King Lear, page 4
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 sue27 to know you better.
EDMUND Sir, I shall study deserving28.
GLOUCESTER He hath been out29 nine years, and away he shall
again. The king is coming.
Sennet. Enter [one bearing a coronet, then] King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia and Attendants
LEAR Attend31 the lords of France and Burgundy,
Gloucester.
GLOUCESTER I shall, my lord.
Exit
LEAR Meantime we shall express our darker34 purpose.
Give me the map there.
Kent or an Attendant gives Lear a map
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent36
To shake all cares and business37 from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths while we
Unburdened crawl toward death. Our son39 of Cornwall,
And you our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish41
Our daughters’ several dowers, that42 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 sojourn45
And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters —
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest48 of territory, cares of state —
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty50 may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge51? Goneril,
Our eldest born, speak first.
GONERIL Sir, I love you more than word can wield53 the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace56, health, beauty, honour:
As much as child e’er loved or father found:
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable58:
Beyond all manner of so much59 I love you.
Aside
CORDELIA What shall Cordelia speak? Love and be silent.
Points to the map
LEAR Of all these bounds61, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champaigns riched62,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads63,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany’s issues
Be this perpetual.— What says our second daughter?
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall?
REGAN I am made of that self-mettle67 as my sister,
And prize me at her worth68. In my true heart,
I find she names my very deed69 of love:
Only she comes too short, that70 I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys
Which the most precious square of sense72 professes,
And find I am alone felicitate73
In your dear highness’ love.
Aside
CORDELIA Then poor Cordelia:
And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s
More ponderous77 than my tongue.
LEAR To thee and thine hereditary78 ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,
No less in space, validity80 and pleasure
To Cordelia
Than that conferred on Goneril.— Now, our joy,
Although our last and least, to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy83
Strive to be interessed, what can you say to draw84
A third more opulent than your sisters’? Speak.
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.
LEAR Nothing?
CORDELIA Nothing.
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 bond92, no more nor less.
LEAR How, how, Cordelia? Mend93 your speech a little,
Lest you may mar94 your fortunes.
CORDELIA Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred96 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? Happily when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight101 shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters.
LEAR But goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA Ay, my good lord.
LEAR So young and so untender106?
CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true.
LEAR Let it be so: thy truth then be thy dower,
For by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate110 and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs111
From whom we do exist and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood114,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian116,
Or he that makes his generation messes117
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighboured119, pitied and relieved
As thou my sometime120 daughter.
KENT Good my liege121—
LEAR Peace, Kent:
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest124
To Cordelia
On her kind nursery.— Hence, and avoid125 my sight!—
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father’s heart from her. Call France. Who stirs?127
Call Burgundy.— Cornwall and Albany,
[Exit Attendant]
With my two daughters’ dowers digest129 the third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her130.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects132
That troop with133 majesty. Ourself by monthly course,
With reservation of134 an hundred knights
By you to be sustained135, shall our abode
Make with you by due turn: only we shall retain
The name and all th’addition to a king: the sway137,
Revenue, execution of the rest,
Belovèd sons, be yours, which to confirm,
This coronet part between you.
Gives them coronet to break in half
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—
LEAR The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft145.
KENT Let it fall rather, though the fork146 invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou148 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 falls to folly. Reserve thy state151,
And in thy best consideration152 check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgement153:
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness156.
LEAR Kent, on thy life, no more.
KENT My life I never held but as pawn158
To wage159 against thine enemies, ne’er fear to lose it,
Thy safety being motive.
LEAR Out of my sight!
KENT See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank163 of thine eye.
LEAR Now, by Apollo164—
KENT Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear’st thy gods in vain.
LEAR O, vassal! Miscreant167!
Puts his hand on his sword or attacks Kent
ALBANY AND CORDELIA Dear sir, forbear168.
KENT Kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow169
Upon the foul disease170. Revoke thy gift,
Or whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.
LEAR Hear me, recreant173, on thine allegiance hear me!
That174 thou hast sought to make us break our vows,
Which we durst never yet, and with strained175 pride
To come betwixt our sentences176 and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place177 can bear,
Our potency made good178, take thy reward:
Five days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from disasters180 of the world,
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if on the next day following
Thy banished trunk183 be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter184,
This shall not be revoked.
KENT Fare thee well, king: sith186 thus thou wilt appear,
Freedom lives hence and banishment is here.—
To Cordelia
The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,
That justly think’st, and hast most rightly said.—
To Goneril and Regan
And your large speeches may your deeds approve190,
That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu.
He’ll shape his old course193 in a country new.
Exit
Flourish. Enter Gloucester with France and Burgundy, Attendants
CORDELIA Here’s France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
LEAR My lord of Burgundy,
We first address toward you, who with this king
Hath rivalled for our daughter: what in the least197
Will you require in present dower198 with her,
Or cease your quest of love?
BURGUNDY Most royal majesty,
I crave no more than hath your highness offered,
Nor will you tender202 less.
LEAR Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so204,
But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands:
If aught within that little seeming substance206,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced207,
And nothing more, may fitly like208 your grace,
She’s there, and she is yours.
BURGUNDY I know no answer.
LEAR Will you, with those infirmities she owes211,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dowered with our curse and strangered213 with our oath,
Take her or leave her?
BURGUNDY Pardon me, royal sir:
Election makes not up216 in such conditions.
LEAR Then leave her, sir, for by the power that made me,
To France
I tell you218 all her wealth.— For you, great king,
I would not from your love make such a stray219
To match you where I hate, therefore beseech you
T’avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost t’acknowledge hers.
FRANCE This is most strange,
That she whom even but now was your object225,
The argument of your praise, balm226 of your age,
The best, the dearest, should in this trice227 of time
Commit a thing so monstrous to dismantle228
So many folds of favour. Sure her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your fore-vouched231 affection
Fall into taint, which to believe of her232
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Should never plant in me.
CORDELIA I yet beseech your majesty —
If for I want236 that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not237, since what I will intend
I’ll do’t before I speak — that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness239,
No unchaste action or dishonoured step
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour,
But even for want of that for which242 I am richer:
A still-soliciting243 eye and such a tongue
That I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
LEAR Better thou hadst
Not been born than not t’have pleased me better.
FRANCE Is it but this? A tardiness in nature248,
Which often leaves the history249 unspoke
That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love’s not love
When it is mingled with regards that stands252
Aloof from th’entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.
To Lear
BURGUNDY Royal king,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
LEAR Nothing: I have sworn: I am firm.
To Cordelia
BURGUNDY I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
CORDELIA Peace be with Burgundy.
Since that respect and fortunes263 are his love,
I shall not be his wife.
FRANCE Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor,
Most choice forsaken266, and most loved despised,
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon267:
Takes her hand
Be it lawful268, I take up what’s cast away.
Gods, gods! ’Tis strange that from their269 cold’st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed270 respect.—
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance271,
Is queen of us, of ours and our fair France:
Not all the dukes of wat’rish273 Burgundy
Can buy this unprized274 precious maid of me.—
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind275.
Thou losest here, a better where276 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 benison280.
Come, noble Burgundy.
Flourish. Exeunt. [France and the sisters remain]
FRANCE Bid farewell to your sisters.
CORDELIA The jewels of our father, with washèd283 eyes
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named286. Love well our father:
To your professèd bosoms I commit287 him,
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer289 him to a better place.
So farewell to you both.
REGAN Prescribe not us our duty.
GONERIL Let your study292
Be to content your lord who hath received you
At fortune’s alms. You have obedience scanted294,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted295.
CORDELIA Time shall unfold what plighted cunning296 hides:
Who covers faults, at last with shame derides297.
Well may you prosper.
FRANCE Come, my fair Cordelia.
Exit France and Cordelia
GONERIL Sister, it is not little I have to say of what most nearly300
appertains to us both. I think our father will hence tonight.
REGAN That’s most certain, and with you: next month with
us.
GONERIL 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 grossly307.
REGAN ’Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever308 but
slenderly309 known himself.
GONERIL The best and soundest of his time hath been but310
rash. Then must we look311 from his age to receive not alone the
imperfections of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal312
the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric313 years
bring with them.
REGAN Such unconstant starts315 are we like to have from him
as this of Kent’s banishment.
GONERIL There is further compliment317 of leave-taking
between France and him. Pray you let us sit together318: if our
father carry authority with such disposition319 as he bears, this
last surrender of his will but offend320 us.
REGAN We shall further think of it.
GONERIL We must do something, and i’th’heat322.
Exeunt
Act 1 Scene 2
running scene 2
Enter Bastard [Edmund]
With a letter
EDMUND Thou, nature, art my goddess: to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore2 should I
Stand in3 the plague of custom and permit
The curiosity of nations4 to deprive me
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines5
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base6?
When my dimensions are as well compact7,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true8,
As honest madam’s issue9? Why brand they us
With base? With baseness? Bastardy? Base, base?
Who in the lusty stealth of nature take11
More composition and fierce quality12
Than doth within a dull, stale, tirèd bed,
Go to th’creating a whole tribe of fops14
Got15 ’tween a sleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As18 to th’legitimate — fine word, ‘legitimate’ —
