The Tragedy Of King Lear

1 Enter Lear, Fool and Gentleman.
2 LEAR.
3 ’Tis strange that they should so depart from home,
4 And not send back my messenger.
5 GENTLEMAN.
6 As I learn’d,
7 The night before there was no purpose in them
8 Of this remove.
9 KENT.
10 Hail to thee, noble master!
11 LEAR.
12 Ha! Mak’st thou this shame thy pastime?
13 KENT.
14 No, my lord.
15 FOOL.
16 Ha, ha! he wears cruel garters. Horses are tied by the
17 heads; dogs and bears by the neck, monkeys by the loins, and
18 men by the legs: when a man is overlusty at legs, then he
19 wears wooden nether-stocks.
20 LEAR.
21 What’s he that hath so much thy place mistook
22 To set thee here?
23 KENT.
24 It is both he and she,
25 Your son and daughter.
26 LEAR.
27 No.
28 KENT.
29 Yes.
30 LEAR.
31 No, I say.
32 KENT.
33 I say, yea.
34 LEAR.
35 No, no; they would not.
36 KENT.
37 Yes, they have.
38 LEAR.
39 By Jupiter, I swear no.
40 KENT.
41 By Juno, I swear ay.
42 LEAR.
43 They durst not do’t.
44 They could not, would not do’t; ’tis worse than murder,
45 To do upon respect such violent outrage:
46 Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way
47 Thou mightst deserve or they impose this usage,
48 Coming from us.
49 KENT.
50 My lord, when at their home
51 I did commend your highness’ letters to them,
52 Ere I was risen from the place that show’d
53 My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
54 Stew’d in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
55 From Goneril his mistress salutations;
56 Deliver’d letters, spite of intermission,
57 Which presently they read; on those contents,
58 They summon’d up their meiny, straight took horse;
59 Commanded me to follow and attend
60 The leisure of their answer; gave me cold looks:
61 And meeting here the other messenger,
62 Whose welcome I perceiv’d had poison’d mine,
63 Being the very fellow which of late
64 Display’d so saucily against your highness,
65 Having more man than wit about me, drew;
66 He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.
67 Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
68 The shame which here it suffers.
69 FOOL.
70 Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
71 Fathers that wear rags
72 Do make their children blind,
73 But fathers that bear bags
74 Shall see their children kind.
75 Fortune, that arrant whore,
76 Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor.
77 But for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours for thy
78 daughters as thou canst tell in a year.
79 LEAR.
80 O, how this mother swells up toward my heart!
81 _Hysterica passio_, down, thou climbing sorrow,
82 Thy element’s below! Where is this daughter?
83 KENT.
84 With the earl, sir, here within.
85 LEAR.
86 Follow me not; stay here.
87 [_Exit._]
88 GENTLEMAN.
89 Made you no more offence but what you speak of?
90 KENT.
91 None.
92 How chance the King comes with so small a number?
93 FOOL.
94 An thou hadst been set i’ the stocks for that question,
95 thou hadst well deserved it.
96 KENT.
97 Why, fool?
98 FOOL.
99 We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there’s no
100 labouring i’the winter. All that follow their noses are led by
101 their eyes but blind men; and there’s not a nose among twenty
102 but can smell him that’s stinking. Let go thy hold when a great
103 wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following
104 it; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after.
105 When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again: I
106 would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.
107 That sir which serves and seeks for gain,
108 And follows but for form,
109 Will pack when it begins to rain,
110 And leave thee in the storm.
111 But I will tarry; the fool will stay,
112 And let the wise man fly:
113 The knave turns fool that runs away;
114 The fool no knave perdy.
115 KENT.
116 Where learn’d you this, fool?
117 FOOL.
118 Not i’ the stocks, fool.
119 Enter Lear and Gloucester.
120 LEAR.
121 Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary?
122 They have travell’d all the night? Mere fetches;
123 The images of revolt and flying off.
124 Fetch me a better answer.
125 GLOUCESTER.
126 My dear lord,
127 You know the fiery quality of the Duke;
128 How unremovable and fix’d he is
129 In his own course.
130 LEAR.
131 Vengeance! plague! death! confusion!
132 Fiery? What quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester,
133 I’d speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.
134 GLOUCESTER.
135 Well, my good lord, I have inform’d them so.
136 LEAR.
137 Inform’d them! Dost thou understand me, man?
138 GLOUCESTER.
139 Ay, my good lord.
140 LEAR.
141 The King would speak with Cornwall; the dear father
142 Would with his daughter speak, commands, tends, service,
143 Are they inform’d of this? My breath and blood!
144 Fiery? The fiery Duke, tell the hot Duke that—
145 No, but not yet: maybe he is not well:
146 Infirmity doth still neglect all office
147 Whereto our health is bound: we are not ourselves
148 When nature, being oppress’d, commands the mind
149 To suffer with the body: I’ll forbear;
150 And am fallen out with my more headier will,
151 To take the indispos’d and sickly fit
152 For the sound man. [_Looking on Kent._]
153 Death on my state! Wherefore
154 Should he sit here? This act persuades me
155 That this remotion of the Duke and her
156 Is practice only. Give me my servant forth.
157 Go tell the Duke and’s wife I’d speak with them,
158 Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me,
159 Or at their chamber door I’ll beat the drum
160 Till it cry sleep to death.
161 GLOUCESTER.
162 I would have all well betwixt you.
163 [_Exit._]
164 LEAR.
165 O me, my heart, my rising heart! But down!
166 FOOL.
167 Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels when she put ’em
168 i’ the paste alive; she knapped ’em o’ the coxcombs
169 with a stick and cried ‘Down, wantons, down!’ ’Twas
170 her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse buttered his hay.
171 Enter Cornwall, Regan,
172 Gloucester and Servants.
173 LEAR.
174 Good morrow to you both.
175 CORNWALL.
176 Hail to your grace!
177 [_Kent here set at liberty._]
178 REGAN.
179 I am glad to see your highness.
180 LEAR.
181 Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
182 I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,
183 I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb,
184 Sepulchring an adultress. [_To Kent_] O, are you free?
185 Some other time for that.—Beloved Regan,
186 Thy sister’s naught: O Regan, she hath tied
187 Sharp-tooth’d unkindness, like a vulture, here.
188 [_Points to his heart._]
189 I can scarce speak to thee; thou’lt not believe
190 With how deprav’d a quality—O Regan!
191 REGAN.
192 I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope
193 You less know how to value her desert
194 Than she to scant her duty.
195 LEAR.
196 Say, how is that?
197 REGAN.
198 I cannot think my sister in the least
199 Would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance
200 She have restrain’d the riots of your followers,
201 ’Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
202 As clears her from all blame.
203 LEAR.
204 My curses on her.
205 REGAN.
206 O, sir, you are old;
207 Nature in you stands on the very verge
208 Of her confine: you should be rul’d and led
209 By some discretion, that discerns your state
210 Better than you yourself. Therefore I pray you,
211 That to our sister you do make return;
212 Say you have wrong’d her, sir.
213 LEAR.
214 Ask her forgiveness?
215 Do you but mark how this becomes the house?
216 ‘Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;
217 [_Kneeling._]
218 Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
219 That you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.’
220 REGAN.
221 Good sir, no more! These are unsightly tricks:
222 Return you to my sister.
223 LEAR.
224 [_Rising._] Never, Regan:
225 She hath abated me of half my train;
226 Look’d black upon me; struck me with her tongue,
227 Most serpent-like, upon the very heart.
228 All the stor’d vengeances of heaven fall
229 On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
230 You taking airs, with lameness!
231 CORNWALL.
232 Fie, sir, fie!
233 LEAR.
234 You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames
235 Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
236 You fen-suck’d fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
237 To fall and blast her pride!
238 REGAN.
239 O the blest gods!
240 So will you wish on me when the rash mood is on.
241 LEAR.
242 No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse.
243 Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
244 Thee o’er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce; but thine
245 Do comfort, and not burn. ’Tis not in thee
246 To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
247 To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
248 And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt
249 Against my coming in. Thou better know’st
250 The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
251 Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
252 Thy half o’ the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
253 Wherein I thee endow’d.
254 REGAN.
255 Good sir, to the purpose.
256 LEAR.
257 Who put my man i’ the stocks?
258 [_Tucket within._]
259 CORNWALL.
260 What trumpet’s that?
261 REGAN.
262 I know’t, my sister’s: this approves her letter,
263 That she would soon be here.
264 Enter Oswald.
265 Is your lady come?
266 LEAR.
267 This is a slave, whose easy borrowed pride
268 Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.
269 Out, varlet, from my sight!
270 CORNWALL.
271 What means your grace?
272 LEAR.
273 Who stock’d my servant? Regan, I have good hope
274 Thou didst not know on’t. Who comes here? O heavens!
275 Enter Goneril.
276 If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
277 Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,
278 Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!
279 [_To Goneril._] Art not asham’d to look upon this beard?
280 O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
281 GONERIL.
282 Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended?
283 All’s not offence that indiscretion finds
284 And dotage terms so.
285 LEAR.
286 O sides, you are too tough!
287 Will you yet hold? How came my man i’ the stocks?
288 CORNWALL.
289 I set him there, sir: but his own disorders
290 Deserv’d much less advancement.
291 LEAR.
292 You? Did you?
293 REGAN.
294 I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.
295 If, till the expiration of your month,
296 You will return and sojourn with my sister,
297 Dismissing half your train, come then to me:
298 I am now from home, and out of that provision
299 Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
300 LEAR.
301 Return to her, and fifty men dismiss’d?
302 No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
303 To wage against the enmity o’ the air;
304 To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,
305 Necessity’s sharp pinch! Return with her?
306 Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
307 Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
308 To knee his throne, and, squire-like, pension beg
309 To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
310 Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
311 To this detested groom.
312 [_Pointing to Oswald._]
313 GONERIL.
314 At your choice, sir.
315 LEAR.
316 I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:
317 I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
318 We’ll no more meet, no more see one another.
319 But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
320 Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh,
321 Which I must needs call mine. Thou art a boil,
322 A plague sore, or embossed carbuncle
323 In my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide thee;
324 Let shame come when it will, I do not call it:
325 I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
326 Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove:
327 Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
328 I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
329 I and my hundred knights.
330 REGAN.
331 Not altogether so,
332 I look’d not for you yet, nor am provided
333 For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister;
334 For those that mingle reason with your passion
335 Must be content to think you old, and so—
336 But she knows what she does.
337 LEAR.
338 Is this well spoken?
339 REGAN.
340 I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers?
341 Is it not well? What should you need of more?
342 Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
343 Speak ’gainst so great a number? How in one house
344 Should many people, under two commands,
345 Hold amity? ’Tis hard; almost impossible.
346 GONERIL.
347 Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance
348 From those that she calls servants, or from mine?
349 REGAN.
350 Why not, my lord? If then they chanc’d to slack ye,
351 We could control them. If you will come to me,—
352 For now I spy a danger,—I entreat you
353 To bring but five-and-twenty: to no more
354 Will I give place or notice.
355 LEAR.
356 I gave you all,—
357 REGAN.
358 And in good time you gave it.
359 LEAR.
360 Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
361 But kept a reservation to be followed
362 With such a number. What, must I come to you
363 With five-and-twenty, Regan, said you so?
364 REGAN.
365 And speak’t again my lord; no more with me.
366 LEAR.
367 Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour’d
368 When others are more wicked; not being the worst
369 Stands in some rank of praise.
370 [_To Goneril._] I’ll go with thee:
371 Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,
372 And thou art twice her love.
373 GONERIL.
374 Hear me, my lord:
375 What need you five-and-twenty? Ten? Or five?
376 To follow in a house where twice so many
377 Have a command to tend you?
378 REGAN.
379 What need one?
380 LEAR.
381 O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
382 Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
383 Allow not nature more than nature needs,
384 Man’s life is cheap as beast’s. Thou art a lady;
385 If only to go warm were gorgeous,
386 Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st
387 Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,—
388 You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
389 You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
390 As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
391 If it be you that stirs these daughters’ hearts
392 Against their father, fool me not so much
393 To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
394 And let not women’s weapons, water-drops,
395 Stain my man’s cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
396 I will have such revenges on you both
397 That all the world shall,—I will do such things,—
398 What they are yet, I know not; but they shall be
399 The terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep;
400 No, I’ll not weep:— [_Storm and tempest._]
401 I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
402 Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
403 Or ere I’ll weep.—O fool, I shall go mad!
404 [_Exeunt Lear, Gloucester, Kent and Fool._]
405 CORNWALL.
406 Let us withdraw; ’twill be a storm.
407 REGAN.
408 This house is little: the old man and his people
409 Cannot be well bestow’d.
410 GONERIL.
411 ’Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest
412 And must needs taste his folly.
413 REGAN.
414 For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly,
415 But not one follower.
416 GONERIL.
417 So am I purpos’d.
418 Where is my lord of Gloucester?
419 Enter Gloucester.
420 CORNWALL.
421 Followed the old man forth, he is return’d.
422 GLOUCESTER.
423 The King is in high rage.
424 CORNWALL.
425 Whither is he going?
426 GLOUCESTER.
427 He calls to horse; but will I know not whither.
428 CORNWALL.
429 ’Tis best to give him way; he leads himself.
430 GONERIL.
431 My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
432 GLOUCESTER.
433 Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds
434 Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
435 There’s scarce a bush.
436 REGAN.
437 O, sir, to wilful men
438 The injuries that they themselves procure
439 Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors.
440 He is attended with a desperate train,
441 And what they may incense him to, being apt
442 To have his ear abus’d, wisdom bids fear.
443 CORNWALL.
444 Shut up your doors, my lord; ’tis a wild night.
445 My Regan counsels well: come out o’ the storm.
446 [_Exeunt._]