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King Lear | Act V, Scene III - Page 3

KENT:
I am come
To bid my king and master aye good night:
Is he not here?(280)
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:(285)
The one the other poisoned 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,(290)
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(295)
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(300)
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(305)
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;(310)
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!(315)
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.(320)
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,(325)
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
I killed 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(330)
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.(335)
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.(340)
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 followed your sad steps.
KING LEAR:
You are welcome hither.(345)
KENT:
Nor no man else: all's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,
And desperately are dead.
KING LEAR:
Ay, so I think.
ALBANY:
He knows not what he says: and vain it is(350)
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.(355)
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:(360)
With boot, and such addition as your honors
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 hanged! No, no, no life!(365)
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,(370)
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(375)
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 usurped his life.(380)
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;(385)
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.(390)

[Exeunt, with a dead march]

  • mirror
  • sword
  • challenges
  • defeat
  • i.e., no man would welcome this
  • futile
  • a small matter
  • plunder
  • enemies
  • stolen
  • wounded
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