The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (911 page)

GLOUCESTER

Kent banish'd thus! and France in choler parted!

And the king gone to-night! subscribed his power!

Confined to exhibition! All this done

Upon the gad! Edmund, how now! what news?

Kent exiled like this! And France gone off in anger!

And the King going tonight! He's handed over his power!

Restricted himself to an allowance! And all this done

on the spur of the moment! Edmund, what's up! What's the news?

EDMUND

So please your lordship, none.

Putting up the letter

None, my good lord.

GLOUCESTER

Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter?

Why are you trying so hard to hide that letter?

EDMUND

I know no news, my lord.

I have no news, my lord.

GLOUCESTER

What paper were you reading?

What was that letter you were reading?

EDMUND

Nothing, my lord.

Nothing, my lord.

GLOUCESTER

No? What needed, then, that terrible dispatch of

it into your pocket? the quality of nothing hath

not such need to hide itself. Let's see: come,

if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles.

Nothing? Then why did you need to put it

in your pocket so hurriedly? If it is nothing

then you have nothing to hide. Show me: come on,

if it's nothing, I shan't need my glasses.

EDMUND

I beseech you, sir, pardon me: it is a letter

from my brother, that I have not all o'er-read;

and for so much as I have perused, I find it not

fit for your o'er-looking.

I beg you, sir, not too ask me: it is a letter

from my brother, and I have not read it fully;

as for the bit which I have read, I do not think

it's suitable for you.

GLOUCESTER

Give me the letter, sir.

Give it to me, sir.

EDMUND

I shall offend, either to detain or give it. The

contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.

I will offend you whether I refuse or hand it over.

That's the fault of its content, as far as I understand it.

GLOUCESTER

Let's see, let's see.

Come on, show me.

EDMUND

I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote

this but as an essay or taste of my virtue.

I hope, for my brother's sake, that he wrote

this just to make a test of my loyalty.

GLOUCESTER

[Reads] 'This policy and reverence of age makes

the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps

our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish

them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage

in the oppression of aged tyranny; who sways, not

as it hath power, but as it is suffered. Come to

me, that of this I may speak more. If our father

would sleep till I waked him, you should half his

revenue for ever, and live the beloved of your

brother, EDGAR.'

Hum--conspiracy!--'Sleep till I waked him,--you

should enjoy half his revenue,'--My son Edgar!

Had he a hand to write this? a heart and brain

to breed it in?--When came this to you? who

brought it?

‘This tradition of favouring the old makes

the world a worse place for the best men of the time;

it keeps our fortune from us until we are too old

to enjoy it. I am beginning to think that the oppression of

that old tyrant is useless and stupid slavery; he only

has power because we put up with him. Come and see me

so I can say more about this. If our father

could be put to sleep, you would have half of

his income for ever, and be greatly loved by

your brother, Edgar.’

Hmm, conspiracy! ‘Put to sleep–you

will have half of his income,’–my son Edgar!

Did he write this with his own hand? Did he

think and feel this? How did you get this?

Who brought it?

EDMUND

It was not brought me, my lord; there's the

cunning of it; I found it thrown in at the

casement of my closet.

Nobody gave it to me, my lord; there's the

deviousness of it; it was thrown in through

my bedroom window.

GLOUCESTER

You know the character to be your brother's?

Do you recognise your brother's handwriting?

EDMUND

If the matter were good, my lord, I durst swear

it were his; but, in respect of that, I would

fain think it were not.

If the subject was good, my lord, I would swear

that it was; but given the subject matter

I would rather believe that it is not.

GLOUCESTER

It is his.

It is his.

EDMUND

It is his hand, my lord; but I hope his heart is

not in the contents.

It is his handwriting, my lord; but I hope

the contents do not reflect his heart.

GLOUCESTER

Hath he never heretofore sounded you in this business?

Has he never sounded you out about this sort of thing before?

EDMUND

Never, my lord: but I have heard him oft

maintain it to be fit, that, sons at perfect age,

and fathers declining, the father should be as

ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue.

Never, my lord: but I've often heard him

say that it is right, when sons are in their prime

and fathers getting old, that the father should be

obedient to the son, and the son should manage his income.

GLOUCESTER

O villain, villain! His very opinion in the

letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested,

brutish villain! worse than brutish! Go, sirrah,

seek him; I'll apprehend him: abominable villain!

Where is he?

Oh, the scoundrel! This is just what he says

in the letter! Disgusting scoundrel! Unnatural, hated,

brutal scoundrel! Worse than brutal! Go, sir,

find him; I'll question him: terrible scoundrel!

Where is he?

EDMUND

I do not well know, my lord. If it shall please

you to suspend your indignation against my

brother till you can derive from him better

testimony of his intent, you shall run a certain

course; where, if you violently proceed against

him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a great

gap in your own honour, and shake in pieces the

heart of his obedience. I dare pawn down my life

for him, that he hath wrote this to feel my

affection to your honour, and to no further

pretence of danger.

I'm not sure, my lord. It would be best

for you to hold back your anger against my

brother until you can get a better idea

of what he means; if you rush to judge

him, misunderstanding what he means, it would

be a great stain on your own honour, and it would

destroy his loyalty. I would bet my life

that he wrote this to test my loyalty to you,

and that's all there is to it.

GLOUCESTER

Think you so?

Do you think so?

EDMUND

If your honour judge it meet, I will place you

where you shall hear us confer of this, and by an

auricular assurance have your satisfaction; and

that without any further delay than this very evening.

If your honour thinks it appropriate, I will hide you

somewhere where you can hear us talk about this,

and you shall be reassured by the proof you hear;

we'll do this this evening at the latest.

GLOUCESTER

He cannot be such a monster--

He can't be such a monster–

EDMUND

Nor is not, sure.

I'm sure he's not.

GLOUCESTER

To his father, that so tenderly and entirely

loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek him

out: wind me into him, I pray you: frame the

business after your own wisdom. I would unstate

myself, to be in a due resolution.

To his father, who gives him such tender and complete

love. Good heavens! Edmund, find him:

worm your way into his confidence for me, please: do

it in whatever ways seems best to you. I would give up

everything to get to the bottom of this.

EDMUND

I will seek him, sir, presently: convey the

business as I shall find means and acquaint you withal.

I will look for him, sir, shortly: I'll carry it out

in whatever way appears best and let you know at once.

GLOUCESTER

These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend

no good to us: though the wisdom of nature can

reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself

scourged by the sequent effects: love cools,

friendship falls off, brothers divide: in

cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in

palaces, treason; and the bond cracked 'twixt son

and father. This villain of mine comes under the

prediction; there's son against father: the king

falls from bias of nature; there's father against

child. We have seen the best of our time:

machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all

ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our

graves. Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall

lose thee nothing; do it carefully. And the

noble and true-hearted Kent banished! his

offence, honesty! 'Tis strange.

Exit

These recent eclipses of the sun and moon

mean us no good: although science can say

it has reasons for it, nature itself

suffers the after-effects: love cools,

friendship fades, brothers fight: there are

rebellions in the cities; countries are unsettled; there is

treason in palaces; and the bond between a son and his father

is broken. My villainous son fits into this;

the son who's going against his father: the King

has fallen from his natural place; a father has

fallen out with his child. We are past the good times now:

plotting, falseness, treachery, and all other

terrible disruptions, will follow us unhappily to our

graves. Uncover this villain, Edmund; you

won't be the loser by it; do it carefully. And the

noble and loyal Kent has been exiled, for being honest!