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As flies to wanton41 boys are we to th’gods: They kill us for their sport.
GLOUCESTER ’Tis the time’s plague54, when madmen lead the blind.
Have humbled to all strokes68: that I am wretched Makes thee the happier69: heavens, deal so still. Let the superfluous and lust-dieted70 man, That slaves your ordinance71, that will not see Because he does not feel, feel your pow’r quickly72, So distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough.
ALBANY O Goneril,33 You are not worth the dust which the rude34 wind Blows in your face.
GLOUCESTER O you mighty gods! This world I do renounce, and in your sights Shake patiently my great affliction off: If I could bear it longer, and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless46 wills, My snuff and loathèd part of nature47 should Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!— Now, fellow, fare thee well. He falls forward EDGAR Gone, sir: farewell.— Aside And yet I know not how conceit51 may rob The treasury of life, when life itself Yields53 to the theft: had he been where he thought, By this54 had thought been past. Alive or dead?—
LEAR Nature’s above art in that respect. There’s your press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper100. Draw me a clothier’s yard101. Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace, this piece of toasted cheese will do’t. There’s my gauntlet102: I’ll prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills. O, well flown,103 bird! I’th’clout, i’th’clout: hewgh! Give the word104.
LEAR Ay, every inch a king. When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. I pardon that man’s life. What was thy cause121? Adultery? Thou shalt not die: die for adultery? No. The wren goes to’t124 and the small gilded fly Does lecher125 in my sight. Let copulation thrive, For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder to his father Than were my daughters got127 ’tween the lawful sheets. To’t, luxury, pell-mell, for I lack soldiers128. Behold yond simp’ring dame, Whose face between her forks presages snow130, That minces virtue and does shake the head131 To hear of pleasure’s name: The fitchew nor
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LEAR O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case155, your purse in a light, yet you see how this world goes. GLOUCESTER I see it feelingly157. LEAR What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears:
Through tattered clothes great vices do appear: Robes and furred gowns hide all. Place sins with gold172, And the strong lance of justice hurtless173 breaks: Arm it174 in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce it.
LEAR When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools.
GLOUCESTER The king is mad: how stiff291 is my vile sense, That I stand up and have ingenious292 feeling Of my huge sorrows. Better I were distract293, So should my thoughts be severed from my griefs, Drum afar off And woes by wrong imaginations295 lose The knowledge of themselves.
LEAR You do me wrong to take me out o’th’grave: Thou art a soul in bliss46, but I am bound Upon a wheel of fire, that47 mine own tears Do scald like molten lead.
LEAR Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray, weep not: If you have poison for me, I will drink it. I know you do not love me, for your sisters Have, as I do remember, done me wrong: You have some cause, they have not. CORDELIA No cause, no cause.
Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness12 is all: come on.
LEAR No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison. We two alone will sing like birds i’th’cage: When 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 rogues14 Talk of court news, and we’ll talk with them too — Who loses and who wins, who’s in, who’s out — And take upon’s the mystery of things17, As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out18 In a walled prison packs and sects19 of great ones That ebb and flow by th’moon20.
That, if my speech offend a noble heart, Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine. Draws Behold, it is my privilege — The privilege of mine honours —137 My oath and my profession. I protest138, Maugre thy strength, place139, youth and eminence, Despise thy victor sword and fire-new140 fortune, Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor: False to thy gods, thy brother and thy father, Conspirant143 gainst this high illustrious prince, And from th’extremest upward144 of thy head To the descent145 and dust below thy foot A most toad-spotted146 traitor. Say thou no, This sword, this arm and my
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The gods are just, and of our pleasant183 vices Make instruments to plague us:
O, our lives’ sweetness! That we the pain of death would hourly die200 Rather than die at once!
EDMUND Yet Edmund was beloved: The one the other poisoned for my sake And after slew herself.
LEAR Howl, howl, howl! O, 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! I 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 stone270, Why, then she lives. KENT Is this the promised end272? EDGAR Or image of that horror? ALBANY Fall and cease!274 LEAR This feather stirs: she lives! If it be so, It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt. Kneels KENT O my good master! LEAR Prithee, away. EDGAR
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LEAR And my poor fool323 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, Never, never, never, never, never! Pray you undo this button: thank you, sir327. Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips, Look there, look there! He dies EDGAR He faints! My lord, my lord! KENT Break, heart, I prithee, break. EDGAR Look up, my lord. KENT Vex not his ghost333: O, let him pass! He hates him That would upon the rack334 of this tough world Stretch him out longer335.
KENT I have a journey343, 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. The oldest hath borne most: we that are young Shall never see so much nor live so long.
Old fools are babes again, and must be used14 With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused15.
tears his white hair, Which the impetuous blasts with eyeless38 rage Catch39 in their fury, and make nothing of, Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn, The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain: This night wherein the cubdrawn bear would couch42, The lion and the belly-pinchèd43 wolf Keep their fur dry, unbonneted44 he runs, And bids what will take all45.
FOOL Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? LEAR She cannot deny it. FOOL Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool95.
EDGAR When we our betters see bearing our woes105, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers, suffers most i’th’mind107, Leaving free things and happy shows108 behind, But then the mind much sufferance doth o’erskip109, When grief hath mates, and bearing110 fellowship: How light and portable111 my pain seems now, When that which makes me bend, makes the king bow112: He childed as I fathered113. Tom away! Mark the high noises and thyself bewray114 When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defile thee, In thy just proof116 repeals and reconciles thee. What will hap more
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Tigers, not daughters, what have you performed?
Where I could not be honest253, I never yet was valiant.
