| EDGAR to SOLILOQUY | Yet better thus, and known to be contemn’d,Than still contemn’d and flatter’d. |
| GLOUCESTER to OLD MAN | I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;I stumbled when I saw: |
| GLOUCESTER to OLD MAN | O dear son Edgar,The food of thy abused father’s wrath!Might I but live to see thee in my touch,I’d say I had eyes again! |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | O gods! Who is’t can say ‘I am atthe worst’?I am worse than e’er I was. |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | And worse I may be yet: the worst is notSo long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’ |
| GLOUCESTER to OLD MAN | ‘Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind. |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | I cannot daub it further. |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | And yet I must.–Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed. |
| GLOUCESTER to EDGAR | Bring me but to the very brim of it,And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bearWith something rich about me: from that placeI shall no leading need. |
| OSWALD to GONERIL | Madam, within; but never man so changed.I told him of the army that was landed;He smiled at it: I told him you were coming:His answer was ‘The worse:’ |
| GONERIL to EDMUND | Then shall you go no further.It is the cowish terror of his spirit,That dares not undertake: he’ll not feel wrongsWhich tie him to an answer. |
| GONERIL to EDMUND | Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak,Would stretch thy spirits up into the air:Conceive, and fare thee well. |
| GONERIL to OSWALD | O, the difference of man and man!To thee a woman’s services are due:My fool usurps my body. |
| GONERIL to ALBANY | I have been worth the whistle. |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | You are not worth the dust which the rude windBlows in your face. |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | I fear your disposition:That nature, which contemns its origin,Cannot be border’d certain in itself; |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | A father, and a gracious aged man,Whose reverence even the head-lugg’d bear would lick,Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you madded. |
| GONERIL to ALBANY | Fools do those villains pity who are punish’dEre they have done their mischief. Where’s thy drum? |
| GONERIL to ALBANY | France spreads his banners in our noiseless land;With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats;Whiles thou, a moral fool, sit’st still, and criest’Alack, why does he so?’ |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | See thyself, devil!Proper deformity seems not in the fiendSo horrid as in woman. |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | Were’t my fitnessTo let these hands obey my blood,They are apt enough to dislocate and tearThy flesh and bones: |
| ALBANY to GONERIL | howe’er thou art a fiend,A woman’s shape doth shield thee. |
| GONERIL to ASIDE | But being widow, and my Gloucester with her,May all the building in my fancy pluckUpon my hateful life |
| Gentleman to ALBANY | ’twas he inform’d against him;And quit the house on purpose, that their punishmentMight have the freer course. |
| ALBANY to Gentleman | Gloucester, I liveTo thank thee for the love thou show’dst the king,And to revenge thine eyes. |
| Gentleman to KENT | Ay, sir; she took them, read them in my presence;And now and then an ample tear trill’d downHer delicate cheek |
| Gentleman to KENT | it seem’d she was a queenOver her passion; who, most rebel-like,Sought to be king o’er her. |
| Gentleman to KENT | ‘Faith, once or twice she heaved the name of ‘father’Pantingly forth, as if it press’d her heart:Cried ‘Sisters! sisters! Shame of ladies! sisters!’ |
| KENT to Gentleman | these things stingHis mind so venomously, that burning shameDetains him from Cordelia. |
| KENT to Gentleman | some dear causeWill in concealment wrap me up awhile;When I am known aright, you shall not grieveLending me this acquaintance. |
| CORDELIA to Doctor | What can man’s wisdomIn the restoring his bereaved sense?He that helps him take all my outward worth. |
| CORDELIA to Messenger | No blown ambition doth our arms incite,But love, dear love, and our aged father’s right:Soon may I hear and see him! |
| OSWALD to REGAN | Madam, with much ado:Your sister is the better soldier. |
| REGAN to OSWALD | It was great ignorance, Gloucester’s eyes being out,To let him live: where he arrives he movesAll hearts against us |
| REGAN to OSWALD | Why should she write to Edmund? Might not youTransport her purposes by word? |
| REGAN to OSWALD | I know your lady does not love her husband;I am sure of that: and at her late being hereShe gave strange oeillades and most speaking looksTo noble Edmund. |
| REGAN to OSWALD | Edmund and I have talk’d;And more convenient is he for my handThan for your lady’s |
| REGAN to OSWALD | If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor,Preferment falls on him that cuts him off. |
| OSWALD to REGAN | Would I could meet him, madam! I should showWhat party I do follow. |
| EDGAR to GLOUCESTER | Why, then, your other senses grow imperfectBy your eyes’ anguish. |
| GLOUCESTER to EDGAR | So may it be, indeed:Methinks thy voice is alter’d; and thou speak’stIn better phrase and matter than thou didst. |
| EDGAR to GLOUCESTER | Come on, sir; here’s the place: stand still. How fearfulAnd dizzy ’tis, to cast one’s eyes so low!The crows and choughs that wing the midway airShow scarce so gross as beetles: |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | Why I do trifle thus with his despairIs done to cure it. |
| EDGAR to GLOUCESTER | Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,So many fathom down precipitating,Thou’dst shiver’d like an egg |
| EDGAR to GLOUCESTER | As I stood here below, methought his eyesWere two full moons; he had a thousand noses,Horns whelk’d and waved like the enridged sea |
| GLOUCESTER to EDGAR | I do remember now: henceforth I’ll bearAffliction till it do cry out itself’Enough, enough,’ and die. |
| EDGAR to KING LEAR | O thou side-piercing sight! |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | I would not take this from report; it is,And my heart breaks at it. |
| KING LEAR to GLOUCESTER | O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in yourhead, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are ina heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see howthis world goes. |
| KING LEAR to GLOUCESTER | What, art mad? A man may see how this world goeswith no eyes. Look with thine ears |
| EDGAR to KING LEAR | O, matter and impertinency mix’d! Reason in madness! |
| KING LEAR to GLOUCESTER | If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:Thou must be patient; we came crying hither |
| Gentleman to EDGAR | Near and on speedy foot; the main descryStands on the hourly thought. |
| EDGAR to ASIDE | ‘Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You havemany opportunities to cut him off: if your willwant not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. |
| GLOUCESTER to EDGAR | The king is mad: how stiff is my vile sense,That I stand up, and have ingenious feelingOf my huge sorrows! |
| KING LEAR to Gentleman | the natural fool of fortune. Use me well;You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons;I am cut to the brains. |
| KENT to CORDELIA | Pardon me, dear madam;Yet to be known shortens my made intent:My boon I make it, that you know me notTill time and I think meet. |
| KING LEAR to CORDELIA | Pray, do not mock me:I am a very foolish fond old man,Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;And, to deal plainly,I fear I am not in my perfect mind.Methinks I should know you, and know this man |
| KING LEAR to CORDELIA | Do not laugh at me;For, as I am a man, I think this ladyTo be my child Cordelia. |
| KING LEAR to CORDELIA | You must bear with me:Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and foolish. |
| EDGAR to OSWALD | Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volkpass. An chud ha’ bin zwaggered out of my life,’twould not ha’ bin zo long as ’tis by a vortnight. |
King Lear Act 4
July 3, 2019