The Tragedy of King Lear: ACT V , SCENE III. The British camp near Dover.

The Tragedy of King Lear: ACT V


	Introduction

	ACT I

	ACT II

	ACT III

	ACT IV

	ACT V

		SCENE I. The British camp, near Dover.

		SCENE II. A field between the two camps.

		SCENE III. The British camp near Dover.

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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
5     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:
10    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
15    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,
20    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,
25    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.
30 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
35    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

40    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

45    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
50    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,
55    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
60    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
65    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.
70    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

75    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

80 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
85    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

90 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

95    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:
100   '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

105   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,
110   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

115   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

120 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

125 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

130   (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

135 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

140   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:
145   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

150   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,
155   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;
160   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,
165   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
170   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,
175   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,
180   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

185 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

190 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,
195   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.
200   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;
205 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

210 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!
215   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
220   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,
225   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!
230   '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

235   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,
240   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
245   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
250   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
255   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

260 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
265 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:
270   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

275   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?
280   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

285 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:
290   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,
295 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,
300   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!
305   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

310 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

315 (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!
320   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

325   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

330 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

335 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,
340 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

345 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

350   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,
355   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
360   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!
365   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

370 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

375 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
380 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.
385   The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
      Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

Exeunt, with a dead march

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