Original: Behold, I have a weapon;
Modern: Look, I have a sword;

Original: A better never did itself sustain
Modern: A finer weapon was never carried

Original: Upon a soldier’s thigh: I have seen the day,
Modern: By any soldier: I remember when,

Original: That, with this little arm and this good sword,
Modern: With this arm and this excellent sword,

Original: I have made my way through more impediments
Modern: I fought my way through more obstacles

Original: Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast!
Modern: Than twenty times what could stop you: but what empty bragging!

Original: Who can control his fate? ‘tis not so now.
Modern: Who can control their destiny? Things are different now.

Original: Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon’d;
Modern: Don’t be afraid, even though you see me armed;

Original: Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt,
Modern: This is where my journey ends, this is my target,

Original: And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Modern: The final landmark of my furthest voyage.

Original: Do you go back dismay’d? ‘tis a lost fear;
Modern: Are you backing away in fear? There’s no need to be afraid;

Original: Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,
Modern: Attack Othello’s chest with nothing but a reed,

Original: And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Modern: And he’ll retreat. Where can Othello go now?

Original: Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench!
Modern: How do you look now? Oh, you unlucky girl!

Original: Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
Modern: As pale as your white nightgown! When we meet on Judgment Day,

Original: This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
Modern: This expression on your face will cast my soul out of heaven,

Original: And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Modern: And demons will grab it. So cold, so cold, my girl!

Original: Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
Modern: Just like your purity was. Oh, what a damned fool I am!

Original: Whip me, ye devils,
Modern: Beat me, you devils,

Original: From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Modern: Away from the sight of this angelic vision!

Original: Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Modern: Toss me around in windstorms! Burn me in sulfur!

Original: Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
Modern: Drown me in deep chasms of liquid fire!

Original: O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Modern: Oh Desdemona! Desdemona! You’re dead!

Original: Oh! Oh! Oh!
Modern: Oh! Oh! Oh!

In Act V, Scene ii of Othello, the final tragic events unfold in Desdemona’s bedchamber. Othello enters and approaches the sleeping Desdemona, wrestling with his resolve to kill her while she sleeps peacefully. He kisses her, which awakens her, and they engage in a tense dialogue where Othello accuses her of loving Cassio and demands she confess her sins before he kills her. Despite Desdemona’s desperate pleas of innocence and her requests to pray or live just one more day, Othello smothers her. Emilia arrives and discovers the murder, crying out in horror, which brings Montano, Gratiano, and Iago to the scene.

The truth begins to unravel when Emilia reveals that she gave Desdemona’s handkerchief to Iago, exposing his manipulation. Iago kills Emilia to silence her, then flees but is quickly captured. Othello, realizing the devastating truth of his wife’s innocence and his own manipulation, wounds Iago and then kills himself with a concealed weapon, falling upon Desdemona’s bed. The play concludes with Lodovico taking charge, ordering Iago’s punishment and torture, while Cassio is left to govern Cyprus. The stage is left with the tragic tableau of the dead couple as the surviving characters contemplate the horror that has transpired.

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.