Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund. KENT I thought the King had more affected the Duke
of Albany than Cornwall. GLOUCESTER It did always seem so to us, but now in
the division of the kingdom, it appears not which
of the dukes he values most, for equalities are so 5
weighed that curiosity in neither can make choice
of either’s moiety. | Two lords, Gloucester and Kent, are at King Lear's palace in Britain, talking about Lear's plan to divide the kingdom. The men speculate as to why King Lear has decided to give the same amount of territory to both of his sons-in-law, even though everyone knows he likes one of them better. However, he's not going to base his decision on how much he values his sons-in-law, which means it's going to be a tough race (the men are otherwise well-matched). |
KENT Is not this your son, my lord? GLOUCESTER His breeding, sir, hath been at my
charge. I have so often blushed to acknowledge 10
him that now I am brazed to ’t. KENT I cannot conceive you. GLOUCESTER Sir, this young fellow’s mother could,
whereupon she grew round-wombed and had indeed,
sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband 15
for her bed. Do you smell a fault? KENT I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it
being so proper. | Gloucester introduces Kent to his illegitimate son, Edmund. Embarrassed, Gloucester cracks some jokes about his affair with Edmund's mother, who was apparently quite fun, but a little too fertile for everyone's good. Gloucester asks Kent, "Do you smell a fault?" This is a reference to his sinful affair with Edmund's mother and also a dirty pun—"fault" is slang for female genitals so, basically, Gloucester is insulting his son and his son's mother. (And yes, Edmund is standing right there the entire time.) |
GLOUCESTER But I have a son, sir, by order of law,
some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in 20
my account. Though this knave came something
saucily to the world before he was sent for, yet was
his mother fair, there was good sport at his making,
and the whoreson must be acknowledged.—Do you
know this noble gentleman, Edmund? 25 EDMUND No, my lord. GLOUCESTER My lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter
as my honorable friend. EDMUND My services to your Lordship. KENT I must love you and sue to know you better. 30 EDMUND Sir, I shall study deserving. | Gloucester says he has an older son who happens to be legitimate (born to married parents), but that he doesn't love him any more than he loves Edmund. |
GLOUCESTER He hath been out nine years, and away he
shall again. (Sennet.) The King is coming. | Gloucester adds that Edmund has been hidden away for nine years, and that he will soon be going away again. |
Enter King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan,
Cordelia, and Attendants. LEAR
Attend the lords of France and Burgundy,
Gloucester. 35 GLOUCESTER I shall, my lord. He exits. LEAR
Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.—
Give me the map there. He is handed a map.
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent 40
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburdened crawl toward death. Our son of
Cornwall
And you, our no less loving son of Albany, 45
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now.
The two great princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love, 50
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn
And here are to be answered. Tell me, my
daughters—
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state— 55
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest born, speak first. | King Lear enters and makes a formal announcement of his plan to divide the kingdom between his three daughters and their husbands. Lear says he'll still officially be king, meaning he'll retain all of his power and revenues, but he just doesn't want to do any of the work anymore. Further, dividing up the kingdom now will avoid any nasty disputes after his death. (Yeah right. So he thinks.) There's another matter Lear means to clear up, too: the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy are at his court right now, competing for Cordelia (Lear's youngest and unmarried daughter). He plans to hand her over in marriage to one of these men today, but, first things first... Lear's all set to carve up the kingdom, leaving his children to manage his affairs and his wealth. But there's a catch: first his daughters have to tell him how much they love him. He'll give the biggest chunk of his estate to the daughter who does the best job of it. |
GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than word can wield the 60
matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor;
As much as child e’er loved, or father found; 65
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you. CORDELIA, aside
What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent. LEAR, pointing to the map
Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains riched, 70
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany’s issue
Be this perpetual.—What says our second
daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? Speak. 75 | Lear's eldest, Goneril makes a ridiculous and flattering speech about how she loves her father as much as life itself. |
REGAN
I am made of that self mettle as my sister
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys 80
Which the most precious square of sense
possesses,
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear Highness’ love. CORDELIA, aside Then poor Cordelia! 85
And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s
More ponderous than my tongue. LEAR
To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,
No less in space, validity, and pleasure 90
Than that conferred on Goneril.—Now, our joy,
Although our last and least, to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interessed, what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters’? Speak. 95 | Regan, the second daughter, declares Goneril is a good kid, but actually Regan is the one who loves her father more than life, so there. She declares his love is the only thing that gives her happiness (as in, Lear's the apple of her eye, the cream in her coffee, and he's richer than her husband, the Duke of Cornwall). |
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord. LEAR Nothing? CORDELIA Nothing. LEAR
Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again. CORDELIA
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave 100
My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less. | Cordelia, Lear's youngest and favorite daughter, listens to her sisters' empty speeches and thinks this love contest is stupid. Words of love are no substitute for actually feeling love, and her love is richer than her ability to flatter. So when her turn comes, she says, "Nothing," which her father says will net her exactly nothing in his will. |
LEAR
How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little,
Lest you may mar your fortunes. CORDELIA Good my lord, 105
You have begot me, bred me, loved me.
I return those duties back as are right fit:
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed, 110
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall
carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all. 115 | When Lear warns Cordelia that she'd better say something or she won't get her piece of the kingdom, Cordelia lashes out at the premises of the game. Her sisters' claims that 100% of their love is devoted to their father makes a mockery of their marriages. Cordelia promises that when she marries, half her love will be reserved for her husband; she won't claim that all her love belongs to her father. |
LEAR But goes thy heart with this? CORDELIA Ay, my good lord. LEAR So young and so untender? CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true. LEAR
Let it be so. Thy truth, then, be thy dower, 120
For by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care, 125
Propinquity, and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this forever. The barbarous
Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes 130
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved
As thou my sometime daughter. | Lear is furious. It seems to him that his favorite child has betrayed him, and he says if she loves truth so much, truth can be her dowry, as she'll not be getting any piece of this kingdom pie. Lear then swears by Heaven and Hell that he is casting Cordelia out. She is no longer part of his family, and he thinks of her as fondly as he thinks of the kind of people who eat their children. |
KENT Good my liege— LEAR Peace, Kent. 135
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. To Cordelia. Hence and avoid
my sight!—
So be my grave my peace as here I give 140
Her father’s heart from her.—Call France. Who stirs?
Call Burgundy. An Attendant exits. Cornwall and
Albany,
With my two daughters’ dowers digest the third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. 145
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Preeminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustained, shall our abode 150
Make with you by due turn. Only we shall retain
The name and all th’ addition to a king.
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Belovèd sons, be yours, which to confirm,
This coronet part between you. 155 KENT Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honored as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers— LEAR
The bow is bent and drawn. Make from the shaft. 160 KENT
Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart. Be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s 165
bound
When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my
judgment, 170
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness. LEAR Kent, on thy life, no more. KENT
My life I never held but as a pawn 175
To wage against thine enemies, nor fear to lose
it,
Thy safety being motive. LEAR Out of my sight! | Everyone is shocked. Kent, one of Lear's trusted advisers, tries to intervene on behalf of Cordelia but Lear orders both Cordelia and Kent "out of [his] sight." |
KENT
See better, Lear, and let me still remain 180
The true blank of thine eye. | Kent responds by saying "See better, Lear." (Yep, that's a significant part of the play's infamous blindness motif.) |
LEAR Now, by Apollo— KENT Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear’st thy gods in vain. LEAR O vassal! Miscreant! 185 ALBANY/CORNWALL Dear sir, forbear. KENT
Kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift,
Or whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,
I’ll tell thee thou dost evil. 190 LEAR
Hear me, recreant; on thine allegiance, hear me!
That thou hast sought to make us break our vows—
Which we durst never yet—and with strained pride
To come betwixt our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear, 195
Our potency made good, take thy reward:
Five days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from disasters of the world,
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the tenth day following 200
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked. | Lear, even more enraged, gives Kent six days to leave the country, on pain of death. |
KENT
Fare thee well, king. Sith thus thou wilt appear,
Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. 205
To Cordelia. The gods to their dear shelter take
thee, maid,
That justly think’st and hast most rightly said.
To Goneril and Regan. And your large speeches
may your deeds approve, 210
That good effects may spring from words of love.—
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu.
He’ll shape his old course in a country new. He exits. | Kent valiantly takes his leave, declaring he's headed to freedom instead of banishment. He bids Cordelia good luck, and again praises her for her honest words. He also says he hopes Goneril and Regan's sappy speeches amount to more than self-serving lies. |
Flourish. Enter Gloucester with France, and Burgundy,
and Attendants. GLOUCESTER
Here’s France and Burgundy, my noble lord. LEAR My lord of Burgundy, 215
We first address toward you, who with this king
Hath rivaled for our daughter. What in the least
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love? BURGUNDY Most royal Majesty, 220
I crave no more than hath your Highness offered,
Nor will you tender less. LEAR Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so,
But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands. 225
If aught within that little seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced
And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace,
She’s there, and she is yours. BURGUNDY I know no answer. 230 LEAR
Will you, with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dowered with our curse and strangered with our
oath,
Take her or leave her? 235 | Lear makes sure his rejection of Cordelia is complete by calling in her two suitors: the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy. Lear informs them that Cordelia is no longer his daughter, and that she therefore has no money or property to her name—much less a piece of the kingdom. "Still want her?" he asks Burgundy. |
BURGUNDY Pardon me, royal sir,
Election makes not up in such conditions. | Burgundy says he can't possibly make a decision about marriage under these circumstances—you know, circumstances that don't involve him getting a huge pot of money and land. |
LEAR
Then leave her, sir, for by the power that made me
I tell you all her wealth.—For you, great king,
I would not from your love make such a stray 240
To match you where I hate. Therefore beseech you
T’ avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom Nature is ashamed
Almost t’ acknowledge hers. FRANCE This is most strange, 245
That she whom even but now was your best
object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous to dismantle 250
So many folds of favor. Sure her offense
Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your forevouched affection
Fall into taint; which to believe of her
Must be a faith that reason without miracle 255
Should never plant in me. | Lear asks France next, and France marvels at how quickly Cordelia has gone from being Lear's favorite to being disowned. He says she must've done something pretty awful to deserve such censure, and yet, knowing what he knows of Cordelia, he's having a hard time believing that. |
CORDELIA, to Lear I yet beseech your Majesty—
If for I want that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not, since what I well
intend 260
I’ll do ’t before I speak—that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action or dishonored step
That hath deprived me of your grace and favor,
But even for want of that for which I am richer: 265
A still-soliciting eye and such a tongue
That I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking. | Cordelia says her only wrong is that she lacks the ability to falsely flatter people. She also says she's glad she's not oily like her sisters, even if it has cost her Lear's love. |
LEAR Better thou
Hadst not been born than not t’ have pleased me 270
better. | Lear, in an attempt to wrest the "worst parent ever" crown away from Snow White's stepmother, tells Cordelia it would be better if she had never been born. |
FRANCE
Is it but this—a tardiness in nature
Which often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do?—My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love’s not love 275
When it is mingled with regards that stands
Aloof from th’ entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry. | France says, "That's it? That's her crime?" He's shocked that the Duke of Burgundy doesn't want her. Cordelia is a prize. |
BURGUNDY, to Lear Royal king,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed, 280
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy. LEAR
Nothing. I have sworn. I am firm. BURGUNDY, to Cordelia
I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband. 285 CORDELIA Peace be with
Burgundy.
Since that respect and fortunes are his love,
I shall not be his wife. | Burgundy confirms that he doesn't want Cordelia without at least a little land, and Lear confirms that she's getting nothing. Nada. Not even an alleyway. |
FRANCE
Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor; 290
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised,
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon,
Be it lawful I take up what’s cast away.
Gods, gods! ’Tis strange that from their cold’st
neglect 295
My love should kindle to enflamed respect.—
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my
chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes of wat’rish Burgundy 300
Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.—
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.
Thou losest here a better where to find. | France decides to marry her, saying Cordelia's behavior has only increased his respect for her. |
LEAR
Thou hast her, France. Let her be thine, for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see 305
That face of hers again. To Cordelia. Therefore
begone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.—
Come, noble Burgundy. | Lear says, "She's all yours," and informs Cordelia that he hopes to never see her face again. |
Flourish. All but France, Cordelia,
Goneril, and Regan exit. FRANCE Bid farewell to your sisters. 310 CORDELIA
The jewels of our father, with washed eyes
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Love well our
father. 315
To your professèd bosoms I commit him;
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both. | Cordelia offers a tense goodbye to her sisters. She basically says, "I know how awful you are, but I won't say it," which, of course, says how awful they are. She asks them to take good care of their father, but says that if she were in charge of his care, the last place she'd leave him is with them. |
REGAN
Prescribe not us our duty. 320 GONERIL Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At Fortune’s alms. You have obedience scanted
And well are worth the want that you have wanted. | Regan and Goneril tell Cordelia that instead of telling them what to do, she should be focused on pleasing her husband, who's marrying her out of pity. They think she deserves to be disowned for being disobedient. |
CORDELIA
Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides, 325
Who covers faults at last with shame derides.
Well may you prosper. FRANCE Come, my fair Cordelia. France and Cordelia exit. | Cordelia says time will reveal her sisters to be schemers and wishes them well. |
GONERIL Sister, it is not little I have to say of what
most nearly appertains to us both. I think our 330
father will hence tonight. REGAN That’s most certain, and with you; next month
with us. GONERIL You see how full of changes his age is; the
observation we have made of it hath not been 335
little. He always loved our sister most, and with
what poor judgment he hath now cast her off
appears too grossly. REGAN ’Tis the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever
but slenderly known himself. 340 GONERIL The best and soundest of his time hath been
but rash. Then must we look from his age to
receive not alone the imperfections of long-engraffed
condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness
that infirm and choleric years bring with 345
them. REGAN Such unconstant starts are we like to have
from him as this of Kent’s banishment. GONERIL There is further compliment of leave-taking
between France and him. Pray you, let us sit 350
together. If our father carry authority with such
disposition as he bears, this last surrender of his will
but offend us. REGAN We shall further think of it. GONERIL We must do something, and i’ th’ heat. 355 They exit. | Left on their own, Regan and Goneril discuss what they should do about their silly old father. He was never the most rational and stable guy to begin with, and old age is only making his condition worse: Lear, they say, is going senile. There's no other explanation for why he would banish his favorite daughter and one of his best friends (Kent) on a whim. Clearly, they need to strategize before he makes any more bad decisions—meaning decisions that don't benefit them. |