The Tragedy Of King Lear

1 Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril,
2 Edmund and Servants.
3 CORNWALL.
4 Post speedily to my lord your husband, show him this letter: the army
5 of France is landed. Seek out the traitor Gloucester.
6 [_Exeunt some of the Servants._]
7 REGAN.
8 Hang him instantly.
9 GONERIL.
10 Pluck out his eyes.
11 CORNWALL.
12 Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, keep you our sister
13 company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous
14 father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the Duke where you
15 are going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound to the
16 like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us.
17 Farewell, dear sister, farewell, my lord of Gloucester.
18 Enter Oswald.
19 How now! Where’s the King?
20 OSWALD.
21 My lord of Gloucester hath convey’d him hence:
22 Some five or six and thirty of his knights,
23 Hot questrists after him, met him at gate;
24 Who, with some other of the lord’s dependants,
25 Are gone with him toward Dover: where they boast
26 To have well-armed friends.
27 CORNWALL.
28 Get horses for your mistress.
29 GONERIL.
30 Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
31 CORNWALL.
32 Edmund, farewell.
33 [_Exeunt Goneril, Edmund and Oswald._]
34 Go seek the traitor Gloucester,
35 Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
36 [_Exeunt other Servants._]
37 Though well we may not pass upon his life
38 Without the form of justice, yet our power
39 Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
40 May blame, but not control. Who’s there? The traitor?
41 Enter Gloucester
42 and Servants.
43 REGAN.
44 Ingrateful fox! ’tis he.
45 CORNWALL.
46 Bind fast his corky arms.
47 GLOUCESTER.
48 What mean your graces?
49 Good my friends, consider you are my guests.
50 Do me no foul play, friends.
51 CORNWALL.
52 Bind him, I say.
53 [_Servants bind him._]
54 REGAN.
55 Hard, hard. O filthy traitor!
56 GLOUCESTER.
57 Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
58 CORNWALL.
59 To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find—
60 [_Regan plucks his beard._]
61 GLOUCESTER.
62 By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done
63 To pluck me by the beard.
64 REGAN.
65 So white, and such a traitor!
66 GLOUCESTER.
67 Naughty lady,
68 These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin
69 Will quicken, and accuse thee. I am your host:
70 With robber’s hands my hospitable favours
71 You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
72 CORNWALL.
73 Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
74 REGAN.
75 Be simple answer’d, for we know the truth.
76 CORNWALL.
77 And what confederacy have you with the traitors,
78 Late footed in the kingdom?
79 REGAN.
80 To whose hands have you sent the lunatic King?
81 Speak.
82 GLOUCESTER.
83 I have a letter guessingly set down,
84 Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
85 And not from one oppos’d.
86 CORNWALL.
87 Cunning.
88 REGAN.
89 And false.
90 CORNWALL.
91 Where hast thou sent the King?
92 GLOUCESTER.
93 To Dover.
94 REGAN.
95 Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charg’d at peril,—
96 CORNWALL.
97 Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that.
98 GLOUCESTER.
99 I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course.
100 REGAN.
101 Wherefore to Dover, sir?
102 GLOUCESTER.
103 Because I would not see thy cruel nails
104 Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
105 In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.
106 The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
107 In hell-black night endur’d, would have buoy’d up,
108 And quench’d the stelled fires;
109 Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
110 If wolves had at thy gate howl’d that stern time,
111 Thou shouldst have said, ‘Good porter, turn the key.’
112 All cruels else subscrib’d: but I shall see
113 The winged vengeance overtake such children.
114 CORNWALL.
115 See’t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair.
116 Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
117 [_Gloucester is held down in his chair, while Cornwall plucks out one
118 of his eyes and sets his foot on it._]
119 GLOUCESTER.
120 He that will think to live till he be old,
121 Give me some help!—O cruel! O you gods!
122 REGAN.
123 One side will mock another; the other too!
124 CORNWALL.
125 If you see vengeance—
126 FIRST SERVANT.
127 Hold your hand, my lord:
128 I have serv’d you ever since I was a child;
129 But better service have I never done you
130 Than now to bid you hold.
131 REGAN.
132 How now, you dog!
133 FIRST SERVANT.
134 If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
135 I’d shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean?
136 CORNWALL.
137 My villain?
138 [_Draws, and runs at him._]
139 FIRST SERVANT.
140 Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger.
141 [_Draws. They fight. Cornwall is wounded._]
142 REGAN.
143 [_To another servant._] Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus?
144 [_Snatches a sword, comes behind, and stabs him._]
145 FIRST SERVANT.
146 O, I am slain! My lord, you have one eye left
147 To see some mischief on him. O!
148 [_Dies._]
149 CORNWALL.
150 Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!
151 Where is thy lustre now?
152 [_Tears out Gloucester’s other eye and throws it on the ground._]
153 GLOUCESTER.
154 All dark and comfortless. Where’s my son Edmund?
155 Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature
156 To quit this horrid act.
157 REGAN.
158 Out, treacherous villain!
159 Thou call’st on him that hates thee: it was he
160 That made the overture of thy treasons to us;
161 Who is too good to pity thee.
162 GLOUCESTER.
163 O my follies! Then Edgar was abus’d.
164 Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!
165 REGAN.
166 Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
167 His way to Dover. How is’t, my lord? How look you?
168 CORNWALL.
169 I have receiv’d a hurt: follow me, lady.
170 Turn out that eyeless villain. Throw this slave
171 Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace:
172 Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm.
173 [_Exit Cornwall, led by Regan; Servants unbind Gloucester and lead
174 him out._]
175 SECOND SERVANT.
176 I’ll never care what wickedness I do,
177 If this man come to good.
178 THIRD SERVANT.
179 If she live long,
180 And in the end meet the old course of death,
181 Women will all turn monsters.
182 SECOND SERVANT.
183 Let’s follow the old Earl, and get the bedlam
184 To lead him where he would: his roguish madness
185 Allows itself to anything.
186 THIRD SERVANT.
187 Go thou: I’ll fetch some flax and whites of eggs
188 To apply to his bleeding face. Now heaven help him!
189 [_Exeunt._]