King Lear by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 1
The heath.
Edgar : Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,
[p]Than still contemn'd
and flatter'd. To be worst,
[p]The lowest and most dejected thing of
fortune,
[p]Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear.
[p]The
lamentable change is from the best;
[p]The worst returns to laughter.
Welcome then,
[p]Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!
[p]The wretch
that thou hast blown unto the worst
[p]Owes nothing to thy
blasts.
[p][Enter Gloucester, led by an Old Man.]
[p]But who comes
here?
[p]My father, poorly led? World, world, O world!
[p]But that thy
strange mutations make us hate thee,
[p]Life would not yield to age.
Old Man : O my good lord,
[p]I have been your tenant, and your father's
tenant,
[p]These fourscore years.
Earl of Glouchester : Away, get thee away! Good friend, be gone.
[p]Thy comforts can do me
no good at all;
[p]Thee they may hurt.
Old Man : You cannot see your way.
Earl of Glouchester : I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;
[p]I stumbled when I saw.
Full oft 'tis seen
[p]Our means secure us, and our mere
defects
[p]Prove our commodities. Ah dear son Edgar,
[p]The food of
thy abused father's wrath!
[p]Might I but live to see thee in my
touch,
[p]I'ld say I had eyes again!
Old Man : How now? Who's there?
Edgar : [aside] O gods! Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'?
[p]I am worse
than e'er I was.
Old Man : 'Tis poor mad Tom.
Edgar : [aside] And worse I may be yet. The worst is not
[p]So long as we can
say 'This is the worst.'
Old Man : Fellow, where goest?
Earl of Glouchester : Is it a beggarman?
Old Man : Madman and beggar too.
Earl of Glouchester : He has some reason, else he could not beg.
[p]I' th' last night's
storm I such a fellow saw,
[p]Which made me think a man a worm. My
son
[p]Came then into my mind, and yet my mind
[p]Was then scarce
friends with him. I have heard more since.
[p]As flies to wanton boys
are we to th' gods.
[p]They kill us for their sport.
Edgar : [aside] How should this be?
[p]Bad is the trade that must play fool to
sorrow,
[p]Ang'ring itself and others.- Bless thee, master!
Earl of Glouchester : Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man : Ay, my lord.
Earl of Glouchester : Then prithee get thee gone. If for my sake
[p]Thou wilt o'ertake us
hence a mile or twain
[p]I' th' way toward Dover, do it for ancient
love;
[p]And bring some covering for this naked soul,
[p]Who I'll
entreat to lead me.
Old Man : Alack, sir, he is mad!
Earl of Glouchester : 'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind.
[p]Do as I bid
thee, or rather do thy pleasure.
[p]Above the rest, be gone.
Old Man : I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have,
[p]Come on't what will.
Exit.
Earl of Glouchester : Sirrah naked fellow-
Edgar : Poor Tom's acold. [Aside] I cannot daub it further.
Earl of Glouchester : Come hither, fellow.
Edgar : [aside] And yet I must.- Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.
Earl of Glouchester : Know'st thou the way to Dover?
Edgar : Both stile and gate, horseway and footpath. Poor Tom hath
been
[p]scar'd out of his good wits. Bless thee, good man's son,
from
[p]the foul fiend! Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once:
of
[p]lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididence, prince of dumbness; Mahu,
of
[p]stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping
and
[p]mowing, who since possesses chambermaids and waiting women.
So,
[p]bless thee, master!
Earl of Glouchester : Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' plagues
[p]Have humbled
to all strokes. That I am wretched
[p]Makes thee the happier. Heavens,
deal so still!
[p]Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,
[p]That
slaves your ordinance, that will not see
[p]Because he does not feel,
feel your pow'r quickly;
[p]So distribution should undo excess,
[p]And
each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
Edgar : Ay, master.
Earl of Glouchester : There is a cliff, whose high and bending head
[p]Looks fearfully in
the confined deep.
[p]Bring me but to the very brim of it,
[p]And I'll
repair the misery thou dost bear
[p]With something rich about me. From
that place
[p]I shall no leading need.
Edgar : Give me thy arm.
[p]Poor Tom shall lead thee.
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 2
