King Lear

GLOUCESTER    Away, get thee away! Good friend, be gone:

Thy comforts can do me no good at all,

Thee they may hurt¹⁸.

OLD MAN    You cannot see your way.

GLOUCESTER    I have no way and therefore want no eyes:

I stumbled when I saw. Full oft ’tis seen

Our means secure us, and our mere defects²²

Prove our commodities²³. O dear son Edgar,

The food of thy abusèd²⁴ father’s wrath!

Might I but live to see thee in my touch,

I’d say I had eyes again!

OLD MAN    How now? Who’s there?

Aside

EDGAR    O gods! Who is’t can say, ‘I am at the worst’?

I am worse than e’er I was.

OLD MAN    ’Tis poor mad Tom.

Aside

EDGAR    And worse I may be yet: the worst is not³¹

So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’

OLD MAN    Fellow, where goest?

GLOUCESTER    Is it a beggar-man?

OLD MAN    Madman and beggar too.

GLOUCESTER    He has some reason³⁶, else he could not beg.

I’th’last night’s storm I such a fellow saw,

Which made me think a man a worm: my son

Came then into my mind and yet my mind

Was then scarce friends with him. I have heard more since.

As flies to wanton⁴¹ boys are we to th’gods:

They kill us for their sport.

Aside

EDGAR    How should this be?

Bad is the trade⁴⁴ that must play fool to sorrow,

Ang’ring itself and others.— Bless thee, master!

GLOUCESTER    Is that the naked fellow?

OLD MAN    Ay, my lord.

GLOUCESTER    Get thee away: if for my sake

Thou wilt o’ertake us hence a mile or twain

I’th’way toward Dover, do it for ancient love⁵⁰,

And bring some covering for this naked soul,

Which I’ll entreat to lead me.

OLD MAN    Alack, sir, he is mad.

GLOUCESTER    ’Tis the time’s plague⁵⁴, when madmen lead the blind.

Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure:

Above the rest⁵⁶, be gone.

OLD MAN    I’ll bring him the best ’pparel⁵⁷ that I have,

Come on’t what will⁵⁸.

Exit

GLOUCESTER    Sirrah, naked fellow—

Aside

EDGAR    Poor Tom’s a-cold.— I cannot daub it⁶⁰ further.

GLOUCESTER    Come hither, fellow.

Aside

EDGAR    And yet I must.— Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.

GLOUCESTER    Know’st thou the way to Dover?

EDGAR    Both stile and gate, horseway and footpath. Poor

Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: bless thee, good

man’s son, from the foul fiend!

GLOUCESTER    Here, take this purse, thou whom the heav’ns’ plagues

Gives a purse

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. Dost thou know Dover?

EDGAR    Ay, master.

GLOUCESTER    There is a cliff, whose high and bending⁷⁶ head

Looks fearfully in the confinèd⁷⁷ deep:

Bring me but to the very brim⁷⁸ of it

And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bear

With something rich about me⁸⁰: from that place

I shall no leading need.

EDGAR    Give me thy arm:

Poor Tom shall lead thee.

Exeunt

Act 4 Scene 2

running scene 13

Enter Goneril, Bastard [Edmund] and Steward [Oswald]

GONERIL    Welcome, my lord¹: I marvel our mild husband

Not met us on the way.— Now, where’s your master?

OSWALD    Madam, within, but never man so changed.

I told him of the army⁴ that was landed,

He smiled at it: I told him you were coming,

His answer was ‘The worse’: of Gloucester’s treachery

And of the loyal service of his son

When I informed him, then he called me ‘sot’⁸

And told me I had turned the wrong side out⁹.

What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;

What like, offensive.

To Edmund

GONERIL    Then shall you go no further.

It is the cowish¹³ terror of his spirit,

That dares not undertake¹⁴: he’ll not feel wrongs

Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way¹⁵

May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother¹⁶:

Hasten his musters and conduct his powers¹⁷.

I must change names at home and give the distaff¹⁸

Into my husband’s hands. This trusty servant

Shall pass between us: ere long you are like²⁰ to hear —

If you dare venture in your own behalf —

A mistress’s²² command. Wear this; spare speech.

Gives a favor

Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak,

Kisses him

Would stretch thy spirits²⁴ up into the air.

Conceive²⁵, and fare thee well.

EDMUND    Yours in the ranks of death²⁶.

Exit

GONERIL    My most dear Gloucester!

O, the difference of man and man!

To thee a woman’s services²⁹ are due:

My fool usurps³⁰ my body.

OSWALD    Madam, here comes my lord.

Exit

Enter Albany

GONERIL    I have been worth the whistle³².

ALBANY    O Goneril,³³

You are not worth the dust which the rude³⁴ wind

Blows in your face.

GONERIL    Milk-livered³⁶ man,

That bear’st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs,

Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning³⁸

Thine honour from thy suffering.

ALBANY    See thyself, devil!

Proper deformity seems not in the fiend⁴¹

So horrid as in woman.

GONERIL    O vain⁴³ fool!