King lear, p.13
King Lear, page 13
As I have set it down.
Exit Captain
Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, Soldiers
ALBANY Sir, you have showed today your valiant strain41,
And fortune led you well. You have the captives
Who were the opposites43 of this day’s strife:
I do require them of you, so to use44 them
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.
EDMUND Sir, I thought it fit
To send the old and miserable king to some retention48
Whose age had charms in it, whose title49 more,
To pluck the common bosom50 on his side
And turn our impressed lances in our eyes51
Which do command them. With him I sent the queen52,
My reason all the same, and they are ready
Tomorrow, or at further space, t’appear
Where you shall hold your session55.
ALBANY Sir, by your patience56,
I hold you but a subject of57 this war,
Not as a brother.
REGAN That’s as we list59 to grace him.
Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded60
Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers,
Bore the commission62 of my place and person,
The which immediacy63 may well stand up
And call itself your brother.
GONERIL Not so hot:
In his own grace66 he doth exalt himself
More than in your addition67.
REGAN In my rights,
By me invested, he compeers69 the best.
ALBANY That were the most70 if he should husband you.
REGAN Jesters do oft prove prophets.
GONERIL Holla72, holla!
That eye that told you so looked but asquint73.
REGAN Lady, I am not well, else I should answer
To Edmund
From a full-flowing stomach75.— General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony76:
Dispose of them, of me: the walls77 is thine:
Witness the world78 that I create thee here
My lord and master.
GONERIL Mean you to enjoy80 him?
ALBANY The let-alone81 lies not in your good will.
EDMUND Nor in thine, lord.
ALBANY Half-blooded83 fellow, yes.
To Edmund
REGAN Let the drum strike and prove my title thine.
ALBANY Stay yet, hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
On capital treason, and, in86 thy arrest,
This gilded serpent. For87 your claim, fair sister,
I bar it88 in the interest of my wife:
’Tis she is subcontracted89 to this lord,
And I, her husband, contradict your banns90.
If you will marry, make your loves to91 me,
My lady is bespoke92.
GONERIL An interlude93!
ALBANY Thou art armed, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:
If none appear to prove upon thy person
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge: I’ll make it97 on thy heart,
Throws down a glove
Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing98 less
Than I have here proclaimed thee.
REGAN Sick, O, sick!
Aside
GONERIL If not, I’ll ne’er trust medicine101.
EDMUND There’s my exchange: what102 in the world he’s
That names me traitor, villain-like he lies.
Throws down a glove
Call by the trumpet: he that dares approach,
On him, on you — who not? — I will maintain
My truth and honour firmly.
Enter a Herald
ALBANY A herald, ho!
To Edmund
Trust to thy single virtue108, for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.
REGAN My sickness grows upon me.
ALBANY She is not well: convey her to my tent.—
[Exit Regan, led]
Come hither, herald. Let the trumpet sound
And read out this.
A trumpet sounds
HERALD Reads ‘If any man of quality or degree115 within the
lists116 of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl
of Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear by
the third sound of the trumpet: he is bold in his defence.’
First trumpet
HERALD Again!
Second trumpet
HERALD Again!
Third trumpet
Trumpet answers within
Enter Edgar armed
His helmet visor down
ALBANY Ask him his purposes, why he appears
Upon this call o’th’trumpet.
HERALD What are you?
Your name, your quality, and why you answer
This present summons?
EDGAR Know, my name is lost
By treason’s tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit127:
Yet am I noble as the adversary
I come to cope129.
ALBANY Which is that adversary?
EDGAR What’s he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?
EDMUND Himself: what say’st thou to him?
EDGAR Draw thy sword,
That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
Draws
Behold, it is my privilege —
The privilege of mine honours —137
My oath and my profession. I protest138,
Maugre thy strength, place139, youth and eminence,
Despise thy victor sword and fire-new140 fortune,
Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor:
False to thy gods, thy brother and thy father,
Conspirant143 gainst this high illustrious prince,
And from th’extremest upward144 of thy head
To the descent145 and dust below thy foot
A most toad-spotted146 traitor. Say thou no,
This sword, this arm and my best spirits are bent147
To prove upon thy heart whereto I speak,
Thou liest.
EDMUND In wisdom I should ask thy name,
But since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some say152 of breeding breathes,
What safe and nicely153 I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head,
With the hell-hated lie156 o’erwhelm thy heart,
Which, for they yet glance by157 and scarcely bruise,
This sword of mine shall give them instant way158,
Where they shall rest forever. Trumpets, speak!
Draws
Alarums. Fights
Edmund falls
ALBANY Save him160, save him!
GONERIL This is practice161, Gloucester:
By th’law of war thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite: thou art not vanquished,
But cozened and beguiled164.
ALBANY Shut your mouth, dame165,
Or with this paper shall I stop it.— Hold, sir.—
To Goneril
Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.
No tearing, lady: I perceive you know168 it.
Shows her the letter
GONERIL Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:
Who can arraign170 me for’t.
Exit
ALBANY Most monstrous! O, know’st thou this paper?
EDMUND Ask me not what I know.
ALBANY Go after her: she’s desperate: govern173 her.
[Exit a soldier]
EDMUND What you have charged me with, that have I done,
And more, much more: the time will bring it out:
To Edgar
’Tis past and so am I.— But what art thou
That hast this fortune on177 me? If thou’rt noble,
I do forgive thee.
EDGAR Let’s exchange charity179.
I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund:
If more, the more th’hast181 wronged me.
Removes his helmet
My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant183 vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got185
Cost him his eyes.
EDMUND Th’hast spoken right: ’tis true,
The wheel188 is come full circle: I am here.
To Edgar
ALBANY Methought thy very gait did prophesy189
A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee.
Let sorrow split my heart if ever I
Did hate thee or thy father!
EDGAR Worthy prince, I know’t.
ALBANY Where have you hid yourself?
How have you known the miseries of your father?
EDGAR By nursing them, my lord. List196 a brief tale,
And when ’tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
The bloody proclamation198 to escape
That followed me so near — O, our lives’ sweetness!
That we the pain of death would hourly die200
Rather than die at once! — taught me to shift
Into a madman’s rags, t’assume a semblance202
That very dogs disdained: and in this habit203
Met I my father with his bleeding rings204,
Their precious stones new lost, became his guide,
Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair206,
Never — O, fault! — revealed myself unto him
Until some half-hour past, when I was armed.
Not sure, though hoping, of this good success209,
I asked his blessing, and from first to last
Told him our pilgrimage: but his flawed211 heart —
Alack, too weak the conflict to support —
’Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.
EDMUND This speech of yours hath moved me,
And shall perchance do good: but speak you on:
You look as you had something more to say.
ALBANY If there be more, more woeful, hold it in,
For I am almost ready to dissolve219,
Hearing of this.
Enter a Gentleman
With a bloody knife
GENTLEMAN Help, help, O, help!
EDGAR What kind of help?
ALBANY Speak, man.
EDGAR What means this bloody knife?
GENTLEMAN ’Tis hot, it smokes225:
It came even from the heart of — O, she’s dead!
ALBANY Who dead? Speak, man.
GENTLEMAN Your lady, sir, your lady; and her sister
By her is poisoned: she confesses it.
EDMUND I was contracted to them both: all three
Now marry in an instant.
EDGAR Here comes Kent.
Enter Kent
ALBANY Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead:
Goneril and Regan’s bodies brought out
This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
Sees Kent
Touches us not with pity.— O, is this he?—
To Kent
The time will not allow the compliment236
Which very manners urges.
KENT I am come
To bid my king and master aye239 goodnight:
Is he not here?
ALBANY Great thing241 of us forgot!
Speak, Edmund, where’s the king? And where’s Cordelia?—
See’st thou this object243, Kent?
Points to the bodies
KENT Alack, why thus?
EDMUND Yet Edmund was beloved:
The one the other poisoned for my sake
And after slew herself.
ALBANY Even248 so. Cover their faces.
EDMUND I pant for life: some good I mean to do,
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send —
Be brief in it — to th’castle, for my writ251
Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia:
Nay, send in time.
ALBANY Run, run, O, run!
EDGAR To who, my lord? Who has the office255?
To Edmund
Send thy token of reprieve.
EDMUND Well thought on: take my sword,
Give it the captain.
To a Gentleman
EDGAR Haste thee, for thy life.
[Exit Gentleman]
EDMUND He hath commission from thy wife and me
To hang Cordelia in the prison and
To lay the blame upon her own despair,
That she fordid263 herself.
Edmund is borne off
ALBANY The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.
Enter Lear with Cordelia in his arms
Gentleman and others following
LEAR Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever!
I know when one is dead and when one lives:
She’s dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass:
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone270,
Why, then she lives.
KENT Is this the promised end272?
EDGAR Or image of that horror?
ALBANY Fall and cease!274
LEAR This feather stirs: she lives! If it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
Kneels
KENT O my good master!
LEAR Prithee, away.
EDGAR ’Tis noble Kent, your friend.
LEAR A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have saved her: now she’s gone for ever!—
Cordelia, Cordelia! Stay a little. Ha?
What is’t thou say’st?— Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.—
I killed the slave286 that was a-hanging thee.
GENTLEMAN ’Tis true, my lords, he did.
LEAR Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion289
I would have made him skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses291 spoil me.— Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o’th’best: I’ll tell you straight292.
KENT If fortune brag of two she loved and hated293,
One of them we behold.
LEAR This is a dull sight295. Are you not Kent?
KENT The same,
Your servant Kent: where is your servant Caius297?
LEAR He’s a good fellow, I can tell you that:
He’ll strike, and quickly too. He’s dead and rotten.
KENT No, my good lord, I am the very man—
LEAR I’ll see that straight301.
KENT That from your first of difference and decay302
Have followed your sad steps.
LEAR You are welcome hither.
KENT Nor no man else305: all’s cheerless, dark and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone306 themselves,
And desperately307 are dead.
LEAR Ay, so I think.
ALBANY He knows not what he says, and vain is it309
That we present us to him.
Enter a Messenger
EDGAR Very bootless311.
MESSENGER Edmund is dead, my lord.
ALBANY That’s but a trifle here.
You lords and noble friends, know our intent:
What comfort to this great decay315 may come
Shall be applied. For us, we will resign316,
During the life of this old majesty,
To Edgar and Kent
To him our absolute power:— you, to your rights
With boot and such addition319 as your honours
Have more than merited. All friends shall taste
The wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings.— O, see, see322!
LEAR And my poor fool323 is hanged! No, no, no life?
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you undo this button: thank you, sir327.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!
He dies
EDGAR He faints! My lord, my lord!
KENT Break, heart, I prithee, break.
EDGAR Look up, my lord.
KENT Vex not his ghost333: O, let him pass! He hates him
That would upon the rack334 of this tough world
Stretch him out longer335.
EDGAR He is gone, indeed.
KENT The wonder is he hath endured so long:
He but usurped338 his life.
ALBANY Bear them from hence. Our present business
Is general woe.—
To Kent and Edgar
Friends of my soul, you twain
Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain342.
KENT I have a journey343, sir, shortly to go:
My master calls me, I must not say no.
EDGAR The weight of this sad time we must obey:
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much nor live so long.
Exeunt with a dead march
TEXTUAL NOTES
Q = First Quarto text of 1608
F = First Folio text of 1623
F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
SD = stage direction
SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker’s name)
List of parts = Ed
EDMUND sometimes spelled Edmond, often referred to in directions and speech headings as Bastard
1.1.30 SD one … then = Q. Not in F 33 lord = F. Q = Liege 36 fast = F. Q = first 37 age = F. Q = state 38 Conferring = F. Q = Confirming strengths = F. Q = yeares 38–43 while … now = F. Not in Q 47–48 Since … state = F. Not in Q 57 found = F. Q = friend 62–63 and … rivers = F. Not in Q 66 of Cornwall = F. Q = to Cornwell, speake 77 ponderous = F. Q = richer 81 conferred = F. Q = confirm’d 82 our … love = F. Q = the last, not least in our deere loue 84 interessed = Ed. F = interest draw = F. Q = win 87 SH LEAR Nothing? … Nothing. = F. Not in Q 103 sisters = F. Q = sisters, to loue my father all. 110 mysteries = F2. F = miseries. Q = mistresse night = F. Q = might 118 shall … bosom = F. Q = Shall 136 shall = F. Q = still 151 falls = F. Q = stoops Reserve thy state = F. Q = Reuerse thy doome 158 pawn = F. Q = a pawne 159 ne’er = F. Q = nor 164 SH LEAR = Q. F = Kear. 165 SH KENT = Q. F = Lent. 167 Miscreant = F. Q = recreant 168 SH ALBANY … forbear. = F. Not in Q SH CORDELIA some editors expand F’s Cor. to Cornwall 170 gift = F. Q = doome 175 strained = F. Q = straied 176 sentences = F corrected. F uncorrected, Q = sentence 179 Five = F. Q = Foure 180 disasters = F. Q = diseases 181 sixth = F. Q = fift 182 next = Ed. F, Q = tenth 187 Freedom = F. Q = Friendship 194 SH CORDELIA = F (corrected). Some editors expand to Cornwall. Q = Glost. 213 Dowered = F. Q = Couered 225 object = F. Q = best obiect 234 Should = F. Q = Could 237 will = F. Q = well 238 make known = F. Q = may know 248 but = F. Q = no more but 252 regards = F. Q = respects 255 king = F. Q = Leir 263 respect and fortunes = F. Q = respects / Of fourtune 270 my = F. Q = thy 286 Love = F. Q = vse 291 SH REGAN = F (Regn). Q = Gonorill 292 SH GONERIL = F. Q = Regan 295 want = F. Q = worth 296 plighted = F. Q = pleated 297 with shame derides = F. Q = shame them derides 306 not been = Q. F = beene 319 sit = F. Q = hit
