King Lear Page 9
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.°