William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (412 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
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BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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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 check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgement,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness.
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 check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgement,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness.
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.
To wage against thy enemies, nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive.
LEAR Out of my sight!
KENT
See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.
The true blank of thine eye.
LEAR Now, by Apollo-
KENT
Now, by Apollo, King, thou swear’st thy gods in vain.
LEAR
⌈making to strike himl
⌉
⌈making to strike himl
⌉
Vassal, recreant!
KENT Do, kill thy physician,
And the fee bestow upon the foul disease.
Revoke thy doom, or whilst I can vent clamour
From my throat I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.
Revoke thy doom, or whilst I can vent clamour
From my throat I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.
LEAR
Hear me; on thy allegiance hear me!
Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
Which we durst never yet, and with strayed pride
To come between our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good take thy reward:
Four days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from dis-eases of the world,
And on the fifth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the next day following
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked.
Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
Which we durst never yet, and with strayed pride
To come between our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good take thy reward:
Four days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from dis-eases of the world,
And on the fifth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the next day following
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked.
KENT
Why, fare thee well, King; since thus thou wilt
appear,
Friendship lives hence, and banishment is here.
(To Cordelia) The gods to their protection take thee,
maid,
That rightly thinks, and hast most justly said.
appear,
Friendship lives hence, and banishment is here.
(To Cordelia) The gods to their protection take thee,
maid,
That rightly thinks, and hast most justly said.
(To Gonoril and Regan)
And your large speeches may your deeds approve,
That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;
He’ll shape his old course in a country new.
That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;
He’ll shape his old course in a country new.
Exit
Enter the King of France and the Duke of
Burgundy, with the Duke of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER
Here’s France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
LEAR My lord of Burgundy,
We first address towards you, who with a king
Hath rivalled for our daughter: what in the least
Will you require in present dower with her
Or cease your quest of love?
Hath rivalled for our daughter: what in the least
Will you require in present dower with her
Or cease your quest of love?
BURGUNDY Royal majesty,
I crave no more than what your highness offered;
Nor will you tender less.
Nor will you tender less.
LEAR Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us we did hold her so;
But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands.
If aught within that little seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
And nothing else, may fitly like your grace,
She’s there, and she is yours.
But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands.
If aught within that little seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
And nothing else, may fitly like your grace,
She’s there, and she is yours.
BURGUNDY I know no answer.
LEAR
Sir, will you with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Covered with our curse and strangered with our oath,
Take her or leave her?
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Covered with our curse and strangered with our oath,
Take her or leave her?
BURGUNDY Pardon me, royal sir.
Election makes not up on such conditions.
LEAR
Then leave her, sir; for by the power that made me,
I tell you all her wealth. (To France) For you, great
King,
I would not from your love make such a stray
To match you where I hate, therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost to acknowledge hers.
I tell you all her wealth. (To France) For you, great
King,
I would not from your love make such a stray
To match you where I hate, therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost to acknowledge hers.
FRANCE
This is most strange, that she that even but now
Was your best object, the argument of your praise,
Balm of your age, most best, most dearest,
Should in this trice of time commit a thing
So monstrous to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your fore-vouched affections
Fall’n into taint; which to believe of her
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.
Was your best object, the argument of your praise,
Balm of your age, most best, most dearest,
Should in this trice of time commit a thing
So monstrous to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your fore-vouched affections
Fall’n into taint; which to believe of her
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.
CORDELIA (
to Lear
)
to Lear
)
I yet beseech your majestyIf for I want that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not—since what I well intend,
I’ll do’t before I speak—that you acknow
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unclean action or dishonoured step
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour,
But even the want of that for which I am rich—
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
To speak and purpose not—since what I well intend,
I’ll do’t before I speak—that you acknow
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unclean action or dishonoured step
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour,
But even the want of that for which I am rich—
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
LEAR Go to, go to.
Better thou hadst not been born than not to have
pleased me better.
pleased me better.
FRANCE
Is it no more but this—a tardiness in nature,
That often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do?—My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love is not love
When it is mingled with respects that stands
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dower.
That often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do?—My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love is not love
When it is mingled with respects that stands
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dower.
BURGUNDY Royal Lear,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy—
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy—
LEAR Nothing. I have sworn.
BURGUNDY (
to Cordelia)
to Cordelia)
I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
That you must lose a husband.
CORDELIA
Peace be with Burgundy; since that respects
Of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife.
Of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife.
FRANCE
Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised:
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.
Be it lawful, I take up what’s cast away.
Gods, gods! ‘Tis strange that from their cold’st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.—
Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes in wat’rish Burgundy
Shall buy this unprized precious maid of me.—
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.
Thou losest here, a better where to find.
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised:
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.
Be it lawful, I take up what’s cast away.
Gods, gods! ‘Tis strange that from their cold’st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.—
Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes in wat’rish Burgundy
Shall buy this unprized precious maid of me.—
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.
Thou losest here, a better where to find.
LEAR
Thou hast her, France. Let her be thine, for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone,
Without our grace, our love, our benison.—
Come, noble Burgundy.
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone,
Without our grace, our love, our benison.—
Come, noble Burgundy.
[Flourish.! Exeunt Lear and Burgundy, then
Albany, Cornwall, Gloucester, ⌈Edmund,⌉
and followers
Albany, Cornwall, Gloucester, ⌈Edmund,⌉
and followers
FRANCE (
to Cordelia
) Bid farewell to your sisters.
to Cordelia
) Bid farewell to your sisters.
CORDELIA
Ye jewels of our father, with washed eyes
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father.
To your professed bosoms I commit him.
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father.
To your professed bosoms I commit him.
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.
GONORIL Prescribe not us our duties.
REGAN Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At fortune’s alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the worst that you have wanted.
At fortune’s alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the worst that you have wanted.
CORDELIA
Time shall unfold what pleated cunning hides.
Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper.
Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper.
FRANCE Come, fair Cordelia.
Exeunt France and Cordelia
GONORIL Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what most nearly appertains to us both. I think our father will hence tonight.
REGAN That’s most certain, and with you. Next month with us.
GONORIL You see how full of changes his age is. The observation we have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our sister most, and with what poor judgement he hath now cast her off appears too gross.
REGAN ’Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.
GONORIL The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look to receive from his age not alone the imperfection of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.
REGAN Such unconstant starts are we like to have from him as this of Kent’s banishment.
GONORIL There is further compliment of leave-taking between France and him. Pray, let’s hit together. If our father carry authority with such dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us.
REGAN We shall further think on’t.
GONORIL We must do something, and l’th’ heat. Exeunt
Sc. 2Enter Edmund the bastard
EDMUND
Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why ‘bastard’? Wherefore ‘base’,
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true
As honest madam’s issue?
Why brand they us with ‘base, base bastardy’,
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth within a stale, dull-eyed bed go
To the creating a whole tribe of fops
Got ’tween a sleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate. Well, my legitimate, if
This letter speed and my invention thrive,
Edmund the base shall to th’ legitimate.
I grow, I prosper. Now gods, stand up for bastards!
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why ‘bastard’? Wherefore ‘base’,
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true
As honest madam’s issue?
Why brand they us with ‘base, base bastardy’,
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth within a stale, dull-eyed bed go
To the creating a whole tribe of fops
Got ’tween a sleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate. Well, my legitimate, if
This letter speed and my invention thrive,
Edmund the base shall to th’ legitimate.
I grow, I prosper. Now gods, stand up for bastards!
Enter the Duke of Gloucester. Edmund reads a letter
GLOUCESTER
Kent banished thus, and France in choler parted,
And the King gone tonight, subscribed his power,
Confined to exhibition—all this done
Upon the gad?—Edmund, how now? What news?
And the King gone tonight, subscribed his power,
Confined to exhibition—all this done
Upon the gad?—Edmund, how now? What news?
EDMUND So please your lordship, none.
GLOUCESTER Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter?
EDMUND I know no news, my lord.
GLOUCESTER What paper were you reading?
EDMUND Nothing., my lord.
GLOUCESTER No? What needs then that terrible dispatch of it into your pocket? The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see. Come, if it be nothing I shall not need spectacles.
EDMUND I beseech you, sir, pardon me. It is a letter from my brother that I have not all o’er-read; for so much as I have perused, I find it not fit for your liking.
GLOUCESTER Give me the letter, sir.
EDMUND I shall offend either to detain or give it. The contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.
GLOUCESTER Let’s see, let’s see.
EDMUND I hope for my brother’s justification he wrote this but as an assay or taste of my virtue.
He gives Gloucester a letter
GLOUCESTER (reads) ‘This policy of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times, keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways not as it hath power but as it is suffered. Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue for ever and live the beloved of your brother, Edgar.’ Hum, conspiracy! ‘Slept till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue’—my son Edgar! Had he a hand to write this, a heart and brain to breed it in? When came this to you? Who brought it?
EDMUND It was not brought me, my lord, there’s the cunning of it. I found it thrown in at the casement of my closet.
GLOUCESTER You know the character to be your brother’s?
EDMUND If the matter were good, my lord, I durst swear it were his; but in respect of that, I would fain think it were not.
GLOUCESTER It is his.
EDMUND It is his hand, my lord, but I hope his heart is not in the contents.
GLOUCESTER Hath he never heretofore sounded you in this business? 70
EDMUND Never, my lord; but I have often heard him maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect age and fathers declining, his father should be as ward to the son, and the son manage the revenue.
GLOUCESTER O villain, villain—his very opinion in the tetter! Abhorred villain, unnatural, detested, brutish villain—worse than brutish! Go, sir, seek him, ay, apprehend him. Abominable villain! Where is he?
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