menu_book Chapter 5

Act V. Scene I. The Camp of the British Forces, near Dover. Enter with drum and colours, Edmund, Regan, officers, soldiers, and others. To an officer

Know of the Duke if his last purpose hold, or whether since he is advised by aught to change the course. To Regan He's full of alteration and self-reproving. To an officer Bring his constant pleasure.

Exit, officer. Our sister's man is certainly miscarried. Tis to be doubted, madam. Now, sweet lord, you know the goodness I intend upon you. Tell me, but truly, but then speak the truth.

Do you not love my sister? In honoured love. But have you never found my brother's way to be the forefended place? That thought abuses you. I am doubtful that you have been conjunct and bosomed with her,

as far as we call us no by mine honour madam i never shall endure her dear my lord be not familiar with her fear me not she and the duke her husband enter with drum and colours albany gonorril and soldiers I had rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me. Our very loving sister, well be met. Sir, this I heard. The king is come to his daughter, with others whom the rigor of our state forced to cry out. Where I could not be honest, I never yet was valiant. For this business it toucheth us, as France invades our land,

Not bold's the king, with others whom, I fear, most just and heavy causes make oppose. Sir, you speak nobly. Why is this reasoned? Combined together against the enemy, for these domestic and particular broils are not the question here. Let's then determine with the Ancient of War on our proceeding.

I shall attend you presently at your tent. Sister, you'll go with us? No. To the most convenient. Pray you go with us.

Oh, I know the riddle. I will go. Exeunt both the armies. As Albany is going out, enter Edgar. If e'er your grace had speech with man so poor,

hear me one word. To his captains. I'll overtake you. To Edgar. Speak.

Before you fight the battle, open this letter. If you have victory, let the trumpet sound for him that brought it. wretched though i seem i can produce a champion that will prove what is avouched there if you miscarry your business of the world hath so an end and machination ceases fortune love you stay till i have read the letter i was forbid it when time shall serve let but the herald cry and i'll appear again exit why fare thee well i will o'erlook thy paper enter edmund edmund the enemy's in view draw up your powers here is the guess of their true strength and forces by diligent discovery but your haste is now urged on you we will greet the time exit

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 enjoyed of both remain alive to take the widow exasperates makes madder 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 exit scene two a field between the two camps alarum within enter with drum and colours lear cordelia holding his hand and soldiers over the stage and

enter edgar and gloster here father take the shadow of this tree for your good host pray that the right may thrive if ever i return to you again i'll bring you comfort grace go with you sir exit edgar alarum and retreat within enter edgar away old man give me thy hand away king lear hath lost he and his daughter ten give me thy hand come on no further sir a man may rot even here mary what in ill thoughts again men must endure their going hence even as their coming hither ripeness is all come on mary and that's true too scene three the british camp near dover enter in conquest with drum and colours edmund lear and cordelia as prisoners officers soldiers c Some officers take them away. Good guard until their greater pleasures first be known that are to censor them.

We are not the first who with best meaning have incurred the worst. For thee, O pressed king, I am cast down. Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown. To Edmund. Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters? 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 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 Who loses and who wins Who's in, who's out And take upon the mystery of things

As if we were God's spies And we'll wear out in a walled prison Packs and sects of great ones That ebb and flow by the moon. Take them away.

Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? He embraces her. He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven

And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes, The good years shall devour them, Flesh and fell, Ere they shall make us weep,

We'll see em starve first. Come. Exeunt, Lear, and Cordelia, guarded. Come hither, captain. Hark. Take thou this note. 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 do't or thrive by other means i'll do it my lord about it and write happy when thou hast done mark i say instantly and carry it so as i have set it down

i cannot draw a cart nor eat dried oats if it be man's work i'll do it exit flourish enter albany goneril regan and officers sir you have showed to-day your valiant strain and fortune led you well you have the captives who 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 Sir, I thought it fit to send the old and miserable king to some retention and appointed guard, whose age has charms in it, with title more, to pluck the common bosom on his side and turn our impressed 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 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.

sir by your patience i hold you but a subject of this war not as a brother that's as we list to grace him methinks our pleasure might have been demanded 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 not so hot in his own grace he doth exalt himself more than in your addition in my rights by me invested he compares the best that were the most if he should husband you jesters do oft prove profits holla holla that eye that told you so looked but a squint lady i am not well else i should answer from a full flowing stomach to edmund general 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

Mean you to enjoy him? The let alone lies not in your good will. Nor in thine, Lord. Half-blooded fellow, yes. To Edmund.

Let the drums strike and prove my title thine. Stay yet, hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee on capital treason, And in thine arrest this gilded serpent. He points to Goneril.

For your claim, fair sister, I bar it in the interest of my wife. Tis she is subcontracted to this lord, And I, her husband, contradict your bands. If you will marry, make your loves to me.

My lady is bespoke. An interlude. Thou art armed, Gloucester. Let the trumpet sound. If none appear to prove upon thy person

Thy heinous manifest and many treasons, There is my pledge. He throws down his glove. i'll prove it on thy heart ere i taste bread thou art in nothing less than i have here proclaimed thee sick oh sick if not i'll ne'er trust medicine there's my exchange throwing down his glove what in the world he is 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

a herald ho enter a herald trust to thy single virtue for thy soldiers all levied in my name have in my name took their discharge my sickness grows upon me she is not well convey her to my tent exit regan supported a herald ho a herald a trumpet sounds if any man of quality or degree within 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 first trumpet again second trumpet again third trumpet trumpet answers within enter edgar armed a trumpet before him edgar ask him his purposes why he appears upon this call the trumpet edgar what are you your name your quality and why you answer this present summons edgar no my name is lost

by treason's tooth bare norn and canker bit yet am i noble as the adversary i come to cope mrs which is that adversary mrs what's he that speaks for edmund earl of gloucester mrs himself what sayest thou to him mrs draw thy sword that if my speech offend a noble heart thy arm may do thee justice here is mine he draws his sword behold it is the privilege of mine honours my oath and my profession i protest morger thy strength youth place and eminence 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 against this high illustrious prince and from the extremest upward of thy head to the descent and dust beneath thy foot a most toad spotted traitor say thou no this sword this arm and my best spirits are bent to prove upon my heart whereto i speak thou liest 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 back do i toss those 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 alarums fights edmund falls to edgar about to kill edmund save him save him this is mere practice gloster by the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer an unknown opposite thou art not vanquished but cosened and beguiled shut your mouth dame or with this paper i shall stop it hold sir to goneril thou worse than any name read thine own evil no tearing lady i perceive you know it say if i do the laws are mine not thine who can arraign me for it goneril most monstrous know'st thou this paper goneril ask me not what i know

exit goneril go after her she's desperate govern her exit officer 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 art noble i do forgive thee let's exchange charity i am no less in blood than thou art edmund if more the more thou hast wronged me my name is edgar and thy father's son 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 thou hast spoken right tis true the wheel is come full circle i am here methought thy very gate did prophesy a royal nobleness i must embrace thee

let sorrow split my heart if ever i did hate thee or thy father worthy prince i note where have you hid yourself how have you known the miseries of your father by nursing them my lord list a brief tale and when tis told oh that my heart would burst the bloody proclamation to escape that followed me so near oh our live sweetness that with the pain of death we'd hourly die rather than die at once taught me to shift into a madman's rags to assume a semblance that very dogs disdained and in this habit met i my father with his bleeding rings their precious stones new lost became his guide led him begged for him saved him from despair never o fault revealed myself unto him until some half-hour passed when i was armed not sure though hoping of this good success i asked his blessing and from first to last told him my pilgrimage but his flawed heart alack too weak the conflict to support twixt two extremes of passion joy and grief burst smilingly the speech of yours hath moved me and shall perchance do good but speak you on

you look as you had something more to say if there be more more woeful hold it in for i am almost ready to dissolve hearing of this this would have seemed a period to such as love not sorrow but another to amplify too much would make much more and top extremity whilst i was big in clamour came there a man who having seen me in my worst estate shunned my abhorred society but then finding who twas that so endured with his strong arms he fastened on my neck and bellowed out as he burst heaven threw him on my father told the most piteous tale of lyre and hymn that ever e'er received which in recounting his grief grew puissant and the strings of life began to crack twice then the trumpet sounded and there i left him tranced but who was this kent sir the banished kent who in disguise followed his enemy king and did him service improper for a slave enter a gentleman with a bloody knife help help oh help what kind of help speak man what means that bloody knife tis hot it smokes it came even from the heart of oh she's dead who dead speak man

your lady sir your lady and her sister by her is poisoned she hath confessed it i was contracted to them both all three now marry in an instant here comes kent enter kent produce their bodies be they alive or dead this judgment of the heaven that makes us tremble touches us not with pity exit gentlemen i am come to bid my king and master ay good-night is he not here great thing of us forgot speak edmund where's the king and where's cordelia goneril's and regan's bodies are brought out Lack! Why thus? Yet Edmund was beloved,

The one the other poisoned for my sake, And after slew herself. Even so, cover their faces. I panned 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.

Run, run, oh run! to who my lord who has the office send thy token of reprieve well thought on to an officer take my sword give it to the captain haste thee for thy life exit officer he hath commissioned from thy wife and me to hang cordelia in the prison and to lay the blame upon her own despair that she fordid herself the gods defend her bear him hence awhile edmund is borne off enter leah with cordelia in his arms followed by the officer and others howl howl howl howl howl oh you are men of stone had i your tongues and eyes i'd use them so that heaven's vault should crack she's gone for ever i know when one is dead and when one lives she's dead as earth lend me a looking-glass if that her breath will mist or stain the stone why then she lives

is this the promised end or image of that horror fall and cease this feather stirs she lives if it be so it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever i have felt oh my good master "'Pry thee away.' "'Tis noble Kent, your friend.' "'A plague upon you murderers! Traitors all!

I might have saved her. Now she's gone for ever. Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ah! What is thou say'st?

Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman. I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee. Did I not, fellow? i have seen the day with my good biting falchion that i would have made them skip i am old now and these same crosses spoil me who are you mine eyes are not the best i'll tell you straight if fortune brag of two she loved and hated one of them we behold this is a dull sight are you not kent the same your servant kent where is your servant caius

he's a good fellow i can tell you that he'll strike and quickly too he's dead and rotten no my good lord i am the very man i'll see that straight that from your first of difference and decay have followed your sad steps you're welcome hither nor no man else all's cheerless dark and deadly your eldest daughters have foredone themselves and desperately are dead ay so i think he knows not what he says and vain is it that we present us to him very bootless enter a messenger edmund is dead my lord that's but a trifle here 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 to edgar and kent

to you 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 oh see see and my poor fool is hanged no no no life why should a dog a horse a rat have life and thou no breath at all i'll come no more never never never never pray you undo this button thank you sir do you see this look on her look her lips look there look there he dies he faints my lord my lord break heart i prithee break look up my lord vex not his ghost oh let him pass he hates him that would upon the wreck of this rough world stretch him out longer he is gone indeed the wonder is he hath endured so long he but usurped his life

bear them from hence our present business is general woe to kent and edgar friends of my soul you twain rule this realm and the gourd state sustain i have a journey sir shortly to go my master calls me i must not say no the weight of this sad sad time we must obey speak what we feel not what we ought to say the oldest have borne most we that are young shall never see so much nor live so long exeunt with a dead march your cast have been andy minta as lear king of britain eswa as the king of france Justin Barrett as the Duke of Burgundy, the messenger and the captain,

Corey Samuel as the Duke of Cornwall, Christine Lemoyne as the Duke of Albany, Denny Sayers as the Earl of Kent, Julian Jamieson as the Earl of Gloucester, Simon Taylor as Edgar,

John Gonzalez as Edmund, Karen Savage as Curran, Carl Manchester as the old man, Scott Walter as the physician Sean McGahey as the fall

Andrew Lebrun as Oswald Henry Fregon as the officer Kara Schallenberg as the gentleman Gazina as the herald Ophelia Darcy as the first servant

Esther as the second servant Kirsten Ferrari as the third servant and the knight Laura Barnes as a messenger. Goneril was played by Rosalind Wills. Regan by Gemma Blythe.

And Cordelia by Christian Hughes. Stage directions and production by David Barnes.