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King Lear: Act 5 Scene 3

Scene III The British camp near Dover.

[Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, EDMUND,

KING LEAR and CORDELIA, prisoners; Captain,

Soldiers, &c]

EDMUND

Some officers take them away: good guard,

Until their greater pleasures first be known

That are to censure them.

CORDELIA

We are not the first

Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.

For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;

Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.

Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

KING LEAR

No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:

We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:

When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,

And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,

And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh

At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues

Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,

Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;

And take upon's the mystery of things,

As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,

In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,

That ebb and flow by the moon.

EDMUND

Take them away.

KING LEAR

Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,

The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?

He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,

And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;

The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,

Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see 'em starve

first. Come.

[Exeunt KING LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded]

EDMUND

Come hither, captain; hark.

Take thou this note;

[Giving a paper]

go follow them to prison:

One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost

As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way

To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men

Are as the time is: to be tender-minded

Does not become a sword: thy great employment

Will not bear question; either say thou'lt do 't,

Or thrive by other means.

CAPTAIN

I'll do 't, my lord.

EDMUND

About it; and write happy when thou hast done.

Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it so

As I have set it down.

CAPTAIN

I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;

If it be man's work, I'll do 't.

[Exit]

[Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, another

Captain, and Soldiers]

ALBANY

Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,

And fortune led you well: you have the captives

That were the opposites of this day's strife:

We do require them of you, so to use them

As we shall find their merits and our safety

May equally determine.

EDMUND

Sir, I thought it fit

To send the old and miserable king

To some retention and appointed guard;

Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,

To pluck the common bosom on his side,

An turn our impress'd lances in our eyes

Which do command them. With him I sent the queen;

My reason all the same; and they are ready

To-morrow, or at further space, to appear

Where you shall hold your session. At this time

We sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;

And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed

By those that feel their sharpness:

The question of Cordelia and her father

Requires a fitter place.

ALBANY

Sir, by your patience,

I hold you but a subject of this war,

Not as a brother.

REGAN

That's as we list to grace him.

Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,

Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;

Bore the commission of my place and person;

The which immediacy may well stand up,

And call itself your brother.

GONERIL

Not so hot:

In his own grace he doth exalt himself,

More than in your addition.

REGAN

In my rights,

By me invested, he compeers the best.

GONERIL

That were the most, if he should husband you.

REGAN

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

GONERIL

Holla, holla!

That eye that told you so look'd but a-squint.

REGAN

Lady, I am not well; else I should answer

From a full-flowing stomach. General,

Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;

Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:

Witness the world, that I create thee here

My lord and master.

GONERIL

Mean you to enjoy him?

ALBANY

The let-alone lies not in your good will.

EDMUND

Nor in thine, lord.

ALBANY

Half-blooded fellow, yes.

REGAN

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

ALBANY

Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee

On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,

This gilded serpent

[Pointing to Goneril]

For your claim, fair sister,

I bar it in the interest of my wife:

'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,

And I, her husband, contradict your bans.

If you will marry, make your loves to me,

My lady is bespoke.

GONERIL

An interlude!

ALBANY

Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:

If none appear to prove upon thy head

Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,

There is my pledge;

[Throwing down a glove]

I'll prove it on thy heart,

Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less

Than I have here proclaim'd thee.

REGAN

Sick, O, sick!

GONERIL

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

EDMUND

There's my exchange:

[Throwing down a glove]

what in the world he is

That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:

Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,

On him, on you, who not? I will maintain

My truth and honour firmly.

ALBANY

A herald, ho!

EDMUND

A herald, ho, a herald!

ALBANY

Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,

All levied in my name, have in my name

Took their discharge.

REGAN

My sickness grows upon me.

ALBANY

She is not well; convey her to my tent.

[Exit Regan, led]

[Enter a Herald]

Come hither, herald,--Let the trumpet sound,

And read out this.

CAPTAIN

Sound, trumpet!

[A trumpet sounds]

HERALD

[Reads] 'If any man of quality or degree within

the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund,

supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifold

traitor, let him appear by the third sound of the

trumpet: he is bold in his defence.'

EDMUND

Sound!

[First trumpet]

HERALD

Again!

[Second trumpet]

HERALD

Again!

[Third trumpet]

[Trumpet answers within]

[Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with a

trumpet before him]

ALBANY

Ask him his purposes, why he appears

Upon this call o' the trumpet.

HERALD

What are you?

Your name, your quality? and why you answer

This present summons?

EDGAR

Know, my name is lost;

By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:

Yet am I noble as the adversary

I come to cope.

ALBANY

Which is that adversary?

EDGAR

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

EDMUND

Himself: what say'st thou to him?

EDGAR

Draw thy sword,

That, if my speech offend a noble heart,

Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.

Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,

My oath, and my profession: I protest,

Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,

Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,

Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor;

False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;

Conspirant 'gainst this high-illustrious prince;

And, from the extremest upward of thy head

To the descent and dust below thy foot,

A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'No,'

This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bent

To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,

Thou liest.

EDMUND

In wisdom I should ask thy name;

But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,

And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,

What safe and nicely I might well delay

By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:

Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;

With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;

Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,

This sword of mine shall give them instant way,

Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!

[Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls]

ALBANY

Save him, save him!

GONERIL

This is practise, Gloucester:

By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer

An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,

But cozen'd and beguiled.

ALBANY

Shut your mouth, dame,

Or with this paper shall I stop it: Hold, sir:

Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil:

No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it.

[Gives the letter to EDMUND]

GONERIL

Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:

Who can arraign me for't.

ALBANY

Most monstrous! oh!

Know'st thou this paper?

GONERIL

Ask me not what I know.

[Exit]

ALBANY

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

EDMUND

What you have charged me with, that have I done;

And more, much more; the time will bring it out:

'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou

That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,

I do forgive thee.

EDGAR

Let's exchange charity.

I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;

If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me.

My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices

Make instruments to plague us:

The dark and vicious place where thee he got

Cost him his eyes.

EDMUND

Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true;

The wheel is come full circle: I am here.

ALBANY

Methought thy very gait did prophesy

A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee:

Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I

Did hate thee or thy father!

EDGAR

Worthy prince, I know't.

ALBANY

Where have you hid yourself?

How have you known the miseries of your father?

EDGAR

By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;

And when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!

The bloody proclamation to escape,

That follow'd me so near,--O, our lives' sweetness!

That we the pain of death would hourly die

Rather than die at once!--taught me to shift

Into a madman's rags; to assume a semblance

That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit

Met I my father with his bleeding rings,

Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,

Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;

Never,--O fault!--reveal'd myself unto him,

Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:

Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,

I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last

Told him my pilgrimage: but his flaw'd heart,

Alack, too weak the conflict to support!

'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,

Burst smilingly.

EDMUND

This speech of yours hath moved me,

And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;

You look as you had something more to say.

ALBANY

If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;

For I am almost ready to dissolve,

Hearing of this.

EDGAR

This would have seem'd a period

To such as love not sorrow; but another,

To amplify too much, would make much more,

And top extremity.

Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,

Who, having seen me in my worst estate,

Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding

Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms

He fastened on my neck, and bellow'd out

As he'ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;

Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him

That ever ear received: which in recounting

His grief grew puissant and the strings of life

Began to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,

And there I left him tranced.

ALBANY

But who was this?

EDGAR

Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise

Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service

Improper for a slave.

[Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife]

GENTLEMAN

Help, help, O, help!

EDGAR

What kind of help?

ALBANY

Speak, man.

EDGAR

What means that bloody knife?

GENTLEMAN

'Tis hot, it smokes;

It came even from the heart of--O, she's dead!

ALBANY

Who dead? speak, man.

GENTLEMAN

Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister

By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.

EDMUND

I was contracted to them both: all three

Now marry in an instant.

EDGAR

Here comes Kent.

ALBANY

Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead:

This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,

Touches us not with pity.

[Exit Gentleman]

[Enter KENT]

O, is this he?

The time will not allow the compliment

Which very manners urges.

KENT

I am come

To bid my king and master aye good night:

Is he not here?

ALBANY

Great thing of us forgot!

Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia?

See'st thou this object, Kent?

[The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in]

KENT

Alack, why thus?

EDMUND

Yet Edmund was beloved:

The one the other poison'd for my sake,

And after slew herself.

ALBANY

Even so. Cover their faces.

EDMUND

I pant for life: some good I mean to do,

Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,

Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ

Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia:

Nay, send in time.

ALBANY

Run, run, O, run!

EDGAR

To who, my lord? Who hath the office? send

Thy token of reprieve.

EDMUND

Well thought on: take my sword,

Give it the captain.

ALBANY

Haste thee, for thy life.

[Exit EDGAR]

EDMUND

He hath commission from thy wife and me

To hang Cordelia in the prison, and

To lay the blame upon her own despair,

That she fordid herself.

ALBANY

The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

[EDMUND is borne off]

[Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms;

EDGAR, Captain, and others following]

KING LEAR

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so

That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives.

KENT

Is this the promised end

EDGAR

Or image of that horror?

ALBANY

Fall, and cease!

KING LEAR

This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,

It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows

That ever I have felt.

KENT

[Kneeling] O my good master!

KING LEAR

Prithee, away.

EDGAR

'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

KING LEAR

A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!

I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!

Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!

What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,

Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.

I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.

CAPTAIN

'Tis true, my lords, he did.

KING LEAR

Did I not, fellow?

I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion

I would have made them skip: I am old now,

And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?

Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight.

KENT

If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,

One of them we behold.

KING LEAR

This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?

KENT

The same,

Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius?

KING LEAR

He's a good fellow, I can tell you that;

He'll strike, and quickly too: he's dead and rotten.

KENT

No, my good lord; I am the very man,--

KING LEAR

I'll see that straight.

KENT

That, from your first of difference and decay,

Have follow'd your sad steps.

KING LEAR

You are welcome hither.

KENT

Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.

Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves,

And desperately are dead.

KING LEAR

Ay, so I think.

ALBANY

He knows not what he says: and vain it is

That we present us to him.

EDGAR

Very bootless.

[Enter a Captain]

CAPTAIN

Edmund is dead, my lord.

ALBANY

That's but a trifle here.

You lords and noble friends, know our intent.

What comfort to this great decay may come

Shall be applied: for us we will resign,

During the life of this old majesty,

To him our absolute power:

[To EDGAR and KENT]

you, to your rights:

With boot, and such addition as your honours

Have more than merited. All friends shall taste

The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

KING LEAR

And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,

Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,

Look there, look there!

[Dies]

EDGAR

He faints! My lord, my lord!

KENT

Break, heart; I prithee, break!

EDGAR

Look up, my lord.

KENT

Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much

That would upon the rack of this tough world

Stretch him out longer.

EDGAR

He is gone, indeed.

KENT

The wonder is, he hath endured so long:

He but usurp'd his life.

ALBANY

Bear them from hence. Our present business

Is general woe.

[To KENT and EDGAR]

Friends of my soul, you twain

Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.

KENT

I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;

My master calls me, I must not say no.

ALBANY

The weight of this sad time we must obey;

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

The oldest hath borne most: we that are young

Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

[Exeunt, with a dead march]