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Scene IV

A hall in the same.

[Enter Kent, disguised]

KENT:

If but as well I other accents borrow,
That can my speech defuse, my good intent
May carry through itself to that full issue
For which I razed my likeness. Now, banished Kent,
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemned,(5)
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lovest,
Shall find thee full of labors.

[Horns within. Enter King Lear, Knights, and Attendants]

KING LEAR:

Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready.

[Exit an Attendant]

How now! what art thou?

KENT:

A man, sir.(10)

KING LEAR:

What dost thou profess? what wouldst thou with
us?

KENT:

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(15)
fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no fish.

KING LEAR:

What art thou?

KENT:

A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king.

KING LEAR:

If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a king,
thou art poor enough. What wouldst thou?(20)

KENT:

Service.

KING LEAR:

Who wouldst thou serve?

KENT:

You.

KING LEAR:

Dost thou know me, fellow?

KENT:

No, sir; but you have that in your countenance which I(25)
would fain call master.

KING LEAR:

What's that?

KENT:

Authority.

KING LEAR:

What services canst thou do?

KENT:

I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious tale(30)
in telling it, and deliver a plain message bluntly: that which
ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me
is diligence.

KING LEAR:

How old art thou?

KENT:

Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing, nor so(35)
old to dote on her for any thing: I have years on my back
forty-eight.

KING LEAR:

Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no
worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet. Dinner, ho,
dinner! Where's my knave? my fool? Go you, and call my(40)
fool hither.

[Exit an Attendant]

[Enter Oswald]

You, you, sirrah, where's my daughter?

OSWALD:

So please you,—

[Exit]

KING LEAR:

What says the fellow there? Call the clotpoll
back. [Exit a Knight] Where's my fool, ho? I think the(45)
world's asleep. [Re-enter Knight] How now! where's that
mongrel?

KNIGHT:

He says, my lord, your daughter is not well.

KING LEAR:

Why came not the slave back to me when I called
him?(50)

KNIGHT:

Sir, he answered me in the roundest manner, he
would not.

KING LEAR:

He would not!

KNIGHT:

My lord, I know not what the matter is; but, to
my judgment, your highness is not entertained with(55)
that ceremonious affection as you were wont; there's
a great abatement of kindness appears as well in the
general dependants as in the duke himself also and your
daughter.

KING LEAR:

Ha! sayest thou so?(60)

KNIGHT:

I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be mistaken;
for my duty cannot be silent when I think your highness
wronged.

KING LEAR:

Thou but rememberest me of mine own
conception: I have perceived a most faint neglect of late;(65)
which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity
than as a very pretense and purpose of unkindness: I will
look further into 't. But here's my fool? I have not seen him
this two days.

KNIGHT:

Since my young lady's going into France, sir, the fool(70)
hath much pined away.

KING LEAR:

No more of that; I have noted it well. Go you, and
tell my daughter I would speak with her.

[Exit an Attendant]

Go you, call hither my fool.

[Exit an Attendant]

[Re-enter Oswald]

O, you sir, you, come you hither, sir: who am I, sir?(75)

OSWALD:

My lady's father.

KING LEAR:

‘My lady's father’! my lord's knave: your whoreson
dog! you slave! you cur!

OSWALD:

I am none of these, my lord; I beseech your pardon.

KING LEAR:

Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?(80)

[Striking him]

OSWALD:

I'll not be struck, my lord.

KENT:

Nor tripped neither, you base football player.

[Tripping up his heels]

KING LEAR:

I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me, and I'll love
thee.

KENT:

Come, sir, arise, away! I'll teach you differences: away,(85)
away! if you will measure your lubber's length again,
tarry: but away! go to; have you wisdom? so.

[Pushes Oswald out]

KING LEAR:

Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee: there's earnest
of thy service.

[Giving Kent money]

[Enter Fool]

FOOL:

Let me hire him too: here's my coxcomb.(90)

[Offering Kent his cap]

KING LEAR:

How now, my pretty knave! how dost thou?

FOOL:

Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.

KENT:

Why, fool?

FOOL:

Why, for taking one's part that's out of favor: nay, an thou
canst not smile as the wind sits, thou'lt catch cold shortly:(95)
there, take my coxcomb: why, this fellow has banished two
on's daughters, and did the third a blessing against his
will; if thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb.
How now, nuncle! Would I had two coxcombs and two
daughters!(100)

KING LEAR:

Why, my boy?

FOOL:

If I gave them all my living, I'ld keep my coxcombs
myself. There's mine; beg another of thy daughters.

KING LEAR:

Take heed, sirrah; the whip.

FOOL:

Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped out,(105)
when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and stink.

KING LEAR:

A pestilent gall to me!

FOOL:

Sirrah, I'll teach thee a speech.

KING LEAR:

Do.

FOOL:

Mark it, nuncle:(110)
Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,(115)
Set less than thou throwest,
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more
Than two tens to a score.(120)

KENT:

This is nothing, fool.

FOOL:

Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you
gave me nothing for't. Can you make no use of nothing,
nuncle?

• disguise
• erased, changed
• Lear has made enemies of Regan and Goneril by giving them his land and power as much as he would have by banishing them.
• wait
• who
• do as a job
• i.e., not be Catholic; ^v
• secrets
• persistence
• act foolish towards
• lad; fellow
• blockhead
• bluntest
• treated
• used to
• decrease
• remind
• impression
• wasted
• exchange
• poor citizens often played football in the streets
• clumsy fellow's
• delay
• fool's cap
• i.e., if you cannot adjust with those in power, you'll be in trouble
• of his
• symbols of foolishness
• bitch
• plague; epidemic
• annoyance
• hear
• believe
• wager
• throw at dice
• twenty (i.e., you'll be rich)

1. Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare's Language
2. Reading Pointers for Sharper Insight
3. Act I
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
4. Act II
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
5. Act III
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
   6. Scene VI
   7. Scene VII
6. Act IV
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
   6. Scene VI
   7. Scene VII
7. Act V
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
8. Copyright