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King Lear : Act 5, Scene 3

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           Enter, in conquest, with Drum and
           Colours, EDMUND, LEAR and
           CORDELIA as prisoners, SOLDIERS,
           CAPTAIN.

      EDMUND
  1   Some officers take them away. Good guard,
  2   Until their greater pleasures first be known
  3   That are to censure them.

      CORDELIA
  3                                             We are not the first
  4   Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
  5   For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
  6   Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.
  7   Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

      KING LEAR
  8   No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:
  9   We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
 10   When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
 11   And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
 12   And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
 13   At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
 14   Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
 15   Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
 16   And take upon's the mystery of things,
 17   As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
 18   In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,
 19   That ebb and flow by the moon.

      EDMUND
 19                                                       Take them away.

      KING LEAR
 20   Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
 21   The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?
 22   He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,
 23   And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
 24   The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
 25   Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see 'em starve first.
 26   Come.

           Exit [KING LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded].

      EDMUND
 26               Come hither, captain; hark.
 27   Take thou this note;

           [Giving a paper.]

 27                                       go follow them to prison:
 28   One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
 29   As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
 30   To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men
 31   Are as the time is: to be tender-minded
 32   Does not become a sword: thy great employment
 33   Will not bear question; either say thou'lt do 't,
 34   Or thrive by other means.

      Captain
 34                                               I'll do 't, my lord.

      EDMUND
 35   About it; and write happy when thou hast done.
 36   Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it so
 37   As I have set it down.

      Captain
 38   I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;
 39   If it be man's work, I'll do 't.

           Exit Captain.

           Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL,
           REGAN, [another Captain,] Soldiers.

      ALBANY
 40   Sir, you have shown today your valiant strain,
 41   And fortune led you well: you have the captives
 42   That were the opposites of this day's strife:
 43   We do require them of you, so to use them
 44   As we shall find their merits and our safety
 45   May equally determine.

      EDMUND
 45                                             Sir, I thought it fit
 46   To send the old and miserable king
 47   To some retention and appointed guard;
 48   Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
 49   To pluck the common bosom on his side,
 50   And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes
 51   Which do command them. With him I sent the queen;
 52   My reason all the same; and they are ready
 53   Tomorrow, or at further space, to appear
 54   Where you shall hold your session. At this time
 55   We sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;
 56   And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed
 57   By those that feel their sharpness:
 58   The question of Cordelia and her father
 59   Requires a fitter place.

      ALBANY
 59                                         Sir, by your patience,
 60   I hold you but a subject of this war,
 61   Not as a brother.

      REGAN
 61                               That's as we list to grace him.
 62   Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,
 63   Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;
 64   Bore the commission of my place and person;
 65   The which immediacy may well stand up,
 66   And call itself your brother.

      GONERIL
 66                                                   Not so hot:
 67   In his own grace he doth exalt himself,
 68   More than in your addition.

      REGAN
 68                                                   In my rights,
 69   By me invested, he compeers the best.

      GONERIL
 70   That were the most, if he should husband you.

      REGAN
 71   Jesters do oft prove prophets.

      GONERIL
 71                                                   Holla, holla!
 72   That eye that told you so look'd but a-squint.

      REGAN
 73   Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
 74   From a full-flowing stomach.

           [To EDMUND.]

 74                                                   General,
 75   Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
 76   Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:
 77   Witness the world, that I create thee here
 78   My lord and master.

      GONERIL
 78                                     Mean you to enjoy him?

      ALBANY
 79   The let-alone lies not in your good will.

      EDMUND
 80   Nor in thine, lord.

      ALBANY
 80                                 Half-blooded fellow, yes.

      REGAN [To EDMUND.]
 81   Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.

      ALBANY
 82   Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
 83   On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,
 84   This gilded serpent

           [Pointing to Goneril.]

 84                                   For your claim, fair sister,
 85   I bar it in the interest of my wife:
 86   'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
 87   And I, her husband, contradict your banes.
 88   If you will marry, make your loves to me,
 89   My lady is bespoke.

      GONERIL
 89                                     An enterlude!

      ALBANY
 90   Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:
 91   If none appear to prove upon thy head
 92   Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
 93   There is my pledge;

           [Throwing down a gauntlet.]

 93                                     I'll make it on thy heart,
 94   Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
 95   Than I have here proclaim'd thee.

      REGAN
 95                                                             Sick, O, sick!

      GONERIL [Aside.]
 96   If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.

      EDMUND
 97   There's my exchange:

           [Throwing down a gauntlet.]

 97                                       What in the world he is
 98   That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:
 99   Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
100   On him, on you, who not? I will maintain
101   My truth and honour firmly.

      ALBANY
102   A herald, ho!

      EDMUND
102                           A herald, ho, a herald!

      ALBANY
103   Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
104   All levied in my name, have in my name
105   Took their discharge.

      REGAN
105                                       My sickness grows upon me.

      ALBANY
106   She is not well; convey her to my tent.

           [Exit Regan, led.]

           Enter a HERALD.

107   Come hither, herald,—Let the trumpet sound,
108   And read out this.

      Captain
109   Sound, trumpet!

           A trumpet sounds.

      Herald [Reads.]
110   'If any man of quality or degree within
111   the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund,
112   supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold
113   traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the
114   trumpet: he is bold in his defence.'

      EDMUND
115   Sound!

           First trumpet.

      Herald
116   Again!

           Second trumpet.

      Herald
117   Again!

           Third trumpet.

           Trumpet answers within.

           Enter EDGAR, armed.

      ALBANY
118   Ask him his purposes, why he appears
119   Upon this call o' the trumpet.

      Herald
119                                                   What are you?
120   Your name, your quality? and why you answer
121   This present summons?

      EDGAR
121                                           Know, my name is lost;
122   By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:
123   Yet am I noble as the adversary
124   I come to cope.

      ALBANY
124                             Which is that adversary?

      EDGAR
125   What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?

      EDMUND
126   Himself: what say'st thou to him?

      EDGAR
126                                                           Draw thy sword,
127   That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
128   Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine:
129   Behold, it is my privilege,
130   The privilege of mine honours,
131   My oath, and my profession: I protest,
132   Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
133   Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,
134   Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor;
135   False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
136   Conspirant 'gainst this high-illustrious prince;
137   And, from the extremest upward of thy head
138   To the descent and dust below thy foot,
139   A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'No,'
140   This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bent
141   To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
142   Thou liest.

      EDMUND
142                       In wisdom I should ask thy name;
143   But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
144   And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
145   What safe and nicely I might well delay
146   By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:
147   Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;
148   With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;
149   Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
150   This sword of mine shall give them instant way,
151   Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!

           Alarums. [Fight. EDMUND falls.]

      ALBANY
152   Save him, save him!

      GONERIL
152                                   This is practise, Gloucester:
153   By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
154   An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
155   But cozen'd and beguil'd.

      ALBANY
155                                               Shut your mouth, dame,
156   Or with this paper shall I stopple it. Hold, sir.—
157   Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.

           [Shows the letter to EDMUND.
           Goneril snatches at it.]

158   No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it.

      GONERIL
159   Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:
160   Who can arraign me for't?

      ALBANY
160                                               Most monstrous! oh!
161   Know'st thou this paper?

      GONERIL
161                                           Ask me not what I know.

           Exit.

      ALBANY
162   Go after her: she's desperate; govern her.

      EDMUND
163   What you have charged me with, that have I done;
164   And more, much more; the time will bring it out:
165   'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou
166   That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
167   I do forgive thee.

      EDGAR
167                                 Let's exchange charity.
168   I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
169   If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me.
170   My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
171   The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
172   Make instruments to plague us:
173   The dark and vicious place where thee he got
174   Cost him his eyes.

      EDMUND
174                               Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true;
175   The wheel is come full circle: I am here.

      ALBANY [To EDGAR.]
176   Methought thy very gait did prophesy
177   A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee:
178   Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I
179   Did hate thee or thy father!

      EDGAR
179                                               Worthy prince, I know't.

      ALBANY
180   Where have you hid yourself?
181   How have you known the miseries of your father?

      EDGAR
182   By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;
183   And when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
184   The bloody proclamation to escape,
185   That follow'd me so near,—O, our lives' sweetness!
186   That we the pain of death would hourly die
187   Rather than die at once!—taught me to shift
188   Into a madman's rags; to assume a semblance
189   That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit
190   Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
191   Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,
192   Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;
193   Never,—O fault!—reveal'd myself unto him,
194   Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:
195   Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
196   I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last
197   Told him my pilgrimage: but his flaw'd heart,
198   Alack, too weak the conflict to support!
199   'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
200   Burst smilingly.

      EDMUND
200                         This speech of yours hath moved me,
201   And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;
202   You look as you had something more to say.

      ALBANY
203   If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;
204   For I am almost ready to dissolve,
205   Hearing of this.

      EDGAR
205                             This would have seem'd a period
206   To such as love not sorrow; but another,
207   To amplify too much, would make much more,
208   And top extremity.
209   Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,
210   Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
211   Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
212   Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
213   He fastened on my neck, and bellow'd out
214   As he'ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;
215   Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
216   That ever ear received: which in recounting
217   His grief grew puissant and the strings of life
218   Began to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,
219   And there I left him tranc'd.

      ALBANY
219                                                 But who was this?

      EDGAR
220   Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise
221   Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service
222   Improper for a slave.

           Enter a Gentleman [with a bloody knife].

      Gentleman
223   Help, help! O, help!

      EDGAR
223                                   What kind of help?

      ALBANY
223                                                                 Speak, man.

      EDGAR
224   What means that bloody knife?

      Gentleman
224                                                   'Tis hot, it smokes;
225   It came even from the heart of—O, she's dead!

      ALBANY
226   Who dead? speak, man.

      Gentleman
227   Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister
228   By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.

      EDMUND
229   I was contracted to them both: all three
230   Now marry in an instant.

      EDGAR
230                                           Here comes Kent.

      ALBANY
231   Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead:
232   This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
233   Touches us not with pity.

           [Exit Gentleman.]

           Enter KENT.

233                                           O, is this he?
234   The time will not allow the compliment
235   Which very manners urges.

      KENT
235                                               I am come
236   To bid my king and master aye good night:
237   Is he not here?

      ALBANY
237                           Great thing of us forgot!
238   Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia?

           Goneril's and Regan's bodies brought out.

239   See'st thou this object, Kent?

      KENT
240   Alack, why thus?

      EDMUND
240                               Yet Edmund was belov'd:
241   The one the other poison'd for my sake,
242   And after slew herself.

      ALBANY
243   Even so. Cover their faces.

      EDMUND
244   I pant for life: some good I mean to do,
245   Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,
246   Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ
247   Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia:
248   Nay, send in time.

      ALBANY
248                                 Run, run, O, run!

      EDGAR
249   To who, my lord? Who hath the office? send
250   Thy token of reprieve.

      EDMUND
251   Well thought on: take my sword,
252   Give it the captain.

      ALBANY
252                                     Haste thee, for thy life.

           [Exit EDGAR.]

      EDMUND
253   He hath commission from thy wife and me
254   To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
255   To lay the blame upon her own despair,
256   That she fordid herself.

      ALBANY
257   The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

           [EDMUND is borne off.]

           Enter LEAR, with Cordelia in his arms;
           [EDGAR, Captain, and others following.]

      KING LEAR
258   Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
259   Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
260   That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
261   I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
262   She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
263   If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
264   Why, then she lives.

      KENT
264                                     Is this the promised end

      EDGAR
265   Or image of that horror?

      ALBANY
265                                           Fall, and cease!

      KING LEAR
266   This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
267   It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
268   That ever I have felt.

      KENT [Kneeling]
268                                       O my good master!

      KING LEAR
269   Prithee, away.

      EDGAR
269                             'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

      KING LEAR
270   A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
271   I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!
272   Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
273   What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,
274   Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
275   I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.

      Captain
276   'Tis true, my lords, he did.

      KING LEAR
276                                             Did I not, fellow?
277   I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
278   I would have made them skip: I am old now,
279   And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
280   Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight.

      KENT
281   If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
282   One of them we behold.

      KING LEAR
283   This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?

      KENT
283                                                                 The same,
284   Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius?

      KING LEAR
285   He's a good fellow, I can tell you that;
286   He'll strike, and quickly too: he's dead and rotten.

      KENT
287   No, my good lord; I am the very man,—

      KING LEAR
288   I'll see that straight.

      KENT
289   That, from your first of difference and decay,
290   Have follow'd your sad steps—

      KING LEAR
290                                                     You are welcome hither.

      KENT
291   Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
292   Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,
293   And desperately are dead.

      KING LEAR
293                                               Ay, so I think.

      ALBANY
294   He knows not what he says: and vain is it
295   That we present us to him.

      EDGAR
295                                               Very bootless.

           Enter a Messenger

      Messenger
296   Edmund is dead, my lord.

      ALBANY
296                                           That's but a trifle here.
297   You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
298   What comfort to this great decay may come
299   Shall be applied: for us we will resign,
300   During the life of this old majesty,
301   To him our absolute power.

           [To EDGAR and KENT.]

301                                           You, to your rights:
302   With boot, and such addition as your honours
303   Have more than merited. All friends shall taste
304   The wages of their virtue, and all foes
305   The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

      KING LEAR
306   And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
307   Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
308   And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
309   Never, never, never, never, never!
310   Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
311   Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
312   Look there, look there!

           He dies.

      EDGAR
312                                           He faints! My lord, my lord!

      KENT
313   Break, heart; I prithee, break!

      EDGAR
313                                                       Look up, my lord.

      KENT
314   Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much
315   That would upon the rack of this tough world
316   Stretch him out longer.

      EDGAR
316                                           He is gone, indeed.

      KENT
317   The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
318   He but usurp'd his life.

      ALBANY
319   Bear them from hence. Our present business
320   Is general woe.

           [To Kent and Edgar.]

320                             Friends of my soul, you twain
321   Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.

      KENT
322   I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
323   My master calls me, I must not say no.

      ALBANY
324   The weight of this sad time we must obey;
325   Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
326   The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
327   Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

           Exeunt with a dead march.