King Lear

EDMUND    This courtesy forbid thee¹⁸ shall the duke

Instantly know, and of that letter too:

This seems a fair deserving²⁰ and must draw me

That which my father loses: no less than all.

The younger rises when the old doth fall.

Exit

Act 3 Scene 4

running scene 8

Enter Lear, Kent and Fool

Kent disguised as Caius

KENT    Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter:

The tyranny of the open night’s too rough

For nature³ to endure.

Storm still

LEAR    Let me alone.

KENT    Good my lord, enter here.

LEAR    Will’t break my heart?

KENT    I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.

LEAR    Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious storm

Invades us to the skin so: ’tis to thee,

But where the greater malady¹⁰ is fixed

The lesser is scarce felt. Thou’dst shun a bear,

But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea

Thou’dst meet the bear i’th’mouth. When the mind’s free¹³,

The body’s delicate¹⁴: the tempest in my mind

Doth from my senses take all feeling else

Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!

Is it not as¹⁷ this mouth should tear this hand

For lifting food to’t? But I will punish home¹⁸.

No, I will weep no more. In such a night

To shut me out? Pour on, I will endure.

In such a night as this? O Regan, Goneril,

Your old kind father, whose frank²² heart gave all —

O, that way madness lies: let me shun that:

No more of that.

KENT    Good my lord, enter here.

LEAR    Prithee go in thyself: seek thine own ease:

This tempest will not give me leave to ponder

On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in.—

To the Fool

In, boy, go first.—

You houseless poverty—

Nay, get thee in.— I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.

Exit [Fool]

Kneels

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,

That bide³² the pelting of this pitiless storm,

How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides³³,

Your lopped and windowed³⁴ raggedness, defend you

From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en

Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp³⁶,

Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,

That thou mayst shake the superflux³⁸ to them

And show the heavens more just.

Enter Edgar and Fool

Within the hovel

EDGAR    Fathom and half, fathom and half⁴⁰! Poor Tom!

FOOL    Come not in here, nuncle, here’s a spirit⁴¹. Help me,

help me!

KENT    Give me thy hand. Who’s there?

FOOL    A spirit, a spirit: he says his name’s poor Tom.

KENT    What art thou that dost grumble⁴⁵ there i’th’straw?

Come forth.

Edgar comes out, disguised as a mad beggar

EDGAR    Away! The foul fiend follows me! Through the sharp

hawthorn blow the winds. Hum! Go to thy bed and warm

thee.

LEAR    Did’st thou give all to thy daughters? And art thou

come to this?

EDGAR    Who gives anything to poor Tom? Whom the foul⁵²

fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through ford

and whirlpool, o’er bog and quagmire, that hath laid knives⁵⁴

under his pillow, and halters in his pew, set ratsbane⁵⁵ by his

porridge, made him proud of heart, to ride on a bay⁵⁶ trotting-horse

over four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for⁵⁷

a traitor. Bless thy five wits! Tom’s a-cold. O, do de, do de⁵⁸, do

de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting and taking⁵⁹! Do

poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes: there⁶⁰

could I have him now — and there — and there again, and

there.

Storm still

LEAR    Has his daughters brought him to this pass⁶³?

Couldst thou save nothing? Wouldst thou give ’em all?

FOOL    Nay, he reserved a blanket⁶⁵, else we had been all

shamed.

LEAR    Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous⁶⁷ air

Hang fated o’er men’s faults⁶⁸ light on thy daughters!

KENT    He hath no daughters, sir.

LEAR    Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature⁷⁰

To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.

Is it the fashion that discarded fathers

Should have thus little mercy on their flesh⁷³?

Judicious punishment! ’Twas this flesh begot

Those pelican⁷⁵ daughters.

EDGAR    Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill: alow, alow, loo, loo⁷⁶!

FOOL This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.

EDGAR Take heed o’th’foul fiend: obey⁷⁸ thy parents, keep thy

word’s justice, swear not, commit not⁷⁹ with man’s sworn

spouse, set not thy sweetheart on proud array⁸⁰. Tom’s a-cold.

LEAR    What hast thou been?

EDGAR A servingman, proud in heart and mind, that

curled my hair, wore gloves⁸³ in my cap, served the lust of my

mistress’ heart, and did the act of darkness with her: swore

as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet

face of heaven: one that slept in⁸⁶ the contriving of lust, and

waked to do it: wine loved I dearly, dice⁸⁷ dearly, and in woman

out-paramoured the Turk: false of heart, light of ear⁸⁸, bloody

of hand: hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog

in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor⁹⁰

the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman: keep