William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (416 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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OSWALD I am scarce in breath, my lord.
KENT No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour, you cowardly rascal. Nature disclaims in thee; a tailor made thee.
CORNWALL Thou art a strange fellow—a tailor make a man?
KENT Ay, a tailor, sir. A stone-cutter or a painter could not have made him so ill though he had been but two hours at the trade.
GLOUCESTER Speak yet; how grew your quarrel?
OSWALD This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spared at suit of his grey beard—
KENT Thou whoreson Z, thou unnecessary letter—(
to
Cornwall) my lord, if you’ll give me leave I will tread this unboulted villain into mortar and daub the walls of a jakes with him. (
To Oswald
) Spare my grey beard, you wagtail?
to
Cornwall) my lord, if you’ll give me leave I will tread this unboulted villain into mortar and daub the walls of a jakes with him. (
To Oswald
) Spare my grey beard, you wagtail?
CORNWALL
Peace, sir. You beastly knave, have you no reverence?
KENT
Yes, sir, but anger has a privilege.
CORNWALL Why art thou angry?
KENT
That such a slave as this should wear a sword,
That wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues
As these, like rats, oft bite those cords in twain
Which are too entrenched to unloose, smooth every
passion
That in the natures of their lords rebel,
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods,
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,
Knowing naught, like dogs, but following.
(To
Oswald
) A plague upon your epileptic visage!
Smile you my speeches as I were a fool?
Goose, an I had you upon Sarum Plain
I’d send you cackling home to Camelot.
That wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues
As these, like rats, oft bite those cords in twain
Which are too entrenched to unloose, smooth every
passion
That in the natures of their lords rebel,
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods,
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,
Knowing naught, like dogs, but following.
(To
Oswald
) A plague upon your epileptic visage!
Smile you my speeches as I were a fool?
Goose, an I had you upon Sarum Plain
I’d send you cackling home to Camelot.
CORNWALL
What, art thou mad, old fellow?
GLOUCESTER ⌈
to Kent
⌉ How fell you out? Say that.
to Kent
⌉ How fell you out? Say that.
KENT
No contraries hold more antipathy
Than I and such a knave.
Than I and such a knave.
CORNWALL Why dost thou call him knave?
What’s his offence?
KENT His countenance likes me not.
CORNWALL
No more perchance does mine, or his, or hers.
KENT
Sir, ’tis my occupation to be plain:
I have seen better faces in my time
Than stands on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.
I have seen better faces in my time
Than stands on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.
CORNWALL This is a fellow
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter, he.
He must be plain, he must speak truth.
An they will take’t, so; if not, he’s plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends
Than twenty silly-ducking observants
That stretch their duties nicely.
A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter, he.
He must be plain, he must speak truth.
An they will take’t, so; if not, he’s plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends
Than twenty silly-ducking observants
That stretch their duties nicely.
KENT
Sir, in good sooth, or in sincere verity,
Under the allowance of your grand aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
In flickering Phoebus’ front—
Under the allowance of your grand aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
In flickering Phoebus’ front—
CORNWALL What mean’st thou by this?
KENT To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer. He that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain knave, which for my part I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to’t.
CORNWALL (
to Oswald
)
to Oswald
)
What’s the offence you gave him?
OSWALD I never gave him any.
It pleased the King his master very late
To strike at me upon his misconstruction,
When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure,
Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed,
And put upon him such a deal of man that
That worthied him, got praises of the King
For him attempting who was self-subdued,
And in the fleshment of this dread exploit
Drew on me here again.
To strike at me upon his misconstruction,
When he, conjunct, and flattering his displeasure,
Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed,
And put upon him such a deal of man that
That worthied him, got praises of the King
For him attempting who was self-subdued,
And in the fleshment of this dread exploit
Drew on me here again.
KENT None of these rogues and cowards
But Ajax is their fool.
CORNWALL ⌈
calling
⌉ Bring forth the stocks, ho!—
calling
⌉ Bring forth the stocks, ho!—
You stubborn, ancient knave, you reverend braggart,
We’ll teach you.
We’ll teach you.
KENT I am too old to learn.
Call not your stocks for me. I serve the King,
On whose employments I was sent to you.
You should do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.
On whose employments I was sent to you.
You should do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.
CORNWALL ⌈
calling
⌉ Fetch forth the stocks!—
calling
⌉ Fetch forth the stocks!—
As I have life and honour, there shall he sit till noon.
REGAN
Till noon?—till night, my lord, and all night too.
KENT
Why, madam, if I were your father’s dog
You could not use me so.
You could not use me so.
REGAN Sir, being his knave, I will.
⌈
Stocks brought out
⌉
CORNWALL
This is a fellow of the selfsame nature
Our sister speaks of.—Come, bring away the stocks.
Our sister speaks of.—Come, bring away the stocks.
GLOUCESTER
Let me beseech your grace not to do so.
His fault is much, and the good King his master
Will check him for’t. Your purposed low correction
Is such as basest and contemnèd wretches
For pilf’rings and most common trespasses
Are punished with. The King must take it ill
That he’s so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrained.
His fault is much, and the good King his master
Will check him for’t. Your purposed low correction
Is such as basest and contemnèd wretches
For pilf’rings and most common trespasses
Are punished with. The King must take it ill
That he’s so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrained.
CORNWALL I’ll answer that.
REGAN
My sister may receive it much more worse
To have her gentlemen abused, assaulted,
For following her affairs. Put in his legs.
To have her gentlemen abused, assaulted,
For following her affairs. Put in his legs.
They put Kent in the stocks
Come, my good lord, away!
Exeunt all but Gloucester and Kent
GLOUCESTER
I am sorry for thee, friend. ’Tis the Duke’s pleasure,
Whose disposition, all the world well knows,
Will not be rubbed nor stopped. I’ll entreat for thee.
Whose disposition, all the world well knows,
Will not be rubbed nor stopped. I’ll entreat for thee.
KENT
Pray you, do not, sir. I have watched and travelled
hard.
Some time I shall sleep out; the rest I’ll whistle.
A good man’s fortune may grow out at heels.
Give you good morrow.
hard.
Some time I shall sleep out; the rest I’ll whistle.
A good man’s fortune may grow out at heels.
Give you good morrow.
GLOUCESTER
The Duke’s to blame in this; ’twill be ill took.
Exit
KENT
Good King, that must approve the common say:
Thou out of heaven’s benediction com’st
To the warm sun.
Thou out of heaven’s benediction com’st
To the warm sun.
⌈
He takes out a letter
⌉
Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter. Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery. I know ’tis from Cordelia,
Who hath now fortunately been informed
Of my obscured course, and shall find time
For this enormous state, seeking to give
Losses their remedies. All weary and overwatched,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging. Fortune, good night;
Smile; once more turn thy wheel.
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter. Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery. I know ’tis from Cordelia,
Who hath now fortunately been informed
Of my obscured course, and shall find time
For this enormous state, seeking to give
Losses their remedies. All weary and overwatched,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging. Fortune, good night;
Smile; once more turn thy wheel.
He sleeps
Enter Edgar
EDGAR I heard myself proclaimed,
And by the happy hollow of a tree
Escaped the hunt. No port is free, no place
That guard and most unusual vigilance
Does not attend my taking. While I may scape
I will preserve myself, and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury in contempt of man
Brought near to beast. My face I’ll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins, elf all my hair with knots,
And with presented nakedness outface
The wind and persecution of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars who with roaring voices
Strike in their numbed and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary,
And with this horrible object from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes and mills
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers
Enforce their charity. ‘Poor Tuelygod, Poor Tom!’
That’s something yet. Edgar I nothing am.
Escaped the hunt. No port is free, no place
That guard and most unusual vigilance
Does not attend my taking. While I may scape
I will preserve myself, and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury in contempt of man
Brought near to beast. My face I’ll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins, elf all my hair with knots,
And with presented nakedness outface
The wind and persecution of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars who with roaring voices
Strike in their numbed and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary,
And with this horrible object from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes and mills
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers
Enforce their charity. ‘Poor Tuelygod, Poor Tom!’
That’s something yet. Edgar I nothing am.
Exit
Enter King Lear, his Fool, and
a
Knight
LEAR
’Tis strange that they should so depart from home
And not send back my messenger.
And not send back my messenger.
KNIGHT As I learned,
The night before there was no purpose
Of his remove.
Of his remove.
KENT (
waking
) Hail to thee, noble master.
waking
) Hail to thee, noble master.
LEAR
How! Mak’st thou this shame thy pastime?
FOOL Ha, ha, look, he wears cruel garters! Horses are tied by the heads, dogs and bears by th’ neck, monkeys by th’ loins, and men by th’ legs. When a man’s over-lusty at legs, then he wears wooden nether-stocks.
LEAR (
to Kent
)
to Kent
)
What’s he that hath so much thy place mistook
To set thee here?
To set thee here?
KENT It is both he and she:
Your son and daughter.
LEAR No.
KENT Yes.
LEAR No, I say.
KENT
I say yea.
LEAR No, no, they would not.
KENT Yes, they have.
LEAR
By Jupiter, I swear no. They durst not do‘t,
They would not, could not do’t. ’Tis worse than murder,
To do upon respect such violent outrage.
Resolve me with all modest haste which way
Thou mayst deserve or they propose this usage,
Coming from us.
They would not, could not do’t. ’Tis worse than murder,
To do upon respect such violent outrage.
Resolve me with all modest haste which way
Thou mayst deserve or they propose this usage,
Coming from us.
KENT My lord, when at their home
I did commend your highness’ letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that showed
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post
Stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Gonoril, his mistress, salutations,
Delivered letters spite of intermission,
Which presently they read, on whose contents
They summoned up their meiny, straight took horse,
Commanded me to follow and attend
The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks;
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome I perceived had poisoned mine—
Being the very fellow that of late
Displayed so saucily against your highness—
Having more man than wit about me, drew.
He raised the house with loud and coward cries.
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
This shame which here it suffers.
Ere I was risen from the place that showed
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post
Stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Gonoril, his mistress, salutations,
Delivered letters spite of intermission,
Which presently they read, on whose contents
They summoned up their meiny, straight took horse,
Commanded me to follow and attend
The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks;
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome I perceived had poisoned mine—
Being the very fellow that of late
Displayed so saucily against your highness—
Having more man than wit about me, drew.
He raised the house with loud and coward cries.
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
This shame which here it suffers.
LEAR
O, how this mother swells up toward my heart!
Histerica passio,
down, thou climbing sorrow;
Thy element’s betow.—Where is this daughter?
Histerica passio,
down, thou climbing sorrow;
Thy element’s betow.—Where is this daughter?
KENT
With the Earl, sir, within.
LEAR Follow me not; stay there.
Exit
KNIGHT (
to Kent
)
to Kent
)
Made you no more offence than what you speak of?
KENT
No. How chance the King comes with so small a train?
FOOL An thou hadst been set in the stocks for that question, thou hadst well deserved it.
KENT Why, fool?
FOOL We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there’s no labouring in the winter. All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose among a hundred but can smell him that’s stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it; but the great one that goes up the hill, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again. I would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.
⌈
Sings
⌉
Sings
⌉
That sir that serves for gain And follows but for form,
Will pack when it begin to rain,
And leave thee in the storm.But I will tarry, the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly.
The knave turns fool that runs away,
The fool no knave, pardie.
KENT Where learnt you this, fool?
FOOL Not in the stocks.
Enter King Lear and the Duke of Gloucester
LEAR
Deny to speak with me? They’re sick, they’re weary?
They travelled hard tonight?—mere insolence,
Ay, the images of revolt and flying off.
Fetch me a better answer.
They travelled hard tonight?—mere insolence,
Ay, the images of revolt and flying off.
Fetch me a better answer.
GLOUCESTER My dear lord,
You know the fiery quality of the Duke,
How unremovable and fixed he is
In his own course.
How unremovable and fixed he is
In his own course.
LEAR Vengeance, death, plague, confusion! What ‘fiery quality’? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester, I’d Speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.
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