Act V, Scene 3

The British camp, near Dover.

Enter, in conquest, with Drum and Colours, Edmund; Lear and Cordelia as prisoners; Soldiers, Captain.

• Edmund. Some officers take them away. Good guard
  Until their greater pleasures first be known
  That are to censure them. 3125

• Cordelia. We are not the first
  Who with best meaning have incurr'd the worst.
  For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
  Myself could else outfrown false Fortune's frown.
  Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters? 3130

• Lear. No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison.
  We two alone will sing like birds i' th' 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 3135
  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 's the mystery of things,
  As if we were God's spies; and we'll wear out, 3140
  In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones
  That ebb and flow by th' moon.

• Edmund. Take them away.

• Lear. Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
  The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? 3145
  He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven
  And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes.
  The goodyears shall devour 'em, flesh and fell,
  Ere they shall make us weep! We'll see 'em starv'd first.
  Come. Exeunt [Lear and Cordelia, guarded]. 3150

• Edmund. Come hither, Captain; hark.
  Take thou this note [gives a paper]. Go follow them to prison.
  One step I have advanc'd thee. If thou dost
  As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
  To noble fortunes. Know thou this, that men 3155
  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.

• Captain. I'll do't, my lord. 3160

• Edmund. About it! and write happy when th' hast done.
  Mark- I say, instantly; and carry it so
  As I have set it down.

• Captain. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;
  If it be man's work, I'll do't. Exit. 3165

Flourish. Enter Albany, Goneril, Regan, Soldiers.

• Duke of Albany. Sir, you have show'd 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 3170
  As we shall find their merits and our safety
  May equally determine.

• Edmund. Sir, I thought it fit
  To send the old and miserable King
  To some retention and appointed guard; 3175
  Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
  To pluck the common bosom on his side
  And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes
  Which do command them. With him I sent the Queen,
  My reason all the same; and they are ready 3180
  To-morrow, or at further space, t' 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 curs'd
  By those that feel their sharpness. 3185
  The question of Cordelia and her father
  Requires a fitter place.

• Duke of Albany. Sir, by your patience,
  I hold you but a subject of this war,
  Not as a brother. 3190

• Regan. 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 3195
  And call itself your brother.

• Goneril. Not so hot!
  In his own grace he doth exalt himself
  More than in your addition.

• Regan. In my rights 3200
  By me invested, he compeers the best.

• Goneril. That were the most if he should husband you.

• Regan. Jesters do oft prove prophets.

• Goneril. Holla, holla!
  That eye that told you so look'd but asquint. 3205

• Regan. Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
  From a full-flowing stomach. General,
  Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
  Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine.
  Witness the world that I create thee here 3210
  My lord and master.

• Goneril. Mean you to enjoy him?

• Duke of Albany. The let-alone lies not in your good will.

• Edmund. Nor in thine, lord.

• Duke of Albany. Half-blooded fellow, yes. 3215

• Regan. [to Edmund] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.

• Duke of Albany. Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
  On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,
  This gilded serpent [points to Goneril]. For your claim, fair
  sister, 3220
  I bar it in the interest of my wife.
  'Tis she is subcontracted to this lord,
  And I, her husband, contradict your banes.
  If you will marry, make your loves to me;
  My lady is bespoke. 3225

• Goneril. An interlude!

• Duke of Albany. Thou art arm'd, Gloucester. Let the trumpet sound.
  If none appear to prove upon thy person
  Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
  There is my pledge [throws down a glove]! I'll prove it on thy 3230
  heart,
  Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
  Than I have here proclaim'd thee.

• Regan. Sick, O, sick!

• Goneril. [aside] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine. 3235

• Edmund. There's my exchange [throws down a 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 3240
  My truth and honour firmly.

• Duke of Albany. A herald, ho!

• Edmund. A herald, ho, a herald!

• Duke of Albany. Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
  All levied in my name, have in my name 3245
  Took their discharge.

• Regan. My sickness grows upon me.

• Duke of Albany. She is not well. Convey her to my tent.
  [Exit Regan, led. Enter a Herald.]
  Come hither, herald. Let the trumpet sound, 3250
  And read out this.

• Captain. Sound, trumpet! A trumpet sounds.

• Herald. [reads] '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 3255
  of the trumpet. He is bold in his defence.'

• Edmund. Sound! First trumpet.

• Herald. Again! Second trumpet.

• Herald. Again! Third trumpet.

Trumpet answers within.

Enter Edgar, armed, at the third sound, a Trumpet before him.

• Duke of Albany. Ask him his purposes, why he appears
  Upon this call o' th' trumpet.

• Herald. What are you?
  Your name, your quality? and why you answer 3265
  This present summons?

• Edgar. Know my name is lost;
  By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit.
  Yet am I noble as the adversary
  I come to cope. 3270

• Duke of Albany. Which is that adversary?

• Edgar. What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?

• Edmund. Himself. What say'st thou to him?

• Edgar. Draw thy sword,
  That, if my speech offend a noble heart, 3275
  Thy arm may do thee justice. Here is mine.
  Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
  My oath, and my profession. I protest-
  Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
  Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune, 3280
  Thy valour and thy heart- thou art a traitor;
  False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
  Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince;
  And from th' extremest upward of thy head
  To the descent and dust beneath thy foot, 3285
  A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'no,'
  This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent
  To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
  Thou liest.

• Edmund. In wisdom I should ask thy name; 3290
  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; 3295
  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. Fight. [Edmund falls.]

• Duke of Albany. Save him, save him!

• Goneril. This is mere practice, Gloucester.
  By th' law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
  An unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquish'd,
  But cozen'd and beguil'd. 3305

• Duke of Albany. Shut your mouth, dame,
  Or with this paper shall I stop it. [Shows her her letter to
  Edmund.]- [To Edmund]. Hold, sir.
  [To Goneril] Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.
  No tearing, lady! I perceive you know it. 3310

• Goneril. Say if I do- the laws are mine, not thine.
  Who can arraign me for't?

• Duke of Albany. Most monstrous!
  Know'st thou this paper?

• Goneril. Ask me not what I know. Exit. 3315

• Duke of Albany. Go after her. She's desperate; govern her.

[Exit an Officer.]

• Edmund. What, you have charg'd 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 3320
  That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
  I do forgive thee.

• Edgar. Let's exchange charity.
  I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
  If more, the more th' hast wrong'd me. 3325
  My name is Edgar and thy father's son.
  The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
  Make instruments to scourge us.
  The dark and vicious place where thee he got
  Cost him his eyes. 3330

• Edmund. Th' hast spoken right; 'tis true.
  The wheel is come full circle; I am here.

• Duke of Albany. Methought thy very gait did prophesy
  A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.
  Let sorrow split my heart if ever I 3335
  Did hate thee, or thy father!

• Edgar. Worthy prince, I know't.

• Duke of Albany. Where have you hid yourself?
  How have you known the miseries of your father?

• Edgar. By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale; 3340
  And when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst!
  The bloody proclamation to escape
  That follow'd me so near (O, our lives' sweetness!
  That with the pain of death would hourly die
  Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift 3345
  Into a madman's rags, t' assume a semblance
  That very dogs disdain'd; and in this habit
  Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
  Their precious stones new lost; became his guide,
  Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd him from despair; 3350
  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 3355
  (Alack, too weak the conflict to support!)
  'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
  Burst smilingly.

• Edmund. This speech of yours hath mov'd me,
  And shall perchance do good; but speak you on; 3360
  You look as you had something more to say.

• Duke of Albany. If there be more, more woful, hold it in;
  For I am almost ready to dissolve,
  Hearing of this.

• Edgar. This would have seem'd a period 3365
  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, 3370
  Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding
  Who 'twas that so endur'd, with his strong arms
  He fastened on my neck, and bellowed out
  As he'd burst heaven; threw him on my father;
  Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him 3375
  That ever ear receiv'd; which in recounting
  His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life
  Began to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,
  And there I left him tranc'd.

• Duke of Albany. But who was this? 3380

• Edgar. Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise
  Followed his enemy king and did him service
  Improper for a slave.

Enter a Gentleman with a bloody knife.

• Gentleman. Help, help! O, help! 3385

• Edgar. What kind of help?

• Duke of Albany. Speak, man.

• Edgar. What means that bloody knife?

• Gentleman. 'Tis hot, it smokes.
  It came even from the heart of- O! she's dead! 3390

• Duke of Albany. Who dead? Speak, man.

• Gentleman. Your lady, sir, your lady! and her sister
  By her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.

• Edmund. I was contracted to them both. All three
  Now marry in an instant. 3395

Enter Kent.

• Edgar. Here comes Kent.

• Duke of Albany. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead.
  [Exit Gentleman.]
  This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble 3400
  Touches us not with pity. O, is this he?
  The time will not allow the compliment
  That very manners urges.

• Earl of Kent. I am come
  To bid my king and master aye good night. 3405
  Is he not here?

• Duke of Albany. Great thing of us forgot!
  Speak, Edmund, where's the King? and where's Cordelia?
  [The bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in.]
  Seest thou this object, Kent? 3410

• Earl of Kent. Alack, why thus?

• Edmund. Yet Edmund was belov'd.
  The one the other poisoned for my sake,
  And after slew herself.

• Duke of Albany. Even so. Cover their faces. 3415

• Edmund. I pant for life. Some good I mean to do,
  Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send
  (Be brief in't) to the castle; for my writ
  Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.
  Nay, send in time. 3420

• Duke of Albany. Run, run, O, run!

• Edgar. To who, my lord? Who has the office? Send
  Thy token of reprieve.

• Edmund. Well thought on. Take my sword;
  Give it the Captain. 3425

• Duke of Albany. Haste thee for thy life. [Exit Edgar.]

• Edmund. He hath commission from thy wife and me
  To hang Cordelia in the prison and
  To lay the blame upon her own despair
  That she fordid herself. 3430

• Duke of Albany. The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

[Edmund is borne off.]

Enter Lear, with Cordelia [dead] in his arms, [Edgar, Captain, and others following].

• Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stone.
  Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so 3435
  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. 3440

• Earl of Kent. Is this the promis'd end?

• Edgar. Or image of that horror?

• Duke of Albany. Fall and cease!

• Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! If it be so,
  It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows 3445
  That ever I have felt.

• Earl of Kent. O my good master!

• Lear. Prithee away!

• Edgar. 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

• Lear. A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! 3450
  I might have sav'd her; now she's gone for ever!
  Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
  What is't thou say'st, Her voice was ever soft,
  Gentle, and low- an excellent thing in woman.
  I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee. 3455

• Captain. 'Tis true, my lords, he did.

• Lear. Did I not, fellow?
  I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
  I would have made them skip. I am old now,
  And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you? 3460
  Mine eyes are not o' th' best. I'll tell you straight.

• Earl of Kent. If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated,
  One of them we behold.

• Lear. This' a dull sight. Are you not Kent?

• Earl of Kent. The same- 3465
  Your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius?

• Lear. He's a good fellow, I can tell you that.
  He'll strike, and quickly too. He's dead and rotten.

• Earl of Kent. No, my good lord; I am the very man-

• Lear. I'll see that straight. 3470

• Earl of Kent. That from your first of difference and decay
  Have followed your sad steps.

• Lear. You're welcome hither.

• Earl of Kent. Nor no man else! All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
  Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves, 3475
  And desperately are dead.

• Lear. Ay, so I think.

• Duke of Albany. He knows not what he says; and vain is it
  That we present us to him.

• Edgar. Very bootless. 3480

Enter a Captain.

• Captain. Edmund is dead, my lord.

• Duke of Albany. That's but a trifle here.
  You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
  What comfort to this great decay may come 3485
  Shall be applied. For us, we will resign,
  During the life of this old Majesty,
  To him our absolute power; [to Edgar and Kent] you to your
  rights;
  With boot, and such addition as your honours 3490
  Have more than merited.- All friends shall taste
  The wages of their virtue, and all foes
  The cup of their deservings.- O, see, see!

• Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
  Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, 3495
  And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
  Never, 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. 3500

• Edgar. He faints! My lord, my lord!

• Earl of Kent. Break, heart; I prithee break!

• Edgar. Look up, my lord.

• Earl of Kent. Vex not his ghost. O, let him pass! He hates him
  That would upon the rack of this tough world 3505
  Stretch him out longer.

• Edgar. He is gone indeed.

• Earl of Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long.
  He but usurp'd his life.

• Duke of Albany. Bear them from hence. Our present business 3510
  Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you
  twain
  Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain.

• Earl of Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go.
  My master calls me; I must not say no. 3515

• Duke of Albany. The weight of this 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.

THE END