It is too true an evil: gone she is;
And what’s to come of my despised time
Is nought but bitterness. Now, Roderigo,
Where didst thou see her? O unhappy girl!
With the Moor, say’st thou? Who would be a father!
How didst thou know ’twas she? O she deceives me
Past thought! What said she to you? Get more tapers:
Raise all my kindred. Are they married, think you?
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 1, Scene 1. A bitter, shocked and betrayed father is how Brabantio describes himself after discovering Desdemona missing from the house. For him it is confirmation of his worst fear of the secret romance between her and Othello, revealed to him earlier by Roderigo and Iago. In his speech to Roderigo he accuses his daughter of deceiving him. He also displays his racial prejudice against Othello by describing Desdemona’s relationship with "the Moor" as "too true an evil." He asks Roderigo if the pair are married, and Roderigo says that he believes they are.