King Lear by William Shakespeare

Act 2 - Scene 4

Before Gloucester’s Castle; Kent in the stocks.

Lear : 'Tis strange that they should so depart from home, [p]And not send
back my messenger.

Gentleman : As I learn'd, [p]The night before there was no purpose in them [p]Of
this remove.

Earl of Kent : Hail to thee, noble master!

Lear : Ha! [p]Mak'st thou this shame thy pastime?

Earl of Kent : No, my lord.

Fool : Ha, ha! look! he wears cruel garters. Horses are tied by the [p]head,
dogs and bears by th' neck, monkeys by th' loins, and men [p]by th'
legs. When a man's over-lusty at legs, then he wears [p]wooden
nether-stocks.

Lear : What's he that hath so much thy place mistook [p]To set thee here?

Earl of Kent : It is both he and she- [p]Your son and daughter.

Lear : No.

Earl of Kent : Yes.

Lear : No, I say.

Earl of Kent : I say yea.

Lear : No, no, they would not!

Earl of Kent : Yes, they have.

Lear : By Jupiter, I swear no!

Earl of Kent : By Juno, I swear ay!

Lear : They durst not do't; [p]They would not, could not do't. 'Tis worse
than murther [p]To do upon respect such violent outrage. [p]Resolve me
with all modest haste which way [p]Thou mightst deserve or they impose
this usage, [p]Coming from us.

Earl of Kent : My lord, when at their home [p]I did commend your Highness' letters to
them, [p]Ere I was risen from the place that show'd [p]My duty
kneeling, came there a reeking post, [p]Stew'd in his haste, half
breathless, panting forth [p]From Goneril his mistress
salutations; [p]Deliver'd letters, spite of intermission, [p]Which
presently they read; on whose contents, [p]They summon'd up their
meiny, straight took horse, [p]Commanded me to follow and
attend [p]The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks, [p]And
meeting here the other messenger, [p]Whose welcome I perceiv'd had
poison'd mine- [p]Being the very fellow which of late [p]Display'd so
saucily against your Highness- [p]Having more man than wit about me,
drew. [p]He rais'd the house with loud and coward cries. [p]Your son
and daughter found this trespass worth [p]The shame which here it
suffers.

Fool : Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way. [p] Fathers
that wear rags [p] Do make their children blind; [p] But
fathers that bear bags [p] Shall see their children kind. [p]
Fortune, that arrant whore, [p] Ne'er turns the key to th'
poor. [p]But for all this, thou shalt have as many dolours for
thy [p]daughters as thou canst tell in a year.

Lear : O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! [p]Hysterica passio!
Down, thou climbing sorrow! [p]Thy element's below! Where is this
daughter?

Earl of Kent : With the Earl, sir, here within.

Lear : Follow me not; [p]Stay here. Exit.

Gentleman : Made you no more offence but what you speak of?

Earl of Kent : None. [p]How chance the King comes with so small a number?

Fool : An thou hadst been set i' th' stocks for that question, [p]thou'dst
well deserv'd it.

Earl of Kent : Why, fool?

Fool : We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's
no [p]labouring i' th' winter. All that follow their noses are led
by [p]their eyes but blind men, and there's not a nose among
twenty [p]but can smell him that's stinking. Let go thy hold when a
great [p]wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with
following [p]it; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee
after. [p]When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine
again. I [p]would have none but knaves follow it, since a fool gives
it. [p] That sir which serves and seeks for gain, [p] And
follows but for form, [p] Will pack when it begins to rain [p]
And leave thee in the storm. [p] But I will tarry; the fool will
stay, [p] And let the wise man fly. [p] The knave turns fool
that runs away; [p] The fool no knave, perdy.

Earl of Kent : Where learn'd you this, fool?

Fool : Not i' th' stocks, fool. [p] Enter Lear and
Gloucester

Lear : Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary? [p]They have
travell'd all the night? Mere fetches- [p]The images of revolt and
flying off! [p]Fetch me a better answer.

Earl of Glouchester : My dear lord, [p]You know the fiery quality of the Duke, [p]How
unremovable and fix'd he is [p]In his own course.

Lear : Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! [p]Fiery? What quality? Why,
Gloucester, Gloucester, [p]I'ld speak with the Duke of Cornwall and
his wife.

Earl of Glouchester : Well, my good lord, I have inform'd them so.

Lear : Inform'd them? Dost thou understand me, man?

Earl of Glouchester : Ay, my good lord.

Lear : The King would speak with Cornwall; the dear father [p]Would with his
daughter speak, commands her service. [p]Are they inform'd of this? My
breath and blood! [p]Fiery? the fiery Duke? Tell the hot Duke
that- [p]No, but not yet! May be he is not well. [p]Infirmity doth
still neglect all office [p]Whereto our health is bound. We are not
ourselves [p]When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind [p]To
suffer with the body. I'll forbear; [p]And am fallen out with my more
headier will, [p]To take the indispos'd and sickly fit [p]For the
sound man.- Death on my state! Wherefore [p]Should he sit here? This
act persuades me [p]That this remotion of the Duke and her [p]Is
practice only. Give me my servant forth. [p]Go tell the Duke and 's
wife I'ld speak with them- [p]Now, presently. Bid them come forth and
hear me, [p]Or at their chamber door I'll beat the drum [p]Till it cry
sleep to death.

Earl of Glouchester : I would have all well betwixt you. Exit.

Lear : O me, my heart, my rising heart! But down!

Fool : Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels when she [p]put 'em
i' th' paste alive. She knapp'd 'em o' th' coxcombs with [p]a stick
and cried 'Down, wantons, down!' 'Twas her brother that, [p]in pure
kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.

Lear : Good morrow to you both.

Duke of Cornwall : Hail to your Grace!

Regan : I am glad to see your Highness.

Lear : Regan, I think you are; I know what reason [p]I have to think so. If
thou shouldst not be glad, [p]I would divorce me from thy mother's
tomb, [p]Sepulchring an adultress. [To Kent] O, are you free? [p]Some
other time for that.- Beloved Regan, [p]Thy sister's naught. O Regan,
she hath tied [p]Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture,
here! [p][Lays his hand on his heart.] [p]I can scarce speak to thee.
Thou'lt not believe [p]With how deprav'd a quality- O Regan!

Regan : I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope [p]You less know how to
value her desert [p]Than she to scant her duty.

Lear : Say, how is that?

Regan : I cannot think my sister in the least [p]Would fail her obligation.
If, sir, perchance [p]She have restrain'd the riots of your
followers, [p]'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end, [p]As
clears her from all blame.

Lear : My curses on her!

Regan : O, sir, you are old! [p]Nature in you stands on the very verge [p]Of
her confine. You should be rul'd, and led [p]By some discretion that
discerns your state [p]Better than you yourself. Therefore I pray
you [p]That to our sister you do make return; [p]Say you have wrong'd
her, sir.

Lear : Ask her forgiveness? [p]Do you but mark how this becomes the
house: [p]'Dear daughter, I confess that I am old. [Kneels.] [p]Age is
unnecessary. On my knees I beg [p]That you'll vouchsafe me raiment,
bed, and food.'

Regan : Good sir, no more! These are unsightly tricks. [p]Return you to my
sister.

Lear : [rises] Never, Regan! [p]She hath abated me of half my
train; [p]Look'd black upon me; struck me with her tongue, [p]Most
serpent-like, upon the very heart. [p]All the stor'd vengeances of
heaven fall [p]On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, [p]You
taking airs, with lameness!

Duke of Cornwall : Fie, sir, fie!

Lear : You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames [p]Into her scornful
eyes! Infect her beauty, [p]You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the pow'rful
sun, [p]To fall and blast her pride!

Regan : O the blest gods! so will you wish on me [p]When the rash mood is on.

Lear : No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse. [p]Thy tender-hefted nature
shall not give [p]Thee o'er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce; but
thine [p]Do comfort, and not burn. 'Tis not in thee [p]To grudge my
pleasures, to cut off my train, [p]To bandy hasty words, to scant my
sizes, [p]And, in conclusion, to oppose the bolt [p]Against my coming
in. Thou better know'st [p]The offices of nature, bond of
childhood, [p]Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. [p]Thy half o'
th' kingdom hast thou not forgot, [p]Wherein I thee endow'd.

Regan : Good sir, to th' purpose.

Lear : Who put my man i' th' stocks?

Duke of Cornwall : What trumpet's that?

Regan : I know't- my sister's. This approves her letter, [p]That she would
soon be here. [p][Enter [Oswald the] Steward.] [p]Is your lady come?

Lear : This is a slave, whose easy-borrowed pride [p]Dwells in the fickle
grace of her he follows. [p]Out, varlet, from my sight!

Duke of Cornwall : What means your Grace?

Lear : Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope [p]Thou didst not know
on't.- Who comes here? O heavens! [p]If you do love old men, if your
sweet sway [p]Allow obedience- if yourselves are old, [p]Make it your
cause! Send down, and take my part! [p][To Goneril] Art not asham'd to
look upon this beard?- [p]O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?

Goneril : Why not by th' hand, sir? How have I offended? [p]All's not offence
that indiscretion finds [p]And dotage terms so.

Lear : O sides, you are too tough! [p]Will you yet hold? How came my man i'
th' stocks?

Duke of Cornwall : I set him there, sir; but his own disorders [p]Deserv'd much less
advancement.

Lear : You? Did you?

Regan : I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. [p]If, till the expiration of
your month, [p]You will return and sojourn with my
sister, [p]Dismissing half your train, come then to me. [p]I am now
from home, and out of that provision [p]Which shall be needful for
your entertainment.

Lear : Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd? [p]No, rather I abjure all
roofs, and choose [p]To wage against the enmity o' th' air, [p]To be a
comrade with the wolf and owl- [p]Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with
her? [p]Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took [p]Our
youngest born, I could as well be brought [p]To knee his throne, and,
squire-like, pension beg [p]To keep base life afoot. Return with
her? [p]Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter [p]To this detested
groom. [Points at Oswald.]

Goneril : At your choice, sir.

Lear : I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad. [p]I will not trouble thee,
my child; farewell. [p]We'll no more meet, no more see one
another. [p]But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter; [p]Or
rather a disease that's in my flesh, [p]Which I must needs call mine.
Thou art a boil, [p]A plague sore, an embossed carbuncle [p]In my
corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee. [p]Let shame come when it
will, I do not call it. [p]I do not bid the Thunder-bearer
shoot [p]Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove. [p]Mend when
thou canst; be better at thy leisure; [p]I can be patient, I can stay
with Regan, [p]I and my hundred knights.

Regan : Not altogether so. [p]I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided [p]For
your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister; [p]For those that
mingle reason with your passion [p]Must be content to think you old,
and so- [p]But she knows what she does.

Lear : Is this well spoken?

Regan : I dare avouch it, sir. What, fifty followers? [p]Is it not well? What
should you need of more? [p]Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and
danger [p]Speak 'gainst so great a number? How in one house [p]Should
many people, under two commands, [p]Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost
impossible.

Goneril : Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance [p]From those that she
calls servants, or from mine?

Regan : Why not, my lord? If then they chanc'd to slack ye, [p]We could
control them. If you will come to me [p](For now I spy a danger), I
entreat you [p]To bring but five-and-twenty. To no more [p]Will I give
place or notice.

Lear : I gave you all-

Regan : And in good time you gave it!

Lear : Made you my guardians, my depositaries; [p]But kept a reservation to
be followed [p]With such a number. What, must I come to you [p]With
five-and-twenty, Regan? Said you so?

Regan : And speak't again my lord. No more with me.

Lear : Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd [p]When others are
more wicked; not being the worst [p]Stands in some rank of praise. [To
Goneril] I'll go with thee. [p]Thy fifty yet doth double
five-and-twenty, [p]And thou art twice her love.

Goneril : Hear, me, my lord. [p]What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or
five, [p]To follow in a house where twice so many [p]Have a command to
tend you?

Regan : What need one?

Lear : O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars [p]Are in the poorest thing
superfluous. [p]Allow not nature more than nature needs, [p]Man's life
is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady: [p]If only to go warm were
gorgeous, [p]Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st [p]Which
scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need- [p]You heavens, give me
that patience, patience I need! [p]You see me here, you gods, a poor
old man, [p]As full of grief as age; wretched in both. [p]If it be you
that stirs these daughters' hearts [p]Against their father, fool me
not so much [p]To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, [p]And
let not women's weapons, water drops, [p]Stain my man's cheeks! No,
you unnatural hags! [p]I will have such revenges on you both [p]That
all the world shall- I will do such things- [p]What they are yet, I
know not; but they shall be [p]The terrors of the earth! You think
I'll weep. [p]No, I'll not weep. [p]I have full cause of weeping, but
this heart [p]Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws [p]Or ere I'll
weep. O fool, I shall go mad!

Duke of Cornwall : Let us withdraw; 'twill be a storm.

Regan : This house is little; the old man and 's people [p]Cannot be well
bestow'd.

Goneril : 'Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest [p]And must needs taste
his folly.

Regan : For his particular, I'll receive him gladly, [p]But not one follower.

Goneril : So am I purpos'd. [p]Where is my Lord of Gloucester?

Duke of Cornwall : Followed the old man forth. [p][Enter Gloucester.] [p]He is return'd.

Earl of Glouchester : The King is in high rage.

Duke of Cornwall : Whither is he going?

Earl of Glouchester : He calls to horse, but will I know not whither.

Duke of Cornwall : 'Tis best to give him way; he leads himself.

Goneril : My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

Earl of Glouchester : Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds [p]Do sorely ruffle.
For many miles about [p]There's scarce a bush.

Regan : O, sir, to wilful men [p]The injuries that they themselves
procure [p]Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors. [p]He is
attended with a desperate train, [p]And what they may incense him to,
being apt [p]To have his ear abus'd, wisdom bids fear.

Duke of Cornwall : Shut up your doors, my lord: 'tis a wild night. [p]My Regan counsels
well. Come out o' th' storm. [Exeunt.]

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Next: Act 3 - Scene 1

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