King Lear by William Shakespeare

Act 1 - Scene 1

King Lear’s Palace.

Earl of Kent : I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany
than [p]Cornwall.

Earl of Glouchester : It did always seem so to us; but now, in the division of
the [p]kingdom, it appears not which of the Dukes he values most,
for [p]equalities are so weigh'd that curiosity in neither can
make [p]choice of either's moiety.

Earl of Kent : Is not this your son, my lord?

Earl of Glouchester : His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so often [p]blush'd
to acknowledge him that now I am braz'd to't.

Earl of Kent : I cannot conceive you.

Earl of Glouchester : Sir, this young fellow's mother could; whereupon she
grew [p]round-womb'd, and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere
she [p]had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

Earl of Kent : I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so [p]proper.

Earl of Glouchester : But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than [p]this,
who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave
came [p]something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet
was [p]his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and
the [p]whoreson must be acknowledged.- Do you know this noble
gentleman, [p]Edmund?

Edmund : [comes forward] No, my lord.

Earl of Glouchester : My Lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter as my honourable [p]friend.

Edmund : My services to your lordship.

Earl of Kent : I must love you, and sue to know you better.

Edmund : Sir, I shall study deserving.

Earl of Glouchester : He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. [p][Sound a
sennet.] [p]The King is coming.

Lear : Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

Earl of Glouchester : I shall, my liege.

Lear : Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. [p]Give me the map
there. Know we have divided [p]In three our kingdom; and 'tis our fast
intent [p]To shake all cares and business from our age, [p]Conferring
them on younger strengths while we [p]Unburthen'd crawl toward death.
Our son of Cornwall, [p]And you, our no less loving son of
Albany, [p]We have this hour a constant will to publish [p]Our
daughters' several dowers, that future strife [p]May be prevented now.
The princes, France and Burgundy, [p]Great rivals in our youngest
daughter's love, [p]Long in our court have made their amorous
sojourn, [p]And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my
daughters [p](Since now we will divest us both of rule, [p]Interest of
territory, cares of state), [p]Which of you shall we say doth love us
most? [p]That we our largest bounty may extend [p]Where nature doth
with merit challenge. Goneril, [p]Our eldest-born, speak first.

Goneril : Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; [p]Dearer than
eyesight, space, and liberty; [p]Beyond what can be valued, rich or
rare; [p]No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; [p]As
much as child e'er lov'd, or father found; [p]A love that makes breath
poor, and speech unable. [p]Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

Cordelia : [aside] What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.

Lear : Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, [p]With shadowy
forests and with champains rich'd, [p]With plenteous rivers and
wide-skirted meads, [p]We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's
issue [p]Be this perpetual.- What says our second daughter, [p]Our
dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

Regan : Sir, I am made [p]Of the selfsame metal that my sister is, [p]And
prize me at her worth. In my true heart [p]I find she names my very
deed of love; [p]Only she comes too short, that I profess [p]Myself an
enemy to all other joys [p]Which the most precious square of sense
possesses, [p]And find I am alone felicitate [p]In your dear Highness'
love.

Cordelia : [aside] Then poor Cordelia! [p]And yet not so; since I am sure my
love's [p]More richer than my tongue.

Lear : To thee and thine hereditary ever [p]Remain this ample third of our
fair kingdom, [p]No less in space, validity, and pleasure [p]Than that
conferr'd on Goneril.- Now, our joy, [p]Although the last, not least;
to whose young love [p]The vines of France and milk of
Burgundy [p]Strive to be interest; what can you say to draw [p]A third
more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

Cordelia : Nothing, my lord.

Lear : Nothing?

Cordelia : Nothing.

Lear : Nothing can come of nothing. Speak again.

Cordelia : Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave [p]My heart into my mouth. I love
your Majesty [p]According to my bond; no more nor less.

Lear : How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little, [p]Lest it may mar your
fortunes.

Cordelia : Good my lord, [p]You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me; I [p]Return
those duties back as are right fit, [p]Obey you, love you, and most
honour you. [p]Why have my sisters husbands, if they say [p]They love
you all? Haply, when I shall wed, [p]That lord whose hand must take my
plight shall carry [p]Half my love with him, half my care and
duty. [p]Sure I shall never marry like my sisters, [p]To love my
father all.

Lear : But goes thy heart with this?

Cordelia : Ay, good my lord.

Lear : So young, and so untender?

Cordelia : So young, my lord, and true.

Lear : Let it be so! thy truth then be thy dower! [p]For, by the sacred
radiance of the sun, [p]The mysteries of Hecate and the night; [p]By
all the operation of the orbs [p]From whom we do exist and cease to
be; [p]Here I disclaim all my paternal care, [p]Propinquity and
property of blood, [p]And as a stranger to my heart and me [p]Hold
thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian, [p]Or he that makes
his generation messes [p]To gorge his appetite, shall to my
bosom [p]Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd, [p]As thou my
sometime daughter.

Earl of Kent : Good my liege-

Lear : Peace, Kent! [p]Come not between the dragon and his wrath. [p]I lov'd
her most, and thought to set my rest [p]On her kind nursery.- Hence
and avoid my sight!- [p]So be my grave my peace as here I give [p]Her
father's heart from her! Call France! Who stirs? [p]Call Burgundy!
Cornwall and Albany, [p]With my two daughters' dowers digest this
third; [p]Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. [p]I do
invest you jointly in my power, [p]Preeminence, and all the large
effects [p]That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly
course, [p]With reservation of an hundred knights, [p]By you to be
sustain'd, shall our abode [p]Make with you by due turns. Only we
still retain [p]The name, and all th' additions to a king. The
sway, [p]Revenue, execution of the rest, [p]Beloved sons, be yours;
which to confirm, [p]This coronet part betwixt you.

Earl of Kent : Royal Lear, [p]Whom I have ever honour'd as my king, [p]Lov'd as my
father, as my master follow'd, [p]As my great patron thought on in my
prayers-

Lear : The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft.

Earl of Kent : Let it fall rather, though the fork invade [p]The region of my heart!
Be Kent unmannerly [p]When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old
man? [p]Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak [p]When
power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound [p]When majesty
falls to folly. Reverse thy doom; [p]And in thy best consideration
check [p]This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgment, [p]Thy
youngest daughter does not love thee least, [p]Nor are those
empty-hearted whose low sound [p]Reverbs no hollowness.

Lear : Kent, on thy life, no more!

Earl of Kent : My life I never held but as a pawn [p]To wage against thine enemies;
nor fear to lose it, [p]Thy safety being the motive.

Lear : Out of my sight!

Earl of Kent : See better, Lear, and let me still remain [p]The true blank of thine
eye.

Lear : Now by Apollo-

Earl of Kent : Now by Apollo, King, [p]Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.

Lear : O vassal! miscreant! [Lays his hand on his sword.]

Duke of Albany : [with Cornwall] Dear sir, forbear!

Earl of Kent : Do! [p]Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow [p]Upon the foul
disease. Revoke thy gift, [p]Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my
throat, [p]I'll tell thee thou dost evil.

Lear : Hear me, recreant! [p]On thine allegiance, hear me! [p]Since thou hast
sought to make us break our vow- [p]Which we durst never yet- and with
strain'd pride [p]To come between our sentence and our
power,- [p]Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,- [p]Our
potency made good, take thy reward. [p]Five days we do allot thee for
provision [p]To shield thee from diseases of the world, [p]And on the
sixth to turn thy hated back [p]Upon our kingdom. If, on the tenth day
following, [p]Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, [p]The
moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter, [p]This shall not be revok'd.

Earl of Kent : Fare thee well, King. Since thus thou wilt appear, [p]Freedom lives
hence, and banishment is here. [p][To Cordelia] The gods to their dear
shelter take thee, maid, [p]That justly think'st and hast most rightly
said! [p][To Regan and Goneril] And your large speeches may your
deeds [p] approve, [p]That good effects may spring from words of
love. [p]Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu; [p]He'll shape his
old course in a country new. Exit.

Earl of Glouchester : Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.

Lear : My Lord of Burgundy, [p]We first address toward you, who with this
king [p]Hath rivall'd for our daughter. What in the least [p]Will you
require in present dower with her, [p]Or cease your quest of love?

Duke of Burgundy : Most royal Majesty, [p]I crave no more than hath your Highness
offer'd, [p]Nor will you tender less.

Lear : Right noble Burgundy, [p]When she was dear to us, we did hold her
so; [p]But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands. [p]If aught
within that little seeming substance, [p]Or all of it, with our
displeasure piec'd, [p]And nothing more, may fitly like your
Grace, [p]She's there, and she is yours.

Duke of Burgundy : I know no answer.

Lear : Will you, with those infirmities she owes, [p]Unfriended, new adopted
to our hate, [p]Dow'r'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our
oath, [p]Take her, or leave her?

Duke of Burgundy : Pardon me, royal sir. [p]Election makes not up on such conditions.

Lear : Then leave her, sir; for, by the pow'r that made me, [p]I tell you all
her wealth. [To France] For you, great King, [p]I would not from your
love make such a stray [p]To match you where I hate; therefore beseech
you [p]T' avert your liking a more worthier way [p]Than on a wretch
whom nature is asham'd [p]Almost t' acknowledge hers.

King of France : This is most strange, [p]That she that even but now was your best
object, [p]The argument of your praise, balm of your age, [p]Most
best, most dearest, should in this trice of time [p]Commit a thing so
monstrous to dismantle [p]So many folds of favour. Sure her
offence [p]Must be of such unnatural degree [p]That monsters it, or
your fore-vouch'd affection [p]Fall'n into taint; which to believe of
her [p]Must be a faith that reason without miracle [p]Should never
plant in me.

Cordelia : I yet beseech your Majesty, [p]If for I want that glib and oily
art [p]To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend, [p]I'll
do't before I speak- that you make known [p]It is no vicious blot,
murther, or foulness, [p]No unchaste action or dishonoured
step, [p]That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour; [p]But even
for want of that for which I am richer- [p]A still-soliciting eye, and
such a tongue [p]As I am glad I have not, though not to have
it [p]Hath lost me in your liking.

Lear : Better thou [p]Hadst not been born than not t' have pleas'd me
better.

King of France : Is it but this- a tardiness in nature [p]Which often leaves the
history unspoke [p]That it intends to do? My Lord of Burgundy, [p]What
say you to the lady? Love's not love [p]When it is mingled with
regards that stands [p]Aloof from th' entire point. Will you have
her? [p]She is herself a dowry.

Duke of Burgundy : Royal Lear, [p]Give but that portion which yourself propos'd, [p]And
here I take Cordelia by the hand, [p]Duchess of Burgundy.

Lear : Nothing! I have sworn; I am firm.

Duke of Burgundy : I am sorry then you have so lost a father [p]That you must lose a
husband.

Cordelia : Peace be with Burgundy! [p]Since that respects of fortune are his
love, [p]I shall not be his wife.

King of France : Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor; [p]Most choice,
forsaken; and most lov'd, despis'd! [p]Thee and thy virtues here I
seize upon. [p]Be it lawful I take up what's cast away. [p]Gods, gods!
'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect [p]My love should kindle
to inflam'd respect. [p]Thy dow'rless daughter, King, thrown to my
chance, [p]Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France. [p]Not all
the dukes in wat'rish Burgundy [p]Can buy this unpriz'd precious maid
of me. [p]Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind. [p]Thou losest
here, a better where to find.

Lear : Thou hast her, France; let her be thine; for we [p]Have no such
daughter, nor shall ever see [p]That face of hers again. Therefore be
gone [p]Without our grace, our love, our benison. [p]Come, noble
Burgundy.

King of France : Bid farewell to your sisters.

Cordelia : The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes [p]Cordelia leaves you. I
know you what you are; [p]And, like a sister, am most loath to
call [p]Your faults as they are nam'd. Use well our father. [p]To your
professed bosoms I commit him; [p]But yet, alas, stood I within his
grace, [p]I would prefer him to a better place! [p]So farewell to you
both.

Goneril : Prescribe not us our duties.

Regan : Let your study [p]Be to content your lord, who hath receiv'd you [p]At
fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted, [p]And well are worth the
want that you have wanted.

Cordelia : Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides. [p]Who cover faults, at
last shame them derides. [p]Well may you prosper!

King of France : Come, my fair Cordelia.

Goneril : Sister, it is not little I have to say of what most
nearly [p]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 [p]have
made of it hath not been little. He always lov'd our [p]sister most,
and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her [p]off appears too
grossly.

Regan : 'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but slenderly [p]known
himself.

Goneril : The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then [p]must we
look to receive from his age, not alone the [p]imperfections of
long-ingraffed condition, but therewithal [p]the unruly waywardness
that infirm and choleric years bring with [p]them.

Regan : Such unconstant starts are we like to have from him as this [p]of
Kent's banishment.

Goneril : There is further compliment of leave-taking between France and [p]him.
Pray you let's hit together. If our father carry authority [p]with
such dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of his [p]will but
offend us.

Regan : We shall further think on't.

Goneril : We must do something, and i' th' heat.

Next: Act 1 - Scene 2

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