William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (411 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
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BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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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.
Look on the tragic loading of this bed.
This is thy work. The object poisons sight.
Let it be hid.
⌈
They close the bed-curtains
⌉
Graziano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. (To Cassio) 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.
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. (To Cassio) 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 ⌈with Emilia’s bodyl ⌉
THE HISTORY OF KING LEAR
THE QUARTO TEXT
King Lear
first appeared in print in a quarto of 1608. A substantially different text appeared in the 1623 Folio. Until the first appearance of the Oxford text, editors, assuming that each of these early texts imperfectly represented a single play, conflated them. But research conducted mainly during the 1970s and 1980s confirms an earlier view that the 1608 quarto represents the play as Shakespeare originally wrote it, and the 1623 Folio as he substantially revised it. He revised other plays, too, but usually by making many small changes in the dialogue and adding or omitting passages, as in
Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida,
and
Othello.
For these plays we print the revised text in so far as it can be ascertained. But in
King Lear
revisions are not simply local but structural, too; conflation, as Harley Granville-Barker wrote, ‘may make for redundancy or confusion’, so we print an edited version of each text. The first, printed in the following pages, represents the play as Shakespeare first conceived it, probably before it was performed.
first appeared in print in a quarto of 1608. A substantially different text appeared in the 1623 Folio. Until the first appearance of the Oxford text, editors, assuming that each of these early texts imperfectly represented a single play, conflated them. But research conducted mainly during the 1970s and 1980s confirms an earlier view that the 1608 quarto represents the play as Shakespeare originally wrote it, and the 1623 Folio as he substantially revised it. He revised other plays, too, but usually by making many small changes in the dialogue and adding or omitting passages, as in
Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida,
and
Othello.
For these plays we print the revised text in so far as it can be ascertained. But in
King Lear
revisions are not simply local but structural, too; conflation, as Harley Granville-Barker wrote, ‘may make for redundancy or confusion’, so we print an edited version of each text. The first, printed in the following pages, represents the play as Shakespeare first conceived it, probably before it was performed.
The story of a king who, angry with the failure of his virtuous youngest daughter (Cordelia) to respond as he desires in a love-test, divides his kingdom between her two malevolent sisters (Gonoril and Regan), had been often told; Shakespeare would have come upon it in Holinshed’s
Chronicles
and in
A Mirror for Magistrates
while reading for his plays on English history. It is told also (though briefly) in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie
Queene
(Book 2, canto 10), and had been dramatized in a play of unknown authorship—
The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters
—published in 1605, but probably written some fifteen years earlier. This play particularly gave Shakespeare much, including suggestions for the characters of Lear’s loyal servant, Kent, and of Gonoril’s husband, Albany, and her steward, Oswald; for the storm; for Lear’s kneeling to Cordelia; and for many details of language. Nevertheless, his play is a highly original creation. Lear’s madness and the harrowing series of disasters in King
Lear’s
final stages are of Shakespeare’s invention, and he complicates the plot by adding the story (based on an episode of Sir Philip Sidney’s
Arcadia
) of Gloucester and his two sons, Edmund and Edgar. Edgar’s love and loyalty to the father who, failing to see the truth, has rejected him in favour of the villainous Edmund makes him a counterpart to Cordelia; and the horrific blinding of Gloucester brought about by Edmund creates a physical parallel to Lear’s madness which reaches its consummation in the scene (Sc. 20) at Dover Cliff when the mad and the blind old men commune together.
Chronicles
and in
A Mirror for Magistrates
while reading for his plays on English history. It is told also (though briefly) in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie
Queene
(Book 2, canto 10), and had been dramatized in a play of unknown authorship—
The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters
—published in 1605, but probably written some fifteen years earlier. This play particularly gave Shakespeare much, including suggestions for the characters of Lear’s loyal servant, Kent, and of Gonoril’s husband, Albany, and her steward, Oswald; for the storm; for Lear’s kneeling to Cordelia; and for many details of language. Nevertheless, his play is a highly original creation. Lear’s madness and the harrowing series of disasters in King
Lear’s
final stages are of Shakespeare’s invention, and he complicates the plot by adding the story (based on an episode of Sir Philip Sidney’s
Arcadia
) of Gloucester and his two sons, Edmund and Edgar. Edgar’s love and loyalty to the father who, failing to see the truth, has rejected him in favour of the villainous Edmund makes him a counterpart to Cordelia; and the horrific blinding of Gloucester brought about by Edmund creates a physical parallel to Lear’s madness which reaches its consummation in the scene (Sc. 20) at Dover Cliff when the mad and the blind old men commune together.
The clear-eyed intensity of Shakespeare’s tragic vision in King Lear has been too much for some audiences, and Nahum Tate’s adaptation, which gave the play a happy ending, held the stage from 1681 to 1843; since then, increased understanding of Shakespeare’s stagecraft along with a greater seriousness in theatre audiences has assisted in the rehabilitation of a play that is now recognized as one of the profoundest of all artistic explorations of the human condition.
In the text which follows, the Quarto scene numbers are followed by the equivalent Folio act and scene numbers in parentheses. There is no equivalent to Sc. 17 in the Folio.
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAYLEAR, King of Britain
GONORIL, Lear’s eldest daughter
Duke of ALBANY, her husband
REGAN, Lear’s second daughter
Duke of CORNWALL, her husband
CORDELIA, Lear’s youngest daughterEarl of KENT, later disguised as Caius
Earl of GLOUCESTER
EDGAR, elder son of Gloucester, later disguised as Tom o’ Bedlam
EDMUND, bastard son of Gloucester
OLD MAN, a tenant of Gloucester
CURAN, Gloucester’s retainer
Lear’s FOOL
OSWALD, Gonoril’s steward
Three SERVANTS of Cornwall
DOCTOR, attendant on Cordelia
Three CAPTAINS
A HERALD
A KNIGHT
A MESSENGER
Gentlemen, servants, soldiers, followers, trumpeters, others
Enter the Earl of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, and Edmund the bastard
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 kingdoms 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. (To Edmund) Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?
EDMUND No, my lord.
GLOUCESTER (to Edmund) My lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.
EDMUND (
to Kent)
My services to your lordship.
to Kent)
My services to your lordship.
KENT I must love you, and sue to know you better.
EDMUND Sir, I shall study deserving.
GLOUCESTER (to Kent) He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again.
Sound a sennet
The King is coming.
Enter one bearing a coronet, then King Lear, then the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall; next Gonoril, Regan, Cordelia, with followers
LEAR
Attend my lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.
GLOUCESTER I shall, my liege.
⌈Exit⌉
LEAR
Meantime we will express our darker purposes.
The map there. Know we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our first intent
To shake all cares and business off our state,
Confirming them on younger years.
The two great 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 answered. Tell me, my daughters,
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where merit doth most challenge it?
Gonoril, our eldest born, speak first.
The map there. Know we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our first intent
To shake all cares and business off our state,
Confirming them on younger years.
The two great 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 answered. Tell me, my daughters,
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where merit doth most challenge it?
Gonoril, our eldest born, speak first.
GONORIL
Sir, I do love you more than words can wield the
matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, or 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, friend;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, or 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, friend;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
CORDELIA
(aside)
(aside)
What shall Cordelia do? Love and be silent.
LEAR (
to Gonoril
)
to Gonoril
)
Of all these bounds even from this line to this,
With shady forests 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.
With shady forests 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 mettle 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 came 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.
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love—
Only she came 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—
(aside)
Then poor Cordelia—
And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s
More richer than my tongue.
More richer than my tongue.
LEAR (to Regan)
To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom, No less in space, validity, and pleasure
Than that confirmed on Gonoril. (To
Cordelia)
But
now our joy,
Although the last, not least in our dear love:
What can you say to win a third more opulent
Than your sisters?
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom, No less in space, validity, and pleasure
Than that confirmed on Gonoril. (To
Cordelia)
But
now our joy,
Although the last, not least in our dear love:
What can you say to win a third more opulent
Than your sisters?
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.
LEAR
How? Nothing can 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.
My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty
According to my bond, nor more nor less.
LEAR
Go to, go to, mend your speech a little
Lest it may mar your fortunes.
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.
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.
LEAR But goes this with thy heart?
CORDELIA Ay, good my lord.
LEAR So young and so untender?
CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true.
LEAR
Well, let it be so. Thy truth then he 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 be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved
As thou, my sometime daughter.
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 be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved
As thou, my sometime daughter.
KENT Good my +liege-
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. ⌈To
Cordelia⌉
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.
wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. ⌈To
Cordelia⌉
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.
⌈Exit one or more⌉
Cornwall and Albany,
With my two daughters’ dowers digest this third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly in 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 sustained, 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 crownet part betwixt you.
With my two daughters’ dowers digest this third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly in 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 sustained, 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 crownet part betwixt you.
KENT Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honoured as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers—
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers—
LEAR
The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft.
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