EDMOND ⌈aside⌉ If I find him comforting the King, it will stuff his suspicion more fully. (To Cornwall) I will persever in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.
CORNWALL I will lay trust upon thee, and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. Exeunt
3.6 Enter the Earl of Kent disguised, and the Duke of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can. I will not be long from you.
KENT All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience; the gods reward your kindness!
Exit Gloucester
Enter King Lear, Edgar as a Bedlam beggar, and Lear’s Fool
EDGAR Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.
FOOL Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman.
LEAR A king, a king!
FOOL No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son; for he’s a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.
LEAR
To have a thousand with red burning spits
Come hissing in upon ’em!
EDGAR Bless thy five wits.
KENT (to Lear)
O, pity! Sir, where is the patience now
That you so oft have boasted to retain?
EDGAR (aside)
My tears begin to take his part so much
They mar my counterfeiting.
LEAR The little dogs and all,
Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart—see, they bark at me.
EDGAR Tom will throw his head at them.—Avaunt, you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite,
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or him,
Bobtail tyke or trundle-tail,
Tom will make him weep and wail;
For with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leapt the hatch, and all are fled.
Do, de, de, de. Sese! Come, march to wakes and fairs
And market towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
LEAR Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard-hearts? (To Edgar) You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred, only I do not like the fashion of your garments. You will say they are Persian; but let them be changed.
KENT
Now, good my lord, lie here and rest a while.
LEAR Make no noise, make no noise. Draw the curtains.
So, so. We’ll go to supper i’th’ morning.
⌈He steps⌉
FOOL And I’ll go to bed at noon.
Enter the Duke of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER (to Kent)
Come hither, friend. Where is the King my master?
KENT
Here, sir, but trouble him not; his wits are gone.
GLOUCESTER
Good friend, I prithee take him in thy arms.
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him.
There is a litter ready. Lay him in’t
And drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master.
If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,
With thine and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up,
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct. Come, come away.
Exeunt, ⌈Kent carrying Lear in his arms⌉
3.7 Enter the Duke of Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmond the bastard, and Servants
CORNWALL (to Goneril)
Post speedily to my lord your husband.
Show him this letter. The army of France is landed.
(To Servants) Seek out the traitor Gloucester.
Exeunt some
REGAN Hang him instantly.
GONERIL
Pluck out his eyes.
CORNWALL
Leave him to my displeasure.
Edmond, keep you our sister company.
The revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous
father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the Duke
where you are going, to a most festinate preparation;
we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift and
intelligent betwixt us. (To Goneril) Farewell, dear sister.
(To Edmond) Farewell, my lord of Gloucester.
Enter Oswald the steward
How now, where’s the King?
OSWALD
My lord of Gloucester hath conveyed him hence.
Some five- or six-and-thirty of his knights,
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate,
Who, with some other of the lord’s dependants,
Are gone with him toward Dover, where they boast
To have well-armèd friends.
CORNWALL Get horses for your mistress.
Exit Oswald
GONERIL Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
CORNWALL
Edmond, farewell.
Exeunt Goneril and Edmond
(To Servants) Go seek the traitor Gloucester.
Pinion him like a thief; bring him before us.
Exeunt other Servants
Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a curtsy to our wrath, which men
May blame but not control.
Enter the Duke of Gloucester and Servants
Who’s there—the traitor?
REGAN
Ingrateful fox, ’tis he.
CORNWALL (to Servants) Bind fast his corky arms.
GLOUCESTER
What means your graces? Good my friends, consider
You are my guests. Do me no foul play, friends.
CORNWALL (to Servants)
Bind him, I say.
REGAN Hard, hard! O filthy traitor!
GLOUCESTER
Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
CORNWALL (to Servants)
To this chair bind him. (To Gloucester) Villain, thou shalt find—
Regan plucks Gloucester’s beard
GLOUCESTER
By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done,
To pluck me by the beard.
REGAN So white, and such a traitor?
GLOUCESTER Naughty lady,
These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin
Will quicken and accuse thee. I am your host.
With robbers’ hands my hospitable favours
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
CORNWALL
Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
REGAN
Be simple-answered, for we know the truth.
CORNWALL
And what confederacy have you with the traitors
Late footed in the kingdom?
REGAN To whose hands
You have sent the lunatic King. Speak.
GLOUCESTER
I have a letter guessingly set down,
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one opposed.
CORNWALL
Cunning.
REGAN
And false.
CORNWALL
Where hast thou sent the King?
GLOUCESTER
To Dover.
REGAN
Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at peril—
CORNWALL
Wherefore to Dover?—Let him answer that.
GLOUCESTER
I am tied to th’ stake, and I must stand the course.
REGAN Wherefore to Dover?
GLOUCESTER
Because I would not see thy cruel nails
Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stic
k boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endured, would have buoyed up
And quenched the stellèd fires.
Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howled that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said ‘Good porter, turn the key;
All cruels I’ll subscribe.’ But I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
CORNWALL
See’t shalt thou never.—Fettows, hold the chair.—
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
GLOUCESTER
He that will think to live till he be old
Give me some help!—O cruel! O you gods!
⌈Cornwall pulls out one of Gloucester’s eyes and stamps on it⌉
REGAN (to Cornwall)
One side will mock another; th’other, too.
CORNWALL (to Gloucester)
If you see vengeance—
SERVANT
Hold your hand, my lord.
I have served you ever since I was a child,
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.
REGAN
How now, you dog!
SERVANT
If you did wear a beard upon your chin
I’d shake it on this quarrel. ⌈To Cornwall⌉ What do
you mean?
CORNWALL My villein!
SERVANT
Nay then, come on, and take the chance of anger.
They draw and fight
REGAN (to another Servant)
Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus!
⌈She takes a sword and runs at him behind⌉
SERVANT (to Gloucester)
O, I am slain. My lord, you have one eye left
To see some mischief on him.
⌈Regan stabs him again⌉
O!
He dies
CORNWALL
Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!
He ⌈pulls out⌉ Gloucester’s other eye
Where is thy lustre now?
GLOUCESTER
All dark and comfortless. Where’s my son Edmond?
Edmond, enkindle all the sparks of nature
To quite this horrid act.
REGAN
Out, treacherous villain!
Thou call’st on him that hates thee. It was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us,
Who is too good to pity thee.
GLOUCESTER
O, my follies! Then Edgar was abused.
Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!
REGAN (to Servants)
Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
His way to Dover.
Exit one or more with Gloucester
How is’t, my lord? How look you?
CORNWALL
I have received a hurt. Follow me, lady.
(To Servants) Turn out that eyeless villain. Throw this
slave
Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace.
Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm.
Exeunt ⌈with the body⌉
4.1 Enter Edgar as a Bedlam beggar
EDGAR
Yet better thus and known to be contemned
Than still contemned and flattered. To be worst,
The low’st and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear.
The lamentable change is from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace.
The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy blasts.
Enter the Duke of Gloucester led by an Old Man
But who comes here?
My father, parti-eyed? World, world, O world!
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,
Life would not yield to age.
⌈Edgar stands aside⌉
OLD MAN (to Gloucester) O my good lord,
I have been your tenant and your father’s tenant
These fourscore years.
GLOUCESTER
Away, get thee away, good friend, be gone.
Thy comforts can do me no good at all;
Thee they may hurt.
OLD MAN
You cannot see your way.
GLOUCESTER
I have no way, and therefore want no eyes.
I stumbled when I saw. Full oft ’tis seen
Our means secure us, and our mere defects
Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father’s wrath-
Might I but live to see thee in my touch
I’d say I had eyes again.
OLD MAN
How, now? Who’s there?
EDGAR (aside)
O gods! Who is’t can say ‘I am at the worst’?
I am worse than e’er I was.
OLD MAN (to Gloucester)
’Tis poor mad Tom.
EDGAR (aside)
And worse I may be yet. The worst is not
So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’
OLD MAN (to Edgar) Fellow, where goest?
GLOUCESTER Is it a beggarman?
OLD MAN Madman and beggar too.
GLOUCESTER
A has some reason, else he could not beg.
I’th’ last night’s storm I such a fellow saw,
Which made me think a man a worm. My son
Came then into my mind, and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him. I have heard more
since.
As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods;
They kill us for their sport.
EDGAR (aside) How should this be?
Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
Ang’ring itself and others.
⌈He comes forward⌉
Bless thee, master.
GLOUCESTER
Is that the naked fellow?
OLD MAN
Ay, my lord.
GLOUCESTER
Get thee away. If for my sake
Thou wilt o‘ertake us hence a mile or twain
I’th’ way toward Dover, do it for ancient love,
And bring some covering for this naked soul,
Which I’ll entreat to lead me.
OLD MAN
Alack, sir, he is mad.
GLOUCESTER
’Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.
Do as I bid thee; or rather do thy pleasure.
Above the rest, be gone.
OLD MAN
I’ll bring him the best ’parel that I have, so
Come on’t what will. Exit
GLOUCESTER
Sirrah, naked fellow!
EDGAR
Poor Tom’s a-cold. (Aside) I cannot daub it further.
GLOUCESTER
Come hither, fellow.
EDGAR (aside)
And yet I must.
(To Gloucester) Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.
GLOUCESTER
Know’st thou the way to Dover?
EDGAR Both stile and gate, horseway and footpath. Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits. Bless thee, goodman’s son, from the foul fiend.
GLOUCESTER
Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens’
plagues
Have humbled to all strokes. That I am wretched
Makes thee the happier. Heavens deal so still.
Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he does not feel, feel your power quickly.
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
EDGAR Ay, master.
G
LOUCESTER
There is a cliff whose high and bending head
Looks fearfully in the confined deep.
Bring me but to the very brim of it
And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bear
With something rich about me. From that place
I shall no leading need.
EDGAR Give me thy arm.
Poor Tom shall lead thee.
Exit Edgar guiding Gloucester
4.2 Enter Goneril and Edmond the bastard ⌈at one door⌉ and Oswald the steward ⌈at another⌉
GONERIL
Welcome, my lord. I marvel our mild husband
Not met us on the way. (To Oswald) Now, where’s
your master?
OSWALD
Madam, within; but never man so changed.
I told him of the army that was landed;
He smiled at it. I told him you were coming;
His answer was ‘The worse’. Of Gloucester’s treachery
And of the loyal service of his son
When I informed him, then he called me sot,
And told me I had turned the wrong side out.
What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;
What like, offensive.
GONERIL (to Edmond) Then shall you go no further.
It is the cowish terror of his spirit
That dares not undertake. He’ll not feel wrongs
Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way
May prove effects. Back, Edmond, to my brother.
Hasten his musters and conduct his powers.
I must change names at home, and give the distaff
Into my husband’s hands. This trusty servant
Shall pass between us. Ere long you are like to hear,
If you dare venture in your own behalf,
A mistress’s command. Wear this. Spare speech.
Decline your head. This kiss, if it durst speak,
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air.
⌈She kisses him⌉
Conceive, and fare thee well.
EDMOND Yours in the ranks of death.
GONERIL My most dear Gloucester.
Exit Edmond
O, the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman’s services are due;
My fool usurps my body.
OSWALD
Madam, here comes my lord.
Enter the Duke of Albany
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Page 377
