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ACT I SCENE I
King Lear’s palace.
{Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and
BASTARD [EDMUND].}
KENT:
I thought
the King had more affected[1]
the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.
GLOUCESTER:
It
did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears
not which of the Dukes he values most; for
equalities are so weigh’d, that curiosity in neither can make choice of
either’s moiety[2].
KENT:
Is
not this your son, my Lord?
GLOUCESTER:
His
breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blush’d to acknowledge[3]
him, that now I am braz’d to’t.
KENT:
I
cannot conceive[4] you.
GLOUCESTER:
Sir,
this young fellow’s mother could: whereupon she grew round‑womb’d, and
had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do
you smell a fault[5]?
KENT:
I
cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper[6].
GLOUCESTER:
But
I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no
dearer in my account[7]:
though this knave came somewhat saucily into the world before he was sent for,
yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson
must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?
BASTARD [EDMUND]:
No,
my Lord.
GLOUCESTER:
My
Lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.
BASTARD [EDMUND]:
My
services to your Lordship.
KENT:
I
must love you, and sue to know you better[8].
BASTARD [EDMUND]:
Sir,
I shall study deserving[9].
GLOUCESTER:
He
hath been out[10] nine years,
and away he shall again. The King is coming.
{Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY,
GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and
Attendants.}
LEAR:
Attend
the Lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.
GLOUCESTER:
I
shall, my liege.
[Exeunt GLOUCESTER and
BASTARD [EDMUND].]
LEAR:
Meantime,
we shall express our darker[11]
purpose.
Give
me the map there. Know that we have
divided
In
three our kingdom[12]: and ’tis our fast[13]
intent[14]
To
shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring
them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen’d
crawl toward death. Our son of
Cornwall,
And
you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We
have this hour a constant[15]
will to publish
Our
daughters’ several dowers[16],
that future strife
May
be prevented now. The princes, France
and Burgundy,
Great
rivals in our youngest daughter’s love,
Long
in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And
here are to be answer’d. Tell me, my
daughters,‑‑
Since
now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest
of territory, cares of state,‑‑
Which
of you shall we say doth love us most[17]?
That
we our largest bounty may extend
Where
nature doth with merit challenge[18]. Goneril,
Our
eldest‑born, speak first.
GONERIL:
Sir,
I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer
than eye‑sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond
what can be valued, rich or rare;
No
less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As
much as child e’er loved, or father found;
A
love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond
all manner of so much I love you.
CORDELIA:
[Aside] What shall Cordelia do[19]?
Love, and be silent[20].
LEAR:
Of
all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With
shadowy forests and with champains rich’d,
With
plenteous rivers and wide‑skirted meads,
We
make thee lady: to thine and Albany’s
issue
Be this
perpetual. What says our second
daughter
Our
dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
REGAN:
Sir,
I am made
Of
the self‑same metal that my sister is,
And
prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I
find she names my very deed of love;
Only
she comes too short: that I profess
Myself
an enemy to all other joys,
Which
the most precious square of sense possesses,
And
find I am alone felicitate[21]
In
your dear Highness’ love.
CORDELIA:
[Aside]
Then poor Cordelia!
And
yet not so; since, I am sure, my love’s
More
ponderous[22] than my
tongue.
LEAR:
To
thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain
this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No
less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than
that conferr’d on Goneril. Now, our
joy,
Although
the last, not least; to whose young love
The
vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive
to be interess’d; what can you say to draw
A
third more opulent than your sisters?
Speak.
CORDELIA:
Nothing[23],
my Lord.
LEAR:
Nothing!
CORDELIA:
Nothing.
LEAR:
Nothing
will come of nothing[24]: speak again.
CORDELIA:
Unhappy
that I am, I cannot heave
My
heart into my mouth: I love your
Majesty
According
to my bond; no more nor less.
LEAR:
How,
how, Cordelia! mend your speech a
little,
Lest
it may mar your fortunes.
CORDELIA:
Good
my Lord,
You
have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return
those duties back as are right fit,
Obey
you, love you, and most honour you.
Why
have my sisters husbands, if they say
They
love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That
Lord whose hand must[25]
take my plight[26] shall carry
Half
my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure,
I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love
my father all.
LEAR:
But
goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA:
Ay,
good my Lord.
LEAR:
So
young, and so untender?
CORDELIA:
So
young, my Lord, and true.
LEAR:
Let
it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
For,
by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The
mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
By
all the operation of the orbs
From
whom we do exist, and cease to be;
Here
I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity[27]
and property of blood,
And
as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold
thee, from this, for ever. The
barbarous Scythian,
Or
he that makes his generation messes
To
gorge his appetite[28],
shall to my bosom
Be
as well neighbour’d, pitied, and reliev’d,
As
thou my sometime daughter.
KENT:
Good
my liege,‑‑
LEAR:
Peace,
Kent!
Come
not between the dragon and his wrath.
I
lov’d her most, and thought to set my rest
On
her kind nursery[29]. Hence, and avoid my sight![30]
So
be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her
father’s heart from her! Call France;
who stirs?
Call
Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,
With
my two daughters’ dowers digest this third:
Let
pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do
invest you jointly with my power,
Pre‑eminence,
and all the large effects
That
troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly
course,
With
reservation of an hundred knights,
By
you to be sustain’d, shall our abode
Make
with you by due turns. Only we still
retain
The
name, and all th’addition to a King;
The
sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved
sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This
coronet[31]
part betwixt you.
[Giving the crown.]
KENT:
Royal
Lear,
Whom
I have ever honour’d as my King,
Lov’d
as my father, as my master follow’d,
As
my great patron thought on in my prayers,‑‑
LEAR:
The
bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.
KENT:
Let
it fall rather, though the fork invade
The
region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly[32],
When
Lear is mad. What wilt thou do, old
man?
Think’st
thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When
power to flattery bows? To plainness
honour’s bound,
When
majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy
doom;
And,
in thy best consideration, check
This
hideous rashness: answer my life my
judgment,
Thy
youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor
are those empty‑hearted whose low sound
Reverbs
no hollowness.
LEAR:
Kent,
on thy life, no more.
KENT:
My
life I never held but as a pawn
To
wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy
safety being the motive.
LEAR:
Out
of my sight!
KENT:
See
better[33],
Lear; and let me still remain
The
true blank of thine eye[34].
LEAR:
Now,
by Apollo,‑‑
KENT:
Now,
by Apollo, King,
Thou
swear’st thy gods in vain.
LEAR:
O,
vassal! miscreant[35]! [Laying his hand on
his sword.]
ALBANY, CORNWALL:
Dear
sir, forbear.
KENT:
Kill
thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon
thy foul disease. Revoke thy doom;
Or,
whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I’ll
tell thee thou dost evil.
LEAR:
Hear
me, recreant[36]!
On
thine allegiance, hear me!
Since
thou hast sought to make us break our vow[37],
Which
we durst never yet, and with strain’d pride
To
come between our sentence and our power,
Which
nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our
potency made good, take thy reward.
Five
days we do allot thee, for provision
To
shield thee from disasters of the world;
And
on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom:<