Shakespeare's King Lear Act 5, Scene 3

King Lear

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ACT V 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
	Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.	5
	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:
	We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:	10
	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
	Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,	15
	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,
	That ebb and flow by the moon.	20
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,
	And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;	25
	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.
	Take thou this note;	30
[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
	Are as the time is: to be tender-minded	35
	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	About it; and write happy when thou hast done.	40
	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	Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,	45
	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
	May equally determine.	50
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,
	To pluck the common bosom on his side,	55
	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
	Where you shall hold your session. At this time	60
	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
	Requires a fitter place.	65
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.
	Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,	70
	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	Not so hot:	75
	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	That were the most, if he should husband you.	80
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
	From a full-flowing stomach. General,	85
	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	Mean you to enjoy him?	90
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	Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee	95
	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:
	'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,	100
	And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
	If you will marry, make your loves to me,
	My lady is bespoke.
GONERIL	An interlude!
ALBANY	Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:	105
	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,
	Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less	110
	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]
	what in the world he is	115
	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	A herald, ho!	120
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	My sickness grows upon me.	125
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	[Reads] 'If any man of quality or degree within	130
	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	Sound!	135
[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	What are you?	140
	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:
	Yet am I noble as the adversary	145
	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	Draw thy sword,	150
	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,
	Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,	155
	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;
	And, from the extremest upward of thy head	160
	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,
	Thou liest.	165
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
	By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:	170
	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,
	Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!	175
[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,
	But cozen'd and beguiled.	180
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	Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:	185
	Who can arraign me for't.
ALBANY	Most monstrous! oh!
	Know'st thou this paper?
GONERIL	Ask me not what I know.
[Exit]
ALBANY	Go after her: she's desperate; govern her.	190
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,
	I do forgive thee.	195
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.
	The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices	200
	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;
	The wheel is come full circle: I am here.	205
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	Worthy prince, I know't.	210
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!
	The bloody proclamation to escape,	215
	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
	That very dogs disdain'd: and in this habit	220
	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,
	Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:	225
	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!
	'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,	230
	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	If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;	235
	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,
	To amplify too much, would make much more,	240
	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
	Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms	245
	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
	His grief grew puissant and the strings of life	250
	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
	Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service	255
	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	What means that bloody knife?	260
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
	By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.	265
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:
	This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,	270
	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	I am come	275
	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?
	See'st thou this object, Kent?	280
[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	Even so. Cover their faces.	285
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:
	Nay, send in time.	290
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,
	Give it the captain.	295
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,
	That she fordid herself.	300
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!
	I know when one is dead, and when one lives;	305
	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	Or image of that horror?	310
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	[Kneeling] O my good master!	315
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!
	Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!	320
	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	Did I not, fellow?	325
	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	If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,	330
	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	He's a good fellow, I can tell you that;	335
	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,
	Have follow'd your sad steps.	340
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	Ay, so I think.	345
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	That's but a trifle here.	350
	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,
	To him our absolute power:	355
[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
	The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!	360
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!
	Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.	365
	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	Look up, my lord.	370
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	The wonder is, he hath endured so long:	375
	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
	Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.	380
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.
	The oldest hath borne most: we that are young	385
	Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
[Exeunt, with a dead march]