King Lear Read online

  126 musery care, nursing

  130 digest absorb

  131 Let... her i.e., let her pride be her dowry and gain her a husband

  134-35 effects/That troop with majesty accompaniments that go with kingship

  134 Ourself (the royal “we”)

  135 reservation the action of reserving a privilege (a legalism)

  138 addition titles and honors

  141 coronet (the crown which was to have been Cordelia’s)

  145 make from the shaft avoid the arrow

  146 fall strike

  146 fork forked head of the arrow

  When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound

  When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,°

  And in thy best consideration° checkThis hideous rashness. Answer my life my

  judgment,°

  Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,

  Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds

  Reverb° no hollowness.°

  Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more!

  Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn°To wage° against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it, Thy safety being motive.°

  Lear. Out of my sight!

  Kent. See better, Lear, and let me still° remain The true blank° of thine eye.

  Lear. Now by Apollo—

  Kent. Now by Apollo, King, Thou swear‘st thy gods in vain.

  Lear. O vassal! Miscreant!° [Laying his hand on his sword.]

  Albany, Cornwall. Dear sir, forbear!

  Kent. Kill thy physician, and the fee bestowUpon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift,

  Or, whilst I can vent clamor° from my throat,

  I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.

  Lear. Hear me, recreant !°On thine allegiance,° hear me!

  That thou hast sought to make us break our vows,151 Reserve thy state retain your kingly authority

  152 best consideration most careful reflection

  153 Answer ... judgement I will stake my life on my opinion

  156 Reverb reverberate

  156 hollowness (1) emptiness (2) insincerity

  157 pawn stake in a wager

  158 wage (1) wager (2) carry on war

  159 motive moving cause

  160 still always

  161 blank the white spot in die center of die target (at which Lear should aim)

  163 vassal! Miscreant! base wretch! Misbeliever!

  167 vent clamor utter a cry

  168 recreant traitor

  169 On thine allegiance (to forswear, which is to commit high treason)

  Which we durst never yet, and with strained° pride

  To come betwixt our sentence° and our power,

  Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,

  Our potency made good,° take thy reward.

  Five days we do allot thee for provision°

  To shield thee from diseases° of the world,

  And on the sixth to turn thy hated back

  Upon our kingdom. If, on the tenth day following,

  Thy banished trunk° be found in our dominions,

  The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,

  This shall not be revoked.

  Kent. Fare thee well, King. Sith° thus thou wilt appear,Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.

  [To Cordelia] The gods to their dear shelter take

  thee, maid,

  That justly think‘st, and hast most rightly said.

  [To Regan and Goneril] And your large speeches

  may your deeds approve,°

  That good effects° may spring from words of love.

  Thus Kent, O Princes, bids you all adieu;

  He’ll shape his old course° in a country new. Exit.

  Flourish.° Enter Gloucester, with France and

  Burgundy; Attendants.

  Gloucester. Here’s France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

  Lear. My Lord of Burgundy,We first address toward you, who with this king

  Hath rivaled for our daughter. What in the least

  Will you require in present° dower with her,

  Or cease your quest of love?

  Burgundy. Most royal Majesty,I crave no more than hath your Highness offered,171 strained forced (and so excessive)

  172 sentence judgment, decree

  174 Our poteacy made good my royal authority being now asserted

  175 for provision for making preparation

  176 deseases troubles

  179 trunk body

  182 Sith since

  186 approve prove true

  187 effects results

  189 shape... course pursue his customary way

  189 s.d. Flourish trumpet fanfare

  194 present immediate

  Nor will you tender° less.

  Lear. Right noble Burgundy,When she was dear° to us, we did hold her so;

  But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands.

  If aught within that little seeming substance,°

  Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,°

  And nothing more, may fitly like° your Grace,

  She’s there, and she is yours.

  Burgundy. I know no answer.

  Lear. Will you, with those infirmities she owes,°Unfriended, new adopted to our hate,

  Dow‘red with our curse, and strangered° with our

  oath,

  Take her, or leave her?

  Burgundy. Pardon me, royal sir. Election makes not up° on such conditions.

  Lear. Then leave her, sir; for, by the pow‘r that made me,I tell you all her wealth. [To France.] For you,

  great King,

  I would not from your love make such a stray

  To° match you where I hate; therefore beseech° you

  T’ avert your liking a more worthier way°

  Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed

  Almost t’ acknowledge hers.

  France. This is most strange,That she whom even but now was your best object,°

  The argument° of your praise, balm of your age,

  The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time

  Commit a thing so monstrous to dismantle°197 tender offer

  198 dear (1) beloved (2) valued at a high price

  200 little seeming substance person who is (1) inconsiderable (2) outspoken

  201 pleced added to it

  202 fitly like please by its fitness

  204 owes possesses

  206 strangered made a stranger

  208 Election makes not up no one can choose

  211-12 make such a stray / To stray so far as to

  212 beseech I beseech

  213 avert ... way turn your affections from her and bestow them on a better person

  216 best object i.e., the one you loved most

  217 argument subject

  219 disamantle strip off

  So many folds of favor. Sure her offense

  Must be of such unnatural degree

  That monsters it,° or your fore-vouched° affection

  Fall into taint;° which to believe of her

  Must be a faith that reason without miracle

  Should never plant in me.°

  Cordelia. I yet beseech your Majesty,If for° I want that glib and oily art

  To speak and purpose not,° since what I well intend

  I’ll do’t before I speak, that you make known

  It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,

  No unchaste action or dishonored step,

  That hath deprived me of your grace and favor;

  But even for want of that for which I am richer,

  A still-soliciting° eye, and such a tongue

  That I am glad I have not, though not to have it

  Hath lost° me in your liking.

  Lear. Better thouHadst not been born than not t’ have pleased me better.

  France. Is it but this? A tardiness in nature°Which often leaves the history unspoke°

  That it
intends to do. My Lord of Burgundy,

  What say you° to the lady? Love’s not love

  When it is mingled with regards° that stands

  Aloof from th’ entire point.° Will you have her?

  She is herself a dowry.

  Burgundy. Royal King,Give but that portion which yourself proposed,

  And here I take Cordelia by the hand,

  Duchess of Burgundy.

  222 That monsters it as makes it monstrous, unnatural

  222 fore-vouched previously sworn

  223 Fall into taint must be taken as having been unjustified all along i.e., Cordelia was unworthy of your love from the first

  224-25 reason... me my reason would have to be supported by a miracle to make me believe

  226 for because

  227 purpose not not mean to do what I promise

  233 still-soliciting always begging

  235 lost ruined

  237 tordiness in nature natural reticence

  238 leaves the history unspoke does not announce the action

  240 What say you i.e., will you have 2

  41 regards considerations (the dowry)

  241-42 stands ... point have nothing to do with the essential question (love)

  Lear. Nothing. I have sworn. I am firm.

  Burgundy. I am sorry then you have so lost a father That you must lose a husband.

  Cordelia. Peace be with BurgundySince that respects of fortune° are his love,

  I shall not be his wife.

  France. Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor,Most choice forsaken, and most loved despised,

  Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.

  Be it lawful I take up what’s cast away.

  Gods, gods! ‘Tis strange that from their cold’st

  neglect

  My love should kindle to inflamed respect.°

  Thy dow‘rless daughter, King, thrown to my

  chance,°

  Is Queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.

  Not all the dukes of wat’rish° Burgundy

  Can buy this unprized precious° maid of me.

  Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.

  Thou losest here, a better where° to find.

  Lear. Thou hast her, France; let her be thine, for weHave no such daughter, nor shall ever see

  That face of hers again. Therefore be gone,

  Without our grace, our love, our benison.°

  Come, noble Burgundy.

  Flourish. Exeunt [Lear, Burgundy, Cornwall,

  Albany, Gloucester, and Attendants].

  France. Bid farewell to your sisters.

  Cordelia. The jewels of our father,° with washed° eyesCordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,250 respects of fortune mercenary considerations

  257 inflamed respect more ardent affection

  258 chance lot

  260 wat‘rish (1) with many rivers (2) weak, diluted

  261 unprized precious unappreciated by others, and yet precious

  263 here ... where in this place, in another place

  267 benison blessing

  270 The jewels of our father you creatures prized by our father

  270 washed (1) weeping (2) clear-sighted

  And, like a sister,° am most loath to call

  Your faults as they are named.° Love well our

  father.

  To your professèd° bosoms I commit him.

  But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,

  I would prefer° him to a better place.

  So farewell to you both.

  Regan. Prescribe not us our duty.

  Goneril. Let your studyBe to content your lord, who hath received you

  At Fortune’s alms.° You have obedience scanted,°

  And well are worth the want that you have wanted.°

  Cordelia. Time shall unfold what plighted° cunning hides,Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.°

  Well may you prosper.

  France. Come, my fair Cordelia. Exit France and Cordelia.

  Goneril. Sister, it is not little I have to say of what most nearly appertains to us both. I think our father will hence tonight.

  Regan. That’s most certain, and with you; next month with us.

  Goneril. You see how full of changes his age is. The observation we have made of it hath not been little.He always loved our sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off appears too grossly.°

  Regan. ‘Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.

  272 like a sister because I am a sister i.e., loyal, affectionate

  273 as they are named ie., by their right and ugly names

  274 professèd pretending to love

  276 prefer recommend

  280 At Fortune’s alms as a charitable bequest from Fortune (and so, by extension, as one beggared or cast down by Fortune)

  280 scanted stinted

  281 worth... wanted deserve to be denied, even as you have denied

  282 plighted pleated. enfolded

  283 Who ... derides those who hide their evil are finally exposed and shamed (“He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper”)

  294 grossly obviously

  Goneril. The best and soundest of his time° hath beenbut rash; then must we look from his age to receive not alone the imperfections of long-ingrafted° condition,° but therewithal° the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.

  Regan. Such unconstant starts° are we like to have from him as this of Kent’s banishment.

  Goneril. There is further compliment° of leave-takingbetween France and him. Pray you, let’s hit° together ; if our father carry authority with such disposition as he bears,° this last surrender° of his will but offend° us.

  Regan. We shall further think of it.

  Goneril. We must do something, and i’ th’ heat.°

  Exeunt.

  Scene 2. [The Earl of Gloucester’s castle.]

  Enter Edmund [with a letter].

  Edmund. Thou, Nature,° art my goddess; to thy lawMy services are bound. Wherefore should I

  Stand in the plague of custom,° and permit

  The curiosity° of nations to deprive me,

  For that° I am some twelve or fourteen

  moonshines°297 of his time period of his life up to now

  299-300 long-ingrafted implanted for a long time

  300 condition disposition

  300 therewithal with them

  303 unconstant starts impulsive whims

  305 compliment formal courtesy

  306 hit agree

  307-8 carry ... bears continues, and in such frame of mind, to wield the sovereign power

  308 last surrender recent abdication 309 offend vex

  311 i’ th’ heat while the iron is hot

  1.2.1 Nature (Edmund’s conception of Nature accords with our description of a bastard as a natural child)

  3 Stand... custom respect hateful convention

  4 curiosity nice distinctions

  5 For that because

  5 moonshines months

  Lag of° a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base?

  When my dimensions are as well compact,°

  My mind as generous,° and my shape as true,

  As honest° madam’s issue? Why brand they us

  With base? With baseness? Bastardy? Base? Base?

  Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take

  More composition° and fierce° quality

  Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,

  Go to th’ creating a whole tribe of fops°

  Got° ‘tween asleep and wake? Well then,

  Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.

  Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund

  As to th’ legitimate. Fine word, “legitimate.”

  Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,°

  And my invention° thrive, Edmund the base

  Shall top th’ l
egitimate. I grow, I prosper.

  Now, gods, stand up for bastards.

  Enter Gloucester.

  Gloucester. Kent banished thus? and France in choler parted?And the King gone tonight? prescribed° his pow‘r?

  Confined to exhibition?° All this done

  Upon the gad?° Edmund, how now? What news?

  Edmund. So please your lordship, none.

  Gloucester. Why so earnestly seek you to put up° that letter?

  Edmund. I know no news, my lord.

  Gloucester. What paper were you reading?

  Edmund. Nothing, my lord.

  Gloucester. No? What needed then that terrible dispatch° of it into your pocket? The quality of noth-6 Lag of short of being (in age)

  7 compact framed

  8 penerons gallant

  9 honest chaste

  12 composition completeness

  12 fierce energetic

  14 fops fools

  15 Got begot

  19 speed prosper

  20 invention plan

  24 prescribed limited

  25 exhibition an allowance or pension

  26 Upon the gad on the spur of the moment (as if pricked by a gad or goad)

  28 put up put away, conceal 33-34 terrible dispatch hasty putting away

  ing hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see. Come, if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles.

  Edmund. I beseech you, sir, pardon me. It is a letter from my brother that I have not all o‘er-read; and for so much as I have perused, I find it not fit for your o’erlooking.°

  Gloucester. Give me the letter, sir.

  Edmund. I shall offend, either to detain or give it. The contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.°