King Lear
Page 14
Lear. No.
Kent. Yes.
Lear. No, I say.
Kent. I say yea.
2.4.3 purpose intention
4 remove removal
6 Mak‘st ... pastime i.e., are you doing this to amuse yourself
7 cruel (1) painful (2) “crewel,” a worsted yarn used in garters
9-10 overlusty at legs (1) a vagabond (2) ? sexually promiscuous
10 netherstocks stockings (as opposed to knee breeches or upperstocks)
Lear. No, no, they would not.
Kent. Yes, they have.
Lear. By Jupiter, I swear no!
Kent. By Juno, I swear ay!
Lear. They durst not do’t;They could not, would not do’t. ‘Tis worse than
murder
To do upon respect° such violent outrage.
Resolve° me with all modest° haste which way
Thou mightst deserve or they impose this usage,
Coming from us.
Kent. My lord, when at their homeI did commend° your Highness’ letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that showed
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,°
Stewed° in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress salutations,
Delivered letters, spite of intermission,°
Which presently° they read; on° whose contents
They summoned up their meiny,° straight took
horse,
Commanded me to follow and attend
The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks,
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome I perceived had poisoned mine,
Being the very fellow which of late
Displayed° so saucily against your Highness,
Having more man than wit° about me, drew;
He raised° the house, with loud and coward cries.
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth°
The shame which here it suffers.
23 upon respect (1) on the respect due to the King (2) deliberately
24 Resolve inform
24 modest becoming
27 commend deliver
29 reeking post sweating messenger
30 stewed steaming
32 spite of intermission in spite of the interrupting of my business
33 presently at once
33 on on the strength of
34 meiny retinue
40 Displayed showed off
41 more man than wit more manhood than sense
42 raised aroused
43 worth deserving
Fool. Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.°Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,°
But fathers that bear bags°
Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne‘er turns the key° to th’ poor.
But for all this, thou shalt have as many dolors° for
thy daughters as thou canst tell° in a year.
Lear. O, how this mother° swells up toward my heart!Hysterica passio,° down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element‘s° below. Where is this daughter?
Kent. With the Earl, sir, here within.
Lear. Follow me not;Stay here. Exit.
Gentleman. Made you no more offense but what you speak of?
Kent. None.How chance° the King comes with so small a number?
Fool. And° thou hadst been set i’ th’ stocks for that question, thou‘dst well deserved it.
Kent. Why, Fool?
Fool. We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there’s no laboring i’ th’ winter.° All that follow45-46 Winter’s ... way i.e., more trouble is to come, since Cornwall and Regan act so (“geese” is used contemptuously, as in Kent’s quarrel with Oswald, 2.2. 85-6)
48 blind i.e., indifferent
49 bags moneybags
52 turns the key i.e., opens the door
53 dolors (1) sorrows (2) dollars (English name for Spanish and German coins)
54 tell (1) tell about (2) count
55-56 mother ... Hysterica passio hysteria, causing suffocation or choking
57 element proper place
62 How chance how does it happen that
63 And if
66-67 We’ll ... winter (in the popular fable the ant, unlike the improvident grasshopper, anticipates the winter when none can labor by laying up provisions in the summer. Lear, trusting foolishly to summer days, finds himself unprovided for, and unable to provide, now that “winter” has come)
their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking.° Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following. But the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again. I would have none but knaves follow it since a Fool gives it.That sir, which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,°
Will pack,° when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the storm.
But I will tarry; the Fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly.
The knave turns Fool that runs away,
The Fool no knave,° perdy.°
Kent. Where learned you this, Fool?
Fool. Not i’ th’ stocks, fool.Enter Lear and Gloucester.
Lear. Deny° to speak with me? They are sick, they are weary,They have traveled all the night? Mere fetches,°
The images° of revolt and flying off!°
Fetch me a better answer.
Gloucester. My dear lord,You know the fiery quality° of the Duke,
How unremovable and fixed he is
In his own course.
Lear. Vengeance, plague, death, confusion!Fiery? What quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester,
I’d speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.
67-70 All ... stinking i.e., all can smell out the decay of Lear’s fortunes
78 form show
79 pack be off 83—84 The ... knave i.e., the faithless man is the true fool, for wisdom requires fidelity. Lear’s Fool, who remains faithful, is at least no knave
84 perdy by God (Fr. par Dieu)
87 Deny refuse
88 fetches subterfuges, acts of tacking (nautical metaphor)
89 images exact likenesses
89 flying off desertion
91 quality temperament.
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 fatherWould with his daughter speak, commands—tends°
—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.° We are not
ourselves
When nature, being oppressed, commands the
mind
To suffer with the body. I’ll forbear;
And am fallen out° with my more headier will°
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man. [Looking on Kent] Death on
my state!° Wherefore
Should he sit here? This act persuades me
That this remotion° of the Duke and her
Is practice° only. Give me my servant forth.°
Go tell the Duke and’s wife I’d speak with them!
Now, presently!° Bid them come forth and hear
me,
Or at their chamber door I’ll beat the drum
Till it cry sleep to death.°
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 cockney° did to the eels when she put ‘em i’ th’ paste° alive. She knapped° ’em o’ th’ coxcombs° with a stick and cried, “Down, wantons,° down!” ‘Twas her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.°
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 reasonI have to think so. If thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb,
Sepulchring an adultress.° [To Kent] O, are you
free?
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy sister’s naught.° 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 quality°—O Regan!
Regan. I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hopeYou less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.°
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 leastWould 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.° You should be ruled, and led
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you yourself.° 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:°
“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 abated° 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!° Strike her young bones,°
You taking° 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-sucked° fogs, drawn by the pow‘rful sun,
To fall and blister° 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-hefted° 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 bandy° hasty words, to scant my sizes,°
And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt°
Against my coming in. Thou better know‘st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,°
Effects° of courtesy, dues of gratitude.
Thy half o’ th’ kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endowed.
Regan. Good sir, to th’ purpose.°
Tucket within.
Lear. Who put my man i’ th’ stocks?
Cornwall. What trumpet’s that?
Regan. I know‘t—my sister’s. This approves° her letter,That she would soon be here.
Enter Oswald.
Is your lady come? Lear. This is a slave, whose easy borrowed° prideDwells in the fickle grace° of her he follows.
Out, varlet,° 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 borrowed without security)
185 grace favor
186 varlet base fellow
Lear. Who stocked my servant? Regan, I have good hopeThou didst not know on’t.
Enter Goneril.
Who comes here? O heavens!
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow° obedience, if you yourselves are old,
Make it° 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 finds°
And dotage terms so.
Lear. O sides,° you are too tough!Will you yet hold? How came my man i’ th’ stocks?
Cornwall. I set him there, sir; but his own disorders° Deserved much less advancement.°
Lear. You? Did you?
Regan. I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.°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.°
Lear. Return to her, and fifty men dismissed?No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage° against the enmity o’ th’ air,
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,
Necessity’s sharp pinch.° Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded° France, that dowerless
took190 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 knee° his throne, and, squirelike,° pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter°
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 carbuncle°
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-bearer° shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging° Jove.
Mend when thou canst, be better at thy leisure,
I can be patient, I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.