SCENE III. The British camp near Dover. King Lear  Shakespeare homepage  |  King Lear  | Act 5, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  SCENE III. The British camp near Dover. 

 Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, EDMUND,  KING LEAR and CORDELIA, prisoners; Captain, Soldiers,  & c  EDMUND  Some officers take them away: good guard, 

 Until their greater pleasures first be known 

 That are to censure them. 

 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 out-frown false fortune's frown. 

 Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters? 

 KING LEAR  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's the mystery of things, 

 As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out, 

 In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, 

 That ebb and flow by the moon. 

 EDMUND  Take them away. 

 KING LEAR  Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, 

 The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? 

 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 KING LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded  EDMUND  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. 

 Captain  I'll do 't, my lord. 

 EDMUND  About it; and write happy when thou 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 

 Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, another Captain, and Soldiers  ALBANY  Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain, 

 And fortune led you well: you have the captives 

 That 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. 

 EDMUND  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 

 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. 

 ALBANY  Sir, by your patience, 

 I hold you but a subject of this war, 

 Not as a brother. 

 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, 

 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, 

 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 a-squint. 

 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 

 My lord and master. 

 GONERIL  Mean you to enjoy him? 

 ALBANY  The let-alone lies not in your good will. 

 EDMUND  Nor in thine, lord. 

 ALBANY  Half-blooded fellow, yes. 

 REGAN  [To EDMUND]  Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine. 

 ALBANY  Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee 

 On capital treason; and, in thine attaint, 

 This gilded serpent 



 Pointing to Goneril  For your claim, fair sister, 

 I bar it in the interest of my wife: 

 'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord, 

 And I, her husband, contradict your bans. 

 If you will marry, make your loves to me, 

 My lady is bespoke. 

 GONERIL  An interlude! 

 ALBANY  Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound: 

 If none appear to prove upon thy head 

 Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons, 

 There is my pledge; 



 Throwing down a glove  I'll prove it on thy 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. 

 EDMUND  There's my exchange: 



 Throwing 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 

 My truth and honour firmly. 

 ALBANY  A herald, ho! 

 EDMUND  A herald, ho, a herald! 

 ALBANY  Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers, 

 All levied in my name, have in my name 

 Took their discharge. 

 REGAN  My sickness grows upon me. 

 ALBANY  She is not well; convey her to  my tent. 



 Exit Regan, led 

 Enter a Herald  Come hither, herald,--Let the trumpet sound, 

 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 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, at the third sound, armed, with a trumpet before him  ALBANY  Ask him his purposes, why he appears 

 Upon this call o' the trumpet. 

 Herald  What are you? 

 Your name, your quality? and why you answer 

 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. 

 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, 

 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, 

 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 the extremest upward of thy head 

 To the descent and dust below thy foot, 

 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; 

 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 these 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. They fight. EDMUND falls  ALBANY  Save him, save him! 

 GONERIL  This is practise, Gloucester: 

 By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer 

 An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd, 

 But cozen'd and beguiled. 

 ALBANY  Shut your mouth, dame, 

 Or with this paper shall I stop it: Hold, sir: 

 Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil: 

 No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it. 



 Gives the letter to EDMUND  GONERIL  Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine: 

 Who can arraign me for't. 

 ALBANY  Most monstrous! oh! 

 Know'st thou this paper? 

 GONERIL  Ask me not what I know. 



 Exit  ALBANY  Go after her: she's desperate; govern her. 

 EDMUND  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'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 thou hast wrong'd 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. 

 EDMUND  Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true; 

 The wheel is come full circle: I am here. 

 ALBANY  Methought thy very gait did prophesy 

 A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee: 

 Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I 

 Did hate thee or thy father! 

 EDGAR  Worthy prince, I know't. 

 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; 

 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 we the pain of death would hourly die 

 Rather than die at once!--taught me to shift 

 Into a madman's rags; to 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, saved him from despair; 

 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. 

 EDMUND  This speech of yours hath moved me, 

 And shall perchance do good: but speak you on; 

 You look as you had something more to say. 

 ALBANY  If there be more, more woeful, hold it in; 

 For I am almost ready to dissolve, 

 Hearing of this. 

 EDGAR  This would have seem'd 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 in a man, 

 Who, having seen me in my worst estate, 

 Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, finding 

 Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms 

 He fastened on my neck, and bellow'd out 

 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: twice then the trumpets sounded, 

 And there I left him tranced. 

 ALBANY  But who was this? 

 EDGAR  Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguise 

 Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service 

 Improper for a slave. 



 Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife  Gentleman  Help, help, O, help! 

 EDGAR  What kind of help? 

 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! 

 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. 

 EDGAR  Here comes Kent. 

 ALBANY  Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead: 

 This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble, 

 Touches us not with pity. 



 Exit Gentleman 

 Enter KENT  O, is this he? 

 The time will not allow the compliment 

 Which very manners urges. 

 KENT  I am come 

 To bid my king and master aye good night: 

 Is he not here? 

 ALBANY  Great thing of us forgot! 

 Speak, Edmund, where's the king? and where's Cordelia? 

 See'st thou this object, Kent? 



 The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in  KENT  Alack, why thus? 

 EDMUND  Yet Edmund was beloved: 

 The one the other poison'd for my sake, 

 And after slew herself. 

 ALBANY  Even so. Cover their faces. 

 EDMUND  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. 

 ALBANY  Run, run, O, run! 

 EDGAR  To who, my lord? Who hath the office? send 

 Thy token of reprieve. 

 EDMUND  Well thought on: take my sword, 

 Give it the captain. 

 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. 

 ALBANY  The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile. 



 EDMUND is borne off 

 Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following  KING LEAR  Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones: 

 Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld 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. 

 KENT  Is this the promised end 

 EDGAR  Or image of that horror? 

 ALBANY  Fall, and cease! 

 KING LEAR  This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, 

 It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows 

 That ever I have felt. 

 KENT  [Kneeling]  O my good master! 

 KING LEAR  Prithee, away. 

 EDGAR  'Tis noble Kent, your friend. 

 KING LEAR  A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! 

 I might have saved 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. 

 Captain  'Tis true, my lords, he did. 

 KING 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? 

 Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight. 

 KENT  If fortune brag of two she loved and hated, 

 One of them we behold. 

 KING LEAR  This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent? 

 KENT  The same, 

 Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius? 

 KING LEAR  He's a good fellow, I can tell you that; 

 He'll strike, and quickly too: he's dead and rotten. 

 KENT  No, my good lord; I am the very man,-- 

 KING LEAR  I'll see that straight. 

 KENT  That, from your first of difference and decay, 

 Have follow'd your sad steps. 

 KING LEAR  You are welcome hither. 

 KENT  Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark, and deadly. 

 Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves, 

 And desperately are dead. 

 KING LEAR  Ay, so I think. 

 ALBANY  He knows not what he says: and vain it is 

 That we present us to him. 

 EDGAR  Very bootless. 



 Enter a Captain  Captain  Edmund is dead, my lord. 

 ALBANY  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  you, to 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. O, see, see! 

 KING LEAR  And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life! 

 Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, 

 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! 



 Dies  EDGAR  He faints! My lord, my lord! 

 KENT  Break, heart; I prithee, break! 

 EDGAR  Look up, my lord. 

 KENT  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. 

 EDGAR  He is gone, indeed. 

 KENT  The wonder is, he hath endured so long: 

 He but usurp'd his life. 

 ALBANY  Bear them from hence. Our present business 

 Is general woe. 



 To KENT and EDGAR  Friends of my soul, you twain 

 Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain. 

 KENT  I have a journey, sir, shortly to go; 

 My master calls me, I must not say no. 

 ALBANY  The weight of this sad time we must obey; 

 Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. 

 The oldest hath borne most: we that are young 

 Shall never see so much, nor live so long. 



 Exeunt, with a dead march 