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Dramatis Personae
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/ Home / Library / Complete Shakespeare / King Lear / Act I Scene I
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King Lear: Act 1 Scene 1
Scene: Britain.
Scene I King Lear's palace.
- [Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND]
- KENT
- I thought the king had more affected the Duke of
- Albany than Cornwall.
- GLOUCESTER
- It did always seem so to us: but now, in the
- division of the kingdom, it appears not which of
- the dukes he values most; for equalities are so
- weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice
- of either's moiety.
- KENT
- Is not this your son, my lord?
- GLOUCESTER
- His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have
- so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am
- brazed to it.
- KENT
- I cannot conceive you.
- GLOUCESTER
- Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon
- she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son
- for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed.
- Do you smell a fault?
- KENT
- I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it
- being so proper.
- GLOUCESTER
- But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year
- elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account:
- though this knave came something saucily into the
- world before he was sent for, yet was his mother
- fair; there was good sport at his making, and the
- whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this
- noble gentleman, Edmund?
- EDMUND
- No, my lord.
- GLOUCESTER
- My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my
- honourable friend.
- EDMUND
- My services to your lordship.
- KENT
- I must love you, and sue to know you better.
- EDMUND
- Sir, I shall study deserving.
- GLOUCESTER
- He hath been out nine years, and away he shall
- again. The king is coming.
- [Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY,
- GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants]
- KING LEAR
- Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.
- GLOUCESTER
- I shall, my liege.
- [Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND]
- KING LEAR
- Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
- Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
- In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
- To shake all cares and business from our age;
- Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
- Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
- And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
- We have this hour a constant will to publish
- Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
- May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,
- Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
- Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
- And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,--
- Since now we will divest us both of rule,
- Interest of territory, cares of state,--
- Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
- That we our largest bounty may extend
- Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
- Our eldest-born, speak first.
- GONERIL
- Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
- Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
- Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
- No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
- As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
- A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
- Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
- CORDELIA
- [Aside] What shall Cordelia do?
- Love, and be silent.
- LEAR
- Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
- With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
- With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
- We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue
- Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
- Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
- REGAN
- Sir, I am made
- Of the self-same metal that my sister is,
- And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
- I find she names my very deed of love;
- Only she comes too short: that I profess
- Myself an enemy to all other joys,
- Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
- And find I am alone felicitate
- In your dear highness' love.
- CORDELIA
- [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
- And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
- More richer than my tongue.
- KING LEAR
- To thee and thine hereditary ever
- Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
- No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
- Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
- Although the last, not least; to whose young love
- The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
- Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
- A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
- CORDELIA
- Nothing, my lord.
- KING LEAR
- Nothing!
- CORDELIA
- Nothing.
- KING LEAR
- Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
- CORDELIA
- Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
- My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
- According to my bond; nor more nor less.
- KING LEAR
- How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
- Lest it may mar your fortunes.
- CORDELIA
- Good my lord,
- You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
- Return those duties back as are right fit,
- Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
- Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
- They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
- That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
- Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
- Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
- To love my father all.
- KING LEAR
- But goes thy heart with this?
- CORDELIA
- Ay, good my lord.
- KING LEAR
- So young, and so untender?
- CORDELIA
- So young, my lord, and true.
- KING LEAR
- Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
- For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
- The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
- By all the operation of the orbs
- From whom we do exist, and cease to be;
- Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
- Propinquity and property of blood,
- And as a stranger to my heart and me
- Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
- Or he that makes his generation messes
- To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
- Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
- As thou my sometime daughter.
- KENT
- Good my liege,--
- KING LEAR
- Peace, Kent!
- Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
- I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
- On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!
- So be my grave my peace, as here I give
- Her father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?
- Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,
- With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:
- Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
- I do invest you jointly with my power,
- Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
- That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,
- With reservation of an hundred knights,
- By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
- Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
- The name, and all the additions to a king;
- The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
- Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
- This coronet part betwixt you.
- [Giving the crown]
- KENT
- Royal Lear,
- Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
- Loved as my father, as my master follow'd,
- As my great patron thought on in my prayers,--
- KING LEAR
- The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.
- KENT
- Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
- The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,
- When Lear is mad. What wilt thou do, old man?
- Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
- When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,
- When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;
- And, in thy best consideration, cheque
- This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
- Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
- Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
- Reverbs no hollowness.
- KING LEAR
- Kent, on thy life, no more.
- KENT
- My life I never held but as a pawn
- To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
- Thy safety being the motive.
- KING LEAR
- Out of my sight!
- KENT
- See better, Lear; and let me still remain
- The true blank of thine eye.
- KING LEAR
- Now, by Apollo,--
- KENT
- Now, by Apollo, king,
- Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
- KING LEAR
- O, vassal! miscreant!
- [Laying his hand on his sword]
- ALBANY / CORNWALL
- Dear sir, forbear.
- KENT
- Do:
- Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
- Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy doom;
- Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
- I'll tell thee thou dost evil.
- KING LEAR
- Hear me, recreant!
- On thine allegiance, hear me!
- Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
- Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride
- To come between our sentence and our power,
- Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
- Our potency made good, take thy reward.
- Five days we do allot thee, for provision
- To shield thee from diseases of the world;
- And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
- Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
- Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
- The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,
- This shall not be revoked.
- KENT
- Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear,
- Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.
- [To CORDELIA]
- The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,
- That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said!
- [To REGAN and GONERIL]
- And your large speeches may your deeds approve,
- That good effects may spring from words of love.
- Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;
- He'll shape his old course in a country new.
- [Exit]
- [Flourish. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with KING OF FRANCE,
- BURGUNDY, and Attendants]
- GLOUCESTER
- Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
- KING LEAR
- My lord of Burgundy.
- We first address towards you, who with this king
- Hath rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least,
- Will you require in present dower with her,
- Or cease your quest of love?
- BURGUNDY
- Most royal majesty,
- I crave no more than what your highness offer'd,
- Nor will you tender less.
- KING LEAR
- Right noble Burgundy,
- When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;
- But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands:
- If aught within that little seeming substance,
- Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
- And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,
- She's there, and she is yours.
- BURGUNDY
- I know no answer.
- KING LEAR
- Will you, with those infirmities she owes,
- Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
- Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our oath,
- Take her, or leave her?
- BURGUNDY
- Pardon me, royal sir;
- Election makes not up on such conditions.
- KING LEAR
- Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me,
- I tell you all her wealth.
- [To KING OF FRANCE]
- For you, great king,
- I would not from your love make such a stray,
- To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
- To avert your liking a more worthier way
- Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
- Almost to acknowledge hers.
- KING OF FRANCE
- This is most strange,
- That she, that even but now was your best object,
- The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
- Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
- Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
- So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
- Must be of such unnatural degree,
- That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
- Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,
- Must be a faith that reason without miracle
- Could never plant in me.
- CORDELIA
- I yet beseech your majesty,--
- If for I want that glib and oily art,
- To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,
- I'll do't before I speak,--that you make known
- It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
- No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,
- That hath deprived me of your grace and favour;
- But even for want of that for which I am richer,
- A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
- As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
- Hath lost me in your liking.
- KING LEAR
- Better thou
- Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.
- KING OF FRANCE
- Is it but this,--a tardiness in nature
- Which often leaves the history unspoke
- That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy,
- What say you to the lady? Love's not love
- When it is mingled with regards that stand
- Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
- She is herself a dowry.
- BURGUNDY
- Royal Lear,
- Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
- And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
- Duchess of Burgundy.
- KING LEAR
- Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.
- BURGUNDY
- I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
- That you must lose a husband.
- CORDELIA
- Peace be with Burgundy!
- Since that respects of fortune are his love,
- I shall not be his wife.
- KING OF FRANCE
- Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
- Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised!
- Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon:
- Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.
- Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
- My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
- Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
- Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:
- Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy
- Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.
- Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
- Thou losest here, a better where to find.
- KING LEAR
- Thou hast her, France: let her be thine; for we
- Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
- That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
- Without our grace, our love, our benison.
- Come, noble Burgundy.
- [Flourish. Exeunt all but KING OF FRANCE, GONERIL,
- REGAN, and CORDELIA]
- KING OF FRANCE
- Bid farewell to your sisters.
- CORDELIA
- The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
- Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
- And like a sister am most loath to call
- Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:
- To your professed bosoms I commit him
- But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
- I would prefer him to a better place.
- So, farewell to you both.
- REGAN
- Prescribe not us our duties.
- GONERIL
- Let your study
- Be to content your lord, who hath received you
- At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
- And well are worth the want that you have wanted.
- CORDELIA
- Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
- Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
- Well may you prosper!
- KING OF FRANCE
- Come, my fair Cordelia.
- [Exeunt KING OF FRANCE and CORDELIA]
- GONERIL
- Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what
- most nearly appertains to us both. I think our
- father will hence to-night.
- REGAN
- That's most certain, and with you; next month with us.
- GONERIL
- You see how full of changes his age is; the
- observation we have made of it hath not been
- little: he always loved our sister most; and
- with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off
- appears too grossly.
- REGAN
- 'Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever
- but slenderly known himself.
- GONERIL
- The best and soundest of his time hath been but
- rash; then must we look to receive from his age,
- not alone the imperfections of long-engraffed
- condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness
- that infirm and choleric years bring with them.
- REGAN
- Such unconstant starts are we like to have from
- him as this of Kent's banishment.
- GONERIL
- There is further compliment of leavetaking
- between France and him. Pray you, let's hit
- together: if our father carry authority with
- such dispositions as he bears, this last
- surrender of his will but offend us.
- REGAN
- We shall further think on't.
- GONERIL
- We must do something, and i' the heat.
- [Exeunt]
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