King Lear (Folger Shakespeare Library)
Page 14
Gloucester. Well, my good lord, I have informed them so.
Lear. Informed them? Dost thou understand me, man?
Gloucester. Ay, my good lord.
Lear. The King would speak with Cornwall. The dear father Would with his daughter speak, commands--tendsdeg
--service.
Are they informed of this? My breath and blood!
Fiery? The fiery Duke, tell the hot Duke that--
No, but not yet. May be he is not well.
Infirmity doth still neglect all office
Whereto our health is bound.deg We are not
ourselves
When nature, being oppressed, commands the
mind
To suffer with the body. I'll forbear;
And am fallen outdeg with my more headier willdeg
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man. [Looking on Kent] Death on
my state!deg Wherefore
Should he sit here? This act persuades me
That this remotiondeg of the Duke and her
Is practicedeg only. Give me my servant forth.deg
Go tell the Duke and's wife I'd speak with them!
Now, presently!deg Bid them come forth and hear
me,
Or at their chamber door I'll beat the drum
Till it cry sleep to death.deg
Gloucester. I would have all well betwixt you.
Exit.
100 tends attends (i.e., awaits); with, possibly, an ironic second meaning, "tenders," or "offers"
105 Whereto ... bound duties which we arc required to perform, when in health
108 fallen out angry
108 headier will headlong inclination
110 state royal condition
112 remotion (1) removal (2) remaining aloof
113 practice pretense
113 forth i.e., out of the stocks
115 presently at once
117 cry ... death follow sleep, like a cry or pack of hounds, until it kills it
Lear. O me, my heart, my rising heart! But down!
Fool. Cry to it, Nuncle, as the cockneydeg did to the eels when she put 'em i' th' pastedeg alive. She knappeddeg 'em o' th' coxcombsdeg with a stick and cried, "Down, wantons,deg down!" 'Twas her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.deg
Enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, Servants.
Lear. Good morrow to you both.
Cornwall. Hail to your Grace.
Kent here set at liberty.
Regan. I am glad to see your Highness.
Lear. Regan, I think you are. I know what reason I have to think so. If thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
Sepulchring an adultress.deg [To Kent] O, are you
free?
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught.deg O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here.
[Points to his heart.]
I can scarce speak to thee. Thou'lt not believe
With how depraved a qualitydeg--O Regan!
Regan. I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.deg
Lear. Say? how is that?
120 cockney Londoner (ignorant city dweller)
121 paste pastry pie
122 knapped rapped
122 coxcombs heads 123 wantons i.e., playful things (with a sexual implication)
125 buttered his hay i.e., the city dweller does from ignorance what the dishonest ostler does from craft: greases the hay the traveler has paid for, so that the horse will not eat
130--31 divorce ... adultress i.e., repudiate your dead mother as having conceived you by another man
133 naught wicked
136 quality nature
137-39 I ... duty (despite the double negative, the passage means, "I believe that you fail to give Goneril her due, rather than that she fails to fulfill her duty")
Regan. I cannot think my sister in the least Would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance
She have restrained the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
Lear. My curses on her!
Regan. O, sir, you are old, Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of his confine.deg You should be ruled, and led
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you yourself.deg Therefore I pray you
That to our sister you do make return,
Say you have wronged her.
Lear. Ask her forgiveness? Do you but mark how this becomes the house:deg
"Dear daughter, I confess that I am old.
[Kneeling.]
Age is unnecessary. On my knees I beg
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food."
Regan. Good sir, no more. These are unsightly tricks. Return you to my sister.
Lear. [Rising] Never, Regan. She hath abateddeg me of half my train,
Looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue,
Most serpentlike, upon the very heart.
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful top!deg Strike her young bones,deg
You takingdeg airs, with lameness.
Cornwall. Fie, sir, fie!
Lear. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, 146-47 Nature ... confine i.e., you are nearing the end of your life
148-49 some ... yourself some discreet person who understands your condition more than you do
152 becomes the house suits my royal and paternal position
158 abated curtailed
162 top head
162 young bones (the reference may be to unborn children, rather than to Goneril herself) -
163 taking infecting
You fen-suckeddeg fogs, drawn by the pow'rful sun,
To fall and blisterdeg her pride.
Regan. O the blest gods!
So will you wish on me when the rash mood is on.
Lear. No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse. Thy tender-hefteddeg nature shall not give
Thee o'er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce, but thine
Do comfort, and not burn. 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandydeg hasty words, to scant my sizes,deg
And, in conclusion, to oppose the boltdeg
Against my coming in. Thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,deg
Effectsdeg of courtesy, dues of gratitude.
Thy half o' th' kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endowed.
Regan. Good sir, to th' purpose.deg
Tucket within.
Lear. Who put my man i' th' stocks?
Cornwall. What trumpet's that?
Regan. I know't--my sister's. This approvesdeg her letter, That she would soon be here.
Enter Oswald.
Is your lady come? Lear. This is a slave, whose easy borroweddeg pride Dwells in the fickle gracedeg of her he follows.
Out, varlet,deg from my sight.
Cornwall. What means your Grace?
166 fen-sucked drawn up from swamps by the sun
167 fall and blister fall upon and raise blisters
170 tender-hefted gently framed
174 bandy volley (metaphor from tennis)
174 scant my sizes reduce my allowances
175 oppose the bolt i.e., bar the door
177 offices ... childhood natural duties, a child's duty to its parent
178 Effects manifestations
180 to th' purpose come to the point
182 approves confirms
184 easy borrowed (1) facile and taken from another (2) acquired without anything to back it up (like money bo
rrowed without security)
185 grace favor
186 varlet base fellow
Lear. Who stocked my servant? Regan, I have good hope Thou didst not know on't.
Enter Goneril.
Who comes here? O heavens!
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allowdeg obedience, if you yourselves are old,
Make itdeg your cause. Send down, and take my part.
[To Goneril] Art not ashamed to look upon
this beard?
O Regan, will you take her by the hand?
Goneril. Why not by th' hand, sir? How have I offended? All's not offense that indiscretion findsdeg
And dotage terms so.
Lear. O sides,deg you are too tough! Will you yet hold? How came my man i' th' stocks?
Cornwall. I set him there, sir; but his own disordersdeg Deserved much less advancement.deg
Lear. You? Did you?
Regan. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.deg If till the expiration of your month
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me.
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.deg
Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismissed? No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wagedeg against the enmity o' th' air,
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,
Necessity's sharp pinch.deg Return with her?
Why, the hot-bloodeddeg France, that dowerless
took 190 Allow approve of
191 it i.e., my cause
195 finds judges
196 sides breast
198 disorders misconduct
199 advancement promotion
200 seem so i.e., act weak
205 entertainment maintenance
208 wage fight
210 Necessity's sharp pinch (a summing up of the hard choice he has just announced)
211 hot-blooded passionate
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To kneedeg his throne, and, squirelike,deg pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpterdeg
To this detested groom. [Pointing at Oswald.]
Goneril. At your choice, sir.
Lear. I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad. I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell.
We'll no more meet, no more see one another.
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter,
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine. Thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, or embossed carbuncledeg
In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee.
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it.
I do not bid the Thunder-bearerdeg shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judgingdeg Jove.
Mend when thou canst, be better at thy leisure,
I can be patient, I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.
Regan. Not altogether so. I looked not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister,
For those that mingle reason with your passiondeg
Must be content to think you old, and so--
But she knows what she does.
Lear. Is this well spoken?
Regan. I dare avouchdeg it, sir. What, fifty followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith thatdeg both chargedeg and
danger
Speak 'gainst so great a number? How in one house 213 knee kneel before
213 squirelike like a retainer
215 sumpter pack horse
223 embossed carbuncle swollen boil
226 Thunder-bearer i.e., Jupiter
227 high-judging (1) supreme (2) judging from heaven
233 min- gle ... passion i.e., consider your turbulent behavior coolly and reasonably
236 avouch swear by
238 sith that since
238 charge expense
Should many people, under two commands,
Holddeg amity? 'Tis hard, almost impossible.
Goneril. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance From those that she calls servants, or from mine?
Regan. Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slackdeg ye, We could control them. If you will come to me
(For now I spy a danger), I entreat you
To bring but five-and-twenty. To no more
Will I give place or notice.deg
Lear. I gave you all.
Regan. And in good time you gave it.
Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries,deg But kept a reservationdeg to be followed
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five-and-twenty? Regan, said you so?
Regan. And speak't again, my lord. No more with me.
Lear. Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favoreddeg When others are more wicked; not being the worst
Stands in some rank of praise.deg [To Goneril] I'll
go with thee.
Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,
And thou art twice her love.deg
Goneril. Hear me, my lord. What need you five-and-twenty? ten? or five?
To followdeg in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
Regan. What need one?
Lear. O reasondeg not the need! Our basest beggars 241 hold preserve
244 slack neglect
248 notice recognition
250 depositaries trustees
251 reservation condition
255 well-favored handsome 2
56-57 not ... praise i.e., that Goneril is not so bad as Regan is one thing in her favor
259 her love i.e., as loving as she
261 follow attend on you
263 reason scrutinize
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.deg
Allow not nature more than nature needs,deg
Man's life is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady:
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm.deg But, for true
need--
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I
need.
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age, wretched in both.
If it be you that stirs these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fooldeg me not so much
To beardeg it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water drops,
Stain my man's cheeks. No, you unnatural hags!
I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall--I will do such things--
What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep.
No, I'll not weep.
Storm and tempest.
I have full cause of weeping, but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flawsdeg
Or eredeg I'll weep. O Fool, I shall go mad!
Exeunt Lear, Gloucester, Kent, and Fool.
Cornwall. Let us withdraw, 'twill be a storm.
Regan. This house is little; the old man and's people Cannot be well bestowed.deg
Goneril. 'Tis his own blame; hathdeg put himself from restdeg And must needs taste his folly.
264 Are ... superfluous i.e., have some trifle not absolutely necessary
265 needs i.e., to sustain life
267-69 If ... warm i.e., if to satisfy the need for warmth were to be gorgeous, you would not need the clothing you wear, which is worn more for beauty than warmth
274 fool humiliate
275
To bear as to make me bear
284 flaws (1) pieces (2) cracks (3) gusts of passion
285 Or ere before
288 bestowed lodged 289 hath he hath
289 rest (1) place of residence (2) repose of mind
Regan. For his particular,deg I'll receive him gladly, But not one follower.
Goneril. So am I purposed.deg Where is my Lord of Gloucester?
Cornwall. Followed the old man forth.
Enter Gloucester.
He is returned.
Gloucester. The King is in high rage.
Cornwall. Whither is he going?
Gloucester. He calls to horse, but will I know not whither.
Cornwall. 'Tis best to give him way, he leads himself.deg
Goneril. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
Gloucester. Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds Do sorely ruffle.deg For many miles about
There's scarce a bush.
Regan. O, sir, to willful men The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors.
He is attended with a desperate train,
And what they may incensedeg him to, being apt
To have his ear abused,deg wisdom bids fear.
Cornwall. Shut up your doors, my lord; 'tis a wild night. My Regan counsels well. Come out o' th' storm.
Exeunt.
291 his particular himself personally
292 purposed determined
297 give ... himself let him go; he insists on his own way
300 ruffle rage
305 incense incite
305-06 being ... abused he being inclined to harken to bad counsel
ACT 3
Scene 1. [A heath.]
Storm still.deg Enter Kent and a Gentleman severally.
Kent. Who's there besides foul weather? Gentleman. One minded like the weather most unquietly.deg
Kent. I know you. Where's the King?
Gentleman. Contending with the fretful elements; Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,deg
That things might change,deg or cease; tears his white
hair,
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyelessdeg rage,
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;