King Lear
ACT II SCENE IV | Before Gloucester’s castle. Kent in the stocks. | |
[Enter KING LEAR, Fool, and Gentleman] | ||
KING LEAR | ‘Tis strange that they should so depart from home, | |
And not send back my messenger. | ||
Gentleman | As I learn’d, | |
The night before there was no purpose in them | ||
Of this remove. | 5 | |
KENT | Hail to thee, noble master! | |
KING LEAR | Ha! | |
Makest thou this shame thy pastime? | ||
KENT | No, my lord. | |
Fool | Ha, ha! he wears cruel garters. Horses are tied | 10 |
by the heads, dogs and bears by the neck, monkeys by | ||
the loins, and men by the legs: when a man’s | ||
over-lusty at legs, then he wears wooden | ||
nether-stocks. | ||
KING LEAR | What’s he that hath so much thy place mistook | 15 |
To set thee here? | ||
KENT | It is both he and she; | |
Your son and daughter. | ||
KING LEAR | No. | |
KENT | Yes. | 20 |
KING LEAR | No, I say. | |
KENT | I say, yea. | |
KING LEAR | No, no, they would not. | |
KENT | Yes, they have. | |
KING LEAR | By Jupiter, I swear, no. | 25 |
KENT | By Juno, I swear, ay. | |
KING LEAR | They durst not do ‘t; | |
They could not, would not do ‘t; ’tis worse than murder, | ||
To do upon respect such violent outrage: | ||
Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way | 30 | |
Thou mightst deserve, or they impose, this usage, | ||
Coming from us. | ||
KENT | My lord, when at their home | |
I did commend your highness’ letters to them, | ||
Ere I was risen from the place that show’d | 35 | |
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post, | ||
Stew’d in his haste, half breathless, panting forth | ||
From Goneril his mistress salutations; | ||
Deliver’d letters, spite of intermission, | ||
Which presently they read: on whose contents, | 40 | |
They summon’d up their meiny, straight took horse; | ||
Commanded me to follow, and attend | ||
The leisure of their answer; gave me cold looks: | ||
And meeting here the other messenger, | ||
Whose welcome, I perceived, had poison’d mine,– | 45 | |
Being the very fellow that of late | ||
Display’d so saucily against your highness,– | ||
Having more man than wit about me, drew: | ||
He raised the house with loud and coward cries. | ||
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth | 50 | |
The shame which here it suffers. | ||
Fool | Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that way. | |
Fathers that wear rags | ||
Do make their children blind; | ||
But fathers that bear bags | 55 | |
Shall see their children kind. | ||
Fortune, that arrant whore, | ||
Ne’er turns the key to the poor. | ||
But, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours | ||
for thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year. | 60 | |
KING LEAR | O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! | |
Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow, | ||
Thy element’s below! Where is this daughter? | ||
KENT | With the earl, sir, here within. | |
KING LEAR | Follow me not; | 65 |
Stay here. | ||
[Exit] | ||
Gentleman | Made you no more offence but what you speak of? | |
KENT | None. | |
How chance the king comes with so small a train? | ||
Fool | And thou hadst been set i’ the stocks for that | 70 |
question, thou hadst well deserved it. | ||
KENT | Why, fool? | |
Fool | We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee | |
there’s no labouring i’ the winter. All that follow | ||
their noses are led by their eyes but blind men; and | 75 | |
there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him | ||
that’s stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel | ||
runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with | ||
following it: but the great one that goes up the | ||
hill, let him draw thee after. When a wise man | 80 | |
gives thee better counsel, give me mine again: I | ||
would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives it. | ||
That sir which serves and seeks for gain, | ||
And follows but for form, | ||
Will pack when it begins to rain, | 85 | |
And leave thee in the storm, | ||
But I will tarry; the fool will stay, | ||
And let the wise man fly: | ||
The knave turns fool that runs away; | ||
The fool no knave, perdy. | 90 | |
KENT | Where learned you this, fool? | |
Fool | Not i’ the stocks, fool. | |
[Re-enter KING LEAR with GLOUCESTER] | ||
KING LEAR | Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary? | |
They have travell’d all the night? Mere fetches; | ||
The images of revolt and flying off. | 95 | |
Fetch me a better answer. | ||
GLOUCESTER | My dear lord, | |
You know the fiery quality of the duke; | ||
How unremoveable and fix’d he is | ||
In his own course. | 100 | |
KING LEAR | Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! | |
Fiery? what quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester, | ||
I’ld speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife. | ||
GLOUCESTER | Well, my good lord, I have inform’d them so. | |
KING LEAR | Inform’d them! Dost thou understand me, man? | 105 |
GLOUCESTER | Ay, my good lord. | |
KING LEAR | The king would speak with Cornwall; the dear father | |
Would with his daughter speak, commands her service: | ||
Are they inform’d of this? My breath and blood! | ||
Fiery? the fiery duke? Tell the hot duke that– | 110 | |
No, but not yet: may be he is not well: | ||
Infirmity doth still neglect all office | ||
Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves | ||
When nature, being oppress’d, commands the mind | ||
To suffer with the body: I’ll forbear; | 115 | |
And am fall’n out with my more headier will, | ||
To take the indisposed and sickly fit | ||
For the sound man. Death on my state! wherefore | ||
[Looking on KENT] | ||
Should he sit here? This act persuades me | ||
That this remotion of the duke and her | 120 | |
Is practise only. Give me my servant forth. | ||
Go tell the duke and ‘s wife I’ld speak with them, | ||
Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me, | ||
Or at their chamber-door I’ll beat the drum | ||
Till it cry sleep to death. | 125 | |
GLOUCESTER | I would have all well betwixt you. | |
[Exit] | ||
KING LEAR | O me, my heart, my rising heart! but, down! | |
Fool | Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels | |
when she put ’em i’ the paste alive; she knapped ’em | ||
o’ the coxcombs with a stick, and cried ‘Down, | 130 | |
wantons, down!’ ‘Twas her brother that, in pure | ||
kindness to his horse, buttered his hay. | ||
[Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOUCESTER, and Servants] | ||
KING LEAR | Good morrow to you both. | |
CORNWALL | Hail to your grace! | |
[KENT is set at liberty] | ||
REGAN | I am glad to see your highness. | 135 |
KING LEAR | Regan, I think you are; I know what reason | |
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad, | ||
I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb, | ||
Sepulchring an adultress. | ||
[To KENT] | ||
O, are you free? | 140 | |
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan, | ||
Thy sister’s naught: O Regan, she hath tied | ||
Sharp-tooth’d unkindness, like a vulture, here: | ||
[Points to his heart] | ||
I can scarce speak to thee; thou’lt not believe | ||
With how depraved a quality–O Regan! | 145 | |
REGAN | I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope. | |
You less know how to value her desert | ||
Than she to scant her duty. | ||
KING LEAR | Say, how is that? | |
REGAN | I cannot think my sister in the least | 150 |
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, perchance | ||
She have restrain’d the riots of your followers, | ||
‘Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end, | ||
As clears her from all blame. | ||
KING LEAR | My curses on her! | 155 |
REGAN | O, sir, you are old. | |
Nature in you stands on the very verge | ||
Of her confine: you should be ruled and led | ||
By some discretion, that discerns your state | ||
Better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you, | 160 | |
That to our sister you do make return; | ||
Say you have wrong’d her, sir. | ||
KING LEAR | Ask her forgiveness? | |
Do you but mark how this becomes the house: | ||
‘Dear daughter, I confess that I am old; | 165 | |
[Kneeling] | ||
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg | ||
That you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.’ | ||
REGAN | Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks: | |
Return you to my sister. | ||
KING LEAR | [Rising] Never, Regan: | 170 |
She hath abated me of half my train; | ||
Look’d black upon me; struck me with her tongue, | ||
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart: | ||
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall | ||
On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, | 175 | |
You taking airs, with lameness! | ||
CORNWALL | Fie, sir, fie! | |
KING LEAR | You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames | |
Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, | ||
You fen-suck’d fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, | 180 | |
To fall and blast her pride! | ||
REGAN | O the blest gods! so will you wish on me, | |
When the rash mood is on. | ||
KING LEAR | No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse: | |
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give | 185 | |
Thee o’er to harshness: her eyes are fierce; but thine | ||
Do comfort and not burn. ‘Tis not in thee | ||
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, | ||
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, | ||
And in conclusion to oppose the bolt | 190 | |
Against my coming in: thou better know’st | ||
The offices of nature, bond of childhood, | ||
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude; | ||
Thy half o’ the kingdom hast thou not forgot, | ||
Wherein I thee endow’d. | 195 | |
REGAN | Good sir, to the purpose. | |
KING LEAR | Who put my man i’ the stocks? | |
[Tucket within] | ||
CORNWALL | What trumpet’s that? | |
REGAN | I know’t, my sister’s: this approves her letter, | |
That she would soon be here. | 200 | |
[Enter OSWALD] | ||
Is your lady come? | ||
KING LEAR | This is a slave, whose easy-borrow’d pride | |
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows. | ||
Out, varlet, from my sight! | ||
CORNWALL | What means your grace? | 205 |
KING LEAR | Who stock’d my servant? Regan, I have good hope | |
Thou didst not know on’t. Who comes here? O heavens, | ||
[Enter GONERIL] | ||
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway | ||
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, | ||
Make it your cause; send down, and take my part! | 210 | |
[To GONERIL] | ||
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? | ||
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand? | ||
GONERIL | Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended? | |
All’s not offence that indiscretion finds | ||
And dotage terms so. | 215 | |
KING LEAR | O sides, you are too tough; | |
Will you yet hold? How came my man i’ the stocks? | ||
CORNWALL | I set him there, sir: but his own disorders | |
Deserved much less advancement. | ||
KING LEAR | You! did you? | 220 |
REGAN | I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. | |
If, till the expiration of your month, | ||
You will return and sojourn with my sister, | ||
Dismissing half your train, come then to me: | ||
I am now from home, and out of that provision | 225 | |
Which shall be needful for your entertainment. | ||
KING LEAR | Return to her, and fifty men dismiss’d? | |
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose | ||
To wage against the enmity o’ the air; | ||
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,– | 230 | |
Necessity’s sharp pinch! Return with her? | ||
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took | ||
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought | ||
To knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg | ||
To keep base life afoot. Return with her? | 235 | |
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter | ||
To this detested groom. | ||
[Pointing at OSWALD] | ||
GONERIL | At your choice, sir. | |
KING LEAR | I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad: | |
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell: | 240 | |
We’ll no more meet, no more see one another: | ||
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter; | ||
Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, | ||
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil, | ||
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle, | 245 | |
In my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide thee; | ||
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it: | ||
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot, | ||
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove: | ||
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure: | 250 | |
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan, | ||
I and my hundred knights. | ||
REGAN | Not altogether so: | |
I look’d not for you yet, nor am provided | ||
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister; | 255 | |
For those that mingle reason with your passion | ||
Must be content to think you old, and so– | ||
But she knows what she does. | ||
KING LEAR | Is this well spoken? | |
REGAN | I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers? | 260 |
Is it not well? What should you need of more? | ||
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger | ||
Speak ‘gainst so great a number? How, in one house, | ||
Should many people, under two commands, | ||
Hold amity? ‘Tis hard; almost impossible. | 265 | |
GONERIL | Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance | |
From those that she calls servants or from mine? | ||
REGAN | Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack you, | |
We could control them. If you will come to me,– | ||
For now I spy a danger,–I entreat you | 270 | |
To bring but five and twenty: to no more | ||
Will I give place or notice. | ||
KING LEAR | I gave you all– | |
REGAN | And in good time you gave it. | |
KING LEAR | Made you my guardians, my depositaries; | 275 |
But kept a reservation to be follow’d | ||
With such a number. What, must I come to you | ||
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so? | ||
REGAN | And speak’t again, my lord; no more with me. | |
KING LEAR | Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour’d, | 280 |
When others are more wicked: not being the worst | ||
Stands in some rank of praise. | ||
[To GONERIL] | ||
I’ll go with thee: | ||
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty, | ||
And thou art twice her love. | 285 | |
GONERIL | Hear me, my lord; | |
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five, | ||
To follow in a house where twice so many | ||
Have a command to tend you? | ||
REGAN | What need one? | 290 |
KING LEAR | O, reason not the need: our basest beggars | |
Are in the poorest thing superfluous: | ||
Allow not nature more than nature needs, | ||
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s: thou art a lady; | ||
If only to go warm were gorgeous, | 295 | |
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st, | ||
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,– | ||
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! | ||
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, | ||
As full of grief as age; wretched in both! | 300 | |
If it be you that stir these daughters’ hearts | ||
Against their father, fool me not so much | ||
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, | ||
And let not women’s weapons, water-drops, | ||
Stain my man’s cheeks! No, you unnatural hags, | 305 | |
I will have such revenges on you both, | ||
That all the world shall–I will do such things,– | ||
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be | ||
The terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep | ||
No, I’ll not weep: | 310 | |
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart | ||
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws, | ||
Or ere I’ll weep. O fool, I shall go mad! | ||
[Exeunt KING LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and Fool] | ||
[Storm and tempest] | ||
CORNWALL | Let us withdraw; ’twill be a storm. | |
REGAN | This house is little: the old man and his people | 315 |
Cannot be well bestow’d. | ||
GONERIL | ‘Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest, | |
And must needs taste his folly. | ||
REGAN | For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly, | |
But not one follower. | 320 | |
GONERIL | So am I purposed. | |
Where is my lord of Gloucester? | ||
CORNWALL | Follow’d the old man forth: he is return’d. | |
[Re-enter GLOUCESTER] | ||
GLOUCESTER | The king is in high rage. | |
CORNWALL | Whither is he going? | 325 |
GLOUCESTER | He calls to horse; but will I know not whither. | |
CORNWALL | ‘Tis best to give him way; he leads himself. | |
GONERIL | My lord, entreat him by no means to stay. | |
GLOUCESTER | Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds | |
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about | 330 | |
There’s scarce a bush. | ||
REGAN | O, sir, to wilful men, | |
The injuries that they themselves procure | ||
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors: | ||
He is attended with a desperate train; | 335 | |
And what they may incense him to, being apt | ||
To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear. | ||
CORNWALL | Shut up your doors, my lord; ’tis a wild night: | |
My Regan counsels well; come out o’ the storm. | ||
[Exeunt] |
King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1