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Act 1 scene 1

  Act I  Scene I King Lear's palace.  
  [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
weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice
of either's moiety.

5
KENT Is not this your son, my lord?  
GLOUCESTER His breeding, sir, hath been at my
charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge
him, that now I am brazed to it.
10
KENT I cannot conceive you.  
GLOUCESTER Sir, this young fellow's mother could:
whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, in-
deed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband
for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

15
KENT I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it
being so proper.		  
GLOUCESTER But I have, sir, a son by order of law,
some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in
my account: though this knave came something
saucily into 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?
20




25
EDMUND No, my lord.  
GLOUCESTER My lord of Kent: remember him here-
after as my honourable 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 He hath been out nine years, and away he
shall again. The king is coming.		  
  [Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY,
GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants]		  
KING LEAR Attend the lords of France and Burgundy,
Gloucester.
35
GLOUCESTER I shall, my liege.  
  [Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND]  
KING LEAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
Give me the map there.
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of
Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now.
The princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my
daughters,--
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state,--
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.


40




45




50




55
GONERIL Sir, I love you more than words can wield the
matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.		 60




65
CORDELIA [Aside] What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent.  
LEAR Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
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 to Cornwall? Speak.
70




75
REGAN



 Sir, I am made Of the self-same metal that my sister is,
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,
Which the most precious square of sense
possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.



80
CORDELIA [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More richer than my tongue.		 85
KING LEAR


 To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

90




95
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.  
KING LEAR Nothing!  
CORDELIA Nothing.  
KING LEAR Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.  
CORDELIA Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.		 100
KING LEAR How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.		  
CORDELIA





 Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me:
I Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
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.		 105




110




115
KING LEAR But goes thy heart with this?  
CORDELIA Ay, good my lord.  
KING LEAR So young, and so untender?  
CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true.  
KING LEAR








 Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
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,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous
Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.		 120




125




130
KENT Good my liege,--  
KING LEAR













 Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid
my sight!
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?
Call Burgundy. Cornwall and
Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights,
By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
The name, and all the additions to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part betwixt you.		 135




140




145




150




155
  [Giving the crown]  
KENT Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers,--		  
KING 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 wilt thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's
bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;
And, in thy best consideration, cheque
This hideous rashness: answer my life my
judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness.



165




170
KING LEAR Kent, on thy life, no more.  
KENT My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose
it,
Thy safety being the motive.		 175
KING LEAR Out of my sight!  
KENT See better, Lear; and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.		 180
KING LEAR Now, by Apollo,--  
KENT Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.		  
KING LEAR O, vassal! miscreant! 185
  [Laying his hand on his sword]  
ALBANY/
CORNWALL		 Dear sir, forbear.  
KENT Do: Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy doom;
Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat,
I'll tell thee thou dost evil.


190
KING LEAR








 Hear me, recreant! On thine allegiance, hear me!
Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride
To come between our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good, take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world;
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked.



195




200
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 REGAN and GONERIL]  
  And your large speeches
may your deeds approve,
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.
210
  [Exit]  
  [Flourish. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with KING OF FRANCE,
BURGUNDY, and Attendants]		  
GLOUCESTER Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.  
KING LEAR My lord of Burgundy.
We first address towards you, who with this king
Hath rivall'd for our daughter: what, in the least,
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love?		 215
BURGUNDY Most royal majesty,
I crave no more than what your highness offer'd,
Nor will you tender less.		 220
KING LEAR Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;
But now her price is fall'n. Sir, there she stands:
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.

225
BURGUNDY I know no answer. 230
KING LEAR Will you, with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our
oath,
Take her, or leave her?



235
BURGUNDY Pardon me, royal sir;
Election makes not up on such conditions.		  
KING LEAR Then leave her, sir; for, by the power that made me,
I tell you all her wealth. For you, great king,		  
  [To KING OF FRANCE]  
  I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost to acknowledge hers.		 240
KING OF FRANCE





 This is most strange,
That she, that even but now was your best
object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.		 245




250




255
CORDELIA





 I yet beseech your majesty,--
If for I want that glib and oily art,
To speak and purpose not; since what I well
intend,
I'll do't before I speak,--that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.


260




265
KING LEAR Better thou
Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me
better.
270
KING OF 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
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.


275
BURGUNDY Royal Lear,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
280
KING LEAR Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.  
BURGUNDY I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
285
CORDELIA Peace be with
Burgundy!
Since that respects of fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife.		  
KING OF FRANCE







 Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
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
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my
chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:
Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy
Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
Thou losest here, a better where to find.		 290




295




300
KING LEAR Thou hast her, France: let her be thine; for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore
be gone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.
Come, noble Burgundy.
305
  [Flourish. Exeunt all but KING OF FRANCE, GONERIL,
REGAN, and CORDELIA]		  
KING OF FRANCE Bid farewell to your sisters. 310
CORDELIA The jewels of our father, with wash'd 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. Use well our
father:
To your professed 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.



315
REGAN Prescribe not us our duties. 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.		  
CORDELIA Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!		 325
KING OF FRANCE Come, my fair Cordelia.  
  [Exeunt KING OF FRANCE and CORDELIA]  
GONERIL Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what
most nearly appertains to us both. I think our
father will hence to-night.
330
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
little: he always loved our sister most; and with
what poor judgment he hath now cast her off
appears too grossly.
335
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 to receive from his age,
not alone the imperfections of long-en-
graffedcondition, but therewithal the unruly way-
wardness that infirm and choleric years bring with
them.



345
REGAN Such unconstant starts are we like to have
from him as this of Kent's banishment.		  
GONERIL There is further compliment of leavetaking
between France and him. Pray you, let's hit
together: if our father carry authority with such
dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of his will
but offend us.
350
REGAN We shall further think on't.  
GONERIL We must do something, and i' the heat. 355
  [Exeunt]