Complete Plays, The

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Complete Plays, The Page 98

by William Shakespeare


  Oh! Oh! Oh!

  Enter Lodovico. Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers with Iago, prisoner

  Lodovico

  Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?

  Othello

  That’s he that was Othello: here I am.

  Lodovico

  Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.

  Othello

  I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.

  If that thou best a devil, I cannot kill thee.

  Wounds Iago

  Lodovico

  Wrench his sword from him.

  Iago

  I bleed, sir; but not kill’d.

  Othello

  I am not sorry neither: I’ld have thee live;

  For, in my sense, ’tis happiness to die.

  Lodovico

  O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,

  Fall’n in the practise of a damned slave,

  What shall be said to thee?

  Othello

  Why, any thing:

  An honourable murderer, if you will;

  For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.

  Lodovico

  This wretch hath part confess’d his villany:

  Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?

  Othello

  Ay.

  Cassio

  Dear general, I never gave you cause.

  Othello

  I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.

  Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil

  Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

  Iago

  Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:

  From this time forth I never will speak word.

  Lodovico

  What, not to pray?

  Gratiano

  Torments will ope your lips.

  Othello

  Well, thou dost best.

  Lodovico

  Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,

  Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter

  Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;

  And here another: the one of them imports

  The death of Cassio to be undertook

  By Roderigo.

  Othello

  O villain!

  Cassio

  Most heathenish and most gross!

  Lodovico

  Now here’s another discontented paper,

  Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,

  Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;

  But that belike Iago in the interim

  Came in and satisfied him.

  Othello

  O the pernicious caitiff!

  How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief

  That was my wife’s?

  Cassio

  I found it in my chamber:

  And he himself confess’d but even now

  That there he dropp’d it for a special purpose

  Which wrought to his desire.

  Othello

  O fool! fool! fool!

  Cassio

  There is besides in Roderigo’s letter,

  How he upbraids Iago, that he made him

  Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came

  That I was cast: and even but now he spake,

  After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,

  Iago set him on.

  Lodovico

  You must forsake this room, and go with us:

  Your power and your command is taken off,

  And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,

  If there be any cunning cruelty

  That can torment him much and hold him long,

  It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,

  Till that the nature of your fault be known

  To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away.

  Othello

  Soft you; a word or two before you go.

  I have done the state some service, and they know’t.

  No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,

  When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

  Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,

  Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak

  Of one that loved not wisely but too well;

  Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought

  Perplex’d in the extreme; of one whose hand,

  Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away

  Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,

  Albeit unused to the melting mood,

  Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

  Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;

  And say besides, that in Aleppo once,

  Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk

  Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,

  I took by the throat the circumcised dog,

  And smote him, thus.

  Stabs himself

  Lodovico

  O bloody period!

  Gratiano

  All that’s spoke is marr’d.

  Othello

  I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee: no way but this;

  Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

  Falls on the bed, and dies

  Cassio

  This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;

  For he was great of heart.

  Lodovico

  [To Iago] O Spartan dog,

  More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!

  Look on the tragic loading of this bed;

  This is thy work: the object poisons sight;

  Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,

  And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,

  For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,

  Remains the censure of this hellish villain;

  The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!

  Myself will straight aboard: and to the state

  This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

  Exeunt

  King Lear

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

  ACT I

  SCENE I. KING LEAR’S PALACE.

  SCENE II. THE EARL OF GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE III. THE DUKE OF ALBANY’S PALACE.

  SCENE IV. A HALL IN THE SAME.

  SCENE V. COURT BEFORE THE SAME.

  ACT II

  SCENE I. GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE II. BEFORE GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE III. A WOOD.

  SCENE IV. BEFORE GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE. KENT IN THE STOCKS.

  ACT III

  SCENE I. A HEATH.

  SCENE II. ANOTHER PART OF THE HEATH. STORM STILL.

  SCENE III. GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE IV. THE HEATH. BEFORE A HOVEL.

  SCENE V. GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE VI. A CHAMBER IN A FARMHOUSE ADJOINING THE CASTLE.

  SCENE VII. GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  ACT IV

  SCENE I. THE HEATH.

  SCENE II. BEFORE ALBANY’S PALACE.

  SCENE III. THE FRENCH CAMP NEAR DOVER.

  SCENE IV. THE SAME. A TENT.

  SCENE V. GLOUCESTER’S CASTLE.

  SCENE VI. FIELDS NEAR DOVER.

  SCENE VII. A TENT IN THE FRENCH CAMP. LEAR ON A BED ASLEEP,

  ACT V

  SCENE I. THE BRITISH CAMP, NEAR DOVER.

  SCENE II. A FIELD BETWEEN THE TWO CAMPS.

  SCENE III. THE BRITISH CAMP NEAR DOVER.

  CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

  Lear, King of Britain.

  King Of France.

  Duke of Burgundy.

  Duke of Cornwall.

  Duke of Albany.

  Earl of Kent.

  Earl of Gloucester.

  Edgar, son of Gloucester.

  Edmund, bastard son to Gloucester.

  Curan, a courtier.

  An Old Man, tenant to Gloucester.

  A Doctor.

&nbs
p; Lear's Fool.

  Oswald, steward to Goneril.

  A Captain under Edmund's command.

  Gentlemen.

  A Herald.

  Servants to Cornwall.

  Goneril, daughter to Lear.

  Regan, daughter to Lear.

  Cordelia, daughter to Lear.

  Knights attending on Lear, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, Attendants.

  Scene: Britain.

  ACT I

  SCENE I. KING LEAR’S PALACE.

  Enter Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund

  Kent

  I thought the king had more affected the Duke of

  Albany than Cornwall.

  Gloucester

  It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either’s moiety.

  Kent

  Is not this your son, my lord?

  Gloucester

  His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it.

  Kent

  I cannot conceive you.

  Gloucester

  Sir, this young fellow’s mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

  Kent

  I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper.

  Gloucester

  But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

  Edmund

  No, my lord.

  Gloucester

  My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

  Edmund

  My services to your lordship.

  Kent

  I must love you, and sue to know you better.

  Edmund

  Sir, I shall study deserving.

  Gloucester

  He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. The king is coming.

  Sennet. Enter King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, and Attendants

  King Lear

  Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

  Gloucester

  I shall, my liege.

  Exeunt Gloucester and Edmund

  King Lear

  Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.

  Give me the map there. Know that we have divided

  In three our kingdom: and ’tis our fast intent

  To shake all cares and business from our age;

  Conferring them on younger strengths, while we

  Unburthen’d crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,

  And you, our no less loving son of Albany,

  We have this hour a constant will to publish

  Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife

  May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,

  Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love,

  Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,

  And here are to be answer’d. Tell me, my daughters,—

  Since now we will divest us both of rule,

  Interest of territory, cares of state,—

  Which of you shall we say doth love us most?

  That we our largest bounty may extend

  Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,

  Our eldest-born, speak first.

  Goneril

  Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;

  Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;

  Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

  No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;

  As much as child e’er loved, or father found;

  A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;

  Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

  Cordelia

  [Aside] What shall Cordelia do?

  Love, and be silent.

  Lear

  Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,

  With shadowy forests and with champains rich’d,

  With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,

  We make thee lady: to thine and Albany’s issue

  Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,

  Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

  Regan

  Sir, I am made

  Of the self-same metal that my sister is,

  And prize me at her worth. In my true heart

  I find she names my very deed of love;

  Only she comes too short: that I profess

  Myself an enemy to all other joys,

  Which the most precious square of sense possesses;

  And find I am alone felicitate

  In your dear highness’ love.

  Cordelia

  [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!

  And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love’s

  More richer than my tongue.

  King Lear

  To thee and thine hereditary ever

  Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;

  No less in space, validity, and pleasure,

  Than that conferr’d on Goneril. Now, our joy,

  Although the last, not least; to whose young love

  The vines of France and milk of Burgundy

  Strive to be interess’d; what can you say to draw

  A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

  Cordelia

  Nothing, my lord.

  King Lear

  Nothing!

  Cordelia

  Nothing.

  King Lear

  Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

  Cordelia

  Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

  My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

  According to my bond; nor more nor less.

  King Lear

  How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,

  Lest it may mar your fortunes.

  Cordelia

  Good my lord,

  You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I

  Return those duties back as are right fit,

  Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

  Why have my sisters husbands, if they say

  They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

  That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

  Half my love with him, half my care and duty:

  Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,

  To love my father all.

  King Lear

  But goes thy heart with this?

  Cordelia

  Ay, good my lord.

  King Lear

  So young, and so untender?

  Cordelia

  So young, my lord, and true.

  King Lear

  Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:

  For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,

  The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;

  By all the operation of the orbs

  From whom we do exist, and cease to be;

  Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

  Propinquity and property of blood,

  And as a stranger to my heart and me

  Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,

  Or he that makes his generation messes

  To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom

  Be as well neighbour’d, pitied, and relieved,

  As thou my sometime daughter.

  Kent

  Good my liege,—

  King Lear

  Peace, Kent!

  Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

  I loved her most, and thought to set my rest


  On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!

  So be my grave my peace, as here I give

  Her father’s heart from her! Call France; who stirs?

  Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,

  With my two daughters’ dowers digest this third:

  Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.

  I do invest you jointly with my power,

  Pre-eminence, and all the large effects

  That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,

  With reservation of an hundred knights,

  By you to be sustain’d, shall our abode

  Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain

  The name, and all the additions to a king;

  The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,

  Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,

  This coronet part betwixt you.

  Giving the crown

  Kent

  Royal Lear,

  Whom I have ever honour’d as my king,

  Loved as my father, as my master follow’d,

  As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—

  King Lear

  The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.

  Kent

  Let it fall rather, though the fork invade

  The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,

  When Lear is mad. What wilt thou do, old man?

  Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,

  When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour’s bound,

  When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;

  And, in thy best consideration, cheque

  This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,

  Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;

  Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound

  Reverbs no hollowness.

  King Lear

  Kent, on thy life, no more.

  Kent

  My life I never held but as a pawn

  To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,

  Thy safety being the motive.

  King Lear

  Out of my sight!

  Kent

  See better, Lear; and let me still remain

  The true blank of thine eye.

  King Lear

  Now, by Apollo,—

  Kent

  Now, by Apollo, king,

  Thou swear’st thy gods in vain.

  King Lear

  O, vassal! miscreant!

  Laying his hand on his sword

  Albany

  Cornwall

  Dear sir, forbear.

  Kent

  Do:

  Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow

  Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy doom;

  Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,

  I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.

  King Lear

  Hear me, recreant!

  On thine allegiance, hear me!

  Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,

  Which we durst never yet, and with strain’d pride

 

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