King Lear (15 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
Enter Oswald
How now? Where’s the king?
OSWALD
My lord of Gloucester hath conveyed him hence:
Some five- or six-and-thirty of his knights,
Hot
questrists
17
after him, met him at gate,
Who, with some other of
the lord’s
18
dependants,
Are gone with him toward Dover, where they boast
To have well-armèd friends.
CORNWALL
Get horses for your mistress.
GONERIL
Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
Exeunt
[
Goneril, Edmund and Oswald
]
CORNWALL
Edmund, farewell.—
Go seek the traitor Gloucester,
Pinion him
25
like a thief, bring him before us.
[Exeunt other Servants]
Though well we may not
pass upon his life
26
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall
do a court’sy
28
to our wrath, which men
May blame but not control.
Enter Gloucester and Servants
Who’s there? The traitor?
REGAN
Ingrateful fox! ’Tis he.
CORNWALL
Bind fast his
corky
31
arms.
GLOUCESTER
What means your graces?
Good my friends, consider you 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—
Regan
plucks his beard
GLOUCESTER
By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done
To pluck me by the beard.
REGAN
So
white
41
, and such a traitor?
GLOUCESTER
Naughty
42
lady,
These hairs which thou dost
ravish
43
from my chin
Will
quicken
44
and accuse thee. I am your host:
With robbers’ hands my
hospitable favours
45
You should not
ruffle
46
thus. What will you do?
CORNWALL
Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
REGAN
Be simple answered
48
, for we know the truth.
CORNWALL
And what confederacy have you with the traitors
Late footed
50
in the kingdom?
REGAN
To whose hands you have sent the lunatic king? Speak.
GLOUCESTER
I have a letter
guessingly
52
set down,
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one
opposed
54
.
CORNWALL
Cunning.
REGAN
And false.
CORNWALL
Where hast thou sent the king?
GLOUCESTER
To Dover.
REGAN
Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not
charged at peril
59
—
CORNWALL
Wherefore to Dover? Let him answer that.
GLOUCESTER
I am
tied to th’stake
and I must
stand
the
course
61
.
REGAN
Wherefore to Dover?
GLOUCESTER
Because I would not see thy cruel nails
Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister
In his
anointed
65
flesh stick boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endured, would have
buoyed
67
up
And quenched the
stellèd
68
fires:
Yet, poor old heart, he
holp
the heavens to rain
69
.
If wolves had at thy gate howled that
stern
70
time,
Thou shouldst have said ‘Good porter,
turn the key
71
.’
All cruels else subscribe
72
: but I shall see
The
wingèd vengeance
73
overtake such children.
CORNWALL
See’t shalt thou never.
Fellows
74
, hold the chair.—
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
GLOUCESTER
He that will think to live till he be old,
Cornwall grinds out his eye
Give me some help! O cruel! O you gods!
REGAN
One side will mock another: th’other too.
CORNWALL
If you see vengeance—
SERVANT
Hold your hand, my lord:
I have served you ever since I was a child,
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.
REGAN
How now, you dog?
To Regan
SERVANT
If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
They draw and fight
CORNWALL
My
villain
87
?
SERVANT
Nay, then, come on, and take the
chance of anger
88
.
To a Servant
REGAN
Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus?
Kills him
SERVANT
O, I am slain! My lord, you have one eye left
To see some
mischief on him
91
. O!
Dies
CORNWALL
Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!
Puts out
Gloucester’s other eye
Where is thy lustre now?
GLOUCESTER
All dark and comfortless. Where’s my son Edmund?
Edmund, enkindle all the
sparks of nature
95
To
quit
96
this horrid act.
REGAN
Out
97
, treacherous villain!
Thou call’st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the
overture
99
of thy treasons to us,
Who is too good to pity thee.
GLOUCESTER
O, my follies! Then Edgar was
abused
101
.
Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!
REGAN
Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
His way to Dover.
Exit [a Servant] with Gloucester
How is’t, my lord?
How look you?
105
CORNWALL
I have received a hurt: follow me, lady.—
Turn out that eyeless villain: throw this slave
Upon the dunghill.— Regan, I bleed
apace
108
:
Untimely
109
comes this hurt. Give me your arm.
Scene 1
running scene 12
Enter Edgar Disguised as Poor Tom
EDGAR
Yet better
thus
, and known to be
contemned
1
,
Than still
contemned and flattered
2
. To be worst,
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in
esperance
4
, lives not in fear:
The lamentable change is from the best
5
,
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!
The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy blasts.
Enter Gloucester and an Old Man
But who comes here? My father,
poorly led
10
?
World, world, O world!
But
that thy strange
mutations
12
make us hate thee,
Life would not yield to age
13
.
OLD MAN
O, my good lord, I have been your tenant and your
father’s tenant these
fourscore
15
years.
GLOUCESTER
Away, get thee away! Good friend, be gone:
Thy comforts can do me no good at all,
OLD MAN
You cannot see your way.
GLOUCESTER
I have no way and therefore want no eyes:
I stumbled when I saw. Full oft ’tis seen
Our
means secure us
, and our
mere defects
22
Prove our commodities
23
. O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy
abusèd
24
father’s wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I’d say I had eyes again!
OLD MAN
How now? Who’s there?
Aside
EDGAR
O gods! Who is’t can say, ‘I am at the worst’?
I am worse than e’er I was.
OLD MAN
’Tis poor mad Tom.
Aside
EDGAR
And worse I may be yet: the worst
is not
31
So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’
OLD MAN
Fellow, where goest?
GLOUCESTER
Is it a beggar-man?
OLD MAN
Madman and beggar too.
GLOUCESTER
He has some
reason
36
, else he could not beg.
I’th’last night’s storm I such a fellow saw,
Which made me think a man a worm: my son
Came then into my mind and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him. I have heard more since.
As flies to
wanton
41
boys are we to th’gods:
They kill us for their sport.
Aside
EDGAR
How should this be?
Bad is the
trade
44
that must play fool to sorrow,
Ang’ring itself and others.— Bless thee, master!
GLOUCESTER
Is that the naked fellow?
OLD MAN
Ay, my lord.
GLOUCESTER
Get thee away: if for my sake
Thou wilt o’ertake us hence a mile or twain
I’th’way toward Dover, do it for
ancient love
50
,
And bring some covering for this naked soul,
Which I’ll entreat to lead me.
OLD MAN
Alack, sir, he is mad.
GLOUCESTER
’Tis the time’s
plague
54
, when madmen lead the blind.
Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure:
Above
the rest
56
, be gone.
OLD MAN
I’ll bring him the best
’pparel
57
that I have,
Exit
GLOUCESTER
Sirrah, naked fellow—
Aside
EDGAR
Poor Tom’s a-cold.— I cannot
daub it
60
further.
GLOUCESTER
Come hither, fellow.
Aside
EDGAR
And yet I must.— Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.
GLOUCESTER
Know’st thou the way to Dover?
EDGAR
Both stile and gate, horseway and footpath. Poor
Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: bless thee, good
man’s son, from the foul fiend!
GLOUCESTER
Here, take this purse, thou whom the heav’ns’ plagues
Gives a purse
Have humbled to all
strokes
68
: that I am wretched
Makes thee the
happier
69
: heavens, deal so still.
Let the
superfluous
and
lust-dieted
70
man,
That
slaves your ordinance
71
, that will not see
Because he does not
feel
, feel your pow’r
quickly
72
,
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
EDGAR
Ay, master.
GLOUCESTER
There is a cliff, whose high and
bending
76
head
Looks fearfully in the
confinèd
77
deep:
Bring me but to the very
brim
78
of it
And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bear
With something rich
about me
80
: from that place
I shall no leading need.
EDGAR
Give me thy arm:
Poor Tom shall lead thee.
Exeunt
running scene 13
Enter Goneril, Bastard [Edmund] and Steward [Oswald]
GONERIL
Welcome,
my lord
1
: I marvel our mild husband
Not met us on the way.— Now, where’s your master?
OSWALD
Madam, within, but never man so changed.
I told him of the
army
4
that was landed,
He smiled at it: I told him you were coming,
His answer was ‘The worse’: of Gloucester’s treachery
And of the loyal service of his son
When I informed him, then he called me
‘sot’
8
And told me I had
turned the wrong side out
9
.
What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;
What like, offensive.