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 passion°
Must be content to think you old, and so—
But she knows what she does.
Lear. Is this well spoken?
Regan. I dare avouch° it, sir. What, fifty followers?Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that° both charge° and
danger
Speak ‘gainst so great a number? How in one house213 knee kneel before
213 squirelike like a retainer
215 sumpter pack horse
223 embossèd 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,
Hold° amity? ‘Tis hard, almost impossible.
Goneril. Why might not you, my lord, receive attendanceFrom those that she calls servants, or from mine?
Regan. Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack° 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.°
Lear. I gave you all.
Regan. And in good time you gave it.
Lear. Made you my guardians, my depositaries,°But kept a reservation° 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-favored°When others are more wicked; not being the worst
Stands in some rank of praise.° [To Goneril] I’ll
go with thee.
Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,
And thou art twice her love.°
Goneril. Hear me, my lord.What need you five-and-twenty? ten? or five?
To follow° in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
Regan. What need one?
Lear. O reason° not the need! Our basest beggars241 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.°
Allow not nature more than nature needs,°
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.° 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, fool° me not so much
To bear° 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 flaws°
Or ere° 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.°
Goneril. ‘Tis his own blame; hath° put himself from rest°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,° I’ll receive him gladly, But not one follower.
Goneril. So am I purposed.°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.°
Goneril. My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
Gloucester. Alack, the night comes on, and the high windsDo sorely ruffle.° For many miles about
There’s scarce a bush.
Regan. O, sir, to willful menThe injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors.
He is attended with a desperate train,
And what they may incense° him to, being apt
To have his ear abused,° 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.° Enter Kent and a Gentleman severally.
Kent. Who’s there besides foul weather? Gentleman. One minded like the weather most unquietly.°
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 curlèd waters ‘bove the main,°
That things might change,° or cease; tears his white
hair,
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless° rage,
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man° to outscorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.
This night, wherein the cub-drawn° bear would
couch,°
The lion, and the belly-pinchèd° wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted° he runs,3.1. s.d. still continually
2 minded ... unquietly disturbed in mind, like the weather
6 main land
7 change (1) be destroyed (2) be exchanged (i.e., turned upside down) (3) change for the better
8 eyeless (1) blind (2) invisible
10 little world of man (the microcosm, as opposed to the universe or macrocosm, which it copies in little)
12 cub-drawn sucked dry by her cubs, and so ravenously hungry 12 couch take shelter in its lair
18 belly-pi
nchèd starved
14 unbonneted hatless
And bids what will take all.°
Kent. But who is with him?
Gentleman. None but the Fool, who labors to outjest His heart-struck injuries.
Kent. Sir, I do know you,And dare upon the warrant of my note°
Commend a dear thing° to you. There is division,
Although as yet the face of it is covered
With mutual cunning, ‘twixt Albany and Cornwall;
Who have—as who have not, that° their great
stars
Throned° and set high?—servants, who seem no
less,°
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent° of our state. What hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings° of the Dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them hath borne°
Against the old kind King, or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings°—
But, true it is, from France there comes a power°
Into this scattered° kingdom, who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports, and are at point°
To show their open banner. Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build° so far
To° make your speed to Dover, you shall find
Some that will thank you, making° just° report
Of how unnatural and bemadding° sorrow
The King hath cause to plain.°
I am a gentleman of blood and breeding,°15 take all (like the reckless gambler, staking all he has left)
18 warrant of my note strength of what I have taken note (of you)
19 Commend ... thing entrust important business
22 that whom
22-23 stars/Throned destinies have throned
23 seem no less seem to be so
24-25 speculations/Intelligent giving intelligence
26 snuffs and packings quarrels and plots
27 hard ... borne close and cruel control they have exercised
29 furnishings excuses
30 power army
31 scattered disunited
33 at point ready
35 If ... build if you can trust me, proceed
36 To as to
37 making for making
37 just accurate
38 bemadding maddening
39 plain complain of
40 blood and breeding noble family
And from some knowledge and assurance° offer
This office° to you.
Gentleman. I will talk further with you.
Kent. No, do not.For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall,° open this purse and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,
As fear not but you shall, show her this ring,
And she will tell you who that fellow° is
That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the King.
Gentleman. Give me your hand. Have you no more to say?
Kent. Few words, but, to effect,° more than all yet:That when we have found the King—in which your
pain°
That way, I’ll this—he that first lights on him,
Holla the other. Exeunt [severally].
Scene 2. [Another part of the heath.] Storm still.
Enter Lear and Fool.
Lear. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks. Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes,° spoutTill you have drenched our steeples, drowned the
cocks.°41 knowledge and assurance sure and trustworthy information
42 office service (i.e., the trip to Dover)
45 out-wall superficial appearance
48 fellow companion
52 to effect in their importance
53 pain labor 3.2.2 hurricanoes waterspouts
3 cocks weathercocks
You sulph‘rous and thought-executing° fires,
Vaunt-couriers° of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head. And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity° o’ th’ world,
Crack Nature’s molds,° all germains spill° at once,
That makes ingrateful° man.
Fool. O Nuncle, court holy-water° in a dry house is better than this rain water out o’ door. Good Nuncle, in; ask thy daughters blessing. Here’s a night pities neither wise man nor fools.
Lear. Rumble thy bellyful. Spit, fire. Spout, rain!Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax° not you, you elements, with unkindness.
I never gave you kingdom, called you children,
You owe me no subscription.° Then let fall
Your horrible pleasure.° Here I stand your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.
But yet I call you servile ministers,°
That will with two pernicious daughters join
Your high-engendered battles° ‘gainst a head
So old and white as this. O, ho! ’tis foul.
Fool. He that has a house to put ’s head in has a good headpiece.°The codpiece° that will house
Before the head has any,
The head and he° shall louse:
So beggars marry many.°
The man that makes his toe4 thought-executing (1) doing execution as quick as thought (2) executing or carrying out the thought of him who hurls the lightning
5 Vaunt-couriers heralds, scouts who range before the main body of the army
7 rotundity i.e., not only the sphere of the globe, but the roundness of gestation (Delius)
8 Nature’s molds the molds or forms in which men are made
8 all germains spill destroy the basic seeds of life
9 ingrateful ungrateful
10 court holy-water flattery
16 tax accuse
18 subscription allegiance, submission
9 pleasure will
21 ministers agents
23 high-engendered battles armies formed in the heavens
26 headpiece (1) helmet (2) brain
27 codpiece penis (lit., padding worn at the crotch of a man’s hose)
29 he it
30 many i.e., lice
27-30 The ... many i.e., the man who gratifies his sexual appetites before he has a roof over his head will end up a lousy beggar
What he his heart should make
Shall of a corn cry woe,
And turn his sleep to wake.°
For there was never yet fair woman but she made
mouths in a glass.°
Enter Kent.
Lear. No, I will be the pattern of all patience, I will say nothing.
Kent. Who’s there?
Fool. Marry,° here’s grace and a codpiece; that’s a wise man and a fool.°
Kent. Alas, sir, are you here? Things that love nightLove not such nights as these. The wrathful skies
Gallow° the very wanderers of the dark
And make them keep° their caves. Since I was man
Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid° thunder,
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never
Remember to have heard. Man’s nature cannot
carry°
Th’ affliction nor the fear.
Lear. Let the great godsThat keep this dreadful pudder° o‘er our heads
Find out their enemies now.° Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulgèd crimes
Unwhipped of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,
Thou perjured,° and thou simular° of virtue31-34 The ... wake i.e., the man who, ignoring the fit order of things, elevates what is base above what is noble, will suffer for it as Lear has, in banishing Cordelia and enriching her sisters
35-36 made mouths in a glass posed before a mirror (irrelevant nonsense, except that it calls to mind the general theme of vanity and folly)
>
40 Marry by the Virgin Mary
40-41 here’s ... fool (Kent’s question is answered: The King [“grace”] is here, and the Fool—who customarily wears an exaggerated codpiece. But which is which is left ambiguous, since Lear has previously been called a codpiece)
44 Gallow frighten
45 keep remain inside
46 horrid horrible
48 carry endure
50 pudder turmoil
51 Find ... now i.e., discover sinners by the terror they reveal
54 perjured perjurer
54 simular counterfeiter
That art incestuous. Caitiff,° to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming°
Has practiced on° man’s life. Close° pent-up guilts,
Rive° your concealing continents° and cry
These dreadful summoners grace.° I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
Kent. Alack, bareheaded?Gracious my lord,° hard by here is a hovel;
Some friendship will it lend you ‘gainst the
tempest.
Repose you there, while I to this hard house
(More harder than the stones whereof ’tis raised,
Which even but now, demanding after° you,
Denied me to come in) return, and force
Their scanted° courtesy.
Lear. My wits begin to turn.Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy? Art cold?
I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art° of our necessities is strange,
That can make vile things precious. Come, your
hovel.
Poor Fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
King Lear Page 15
