King Lear
Page 17
Now outlawed from my blood;° he sought my life
But lately, very late.° I loved him, friend,
No father his son dearer. True to tell thee,
The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this!149 gets begets
151 suffer permit me
160 Theban i.e., Greek philosopher
161 study particular scientific study
162 prevent balk
170 outlawed from my blood disowned and tainted, like a carbuncle in the corrupted blood
171 late recently
I do beseech your Grace
Lear. 0, cry you mercy, sir.Noble philosopher, your company.
Edgar. Tom’s a-cold.
Gloucester. In, fellow, there, into th’ hovel; keep thee warm.
Lear. Come, let’s in all.
Kent. This way, my lord.
Lear. With him!I will keep still with my philosopher.
Kent. Good my lord, soothe° him; let him take the fellow.
Gloucester. Take him you on.°
Kent. Sirrah, come on; go along with us.
Lear. Come, good Athenian.°
Gloucester. No words, no words! Hush.
Edgar. Child Rowland to the dark tower came;°His word was still,° “Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.”° Exeunt.
174 cry you mercy I beg your pardon
180 soothe humor
181 you on with you
183 Athenian i.e., philosopher (like “Theban”)
185 Child ... came (? from a lost ballad; “child”=a candidate for knighthood; Rowland was Charlemagne’s nephew, the hero of The Song of Roland)
186 His ... still his motto was always
186-87 Fie ... man (a deliberately absurd linking of the chivalric hero with the nursery tale of Jack the Giant-Killer)
Scene 5. [Gloucester’s castle.]
Enter Cornwall and Edmund.
Cornwall. I will have my revenge ere I depart his house.
Edmund. How, my lord, I may be censured,° that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears° me to think of.
Cornwall. I now perceive it was not altogether your brother’s evil disposition made him seek his death; but a provoking merit, set a-work by a reprovable badness in himself.°
Edmund. How malicious is my fortune that I must repent to be just! This is the letter which he spoke of, which approves° him an intelligent party° to the advantages° of France. O heavens, that his treason were not! or not I the detector!
Cornwall. Go with me to the Duchess.
Edmund. If the matter of this paper be certain, you have mighty business in hand.
Cornwall. True or false, it hath made thee Earl of Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may be ready for our apprehension.°
Edmund. [Aside] If I find him comforting° the King, it will stuff his suspicion more fully.—I will persever° in my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore between that and my blood.°
3.5.8 censured judged
4 something fears somewhat frightens
8-9 a provoking ... himself a stimulating goodness in Edgar, brought into play by a blamable badness in Gloucester
12 approves proves
12 intelligent party (1) spy (2) well-informed person
13 to the advantages on behalf of
20 apprehension arrest 21 comforting supporting (a legalism)
23 persever persevere
24 blood natural feelings
Cornwall. I will lay trust upon° thee, and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love. Exeunt.
Scene 6. [A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle.]
Enter Kent and 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 Lear, Edgar, and 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 hizzing° in upon ‘em—
25 lay trust upon (1) trust (2) advance
3.6.5 impatience raging
6 Frateretto Elizabethan devil, from Harsnett’s Declaration
6 Nero (who is mentioned by Harsnett, and whose angling is reported by Chaucer in “The Monk’s Tale”)
7 innocent fool
10 yeoman farmer (just below a gentleman in rank. The Fool asks what class of man has most indulged his children, and thus been driven mad)
16 hizzing hissing
Edgar. The foul fiend bites my back.
Fool. He’s mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse’s health, a boy’s love, or a whore’s oath.
Lear. It shall be done; I will arraign° them straight.° [To Edgar] Come, sit thou here, most learned justice.°[To the Fool] Thou, sapient° sir, sit here. Now, you she-foxes—
Edgar. Look, where he° stands and glares. Want‘st thou eyes at trial, madam?°Come o‘er the bourn,° Bessy, to me.
Fool. Her boat hath a leak,And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.°
Edgar. The foul fiend haunts Poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale.° Hoppedance° cries in Tom’s belly for two white herring.° Croak° not, black angel; I have no food for thee.
Kent. How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed.° Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
Lear. I’ll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence. [To Edgar] Thou, robèd man of justice, take thy place.[To the Fool] And thou, his yokefellow of equity,°
Bench° by his side. [To Kent] You are o’ th’
commission;°
Sit you too.
Edgar. Let us deal justly.20 arraign bring to trial
20 straight straightaway
21 justice justicer, judge
22 sapient wise
23 he i.e., a fiend
23-24 Want‘st ... madam (to Goneril) i.e., do you want eyes to look at you during your trial? The fiend serves that purpose
25 bourn brook (Edgar quotes from a popular ballad)
26-28 Her ... thee (the Fool parodies the ballad)
30 nightingale i.e., the Fool’s singing
30 Hoppedance Hoberdidance (another devil from Harsnett’s Declaration)
31 white herring unsmoked (? as against the black and sulfurous devil)
31 Croak rumble (because his belly is empty)
33 amazed astonished
35 evidence the evidence of witnesses against them
37 yokefellow of equity partner in justice
38 Bench sit on the bench
38 commission those commissioned as king’s justices
Steepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
Thy sheep be in the corn;°
And for one blast of thy minikin° mouth
Thy sheep shall take no harm.°
Purr, the cat is gray.°
Lear. Arraign her first. ‘Tis Goneril, I here take my oath before this honorable assembly, she kicked the poor King her father.
Fool. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?
Lear. She cannot deny it.
Fool. Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint stool.°
Lear. And here’s another, whose warped looks proclaimWhat store° her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place!°
False justicer, why hast thou let her ‘scape?
Edgar. Bless thy five wits!
Kent. O pity! Sir, where is the patience now That you so o
ft have boasted to retain?
Edgar. [Aside] My tears begin to take his part so muchThey 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,41-44 Sleepest ... harm (probably quoted or adapted from an Elizabethan song)
42 corn wheat
43 minikin shrill
45 gray (devils were thought to assume the shape of a gray cat)
51 Cry ... joint stool (proverbial and deliberately impudent apology for overlooking a person. A joint stool was a low stool made by a joiner, perhaps here a stage property to represent Goneril and in line
52, Regan. “Joint stool” can also suggest the judicial bench; hence Goneril may be identified by the Fool, ironically, with those in power, who judge)
53 store stuff
54 Corruption ... place bribery in the court 60 counterfeiting i.e., feigned madness
64 or ... or either ... or
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach° or lym,°
Or bobtail tike, or trundle-tail°—
Tom will make him weep and wail;
For, with throwing° thus my head,
Dogs leaped the hatch,° and all are fled.
Do, de, de, de. Sessa!° 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 make° 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 awhile.
Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains.°So, so. We’ll go to supper i’ th’ morning.
Fool. And I’ll go to bed at noon.°
Enter Gloucester.
Gloucester. 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.67 brach bitch
67 lym bloadhound (from the liam or leash with which he was led)
68 bobtail ... trundle-tail short-tailed or long-tailed cur
70 throwing jerking (as a hound lifts its head from the ground, the scent having been lost)
71 leaped the hatch leaped over the lower half of a divided door (i.e., left in a hurry)
72 Sessa be off
72 wakes feasts attending the dedication of a church
73 horn horn bottle which the Bedlam used in begging a drink (Edgar is suggesting that he is unable to play his role any longer)
75-76 Then ... heart i.e., if the Bedlam’s horn is dry, let Regan, whose heart has become as hard as horn, be dissected
77 make (subjunctive)
78 entertain engage
78 hundred i.e., Lear’s hundred knights
80 Persian gorgeous (ironically of Edgar’s rags)
82 curtains (Lear imagines himself in bed)
84 And ... noon (the Fool’s last words)
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.°
Kent. Oppressèd nature sleeps.This rest might yet have balmed thy broken
sinews,°
Which, if convenience° will not allow,
Stand in hard cure.° [To the Fool] Come, help
to bear thy master.
Thou must not stay behind.
Gloucester. Come, come, away!
Exeunt [all but Edgar].
Edgar. When we our betters see bearing our woes,We scarcely think our miseries our foes.°
Who alone suffers suffers most i’ th’ mind,
Leaving free° things and happy shows° behind;
But then the mind much sufferance° doth o‘erskip
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.°
How light and portable° my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the
King bow.
He childed as I fathered. Tom, away.
Mark the high noises,° and thyself bewray°
When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts° defile
thee,95 provision maintenance
96 conduct direction
97 balmed thy broken sinews soothed thy racked nerves
98 convenience fortunate occasion
99 Stand ... cure will be hard to cure
102 our foes enemies peculiar to ourselves
104 free carefree
104 shows scenes
105 sufferance suffering
106 bearing fellowship suffering has company
107 portable able to be supported or endured
110 Mark the high noises observe the rumors of strife among those in power
110 bewray reveal
111 wrong thoughts misconceptions
In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.°
What will hap more° tonight, safe ‘scape the King!
Lurk,° lurk. [Exit.]
Scene 7. [Gloucester’s castle.]
Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, 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 of the Servants.] Regan. Hang him instantly.
Goneril. Pluck out his eyes.
Cornwall. Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, 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. Farewell, dear sister; farewell, my Lord of Gloucester.°
Enter Oswald.
How now? Where’s the King?
Oswald. My Lord of Gloucester hath conveyed him hence.112 In ... thee on the manifesting of your innocence recalls you from outlawry and restores amity between you and your father
113 What ... more whatever else happens
114 Lurk hide 3.7.9 bound (1) forced (2) purposing to
11 festinate speedy
12 posts messengers
13 intelligent full of information
14 Lord of Gloucester i.e., Edmund, now elevated to the title
Some five or six and thirty of his knights,
Hot questrists° after him, met him at gate;
Who, with some other of the lords 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. Edmund, farewell.[Exeunt Goneril and Edmund.]
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 court‘sy to° our wrath, which men
May blame, but not control.
Enter Gloucester, brought in by two or three.
Who’s there, the traitor?
Regan. Ingrateful fox, ‘tis he.
Cornwall. Bind fast his corky° arms.
Gloucester. What means your Graces? Go
od my friends, considerYou are my guests. Do me no foul play, friends.
Cornwall. Bind him, I say.[Servants bind him.]
Regan. Hard, hard! O filthy traitor.
Gloucester. Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
Cornwall. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find—
18 questrists searchers
19 lords dependants attendant lords (members of Lear’s retinue)
25 pass upon pass judgment on
27 do a court‘sy to indulge
30 corky sapless (because old)
[Regan plucks his 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 robber’s hands my hospitable favors°
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 traitorsLate 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.