Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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KENT
Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter.
The tyranny of the open night ’s too rough
For nature to endure. Storm still. LEAR Let me alone. KENT
Good my lord, enter here. 5 LEAR Wilt break my heart? KENT
I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter. | Back on the heath, Kent is still trying to get Lear out of the storm and into that cave, but Lear is resistant. |
LEAR
Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious storm
Invades us to the skin. So ’tis to thee.
But where the greater malady is fixed, 10
The lesser is scarce felt. Thou ’dst shun a bear,
But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea,
Thou ’dst meet the bear i’ th’ mouth. When the
mind’s free,
The body’s delicate. This tempest in my mind 15
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to ’t? But I will punish home.
No, I will weep no more. In such a night 20
To shut me out? Pour on. I will endure.
In such a night as this? O Regan, Goneril,
Your old kind father whose frank heart gave all!
O, that way madness lies. Let me shun that;
No more of that. 25 | Lear says the violent storm is nothing compared to the "tempest" in Lear's own mind. He laments that his children are such ingrates but decides that it's best not to go there—dwelling on Goneril and Regan will make him go mad. |
KENT Good my lord, enter here. LEAR
Prithee, go in thyself. Seek thine own ease.
This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in.—
In, boy; go first.—You houseless poverty— 30
Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.
Fool exits.
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness defend 35
you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp.
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou may’st shake the superflux to them 40
And show the heavens more just. | Lear orders his Fool and Kent to seek shelter and then, delivers a speech about the plight of homelessness, which he now experiences first hand. Lear realizes he has not done enough for disadvantaged people, and swears he will try to assist them more in the future. |
EDGAR within Fathom and half, fathom and half!
Poor Tom! Enter Fool. FOOL Come not in here, nuncle; here’s a spirit. Help
me, help me! 45 KENT Give me thy hand. Who’s there? FOOL A spirit, a spirit! He says his name’s Poor Tom. KENT What art thou that dost grumble there i’ th’
straw? Come forth. | Turns out the cave they were headed for is already occupied by Edgar. The Fool comes rushing back out, thinking he's seen a ghost and Kent goes to investigate. |
Enter Edgar in disguise. EDGAR Away. The foul fiend follows me. Through the 50
sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind. Hum! Go to
thy cold bed and warm thee. LEAR Didst thou give all to thy daughters? And art thou
come to this? EDGAR Who gives anything to Poor Tom, whom the 55
foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame,
through ford and whirlpool, o’er bog and quagmire;
that hath laid knives under his pillow and
halters in his pew, set ratsbane by his porridge,
made him proud of heart to ride on a bay trotting 60
horse over four-inched bridges to course his own
shadow for a traitor? Bless thy five wits! Tom’s
a-cold. O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from
whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking! Do Poor Tom
some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There 65
could I have him now, and there—and there again
—and there. Storm still. | Edgar, in his "Poor Tom" disguise, has sunk ever deeply into the role: he begs and wheedles, sings songs, complains about the cold, and generally acts like a madman. |
LEAR
Has his daughters brought him to this pass?—
Couldst thou save nothing? Wouldst thou give ’em
all? 70 FOOL Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been all
shamed. | Lear, who's getting madder by the minute, wants to know if "Poor Tom" is poor because his daughters took everything from him. The Fool is glad that "Tom" was at least able to hang on to a blanket. (The one covering his naughty parts.) |
LEAR
Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air
Hang fated o’er men’s faults light on thy daughters! KENT He hath no daughters, sir. 75 LEAR
Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature
To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
Is it the fashion that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! ’Twas this flesh begot 80
Those pelican daughters. | Lear won't let the daughter stuff go, even when Kent tells him that "Poor Tom" has no daughters. Clearly, Lear is doing a little projecting. |
EDGAR Pillicock sat on Pillicock Hill. Alow, alow, loo,
loo. FOOL This cold night will turn us all to fools and
madmen. 85 EDGAR Take heed o’ th’ foul fiend. Obey thy parents,
keep thy word’s justice, swear not, commit not with
man’s sworn spouse, set not thy sweet heart on
proud array. Tom’s a-cold. LEAR What hast thou been? 90 EDGAR A servingman, proud in heart and mind, that
curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the
lust of my mistress’ heart and did the act of
darkness with her, swore as many oaths as I spake
words and broke them in the sweet face of heaven; 95
one that slept in the contriving of lust and waked to
do it. Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly, and in
woman out-paramoured the Turk. False of heart,
light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in
stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in 100
prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling
of silks betray thy poor heart to woman. Keep thy
foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy
pen from lenders’ books, and defy the foul fiend.
Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind; 105
says suum, mun, nonny. Dolphin my boy, boy, sessa!
Let him trot by. Storm still. | Edgar shares some of his crazy with a few little rhymes, a brief moral code, and a rambling speech about how he used to be a wealthy womanizer. He cautions anyone who may be listening never to open his heart to a woman. Some of his other advice includes: don't go to whorehouses, don't chase women, don't steal, and steer clear of the devil. He ends by telling his imaginary horse to trot on by. |
LEAR Thou wert better in a grave than to answer with
thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.—Is
man no more than this? Consider him well.—Thou 110
ow’st the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep
no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha, here’s three on ’s
are sophisticated. Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated
man is no more but such a poor, bare,
forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! 115
Come, unbutton here. Tearing off his clothes. | Staring at Poor Tom's nearly naked and shivering body, Lear begins to philosophize. Having concluded that clothing and social conventions are artificial additions to man's natural state, Lear starts taking off his own clothes. We interrupt this program for a brain snack: When Ian McKellen got naked as King Lear in the 2007 Royal Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear, he caused quite a commotion, leading some journalists to joke about the wizard's wand. (McKellen played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies.) |
FOOL Prithee, nuncle, be contented. ’Tis a naughty
night to swim in. Now, a little fire in a wild field
were like an old lecher’s heart—a small spark, all
the rest on ’s body cold. 120 Enter Gloucester, with a torch. Look, here comes a walking fire. | The Fool tries to stop Lear, declaring that while he has a hot heart, the rest of his body is still rather cold, and at risk of exposure...in more than one sense of the word. |
EDGAR This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. He begins
at curfew and walks till the first cock. He
gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and
makes the harelip, mildews the white wheat, and 125
hurts the poor creature of earth.
Swithold footed thrice the ’old,
He met the nightmare and her ninefold,
Bid her alight,
And her troth plight, 130
And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee. | Edgar, continuing his crazy-off with Lear, sees Gloucester approaching with a torch and identifies him as a fiend that walks the night giving people harelips and making crops of wheat rot. |
KENT How fares your Grace? LEAR What’s he? KENT Who’s there? What is ’t you seek? GLOUCESTER What are you there? Your names? 135 EDGAR Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the
toad, the tadpole, the wall newt, and the water;
that, in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend
rages, eats cow dung for sallets, swallows the old
rat and the ditch-dog, drinks the green mantle of 140
the standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to
tithing, and stocked, punished, and imprisoned;
who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to
his body,
Horse to ride, and weapon to wear; 145
But mice and rats and such small deer
Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin! Peace, thou
fiend! GLOUCESTER, to Lear
What, hath your Grace no better company? 150 | When Gloucester enters the scene and asks who's there (remember, it's dark), Edgar answers him with a strange speech about being "Poor Tom" who does all sorts of mad things, like eating amphibians and cowpoop. Gloucester doesn't recognize his son and seems worried about the king hanging out with such a weirdo. |
EDGAR The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. Modo
he’s called, and Mahu. GLOUCESTER, to Lear
Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile
That it doth hate what gets it. EDGAR Poor Tom’s a-cold. 155 GLOUCESTER, to Lear
Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer
T’ obey in all your daughters’ hard commands.
Though their injunction be to bar my doors
And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,
Yet have I ventured to come seek you out 160
And bring you where both fire and food is ready. | Gloucester says that he's come, against instructions and in spite of great threats, to bring Lear in from the storm and provide him with food and fire. |
LEAR
First let me talk with this philosopher.
To Edgar. What is the cause of thunder? KENT
Good my lord, take his offer; go into th’ house. LEAR
I’ll talk a word with this same learnèd Theban.— 165
What is your study? EDGAR How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin. LEAR Let me ask you one word in private. They talk aside. | Lear cannot be moved, even by the promise of a hot meal. He prefers to talk with "Poor Tom," calling him a philosopher. |
KENT, to Gloucester
Importune him once more to go, my lord.
His wits begin t’ unsettle. 170 GLOUCESTER Canst thou blame him?
Storm still.
His daughters seek his death. Ah, that good Kent!
He said it would be thus, poor banished man.
Thou sayest the King grows mad; I’ll tell thee,
friend, 175
I am almost mad myself. I had a son,
Now outlawed from my blood. He sought my life
But lately, very late. I loved him, friend,
No father his son dearer. True to tell thee,
The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this! 180
—I do beseech your Grace— | Gloucester says Lear has reason to be driven to madness, since his own daughters want him dead. If only they'd listened to Kent! (Remember, Kent is disguised as Caius, so Gloucester doesn't know he's actually talking to his banished buddy.) Gloucester says he can relate to the King's pain, as he recently lost his dearly beloved son (that would be Edgar, who was framed by the evil-genius Edmund to look like he had plotted against Gloucester's life, and who is now prattling on about how to kill mice while disguised as a madman). Gloucester says his grief is making him crazy, but he tries again to call the King inside. |
LEAR O, cry you mercy, sir.
To Edgar. Noble philosopher, your company. EDGAR Tom’s a-cold. GLOUCESTER, to Edgar
In fellow, there, into th’ hovel. Keep thee warm. 185 LEAR Come, let’s in all. KENT This way, my lord. LEAR, indicating Edgar With him.
I will keep still with my philosopher. KENT, to Gloucester
Good my lord, soothe him. Let him take the fellow. 190 GLOUCESTER, to Kent Take him you on. KENT, to Edgar
Sirrah, come on: go along with us. LEAR Come, good Athenian. GLOUCESTER No words, no words. Hush. EDGAR
Child Rowland to the dark tower came. 195
His word was still “Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.” They exit. | Gloucester finally convinces Lear to come out of the elements, but Lear will only go if he can take his fellow naked crazy man with him. |