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  • William Shakespeare: King Lear, Act III, Scene VI

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Scene VIA chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castleEnter Gloucester, King Lear, Kent, Fool, and EdgarGloucesterHere is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can: I will not be long from you.KentAll the power of his wits have given way to his impatience: the gods reward your kindness!Exit GloucesterEdgarFrateretto calls me; and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.FoolPrithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman?King LearA king, a king!FoolNo, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son; for he’s a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.King LearTo have a thousand with red burning spits Come hissing in upon ’em,—EdgarThe foul fiend bites my back.FoolHe’s mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse’s health, a boy’s love, or a whore’s oath.King LearIt shall be done; I will arraign them straight.To EdgarCome, sit thou here, most learned justicer;To the FoolThou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!EdgarLook, where he stands and glares! Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam? Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me,—FoolHer boat hath a leak, And she must not speak Why she dares not come over to thee.EdgarThe foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom’s belly for two white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no food for thee.KentHow do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed: Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?King LearI’ll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.To EdgarThou robed man of justice, take thy place;To the FoolAnd thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side:To Kentyou are o’ the commission, Sit you too.EdgarLet us deal justly. Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd? Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Thy sheep shall take no harm. Pur! the cat is gray.King LearArraign her first; ’tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father.FoolCome hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?King LearShe cannot deny it.FoolCry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.King LearAnd here’s another, whose warp’d looks proclaim What store her heart is made on. Stop her there! Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place! False justicer, why hast thou let her ‘scape?EdgarBless thy five wits!KentO pity! Sir, where is the patience now, That thou so oft have boasted to retain?EdgarAsideMy tears begin to take his part so much, They’ll mar my counterfeiting.King LearThe little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.EdgarTom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you Curs, be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or lym, Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail, Tom will make them weep and wail: For, with throwing thus my head, Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled. Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs And market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.King LearThen let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?To EdgarYou, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments: you will say they are Persian attire: but let them be changed.KentNow, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.King LearMake no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains: so, so, so. We’ll go to supper i’ he morning. So, so, so.FoolAnd I’ll go to bed at noon.Re-enter GloucesterGloucesterCome hither, friend: where is the king my master?KentHere, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone.GloucesterGood friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms; I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him: There is a litter ready; lay him in ’t, And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master: If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, With thine, and all that offer to defend him, Stand in assured loss: take up, take up; And follow me, that will to some provision Give thee quick conduct.KentOppressed nature sleeps: This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken senses, Which, if convenience will not allow, Stand in hard cure.To the FoolCome, help to bear thy master; Thou must not stay behind.GloucesterCome, come, away.Exeunt all but EdgarEdgarWhen we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers suffers most i’ the mind, Leaving free things and happy shows behind: But then the mind much sufferance doth o’er skip, When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship. How light and portable my pain seems now, When that which makes me bend makes the king bow, He childed as I father’d! Tom, away! Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray, When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee, In thy just proof, repeals and reconciles thee. What will hap more to-night, safe ‘scape the king! Lurk, lurk.Exit

William Shakespeare: King Lear, Act III

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William Shakespeare: King Lear, Act III, Scene IV

  • William Shakespeare: King Lear, Act III, Scene IV

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  • Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • Current Events This Week: January 2023
  • African Americans by the Numbers
  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
  • The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales