King Lear by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 7
Gloucester’s Castle. Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, [Edmund the] Bastard, and Servants.
Duke of Cornwall : [to Goneril] Post speedily to my lord your husband, show him
[p]this
letter. The army of France is landed.- Seek out the
traitor
[p]Gloucester.
Regan : Hang him instantly.
Goneril : Pluck out his eyes.
Duke of Cornwall : Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund, keep you our sister
[p]company.
The revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous
[p]father are
not fit for your beholding. Advise the Duke where you
[p]are going, to
a most festinate preparation. We are bound to the
[p]like. Our posts
shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us.
[p]Farewell, dear sister;
farewell, my Lord of Gloucester. [Enter Oswald the Steward.]
[p]How
now? Where's the King?
Oswald : My Lord of Gloucester hath convey'd him hence.
[p]Some five or six and
thirty of his knights,
[p]Hot questrists after him, met him at
gate;
[p]Who, with some other of the lord's dependants,
[p]Are gone
with him towards Dover, where they boast
[p]To have well-armed
friends.
Duke of Cornwall : Get horses for your mistress.
Goneril : Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
Duke of Cornwall : Edmund, farewell. [Exeunt Goneril, Edmund, and Oswald.]
[p]Go seek the
traitor Gloucester,
[p]Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
[Exeunt other Servants.]
[p]Though well we may not pass upon his
life
[p]Without the form of justice, yet our power
[p]Shall do a
court'sy to our wrath, which men
[p]May blame, but not control. [Enter
Gloucester, brought in by two or three.]
[p]Who's there? the traitor?
Regan : Ingrateful fox! 'tis he.
Duke of Cornwall : Bind fast his corky arms.
Earl of Glouchester : What mean, your Graces? Good my friends, consider
[p]You are my
guests. Do me no foul play, friends.
Duke of Cornwall : Bind him, I say.
Regan : Hard, hard. O filthy traitor!
Earl of Glouchester : Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none.
Duke of Cornwall : To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find-
Earl of Glouchester : By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done
[p]To pluck me by the beard.
Regan : So white, and such a traitor!
Earl of Glouchester : Naughty lady,
[p]These hairs which thou dost ravish from my
chin
[p]Will quicken, and accuse thee. I am your host.
[p]With
robber's hands my hospitable favours
[p]You should not ruffle thus.
What will you do?
Duke of Cornwall : Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?
Regan : Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth.
Duke of Cornwall : And what confederacy have you with the traitors
[p]Late footed in the
kingdom?
Regan : To whose hands have you sent the lunatic King?
[p]Speak.
Earl of Glouchester : I have a letter guessingly set down,
[p]Which came from one that's of
a neutral heart,
[p]And not from one oppos'd.
Duke of Cornwall : Cunning.
Regan : And false.
Duke of Cornwall : Where hast thou sent the King?
Earl of Glouchester : To Dover.
Regan : Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charg'd at peril-
Duke of Cornwall : Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that.
Earl of Glouchester : I am tied to th' stake, and I must stand the course.
Regan : Wherefore to Dover, sir?
Earl of Glouchester : Because I would not see thy cruel nails
[p]Pluck out his poor old
eyes; nor thy fierce sister
[p]In his anointed flesh stick boarish
fangs.
[p]The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
[p]In hell-black
night endur'd, would have buoy'd up
[p]And quench'd the steeled
fires.
[p]Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
[p]If
wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
[p]Thou shouldst have
said, 'Good porter, turn the key.'
[p]All cruels else subscrib'd. But
I shall see
[p]The winged vengeance overtake such children.
Duke of Cornwall : See't shalt thou never. Fellows, hold the chair.
[p]Upon these eyes of
thine I'll set my foot.
Earl of Glouchester : He that will think to live till he be old,
[p]Give me some help!- O
cruel! O ye gods!
Regan : One side will mock another. Th' other too!
Duke of Cornwall : If you see vengeance-
Servant 1 : Hold your hand, my lord!
[p]I have serv'd you ever since I was a
child;
[p]But better service have I never done you
[p]Than now to bid
you hold.
Regan : How now, you dog?
Servant 1 : If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
[p]I'ld shake it on this
quarrel.
Regan : What do you mean?
Duke of Cornwall : My villain! Draw and fight.
Servant 1 : Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger.
Regan : Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus?
[p] She
takes a sword and runs at him behind.
Servant 1 : O, I am slain! My lord, you have one eye left
[p]To see some mischief
on him. O! He dies.
Duke of Cornwall : Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!
[p]Where is thy lustre
now?
Earl of Glouchester : All dark and comfortless! Where's my son Edmund?
[p]Edmund, enkindle
all the sparks of nature
[p]To quit this horrid act.
Regan : Out, treacherous villain!
[p]Thou call'st on him that hates thee. It
was he
[p]That made the overture of thy treasons to us;
[p]Who is too
good to pity thee.
Earl of Glouchester : O my follies! Then Edgar was abus'd.
[p]Kind gods, forgive me that,
and prosper him!
Regan : Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
[p]His way to Dover.
[Exit one with Gloucester.]
[p]How is't, my lord? How look you?
Duke of Cornwall : I have receiv'd a hurt. Follow me, lady.
[p]Turn out that eyeless
villain. Throw this slave
[p]Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed
apace.
[p]Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm.
Servant 2 : I'll never care what wickedness I do,
[p]If this man come to good.
Servant 3 : If she live long,
[p]And in the end meet the old course of
death,
[p]Women will all turn monsters.
Servant 2 : Let's follow the old Earl, and get the bedlam
[p]To lead him where he
would. His roguish madness
[p]Allows itself to anything.
Servant 3 : Go thou. I'll fetch some flax and whites of eggs
[p]To apply to his
bleeding face. Now heaven help him!
Previous: Act 3 - Scene 6
Next: Act 4 - Scene 1
