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Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words
That ever blotted paper!

      — The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 2

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1-7 of 7 total

KEYWORD: letter

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# Result number

Work The work is either a play, poem, or sonnet. The sonnets are treated as single work with 154 parts.

Character Indicates who said the line. If it's a play or sonnet, the character name is "Poet."

Line Shows where the line falls within the work.

The numbering is not keyed to any copyrighted numbering system found in a volume of collected works (Arden, Oxford, etc.) The numbering starts at the beginning of the work, and does not restart for each scene.

Text The line's full text, with keywords highlighted within it, unless highlighting has been disabled by the user.

1

Othello
[I, 1]

Iago

35

Why, there's no remedy; 'tis the curse of service,
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

2

Othello
[I, 3]

Duke of Venice

403

Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding
Hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself
And you of her, the bloody book of law
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
After your own sense, yea, though our proper son
Stood in your action.

3

Othello
[IV, 1]

(stage directions)

2652

[Gives him a letter]

4

Othello
[IV, 1]

(stage directions)

2654

[Opens the letter, and reads]

5

Othello
[IV, 1]

Lodovico

2673

May be the letter moved him;
For, as I think, they do command him home,
Deputing Cassio in his government.

6

Othello
[V, 2]

Lodovico

3670

Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
And here another: the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.

7

Othello
[V, 2]

Cassio

3691

There is besides in Roderigo's letter,
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast: and even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.

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