Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Michael Best
Not Peer Reviewed

King Lear (Modern, Extended Folio)

5.3
Enter, in conquest with drum and colors, Edmund [the Bastard]; Lear, and Cordelia, as prisoners; soldiers, Captain.
2940Bastard
Some officers take them away. Good guard,
Until their greater pleasures first be known
That are to censure them.
Cordelia
We are not the first
Who, with best meaning, have incurred the worst.
2945For thee, oppressèd king I am cast down;
Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
Lear
No, no, no, no. Come, let's away to prison.
We two alone will sing like birds i'th'cage.
2950When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too--
2955Who loses and who wins, who's in, who's out,
And take upon's the mystery of things
As if we were gods' spies; and we'll wear out,
In a walled prison, packs and sects of great ones
That ebb and flow by th'moon.
2960Bastard
[To soldiers] Take them away.
Lear
Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
The gods themselves throw incense.
[Embracing Cordelia]
Have I caught thee?
He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven
2965And fire us hence, like foxes. Wipe thine eyes.
The goodyears shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep. We'll see 'em starved first.
Come.
Exeunt [Lear and Cordelia, guarded].
Bastard
Come hither captain, hark. [Handing him a paper]
2970Take thou this note. Go follow them to prison.
One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
To noble fortunes. Know thou this, that men
Are as the time is. To be tender-minded
2975Does not become a sword. Thy great employment
Will not bear question. Either say thou'lt do't,
Or thrive by other means.
Captain
I'll do't, my lord.
Bastard
About it, and write "happy" when th'hast done.
2980Mark--I say instantly, and carry it so
As I have set it down.
2981.11 Captain
I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats.
If it be man's work I'll do't.
Exit Captain.
Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, soldiers.
Albany
[To the Bastard] Sir, you have showed today your valiant strain
And fortune led you well. You have the captives
2985Who were the opposites of this day's strife.
I do require them of you, so to use them
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.
Bastard
Sir, I thought it fit
2990To send the old and miserable King to some retention,
And appointed guard;
Whose age had charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the common bosom on his side
And turn our impressèd lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the queen--
2995My reason all the same--and they are ready
Tomorrow, or at further space, t'appear
Where you shall hold your session.
2997.1At this time we sweat and bleed.
The friend hath lost his friend, and the best quarrels
In the heat are cursed by those that feel their sharpness.
The question of Cordelia and her father
Requires a fitter place.
Albany
Sir, by your patience,
I hold you but a subject of this war,
3000Not as a brother.
Regan
That's as we list to grace him.
Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded
Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers,
Bore the commission of my place and person,
3005The which immediacy may well stand up
And call itself your brother.
Goneril
Not so hot.
In his own grace he doth exalt himself
More than in your addition.
3010Regan
In my rights,
By me invested, he compeers the best.
Albany
That were the most, if he should husband you.
Regan
Jesters do oft prove prophets.
Goneril
Hola, hola!
3015That eye that told you so looked but asquint.
Regan
Lady, I am not well, else I should answer
From a full-flowing stomach. [To the Bastard] General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
Dispose of them, of me. The walls are thine.
3020Witness the world that I create thee here
My lord and master.
Goneril
Mean you to enjoy him?
Albany
The let-alone lies not in your good will.
Bastard
Nor in thine, lord.
3025Albany
Half-blooded fellow, yes.
Regan
[To Edmund] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.
Albany
Stay yet, hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
On capital treason, and in thy arrest
[Indicating Goneril] This gilded serpent. [To Regan] For your claim, fair sister,
3030I bar it in the interest of my wife.
'Tis she is subcontracted to this lord,
And I, her husband, contradict your banns.
If you will marry, make your loves to me--
My lady is bespoke.
3035Goneril
An interlude!
Albany
Thou art armed, Gloucester. Let the trumpet sound.
If none appear to prove upon thy person
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
[Throwing down a glove]
3040There is my pledge. I'll make it on thy heart,
Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaimed thee.
Regan
Sick, oh sick.
Goneril
[Aside] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.
3045Bastard
[Throwing down a glove] There's my exchange. What in the world he is
That names me traitor, villain-like he lies.
Call by the trumpet. He that dares approach,
On him, on you--who not?--I will maintain
My truth and honor firmly.
Albany
A herald, ho!
Bastard
A herald, ho, a herald!
3050Enter a Herald.
Albany
[To the Bastard] Trust to thy single virtue, for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.
3055Regan
My sickness grows upon me.
Albany
She is not well. Convey her to my tent.
[Exit Regan, supported.]
Come hither herald. Let the trumpet sound,
And read out this.
3058.12 Captain
Sound trumpet!
A Trumpet sounds.
3060[Herald]
"If any man of quality or degree within the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the trumpet. He is bold in his defense."
First trumpet
Herald
Again!
Second trumpet
3065Herald
Again!
Third trumpet
Trumpet answers within.
Enter Edgar, armed.
Albany
Ask him his purposes; why he appears
Upon this call o'th'trumpet.
3070Herald
What are you?
Your name, your quality, and why you answer
This present summons.
Edgar
Know my name is lost,
By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit.
3075Yet am I noble as the adversary
I come to cope.
Albany
Which is that adversary?
Edgar
What's he that speaks for Edmund, Earl of Gloucester?
Bastard
Himself. What sayest thou to him?
3080Edgar
Draw thy sword
That if my speech offend a noble heart
Thy arm may do thee justice. Here is mine.
[Draws his sword.]
Behold. It is my privilege,
The privilege of mine honors,
3085My oath, and my profession. I protest,
Maugre thy strength, place, youth, and eminence,
Despite thy victor-sword and fire-new fortune,
Thy valor and thy heart--thou art a traitor,
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
3090Conspirant 'gainst this high, illustrious prince,
And from th'extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust below thy foot
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou no,
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent
3095To prove upon thy heart whereto I speak
Thou liest.
Bastard
In wisdom I should ask thy name,
But since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
3100What safe and nicely I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head,
With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart,
Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
3105This sword of mine shall give them instant way
Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!
Alarums. Fights. [The Bastard is wounded.]
Albany
[To Edgar] Save him, save him.
Goneril
This is practice, Gloucester.
By th'law of war thou wast not bound to answer
3110An unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquished,
But cozened and beguiled.
Albany
Shut your mouth, dame,
Or with this paper shall I stop it.--Hold, sir--
[To Goneril, giving her the letter] Thou, worse than any name, read thine own evil.
3115No tearing, lady, I perceive you know it.
Goneril
Say if I do, the laws are mine not thine.
Who can arraign me for't?
Exit [Goneril].
Albany
Most monstrous!
[To Edmund] Oh, know'st thou this paper?
Bastard
Ask me not what I know.
3120Albany
[To an attendant] Go after her. She's desperate--govern her.
[Exit an attendant.]
Bastard
What you have charged me with, that have I done,
And more, much more. The time will bring it out.
'Tis past, and so am I. [To Edgar] But what art thou
3125That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
I do forgive thee.
Edgar
Let's exchange charity.
I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
If more, the more th'hast wronged me.
3130My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.
The dark and vicious place where thee he got,
Cost him his eyes.
3135Bastard
Th'hast spoken right, 'tis true.
The wheel is come full circle; I am here.
Albany
[To Edgar] Methought thy very gait did prophesy
A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.
Let sorrow split my heart if ever I
3140Did hate thee or thy father.
Edgar
Worthy prince, I know't.
Albany
Where have you hid yourself?
How have you known the miseries of your father?
Edgar
By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale,
3145And when 'tis told, oh, that my heart would burst.
The bloody proclamation to escape,
That followed me so near--oh, our life's sweetness,
That we the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once--taught me to shift
3150Into a madman's rags, t'assume a semblance
That very dogs disdained; and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious stones new lost, became his guide,
Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair.
3155Never--oh, fault!--revealed myself unto him
Until some half hour past when I was armed;
Not sure, though hoping of this good success,
I asked his blessing, and from first to last
Told him our pilgrimage. But his flawed heart,
3160Alack, too weak the conflict to support,
'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.
Bastard
This speech of yours hath moved me,
And shall perchance do good; but speak you on,
3165You look as you had something more to say.
Albany
If there be more, more woeful, hold it in,
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this.
This would have seemed a period to such
As love not sorrow, but another to amplify too much
Would make much more and top extremity.
Whilst I was big in clamor, came there in a man
3168.5Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunned my abhorred society; but then finding
Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
He fastened on my neck and bellowed out
As he'd burst heaven, threw him on my father,
3168.10Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received, which in recounting
His grief grew puissant and the strings of life
Began to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,
And there I left him tranced.
But who was this?
Kent sir, the banished Kent, who in disguise,
Followed his enemy king and did him service
Improper for a slave.
Enter a Gentleman [with a bloody knife].
3170Gentleman
Help, help, oh help!
Edgar
What kind of help?
Albany
Speak, man.
Edgar
What means this bloody knife?
Gentleman
'Tis hot, it smokes.
It came even from the heart 3175of--oh she's dead.
Albany
Who dead? Speak, man.
Gentleman
Your lady, sir, your lady; and her sister
By her is poisoned. She confesses it.
Bastard
I was contracted to them both. All three
3180Now marry in an instant.
Edgar
Here comes Kent.
Enter Kent [as himself].
Albany
Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead.
Goneril and Regan's bodies brought out.
3185This judgment of the heavens that makes us tremble
Touches us not with pity. Oh, is this he?
[To Kent] The time will not allow the compliment
Which very manners urges.
I am come
3190To bid my king and master aye good night.
Is he not here?
Albany
Great thing of us forgot.
Speak, Edmund, where's the King, and where's Cordelia?
Seest thou this object, Kent?
3195Kent
Alack, why thus?
Bastard
Yet Edmund was beloved.
The one the other poisoned for my sake,
And after slew herself.
Albany
Even so. Cover their faces.
3200Bastard
I pant for life. Some good I mean to do
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send--
Be brief in it--to th'castle, for my writ
Is on the life of Lear, and on Cordelia.
Nay, send in time.
3205Albany
Run, run, Oh, run!
Edgar
To who my lord? Who has the office?
[To Edmund] Send thy token of reprieve.
Bastard
Well thought on. Take my sword. Give it the captain.
3210Edgar
Haste thee for thy life.
[Exit a Gentleman.]
Bastard
He hath commission from thy wife and me
To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
To lay the blame upon her own despair
That she fordid herself.
3215Albany
The gods defend her. Bear him hence awhile.
[The Bastard is carried off.]
Enter Lear with Cordelia in his arms [followed by the Gentleman].
Lear
Howl, howl, howl. Oh, you are men of stones.
Had I your tongues and eyes I'd use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever.
3220I know when one is dead and when one lives;
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass.
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why then she lives.
Kent
Is this the promised end?
3225Edgar
Or image of that horror?
Albany
Fall and cease.
Lear
This feather stirs--she lives. If it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
3230Kent
O my good master.
Lear
Prithee, away.
Edgar
'Tis noble Kent, your friend.
Lear
A plague upon you murderers, traitors all.
I might have saved her. Now she's gone for ever.
3235Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ha?
What is't thou sayest? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.
I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee.
Gentleman
'Tis true, my lords, he did.
3240Lear
Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
I would have made him skip. I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. [To Kent] Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o'th'best, I'll tell you straight.
3245Kent
If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
One of them we behold.
Lear
This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?
The same; your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius?
He's a good fellow, I can tell you that.
He'll strike, and quickly too. He's dead and rotten.
Kent
No, my good lord, I am the very man--
Lear
I'll see that straight.
Kent
That from your first of difference and decay
3255Have followed your sad steps.
Lear
You are welcome hither.
Nor no man else. All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have foredone themselves
3260And desperately are dead.
Lear
Ay, so I think.
Albany
He knows not what he says, and vain is it
That we present us to him.
Enter a Messenger.
3265Edgar
Very bootless.
Messenger
Edmund is dead, my lord.
Albany
That's but a trifle here.
You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
What comfort to this great decay may come
3270Shall be applied. For us we will resign
During the life of this old majesty
To him our absolute power. [To Edgar and Kent] You to your rights
With boot, and such addition as your honors
Have more than merited. All friends shall
3275Taste the wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings. Oh, see, see!
Lear
And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life?
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
3280Never, never, never, never, never.
Pray you, undo this button. Thank you sir.
Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips--
Look there, look there.
He dies.
Edgar
He faints. My lord, my lord!
3285Kent
Break heart, I prithee break.
Edgar
Look up, my lord.
Kent
Vex not his ghost. O let him pass. He hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
3290Edgar
He is gone indeed.
Kent
The wonder is he hath endured so long;
He but usurped his life.
Albany
Bear them from hence. Our present business
Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you twain
3295Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.
Kent
I have a journey, sir, shortly to go.
My master calls me; I must not say no.
Edgar
The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
3300The oldest hath borne most; we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
Exeunt with a dead march, [bearing the bodies].