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    King Lear
    King Lear
    King Lear
    Ebook175 pages2 hours

    King Lear

    By William Shakespeare

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    "King Lear" is, in its picture of the tragic effect of human weakness and human cruelty, the most overpowering of the works of Shakespeare. It was written about 1605, in the middle of that period of his activity when he was interested, for whatever reason, in portraying the suffering and disaster that are entailed by defects of character, and the terrible cost at which such defects are purged away; and not even "Hamlet" displays these things so irresistibly. The germ of the story is found in the folk-lore of many ages and countries. Attached to the name of Lear, the legend assumed pseudo-historical form with Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, was handed down through the long line of Latin and English chroniclers, appeared in collections of tales, found a place in Spenser’s "Faerie Queene," and was dramatized by an anonymous playwright about ten years before the date of Shakespeare’s drama. To Shakespeare himself is due the tragic catastrophe which takes the place of the traditional fortunate ending, according to which the French forces were victorious, and Lear was restored to his kingdom. He first makes Lear go mad; invents the banishment of Kent and his subsequent disguise; creates the Fool; and, finally, connects with Lear the whole story of Gloucester and his sons.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781596250833
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

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    Reviews for King Lear

    4/5

    2,531 ratings53 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Classic Shakespeare tragedy.
    • 3/5
      another play. another dreary subject. another tragic ending.
    • 3/5
      A fairly quick read. I didn't love it as much as I remember. Lear was way obsessed with 'nature' and the whole thing was so pompous. But not as bad as some of his other stuff.
    • 5/5
      The division of the Kingdom begins the play with first, the Earls of Kent and Gloucester speculating on the basis for the division and second, the actual division by Lear based on professions of love requested from his three daughters. When this event goes not as planned the action of the play ensues and the reader is in for a wild ride, much as Lear himself.The play provides one of Shakespeare's most thoroughly evil characters in Edmund while much of the rest of the cast is aligned against each other with Lear the outcast suffering along with the Earl of Gloucester who is tricked by his bastard son Edmund into believing that his other son Edgar is plotting against him. While there are some lighter moments the play is generally very dark filled with the bitter results of Lear's poor decisions at the outset. Interestingly we do not get much of a back story and find, other than his age of four score years, little else to suggest why Lear would surrender his power and his Kingdom at the outset. The play is certainly powerful and maintains your interest through dramatic scenes, while it also provides for many questions - some of which remain unanswered.
    • 5/5
      A very enjoyable edition. Unlike most of the Arden editions, Foakes comes across more as an educator than an academic-among-friends. This does mean occasionally that he'll cover ground most professional-level readers already understand, but it makes this a really well-rounded introduction to the play.

      The decision here is to incorporate both Quarto and Folio texts in one, with the differences clearly delineated. It's probably the best possible option for this play, and well done.
    • 5/5
      At the risk of sounding flippant, I realized that there are two productions of King Lear that need to be done: one set in the Klingon Empire, and the other performed by Monty Python. Go ahead, I dare you, read Poor Tom's lines like Eric Idle and try not to laugh!
    • 5/5
      There's probably nothing more I can say about this book, since it's been studied for a long time. But although this was a school book, for my Independent Oral Commentary, I really grew to love this book. Shakespeare's mastery of the English language is obvious here. From the truncated but meaningful dialogue, with the most famous probably being "Nothing my Lord". These three words manage to express love, and I have the utmost respect for Shakespeare for writing this. Even after our IOC, we are still influenced by this wonderful play. One friend proceeded to enact the storm scene in the rain (from sheer joy), and this was one of the most quoted books in our inscriptions to our Teacher on Teacher's Day. I could go on and on, but "no, let me shun that. That way madness lies" (Too much of a good thing can be bad after all)
    • 4/5
      Een van de krachtigste stukken van Shakespeare; een confrontatie van extremen.
    • 3/5
      There is an abundance of reviews, essays, opinions and prejudicial comments available when talking about Shakespeare. It would seem that the man was incapable of jotting down a bad sentence, let alone a bad story, at least, that's the veil they hand you when calling Shakespeare, morbidly referred to as 'Willy' by those who know the first three lines of Hamlet's 'to be or not to be'-speech, 'the greatest writer of all time'.

      In this review, I shall not beshame my opinion by calling anyone Willy, Shakey, Quilly or by using the word 'Shakespearean'. 'King Lear' is not the strongest play in the exuberant repertoire of Shakespeare. It is, however, one of the more reader-friendly ones, which means you don't need a detailed map of familial relations to follow the plot. The story of King Lear relies heavily on stories that already existed at the time, but had only served as traditional folk tales or as long forgotten myths. For those who are oblivious to the plot - King Lear wants to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Whereas Goneril and Regan go out of their proverbial ways to flatter their father, Cordelia remains reticent (but honest). Which, of course, is not much appreciated. What follows resembles the story of Oedipus, that other Blind King who slowly wandered into his own destruction. Gloucester, one of the side characters, actually does lose his eyes.

      'King Lear', in the end, is a reflection on power and what one will do to achieve it. Even though it might be a bit stale nowadays, it still holds true to its message, and for those who enjoy Shakespeare's husky metaphor, this play will provide you with all the ammunition needed.
    • 3/5
      Compare to his other masterpieces, this was for me too wide in character and at the same time lacking the intimacy of baseline human feelings or experience. "Thy truth be thy dower."
    • 4/5
      I recently read this for the Shakespeare module on my degree, and was a little disappointed. Having been told it was the Bard's masterpiece, I perhaps came to it with rather high expectations, but then doesn't everyone with Shakespeare? In my own opinion I feel that it falls short of Hamlet, though is superior to Othello, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare's line-up of 'famous tragedies' in terms of reading; on performance I cannot comment having seen only Hamlet and R&J. The Fool is an excellent character, and his relationship with Cordelia perhaps the most interesting in the drama. Edmond is also a good dramatic character, but the sisters Regan and Gonerill were flat. Lear's language is itself at times brilliant, but something left me wanting the dexterity of Hamlet. Cordelia is powerful in her absence, and really dominates the final act through her own speech, and that of Lear. The play is undoubtedly infused with some magical moments, but as a text to read, it does not, for me, inspire or humor as Hamlet manages.
    • 4/5
      What can I say about Shakespeare. He wrote a tragedy and I lived it through this book. Though reading such complicated manner of writing was a difficult task, I did not disturb my understanding of the story line. Since it is a tragedy, I was not a surprise to me that people died at the end, but the reason for which they died made me almost cry. One of the main themes of this tragedy is the bond between a father and a his offspring: King Lear and his daughters and Gloucester and his sons. Honesty and betrayal play an important role in the plot. I was socked by the behavior of the two daughters towards their father. They were mean to his just so they can get his kingdom. Although, Lear only wanted their love. I was a good read for sure and I can't wait until I will be able to discuss it with my classmates.
    • 4/5
      Shakespeare but I have not read it in a long time and I do not think that I have ever seen it.
    • 5/5
      Maybe the fifteenth time I've read Lear (this time in the tiny red-leather RSC edition). Always impressed, especially with the curses and curse-like screeds. I can't stand Lear onstage, particularly the blinding of Gloster (so spelled in this edition). How sharper than a serpants teeth it is / to have a thankless child--though having a thankless parent like Lear, Act I Sc I, ain't so great either. I do love the Russian film Lear with music by Shostakovich, and the King's grand route through his bestiary of hawks and eagles.I suppose this is Shakespeare's great (that's redundant, since "Sh" is mostly "great") assessment of homelessness. The undeservingly roofless. it is also his only play on retirement, which he recommends against. Or perhaps Lear should have had a condo in Florida? Of course, his hundred knights, a problem for the condominium board, as it was for his daughters. And Shakespeare, who says in a sonnet he was "lame by fortune's despite" also addresses the handicapped here, recommending tripping blind persons to cheer them up.Of course, Lear has his personal Letterman-Colbert, the Fool, so he doesn't need a TV in the electrical storm on the heath. That's fortunate, because it would have been dangerous to turn on a TV with all that lightening. The play seems also to recommend serious disguises like Kent's dialects and Edgar's mud. Next time I go to a party I'll think about some mud, which reduces Edgar's likelihood of being killed by his former friends.And finally, the play touches on senility, where Lear cannot be sure at first Cordelia is his daughter.I'm not sure, but the author may be recommending senility as a palliative to tragedy--and to aging. A friend of mine once put it, "Who's to say the senile's not having the time of his life?"
    • 5/5
      There are three main reasons for the disorder already occurring by the end of Act I. The first and most obvious is Lear's madness. He certain seems to be loosing it a bit, and his crazed banishment of Cordelia and Kent couldn't possibly have done anything but harm to him. The second reason is Cordelia's sister's treachery. It could be argued that they appear to be trying to protect him and their people by taking away his knights, he is crazy after all, if it weren't for Cordelia's parting words to them; "I know you what you are;/And, like a sister, am most loth to call/Your faults as they are nam'd. Love 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." And a few lines later; "Time shall unfold what plighted cunning/Who cover faults, at last shame them derides." These lines seem to indicate that Cordelia knows that Goneril and Regan are not only flattering Lear for gain, but also that they hold him in contempt, and will likely do him harm, and revealing the second harbinger of disorder.

      The third indicator of the chaos to come is Edmund. I feel bad for him, for the contempt others hold him in because of the doings of his parents, but he quickly does what he can to dispel my pity for him with his evil attitudes as he works to turn his father and brother against one another. I find it ironic that he distains his father's belief in fate through astrology, yet confesses that because of when he was born he was supposed to be 'rough and lecherous,' yet doesn't believe himself to have those traits he was just showing.

      Shakespeare's purpose in showing this disorder seems to come from the idea of dividing his kingdom. A divided kingdom would often lead to civil war and chaos, so Lear's deliberate dividing of the kingdom would probably have been viewed as deliberately inviting disorder.

      Power in England was structured in a pyramid. The king on top, and wealth and power went to a few nobles who had all the money. Lear was trying to disrupt that structure in a way that would have alarmed the people watching the play. Cordelia took a great risk in not bowing to her father's wishes, as his denying her dowry could have driven away both her suitors, leaving her alone and destitute in a world that didn't favor lone women. In her case, however Cordelia's suitor from France still marries her, which would be very unusual since she had no dowry, and she wouldn't gain him an alliance with England.

      Family dynamics can change depending on the health of a person, as others may come into their lives and as children grow up. Cordelia was Lear's favorite child, yet when she would not lie to him with flattery, he cast her off. Why? Did he not realize that her impending marriage would change is relationship with her? She would still love him, of course, but even with the play being in pre-Christian era, the belief would probably have been that the wife's foremost alliegence should be to her husband, and Lear should have understood this. In fact, it seems strange that he would have even questioned this part of the structure of society at all.

      No one has a perfect family. This is shown in Edgar and Edmund's family. Gloster (or Gloucester as some versions call him) may have been unfaithful to his wife, it's never stated whether she was alive at the time of Edmund's conception. If Gloster was unfaithful to his wife than he was dishonest and breaking one of the oldest understandings of marriage. If Edgar's mother had already died, that Gloster was not responsible enough to remarry, and to marry Edmund's mother, or at least admit himself Edmund's father when the boy was a child, instead of waiting until Edmund was old enough to distinguish himself, and in doing so, add to Gloster's reputation. It seems very unfair that Edmund, and almost any other illigitmate child born until the the late 1900s should be punished for something that their parents did. Yet neither should Edmund take out his misfortunes on his brother, who was, in all probability, guiltless in tormenting him. After all, Edgar trusts Edmund completely, which does not seem like an attitude he would hold had he tormented Edmund before. I think that Gloster could have stopped his fate had he treated Edmund with kindness from the beginning of his life, rather than waiting until Edmund could add to his reputation to acknowledge him.

      I don't actually seem him mocking Edmund, so much as simply being ashamed of his illegitimacy because it was Gloster's own act that was the cause of Edmund's bastardy. As Gloster was speaking to Kent, he was very frank about the manner of Edmund's conception, to the point that we would say he was being rude to Edmund, but really, for the time, the fact that he had acknowledged Edmund as his son at all was better than many bastards would have gotten. For this reason I think that more than anything it was the fact that he took so long to acknowledge Edmund, that led to Edmund's bitterness and Gloster's downfall.

      (This review is patched up from posts I made on an online Shakespeare class)
    • 5/5
      I'm somewhat biased: Lear is my favorite play written since the time of Euripides (who wrote later than my absolute favorites Aeschylus and Sophocles).The cast and execution of the Naxos audiobook are also excellent. I would list the cast, but the combination of blurred lines between book and performance and my own laziness and busy schedule prohibit me.
    • 5/5
      The proud King Lear disowns his most dutiful daughter and is consequently betrayed by his other two. A bastard son betrays both his brother and father out of jealousy and malice. I think it is the saddest of his tragedies, and it moves very quickly to me (though not as quickly as Macbeth). It is also really one of the most profound expressions of human suffering ever written in the English language. The play sees deeply into the soul, and so I would often linger a bit on a line or speech with a quiet awe. The actions pierce its characters with a sad, penetrating irony. The eyes will eventually see in their blindness. The heart bleeds and the storm rages. It is depressing, yes. But in all, as depraved as its villains are, I also read in King Lear what is very beautiful about humanity and kinship, however frail it may appear teetering on the edge of a cliff: compassion, loyalty, charity, and mercy.
    • 5/5
      This is my favorite of all of Shakespeare's works. Blood, death, and treachery. Who could ask for more!
    • 4/5
      King Lear makes a fateful decision to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The reaction of one daughter, Cordelia, displeases the king so much that he cuts her out of any inheritance. The kingdom will be divided between the other two daughters, Goneril and Regan. His plan is that they will take care of him in his old age. They soon decide that they don't want to use their inheritance to support their father, and the king finds himself with nowhere to shelter in a violent storm. Meanwhile, the Earl of Gloucester's illegitimate son plots to usurp his legitimate brother's place as their father's heir. As in many of Shakespeare's plays, there are characters in disguise. It's filled with violence and cruelty without comic relief like the gravedigger scene in Hamlet. The family conflict at its heart will continue to resonate with audiences and readers as long as there are families.
    • 5/5
      The writer I feel most in awe of, by a mile, is Shakespeare. I'm not going to say anything much about him because it's all been said, so I'll just say he's the boss, and the play that most shocks and thrills and saddens me is King Lear. But I could almost have said exactly the same about most of the plays he wrote. Every time I experience him in performance I feel overwhelmed by his brilliance, and I just have to shut up before I get too sycophantic.
    • 5/5
      I enjoy the Folger editions of Shakespeare - to each his own in this matter. Some find Lear to be overblown, I am tremendously moved by it, and haunted by the image of the old man howling across the barren heaths with his dead daughter in his arms. 'I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears Do scald like molten lead.' Lear 4.7.52-54
    • 5/5
      If I could only recommend one Shakespeare Play it would be King Lear.
    • 3/5
      Another great tragic tale as told my Shakespeare. Like all his plays, you're able to dig deep into this story and draw out tons of stories, themes and hidden meanings out of all its layers. An enjoyable read for any Shakespeare enthusiast.
    • 3/5
      Not my cup of tea, but it was nice to read it because I haven't before.
    • 5/5
      Shakespeare, William. King Lear. University of Virginia Electronic Text Center, 15XX. This is my favorite Shakespeare play. I don't know if I would have re-read it now if I hadn't had a copy on my iPaq and needed something to read at night without disturbing Molly and Tony on our trip to Madrid. I like Lear for its apocalyptic vision and because I think the transition from one generation to the next is an interesting topic. The paper I wrote on this play in college, which compares Edgar to the Fool, is one of my favorites.
    • 5/5
      Teaching it for the second time. The Folger edition is okay, but it badly needs to be updated; and the illustrations in the facing page are, to my mind, badly chosen, unless they're meant only to promote the grandeur of the Folger library. I think they would have done much better to provide photos of scenes taken from various productions/films/adaptations of Lear; no doubt the students would pay more attention to such things, to say nothing of nonexpert instructors like me.

      Oh, the play: certainly very good at cutting the legs out from under the notion that suffering can be redemptive. Lear discovers compassion and love, Gloucester grows up, but what do they get? Death. And what are we left with? The two appalling milquetoast prigs, Albany and Edgar,* perhaps the two characters in Lear who understand least well what the whole thing is about. At least Kent has the grace to go off and wait to die.

      * Hilarious: I just googled these names and the second hit is some plagiarism mill that's selling an essay that reads "Albany and Edgar both possess honest and kind characters." You have got to be kidding me! Please, please, please let someone try to get this paper past me. How stupid or desperate would someone have to be to pay for a paper that's, at best, a B-?
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite Shakespeare plays. King Lear asks his daughters who truly loves him, and the oldest two spin golden words of flattery while the third one cannot do so. Lear abandons his third daughter and this opens the story to the madness that follows. Brilliantly imagined characters and psyches. Worth it
    • 5/5
      My absolute favorite Shakespeare play. Extra love for the fact that this came up when I searched for Stephen King.
    • 4/5
      Fourth book of the readathon. Read in snatches during a car journey and between acts in a concert! Which is probably not the best way to experience Shakespeare, laying aside the issue that I think the best way to experience it is by watching it, but I enjoyed it. I've always rather liked Cordelia, with her steadfast truthfulness, and I do remember some very vivid mental images regarding eyes being put out when, at the age of nine, I read a children's version of the story.

      And of course, Shakespeare's use of language, his sense of timing, his grasp of what will look good on stage -- that's as expected: he was a master.
    • 5/5
      Excellent work. I saw this performed at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN. Very powerful performance. I liked this edition in particular because it explained the nuances of the language right next to the original text. That plus the performance made this easier to understand.

    Book preview

    King Lear - William Shakespeare

    KING LEAR

    By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

    A Digireads.com Book

    Digireads.com Publishing

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-2617-0

    Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59625-083-3

    This edition copyright © 2012

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    ACT I.

    SCENE I. KING LEAR's palace.

    SCENE II. The EARL OF GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE III. The DUKE OF ALBANY's palace.

    SCENE IV. A hall in the same.

    SCENE V. Court before the same.

    ACT II.

    SCENE I. GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE II. Before GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE III. A wood.

    SCENE IV. Before GLOUCESTER's castle.

    ACT III.

    SCENE I. A heath.

    SCENE II. Another part of the heath. Storm still.

    SCENE III. GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE IV. The heath. Before a hovel.

    SCENE V. GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE VI. A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle.

    SCENE VII. GLOUCESTER's castle.

    ACT IV.

    SCENE I. The heath.

    SCENE II. Before ALBANY's palace.

    SCENE III. The French camp near Dover.

    SCENE IV. The same. A tent.

    SCENE V. GLOUCESTER's castle.

    SCENE VI. Fields near Dover.

    SCENE VII. A tent in the French camp.

    ACT V.

    SCENE I. The British camp, near Dover.

    SCENE II. A field between the two camps.

    SCENE III. The British camp near Dover.

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    LEAR, King of Britain.

    KING OF FRANCE.

    DUKE OF BURGUNDY.

    DUKE OF CORNWALL.

    DUKE OF ALBANY.

    EARL OF KENT.

    EARL OF GLOUCESTER.

    EDGAR, son of Gloucester.

    EDMUND, bastard son to Gloucester.

    CURAN, a courtier.

    OLD MAN, tenant to Gloucester.

    DOCTOR.

    LEAR'S FOOL.

    OSWALD, steward to Goneril.

    A Captain under Edmund's command.

    Gentlemen.

    A Herald.

    Servants to Cornwall.

    GONERIL, daughter to Lear.

    REGAN, daughter to Lear.

    CORDELIA, daughter to Lear.

    Knights attending on Lear, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, Attendants.

    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.

    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.

    KENT. I cannot conceive you.

    GLOUCESTER. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

    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?

    EDMUND. No, my lord.

    GLOUCESTER. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

    EDMUND. My services to your lordship.

    KENT. I must love you, and sue to know you better.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    CORDELIA. [aside.] What shall Cordelia do?

    Love, and be silent.

    KING 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.

    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.

    CORDELIA. [aside.] Then poor Cordelia!

    And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's

    More richer than my tongue.

    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 interest'd; what can you say to draw

    A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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

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