King Lear : Act 1, Scene 5
Enter LEAR, KENT [disguised as Caius],
and Fool.
KING LEAR
before ahead of me | to Gloucester —This is confusing! | these letters i.e., this letter | her demand out of the letter her questions arising from reading the letter
1 Go you before to Gloucester with these letters.
2 Acquaint my daughter no further with any thing
3 you know than comes from her demand out of
4 the letter. If your diligence be not speedy, I shall
5 be there afore you.
KENT
6 I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered
7 your letter.
Exit.
Fool
8 If a man's brains were in's heels, were't not in
kibes chilblains, inflammation of the extremities resulting from exposure
9 danger of kibes?
KING LEAR
10 Ay, boy.
Fool
thy wit shall ne'er go slip-shod i.e. your wits won't wear slippers to protect against chilblains, because your wits aren't in your heels —The Fool probably means that King Lear's journey to Regan is just stupid.
11 Then, I prithee, be merry; thy wit shall ne'er go
12 slip-shod.
KING LEAR
13 Ha, ha, ha!
Fool
kindly 1) according to her nature; 2) with natural affection | this i.e., Goneril | crab crabapple
14 Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly;
15 for though she's as like this as a crab's like an
16 apple, yet I can tell what I can tell.
KING LEAR
17 Why, what canst thou tell, my boy?
Fool
18 She will taste as like this as a crab does to a
19 crab. Thou canst tell why one's nose stands i'
on's of his
20 the middle on's face?
KING LEAR
21 No.
Fool
of on | that so that
22 Why, to keep one's eyes of either side's nose; that
23 what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into.
KING LEAR
24 I did her wrong.
Fool
25 Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell?
KING LEAR
26 No.
Fool
27 Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a
28 house.
KING LEAR
29 Why?
Fool
30 Why, to put his head in; not to give it away to his
31 daughters, and leave his horns without a case.
KING LEAR
forget my nature lose my fatherly feelings [?]
32 I will forget my nature. So kind a father! Be my
33 horses ready?
Fool
asses i.e, Lear's followers
34 Thy asses are gone about 'em. The reason why
seven stars Pleiades
35 the seven stars are no more than seven is a pretty
36 reason.
KING LEAR
37 Because they are not eight?
Fool
38 Yes, indeed: thou wouldst make a good Fool.
KING LEAR
To take 't again perforce! to take it back again by force! —King Lear may be thinking of the fact that Goneril deprived him of fifty of his knights, and fantasizing that with those knights he could take back his kingdom by force.
39 To take 't again perforce! Monster ingratitude!
Fool
40 If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'ld have thee beaten
41 for being old before thy time.
KING LEAR
42 How's that?
Fool
43 Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst
44 been wise.
KING LEAR
45 O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven
temper mental balance
46 Keep me in temper: I would not be mad!
[Enter Gentleman.]
47 How now! are the horses ready?
Gentleman
48 Ready, my lord.
KING LEAR
49 Come, boy.
[Exeunt Lear and Gentleman.]
Fool
maid virgin | She ... shorter Maybe this is a warning that the scene is no laughing matter. Maybe this is a dirty joke. Maybe this was not written by Shakespeare. Here's a link to various comments in the New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare.
50 She that's a maid now, and laughs at my departure,
51 Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut shorter.
Exit.