Iago is taken away to face torture and execution for his crimes.