Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More richer than my tongue. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Nothing will come of nothing: speak again. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
See better, Lear; and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| I crave no more than what your highness offer'd, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised!
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon: |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| You see how full of changes his age is; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
'Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever
but slenderly known himself. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
if our father carry authority with
such dispositions as he bears, this last
surrender of his will but offend us. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
the quality of nothing hath
not such need to hide itself. Let's see: come,
if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
where, if you violently proceed against
him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a great
gap in your own honour, and shake in pieces the
heart of his obedience. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I would unstate
myself, to be in a due resolution. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend
no good to us: though the wisdom of nature can
reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself
scourged by the sequent effects |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish
disposition to the charge of a star! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Fut! I should have been that I am,
had the maidenliest star in the firmament
twinkled on my bastardizing. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
A credulous father! and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms,
That he suspects none: on whose foolish honesty
My practises ride easy! I see the business.
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit:
All with me's meet that I can fashion fit. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
That sets us all at odds: I'll not endure it:
His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us
On every trifle. When he returns from hunting,
I will not speak with him; say I am sick:
If you come slack of former services,
You shall do well; the fault of it I'll answer. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve
him truly that will put me in trust: to love him
that is honest; to converse with him that is wise,
and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I
cannot choose |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Thou but rememberest me of mine own conception: I
have perceived a most faint neglect of late; which I
have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity
than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you
gave me nothing for't. Can you make no use of
nothing, nuncle? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
When thou
clovest thy crown i' the middle, and gavest away
both parts, thou borest thy ass on thy back o'er
the dirt: thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown,
when thou gavest thy golden one away. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
For wise men are grown foppish,
They know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are so apish. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides,
and left nothing i' the middle: here comes one o'
the parings. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
now thou art an O without a
figure: I am better than thou art now; I am a fool,
thou art nothing. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
But other of your insolent retinue
Do hourly carp and quarrel; breaking forth
In rank and not-to-be endured riots. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Who is it that can tell me who I am? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| I should be false persuaded I had daughters. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;
Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd and bold,
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child
Than the sea-monster! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
O most small fault,
How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show!
That, like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature
From the fix'd place; drew from heart all love,
And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear!
Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in,
[Striking his head]
And thy dear judgment out! Go, go, my people. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant
Of what hath moved you. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child! Away, away! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Never afflict yourself to know the cause;
But let his disposition have that scope
That dotage gives it. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
She'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find
That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think
I have cast off for ever: thou shalt,
I warrant thee. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No, no, my lord,
This milky gentleness and course of yours
Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom
Than praised for harmful mildness. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
How far your eyes may pierce I can not tell:
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| To take 't again perforce! Monster ingratitude! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst
been wise. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven
Keep me in temper: I would not be mad! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Have you heard of no likely wars toward, 'twixt the
Dukes of Cornwall and Albany? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
My father hath set guard to take my brother;
And I have one thing, of a queasy question,
Which I must act: briefness and fortune, work! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
My father watches: O sir, fly this place;
Intelligence is given where you are hid;
You have now the good advantage of the night:
Have you not spoken 'gainst the Duke of Cornwall?
He's coming hither: now, i' the night, i' the haste,
And Regan with him: have you nothing said
Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany?
Advise yourself. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| I am sure on't, not a word. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I hear my father coming: pardon me:
In cunning I must draw my sword upon you |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Yield: come before my father. Light, ho, here!
Fly, brother. Torches, torches! So, farewell. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
The child was bound to the father; sir, in fine,
Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword, he charges home
My unprovided body, lanced mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
Bold in the quarrel's right, roused to the encounter,
Or whether gasted by the noise I made, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Not in this land shall he remain uncaught;
And found--dispatch. The noble duke my master,
My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night:
By his authority I will proclaim it,
That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks,
Bringing the murderous coward to the stake; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
and of my land,
Loyal and natural boy, I'll work the means
To make thee capable. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| O, madam, my old heart is crack'd, it's crack'd! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
What, did my father's godson seek your life?
He whom my father named? your Edgar? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Was he not companion with the riotous knights
That tend upon my father? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Nor I, assure thee, Regan. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Natures of such deep trust we shall much need;
You we first seize on. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Keep peace, upon your lives:
He dies that strikes again. What is the matter? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour. You
cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee: a
tailor made thee. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Thou art a strange fellow: a tailor make a man? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as these,
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain
Which are too intrinse t' unloose; smooth every passion
That in the natures of their lords rebel;
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
This is some fellow,
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature: he cannot flatter, he,
An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth!
An they will take it, so; if not, he's plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends
Than twenty silly ducking observants
That stretch their duties nicely. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king;
On whose employment I was sent to you:
You shall do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Till noon! till night, my lord; and all night too. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Let me beseech your grace not to do so:
His fault is much, and the good king his master
Will cheque him for 't: your purposed low correction
Is such as basest and contemned'st wretches
For pilferings and most common trespasses
Are punish'd with: the king must take it ill,
That he's so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrain'd. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I am sorry for thee, friend; 'tis the duke's pleasure,
Whose disposition, all the world well knows,
Will not be rubb'd nor stopp'd: I'll entreat for thee. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter! Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery: I know 'tis from Cordelia,
Who hath most fortunately been inform'd
Of my obscured course; and shall find time |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I heard myself proclaim'd;
And by the happy hollow of a tree
Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape,
I will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins: elf all my hair in knots;
And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Poor Turlygod! poor Tom!
That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Winter's not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that way.
Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind;
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to the poor. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee
there's no labouring i' the winter. All that follow
their noses are led by their eyes but blind men; and
there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him
that's stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel
runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with
following it: but the great one that goes up the
hill, let him draw thee after. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
You know the fiery quality of the duke;
How unremoveable and fix'd he is
In his own course. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
The king would speak with Cornwall; the dear father
Would with his daughter speak, commands her service: |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No, but not yet: may be he is not well:
Infirmity doth still neglect all office
Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves
When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind
To suffer with the body: I'll forbear;
And am fall'n out with my more headier will,
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
O, sir, you are old.
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be ruled and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you have wrong'd her, sir. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Ask her forgiveness?
Do you but mark how this becomes the house:
'Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;
Kneeling
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
All's not offence that indiscretion finds
And dotage terms so. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o' the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,--
Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| With five and twenty, Regan? said you so? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| And speak't again, my lord; no more with me. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep
No, I'll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws, |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
O, sir, to wilful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Contending with the fretful element:
Bids the winds blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curled water 'bove the main,
That things might change or cease; tears his white hair,
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Commend a dear thing to you. There is division,
Although as yet the face of it be cover'd
With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall;
Who have--as who have not, that their great stars
Throned and set high?--servants, who seem no less,
Which are to France the spies and speculations |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No, do not.
For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,--
As fear not but you shall,--show her this ring;
And she will tell you who your fellow is
That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the king. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| here's a night pities neither wise man nor fool. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
You owe me no subscription: then let fall
Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No, I will be the pattern of all patience;
I will say nothing. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
since I was man,
Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder,
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never
Remember to have heard: man's nature cannot carry
The affliction nor the fear. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Let the great gods,
That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipp'd of justice: hide thee, thou bloody hand;
Thou perjured, and thou simular man of virtue
That art incestuous: caitiff, to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming
Hast practised on man's life: close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents, and cry
These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man
More sinn'd against than sinning. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
My wits begin to turn.
Come on, my boy: how dost, my boy? art cold?
I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange,
That can make vile things precious. Come,
your hovel.
Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That's sorry yet for thee. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
When priests are more in word than matter;
When brewers mar their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors' tutors;
No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors;
When every case in law is right;
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When slanders do not live in tongues;
Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;
When usurers tell their gold i' the field;
And bawds and whores do churches build;
Then shall the realm of Albion
Come to great confusion: |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Alack, alack, Edmund, I like not this unnatural
dealing. When I desire their leave that I might
pity him, they took from me the use of mine own
house; charged me, on pain of their perpetual
displeasure, neither to speak of him, entreat for
him, nor any way sustain him. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I have
received a letter this night; 'tis dangerous to be
spoken; I have locked the letter in my closet:
these injuries the king now bears will be revenged
home; there's part of a power already footed: we
must incline to the king. I will seek him, and
privily relieve him: go you and maintain talk with
the duke, that my charity be not of him perceived:
if he ask for me. I am ill, and gone to bed.
Though I die for it, as no less is threatened me,
the king my old master must be relieved. There is
some strange thing toward, Edmund; pray you, be careful. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
That which my father loses; no less than all:
The younger rises when the old doth fall. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm
Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix'd,
The lesser is scarce felt. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to't? But I will punish home:
No, I will weep no more. In such a night
To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.
In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril!
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,--
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Prithee, go in thyself: seek thine own ease:
This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more. But I'll go in.
To the Fool
In, boy; go first. You houseless poverty,--
Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.
Fool goes in
Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
And show the heavens more just. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Death, traitor! nothing could have subdued nature
To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of
silks betray thy poor heart to woman: keep thy foot
out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen
from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend. |
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Definition
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Term
Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer
with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. |
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Definition
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Term
Our flesh and blood is grown so vile, my lord,
That it doth hate what gets it. |
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Definition
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Term
Canst thou blame him?
Storm still
His daughters seek his death: ah, that good Kent!
He said it would be thus, poor banish'd man!
Thou say'st the king grows mad; I'll tell thee, friend,
I am almost mad myself: I had a son,
Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my life,
But lately, very late: I loved him, friend;
No father his son dearer: truth to tell thee,
The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night's this!
I do beseech your grace,-- |
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Definition
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Term
Seek out where thy father is, that he
may be ready for our apprehension. |
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Definition
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Term
I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt find a
dearer father in my love. |
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Definition
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|
Term
All the power of his wits have given way to his
impatience: the gods reward your kindness! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Frateretto calls me; and tells me
Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness.
Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend. |
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Definition
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|
Term
Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a
gentleman or a yeoman? |
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Definition
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|
Term
My tears begin to take his part so much,
They'll mar my counterfeiting. |
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Definition
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Term
| Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone. |
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Definition
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|
Term
Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms;
I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him:
There is a litter ready; lay him in 't,
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. |
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Definition
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Term
When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind,
Leaving free things and happy shows behind:
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'er skip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the king bow, |
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Definition
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Term
how him
this letter: the army of France is landed. Seek
out the villain Gloucester. |
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Definition
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|
Term
|
Definition
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Term
Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame, but not control. Who's there? the traitor? |
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Definition
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Term
| I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
Because I would not see thy cruel nails
Pluck out his poor old eyes; |
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Definition
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Term
Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said 'Good porter, turn the key,'
All cruels else subscribed: but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children. |
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Definition
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Term
| Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot. |
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Definition
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|
Term
| One side will mock another; the other too. |
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Definition
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|
Term
Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!
Where is thy lustre now? |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
His way to Dover.
Exit one with GLOUCESTER
How is't, my lord? how look you? |
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Definition
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|
Term
Go thou: I'll fetch some flax and whites of eggs
To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help him! |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,
Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst,
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:
The lamentable change is from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!
The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here? |
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Definition
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Term
I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;
I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen,
Our means secure us, and our mere defects
Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'ld say I had eyes again! |
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Definition
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|
Term
And worse I may be yet: the worst is not
So long as we can say 'This is the worst.' |
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Definition
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|
Term
I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw;
Which made me think a man a worm: my son
Came then into my mind; and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard
more since.
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They kill us for their sport. |
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Definition
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|
Term
Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain,
I' the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;
And bring some covering for this naked soul,
Who I'll entreat to lead me. |
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Definition
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|
Term
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover? |
|
Definition
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|
Term
O, the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman's services are due:
My fool usurps my body. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
O Goneril!
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face. I fear your disposition:
That nature, which contemns its origin,
Cannot be border'd certain in itself; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
If that the heavens do not their visible spirits
Send quickly down to tame these vile offences,
It will come,
Humanity must perforce prey on itself,
Like monsters of the deep. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
See thyself, devil!
Proper deformity seems not in the fiend
So horrid as in woman |
|
Definition
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|
Term
O, my good lord, the Duke of Cornwall's dead:
Slain by his servant, going to put out
The other eye of Gloucester. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
This shows you are above,
You justicers, that these our nether crimes
So speedily can venge! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Something he left imperfect in the
state, which since his coming forth is thought
of; which imports to the kingdom so much
fear and danger, that his personal return was
most required and necessary |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| The Marshal of France, Monsieur La Far. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Over her passion; who, most rebel-like,
Sought to be king o'er her. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
'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! |
|
Definition
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|
Term
The stars above us, govern our conditions;
Else one self mate and mate could not beget
Such different issues. You spoke not with her since? |
|
Definition
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|
Term
A sovereign shame so elbows him: his own unkindness,
That stripp'd her from his benediction, turn'd her
To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights
To his dog-hearted daughters, these things sting
His mind so venomously, that burning shame
Detains him from Cordelia. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Alack, 'tis he: why, he was met even now
As mad as the vex'd sea; singing aloud;
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,
With bur-docks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Our foster-nurse of nature is repose,
The which he lacks; that to provoke in him, |
|
Definition
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|
Term
No blown ambition doth our arms incite,
But love, dear love, and our aged father's right: |
|
Definition
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|
Term
It was great ignorance, Gloucester's eyes being out,
To let him live: where he arrives he moves
All hearts against us: Edmund, I think, is gone,
In pity of his misery, to dispatch
His nighted life: moreover, to descry
The strength o' the enemy. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Therefore I do advise you, take this note:
My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd;
And more convenient is he for my hand
Than for your lady's |
|
Definition
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|
Term
You're much deceived: in nothing am I changed
But in my garments. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| Methinks you're better spoken. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Here, friend, 's another purse; in it a jewel
Well worth a poor man's taking: |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Why I do trifle thus with his despair
Is done to cure it. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
O you mighty gods!
This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off: |
|
Definition
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|
Term
I do remember now: henceforth I'll bear
Affliction till it do cry out itself
'Enough, enough,' and die. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
hey told me I was every
thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Down from the waist they are Centaurs,
Though women all above:
But to the girdle do the gods inherit,
Beneath is all the fiends';
There's hell, there's darkness, there's the
sulphurous pit,
Burning, scalding, stench, consumption |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality |
|
Definition
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|
Term
O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world
Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me? |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness! |
|
Definition
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|
Term
Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,
We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools: |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave:
Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like moulten lead. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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;
Yet I am doubtful for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
I know you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have some cause, they have not. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| As 'tis said, the bastard son of Gloucester. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
They say Edgar, his banished son, is with the Earl
of Kent in Germany. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
[Aside] I had rather lose the battle than that sister
Should loosen him and me. |
|
Definition
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|
Term
I never yet was valiant: for this business,
It toucheth us, as France invades our land,
Not bolds the king, with others, whom, I fear,
Most just and heavy causes make oppose. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
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|
Term
To both these sisters have I sworn my love;
Each jealous of the other, as the stung
Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?
Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoy'd,
If both remain alive: to take the widow
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril;
And hardly shall I carry out my side,
Her husband being alive. Now then we'll use
His countenance for the battle; which being done,
Let her who would be rid of him devise
His speedy taking off. As for the mercy
Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,
The battle done, and they within our power,
Shall never see his pardon; for my state
Stands on me to defend, not to debate. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
Ripeness is all: come on. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
We are not the first
Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down; |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:
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 |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Come hither, captain; hark.
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
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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,
An turn our impress'd lances in our eyes |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
This sword of mine shall give them instant way,
Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak! |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,
But cozen'd and beguiled. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Never,--O fault!--reveal'd myself unto him,
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!
'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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
Began to crack |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Yet Edmund was beloved:
The one the other poison'd for my sake,
And after slew herself. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
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. |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
He but usurp'd his life. |
|
Definition
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|
