Act 4, Scene 6 — King Lear — Study Shakespeare

The argument Edgar tells the blind Gloucester they are climbing the Dover cliff — they are on flat ground. Gloucester 'falls,' survives, is told it was a miracle. Lear wanders in, crowned with weeds, raving brilliantly. Oswald arrives to kill Gloucester; Edgar kills Oswald and finds Goneril's letter to Edmund in his pocket. Cordelia's people arrive.

Enter Gloucester, and Edgar dressed like a peasant.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

When shall I come to the top of that same hill?

When shall I come to the top of that sam

Why it matters The Dover cliff scene is the play's most explicit meditation on theatrical illusion. Edgar is doing what the theatre always does: creating reality through language and the audience's willingness to believe. The theatrical trick has a therapeutic purpose — and an ethical complexity.

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

You do climb up it now. Look how we labour.

You do climb up it now. Look how we labo

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Methinks the ground is even.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Horrible steep.

Hark, do you hear the sea?

Horrible steep. Hark, do you hear the sea?

Horrible steep. Hark, do you hear the se

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

No, truly.

Why it matters Edgar's aside is a direct statement of therapeutic intent. He is not deceiving his father for any purpose except to save him. The deception is a form of care — but the ethical complexity remains: he is treating his father's despair with a lie.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect

By your eyes’ anguish.

Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect By your eyes’ anguish.

Why, then, your other senses grow imperf

Why it matters Gloucester's farewell prayer contains a blessing for Edgar — still not knowing he is speaking to Edgar, or that Edgar can hear. The prayer is the most honest thing Gloucester has said in the play: he asks for nothing for himself, only that Edgar might live.

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

So may it be indeed.

Methinks thy voice is alter’d; and thou speak’st

In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

So may it be indeed. Methinks thy voice is alter’d; and thou speak’st In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

So may it be indeed. Methinks thy voice

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Y’are much deceiv’d: in nothing am I chang’d

But in my garments.

Y’are much deceiv’d: in nothing am I chang’d But in my garments.

Y’are much deceiv’d: in nothing am I cha

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Methinks you’re better spoken.

Why it matters The miracle Edgar manufactures is the scene's ethical centre. He is deceiving a grieving, blind man. He is also saving his father's life. The question the scene forces is whether therapeutic deception — giving someone a story that makes them want to live — is a form of care or a form of violation.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Come on, sir; here’s the place. Stand still. How fearful

And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low!

The crows and choughs that wing the midway air

Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade!

Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.

The fishermen that walk upon the beach

Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,

Diminish’d to her cock; her cock a buoy

Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge

That on th’unnumber’d idle pebble chafes

Cannot be heard so high. I’ll look no more;

Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight

Topple down headlong.

Come on, sir; here’s the place. Stand still. How fearful And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low! The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half way down Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. The fishermen th

Come on, sir; here’s the place. Stand st

"How fearful and dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low" Edgar's cliff description is one of the most celebrated passages of theatrical ekphrasis (vivid description creating an absent visual scene) in the canon. The audience knows the cliff does not exist — Edgar told them they were on flat ground at the opening. But the description is so precise that we experience it anyway. This is Shakespeare thinking about theatre itself: the audience agrees to see what is being described.

Why it matters This is Gloucester's resolution — not to seek death but to endure. The theatrical trick has worked. Edgar has treated his father's despair by giving him a fictional death from which to return. The resolution is fragile, but it is there.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Set me where you stand.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Give me your hand.

You are now within a foot of th’extreme verge.

For all beneath the moon would I not leap upright.

Give me your hand. You are now within a foot of th’extreme verge. For all beneath the moon would I not leap upright.

Give me your hand. You are now within a

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

Let go my hand.

Here, friend, ’s another purse; in it a jewel

Well worth a poor man’s taking. Fairies and gods

Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off;

Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.

Let go my hand. Here, friend, ’s another purse; in it a jewel Well worth a poor man’s taking. Fairies and gods Prosper it with thee! Go thou further off; Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.

Let go my hand. Here, friend, ’s another

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Now fare ye well, good sir.

"Through tattered clothes small vices do appear; robes and furred gowns hide all" This is one of the most compressed political insights in the entire play: the legal system punishes the poor for the same vices it ignores in the rich. Lear delivers it in madness, which is either a comment on how madness sees clearly or on what political speech requires — that you be outside the system before you can describe it accurately.

Why it matters Lear's mad speeches in this scene contain his most penetrating political thinking. He is no longer defending himself; he is describing the world. The speeches on adultery, flattery, justice, and blindness are not symptoms of madness — they are products of it: the mind released from its social constraints delivers truth it could not have delivered while sane.

[_Seems to go._]

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

With all my heart.

Why it matters The encounter between mad Lear and blind Gloucester is the play's thematic centre: two men stripped of their social functions and their perceptual capacities, meeting in a ditch, delivering and receiving the clearest truths in the play. The scene tests Gloucester's earlier claim that the gods are indifferent: here, at least, two suffering people find each other.

[_Aside._] Why I do trifle thus with his despair

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Is done to cure it.

🎭 Dramatic irony Lear recognizes Gloucester ('thy name is Gloucester') in a scene where Edgar does not reveal himself. Two sons are present in the scene without being acknowledged: Edgar helping Gloucester, and the absent Edmund whose name Gloucester keeps on his lips. Lear sees Gloucester's name while blind to his own situation.

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

O you mighty gods!

This world I do renounce, and in your sights,

Shake patiently my great affliction off:

If I could bear it longer, and not fall

To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,

My snuff and loathed part of nature should

Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!

Now, fellow, fare thee well.

O you mighty gods! This world I do renounce, and in your sights, Shake patiently my great affliction off: If I could bear it longer, and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless wills, My snuff and loathed part of nature should Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him! Now, fellow, fare th

O you mighty gods! This world I do renou

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Gone, sir, farewell.

[_Gloucester leaps, and falls along_]

And yet I know not how conceit may rob

The treasury of life when life itself

Yields to the theft. Had he been where he thought,

By this had thought been past. Alive or dead?

Ho you, sir! friend! Hear you, sir? speak!

Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.

What are you, sir?

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Away, and let me die.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,

So many fathom down precipitating,

Thou’dst shiver’d like an egg: but thou dost breathe;

Hast heavy substance; bleed’st not; speak’st; art sound.

Ten masts at each make not the altitude

Which thou hast perpendicularly fell.

Thy life is a miracle. Speak yet again.

Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air, So many fathom down precipitating, Thou’dst shiver’d like an egg: but thou dost breathe; Hast heavy substance; bleed’st not; speak’st; art sound. Ten masts at each make not the altitude Which thou hast perpendicularly fell. Thy life is a miracle. Sp

Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feat

"Thy life is a miracle" Edgar is lying — but the lie might be true. Gloucester fell from nothing; he survived nothing; he is uninjured because the cliff was never there. But Edgar's larger proposition — that Gloucester should live — might be a kind of truth, and his framing it as a miracle is an attempt to give his father's survival a meaning it would not otherwise have.

Why it matters The discovery of Goneril's letter to Edmund — which apparently contains a plot against Albany — is the pivotal political discovery of Act 4. Edgar now has evidence that will be used in Act 5.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

But have I fall’n, or no?

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

From the dread summit of this chalky bourn.

Look up a-height, the shrill-gorg’d lark so far

Cannot be seen or heard. Do but look up.

From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. Look up a-height, the shrill-gorg’d lark so far Cannot be seen or heard. Do but look up.

From the dread summit of this chalky bou

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

Alack, I have no eyes.

Is wretchedness depriv’d that benefit

To end itself by death? ’Twas yet some comfort

When misery could beguile the tyrant’s rage

And frustrate his proud will.

Alack, I have no eyes. Is wretchedness depriv’d that benefit To end itself by death? ’Twas yet some comfort When misery could beguile the tyrant’s rage And frustrate his proud will.

Alack, I have no eyes. Is wretchedness d

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Give me your arm.

Up, so. How is’t? Feel you your legs? You stand.

Give me your arm. Up, so. How is’t? Feel you your legs? You stand.

Give me your arm. Up, so. How is’t? Feel

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Too well, too well.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

This is above all strangeness.

Upon the crown o’ the cliff what thing was that

Which parted from you?

This is above all strangeness. Upon the crown o’ the cliff what thing was that Which parted from you?

This is above all strangeness. Upon the

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

A poor unfortunate beggar.

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

As I stood here below, methought his eyes

Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses,

Horns whelk’d and waved like the enraged sea.

It was some fiend. Therefore, thou happy father,

Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours

Of men’s impossibilities, have preserv’d thee.

As I stood here below, methought his eyes Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses, Horns whelk’d and waved like the enraged sea. It was some fiend. Therefore, thou happy father, Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours Of men’s impossibilities, have preserv’d thee.

As I stood here below, methought his eye

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

I do remember now: henceforth I’ll bear

Affliction till it do cry out itself

‘Enough, enough,’ and die. That thing you speak of,

I took it for a man; often ’twould say,

‘The fiend, the fiend’; he led me to that place.

I do remember now: henceforth I’ll bear Affliction till it do cry out itself ‘Enough, enough,’ and die. That thing you speak of, I took it for a man; often ’twould say, ‘The fiend, the fiend’; he led me to that place.

I do remember now: henceforth I’ll bear

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Bear free and patient thoughts. But who comes here?

Bear free and patient thoughts. But who

Enter Lear, fantastically

dressed up with flowers.

The safer sense will ne’er accommodate

His master thus.

LEAR LEAR's speech

No, they cannot touch me for coining. I am the King himself.

No, they cannot touch me for coining. I

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

O thou side-piercing sight!

LEAR LEAR's speech

Nature’s above art in that respect. There’s your press money.

That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper: draw me a clothier’s

yard. Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace, this piece of toasted cheese

will do’t. There’s my gauntlet; I’ll prove it on a giant.

Bring up the brown bills. O, well flown, bird! i’ the clout, i’

the clout. Hewgh! Give the word.

Nature’s above art in that respect. There’s your press money. That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper: draw me a clothier’s yard. Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace, this piece of toasted cheese will do’t. There’s my gauntlet; I’ll prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills. O, well flown,

Nature’s above art in that respect. Ther

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Sweet marjoram.

LEAR LEAR's speech

Pass.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

I know that voice.

LEAR LEAR's speech

Ha! Goneril with a white beard! They flattered me like a dog; and told

me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To say

‘ay’ and ‘no’ to everything I said ‘ay’

and ‘no’ to was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet

me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not

peace at my bidding; there I found ’em, there I smelt ’em out.

Go to, they are not men o’ their words: they told me I was everything;

’tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

Ha! Goneril with a white beard! They flattered me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To say ‘ay’ and ‘no’ to everything I said ‘ay’ and ‘no’ to was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder

Ha! Goneril with a white beard! They fla

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

The trick of that voice I do well remember:

Is’t not the King?

The trick of that voice I do well remember: Is’t not the King?

The trick of that voice I do well rememb

LEAR LEAR's speech

Ay, every inch a king.

When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.

I pardon that man’s life. What was thy cause?

Adultery? Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No:

The wren goes to’t, and the small gilded fly

Does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive;

For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder to his father

Than my daughters got ’tween the lawful sheets.

To’t, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers.

Behold yond simp’ring dame,

Whose face between her forks presages snow;

That minces virtue, and does shake the head

To hear of pleasure’s name.

The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to’t with a more riotous

appetite. Down from the waist they are centaurs, though women all

above. But to the girdle do the gods inherit, beneath is all the

fiend’s; there’s hell, there’s darkness, there is the sulphurous pit;

burning, scalding, stench,

consumption. Fie, fie, fie! pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good

apothecary, to sweeten my imagination. There’s money for thee.

Ay, every inch a king. When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. I pardon that man’s life. What was thy cause? Adultery? Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No: The wren goes to’t, and the small gilded fly Does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive; For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder t

Ay, every inch a king. When I do stare,

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

O, let me kiss that hand!

LEAR LEAR's speech

Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

Let me wipe it first; it smells of morta

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

O ruin’d piece of nature, this great world

Shall so wear out to naught. Dost thou know me?

O ruin’d piece of nature, this great world Shall so wear out to naught. Dost thou know me?

O ruin’d piece of nature, this great wor

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me?

No, do thy worst, blind Cupid; I’ll not love.

Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.

I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid; I’ll not love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.

I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Were all the letters suns, I could not see one.

Were all the letters suns, I could not s

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

I would not take this from report,

It is, and my heart breaks at it.

I would not take this from report, It is, and my heart breaks at it.

I would not take this from report, It is

LEAR LEAR's speech

Read.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

What, with the case of eyes?

LEAR LEAR's speech

O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money

in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a

light, yet you see how this world goes.

O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light, yet you see how this world goes.

O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

I see it feelingly.

LEAR LEAR's speech

What, art mad? A man may see how the world goes with no eyes.

Look with thine ears. See how yon justice rails upon yon simple

thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which

is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer’s

dog bark at a beggar?

What, art mad? A man may see how the world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears. See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?

What, art mad? A man may see how the wor

"A man may see how this world goes with no eyes" Spoken to blind Gloucester — the most perfectly aimed line in the scene. Lear is mad and Gloucester is blind, and the insight they share is that sight is not required for truth; perhaps the contrary. The line gathers together the entire play's concern with eyes and vision and delivers it as a paradox that is also literally, immediately true: Gloucester has no eyes and hears the truth of the world from a madman.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Ay, sir.

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold

the great image of authority: a dog’s obeyed in office.

Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!

Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;

Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind

For which thou whipp’st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.

Through tatter’d clothes great vices do appear;

Robes and furr’d gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;

Arm it in rags, a pygmy’s straw does pierce it.

None does offend, none, I say none; I’ll able ’em;

Take that of me, my friend, who have the power

To seal the accuser’s lips. Get thee glass eyes,

And like a scurvy politician, seem

To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:

Pull off my boots: harder, harder, so.

And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority: a dog’s obeyed in office. Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back; Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whipp’st her. The usurer hangs t

And the creature run from the cur? There

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

O, matter and impertinency mix’d!

Reason in madness!

O, matter and impertinency mix’d! Reason in madness!

O, matter and impertinency mix’d! Reason

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.

I know thee well enough, thy name is Gloucester.

Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:

Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air

We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes. I know thee well enough, thy name is Gloucester. Thou must be patient; we came crying hither: Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my e

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Alack, alack the day!

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

When we are born, we cry that we are come

To this great stage of fools. This a good block:

It were a delicate stratagem to shoe

A troop of horse with felt. I’ll put’t in proof

And when I have stol’n upon these son-in-laws,

Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools. This a good block: It were a delicate stratagem to shoe A troop of horse with felt. I’ll put’t in proof And when I have stol’n upon these son-in-laws, Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

When we are born, we cry that we are com

Enter a Gentleman with

Attendants.

GENTLEMAN ≋ verse GENTLEMAN's speech

O, here he is: lay hand upon him. Sir,

Your most dear daughter—

O, here he is: lay hand upon him. Sir, Your most dear daughter—

O, here he is: lay hand upon him. Sir, Y

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even

The natural fool of fortune. Use me well;

You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons;

I am cut to the brains.

No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even The natural fool of fortune. Use me well; You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons; I am cut to the brains.

No rescue? What, a prisoner? I am even T

GENTLEMAN GENTLEMAN's speech

You shall have anything.

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

No seconds? All myself?

Why, this would make a man a man of salt,

To use his eyes for garden water-pots,

Ay, and for laying autumn’s dust.

No seconds? All myself? Why, this would make a man a man of salt, To use his eyes for garden water-pots, Ay, and for laying autumn’s dust.

No seconds? All myself? Why, this would

GENTLEMAN GENTLEMAN's speech

Good sir.

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom.

What! I will be jovial. Come, come,

I am a king, my masters, know you that.

I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom. What! I will be jovial. Come, come, I am a king, my masters, know you that.

I will die bravely, like a smug bridegro

GENTLEMAN GENTLEMAN's speech

You are a royal one, and we obey you.

LEAR ≋ verse LEAR's speech

Then there’s life in’t. Come, and you get it,

You shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa!

Then there’s life in’t. Come, and you get it, You shall get it by running. Sa, sa, sa, sa!

Then there’s life in’t. Come, and you ge

[_Exit running. Attendants follow._]

GENTLEMAN ≋ verse GENTLEMAN's speech

A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch,

Past speaking of in a king! Thou hast one daughter

Who redeems nature from the general curse

Which twain have brought her to.

A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch, Past speaking of in a king! Thou hast one daughter Who redeems nature from the general curse Which twain have brought her to.

A sight most pitiful in the meanest wret

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Hail, gentle sir.

GENTLEMAN GENTLEMAN's speech

Sir, speed you. What’s your will?

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward?

Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle towa

GENTLEMAN ≋ verse GENTLEMAN's speech

Most sure and vulgar.

Everyone hears that, which can distinguish sound.

Most sure and vulgar. Everyone hears that, which can distinguish sound.

Most sure and vulgar. Everyone hears tha

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

But, by your favour,

How near’s the other army?

But, by your favour, How near’s the other army?

But, by your favour, How near’s the othe

GENTLEMAN ≋ verse GENTLEMAN's speech

Near and on speedy foot; the main descry

Stands on the hourly thought.

Near and on speedy foot; the main descry Stands on the hourly thought.

Near and on speedy foot; the main descry

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

I thank you sir, that’s all.

GENTLEMAN ≋ verse GENTLEMAN's speech

Though that the queen on special cause is here,

Her army is mov’d on.

Though that the queen on special cause is here, Her army is mov’d on.

Though that the queen on special cause i

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

I thank you, sir.

[_Exit Gentleman._]

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me;

Let not my worser spirit tempt me again

To die before you please.

You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; Let not my worser spirit tempt me again To die before you please.

You ever-gentle gods, take my breath fro

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Well pray you, father.

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

Now, good sir, what are you?

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows;

Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,

Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand,

I’ll lead you to some biding.

A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows; Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand, I’ll lead you to some biding.

A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

Hearty thanks:

The bounty and the benison of heaven

To boot, and boot.

Hearty thanks: The bounty and the benison of heaven To boot, and boot.

Hearty thanks: The bounty and the beniso

Enter Oswald.

OSWALD ≋ verse OSWALD's speech

A proclaim’d prize! Most happy!

That eyeless head of thine was first fram’d flesh

To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor,

Briefly thyself remember. The sword is out

That must destroy thee.

A proclaim’d prize! Most happy! That eyeless head of thine was first fram’d flesh To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor, Briefly thyself remember. The sword is out That must destroy thee.

A proclaim’d prize! Most happy! That eye

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

Now let thy friendly hand

Put strength enough to’t.

Now let thy friendly hand Put strength enough to’t.

Now let thy friendly hand Put strength e

[_Edgar interposes._]

OSWALD ≋ verse OSWALD's speech

Wherefore, bold peasant,

Dar’st thou support a publish’d traitor? Hence;

Lest that th’infection of his fortune take

Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.

Wherefore, bold peasant, Dar’st thou support a publish’d traitor? Hence; Lest that th’infection of his fortune take Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.

Wherefore, bold peasant, Dar’st thou sup

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Chill not let go, zir, without vurther ’casion.

Chill not let go, zir, without vurther ’

OSWALD OSWALD's speech

Let go, slave, or thou diest!

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volke pass. An chud ha’

bin zwaggered out of my life, ’twould not ha’ bin zo long

as ’tis by a vortnight. Nay, come not near th’old man; keep

out, che vor ye, or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be the

harder: chill be plain with you.

Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor volke pass. An chud ha’ bin zwaggered out of my life, ’twould not ha’ bin zo long as ’tis by a vortnight. Nay, come not near th’old man; keep out, che vor ye, or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be the harder: chill be plain with you.

Good gentleman, go your gait, and let po

OSWALD OSWALD's speech

Out, dunghill!

EDGAR EDGAR's speech

Chill pick your teeth, zir. Come! No matter vor your foins.

Chill pick your teeth, zir. Come! No mat

[_They fight, and Edgar knocks him down._]

OSWALD ≋ verse OSWALD's speech

Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse.

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;

And give the letters which thou find’st about me

To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester. Seek him out

Upon the British party. O, untimely death!

Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse. If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters which thou find’st about me To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester. Seek him out Upon the British party. O, untimely death!

Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take

[_Dies._]

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

I know thee well. A serviceable villain,

As duteous to the vices of thy mistress

As badness would desire.

I know thee well. A serviceable villain, As duteous to the vices of thy mistress As badness would desire.

I know thee well. A serviceable villain,

GLOUCESTER GLOUCESTER's speech

What, is he dead?

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Sit you down, father; rest you.

Let’s see these pockets; the letters that he speaks of

May be my friends. He’s dead; I am only sorry

He had no other deathsman. Let us see:

Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not.

To know our enemies’ minds, we rip their hearts,

Their papers is more lawful.

Sit you down, father; rest you. Let’s see these pockets; the letters that he speaks of May be my friends. He’s dead; I am only sorry He had no other deathsman. Let us see: Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not. To know our enemies’ minds, we rip their hearts, Their papers is more lawful.

Sit you down, father; rest you. Let’s se

[_Reads._] ‘Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You have many

opportunities to cut him off: if your will want not, time and place

will be fruitfully offered. There is nothing done if he return the

conqueror: then am I the prisoner, and his bed my gaol; from the

loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supply the place for your

labour. ‘Your (wife, so I would say) affectionate servant, ‘Goneril.’

O indistinguish’d space of woman’s will!

A plot upon her virtuous husband’s life,

And the exchange my brother! Here in the sands

Thee I’ll rake up, the post unsanctified

Of murderous lechers: and in the mature time,

With this ungracious paper strike the sight

Of the death-practis’d Duke: for him ’tis well

That of thy death and business I can tell.

[_Exit Edgar, dragging out the body._]

GLOUCESTER ≋ verse GLOUCESTER's speech

The King is mad: how stiff is my vile sense,

That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling

Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract:

So should my thoughts be sever’d from my griefs,

And woes by wrong imaginations lose

The knowledge of themselves.

The King is mad: how stiff is my vile sense, That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract: So should my thoughts be sever’d from my griefs, And woes by wrong imaginations lose The knowledge of themselves.

The King is mad: how stiff is my vile se

[_A drum afar off._]

EDGAR ≋ verse EDGAR's speech

Give me your hand.

Far off methinks I hear the beaten drum.

Come, father, I’ll bestow you with a friend.

Give me your hand. Far off methinks I hear the beaten drum. Come, father, I’ll bestow you with a friend.

Give me your hand. Far off methinks I he

[_Exeunt._]

The Reckoning

The longest and most structurally complex scene in Acts 3-4. It contains three distinct events, each deeply strange: Edgar's theatrical deception of Gloucester at the cliff; Lear's mad speeches about adultery, justice, and blindness; and Oswald's death with the discovery of the letter. The cliff scene is perhaps Shakespeare's most ingenious theatrical trick: the audience knows the cliff does not exist (Edgar has told them), so they watch the performance on two levels simultaneously — as Gloucester experiences it and as Edgar stages it. When Gloucester falls on flat ground and is told he has miraculously survived a great fall, the fiction is therapeutic: Edgar is treating his father's will to die by giving him a theatrical death from which he can recover. Then Lear arrives, visionary and profoundly mad, delivering some of the play's most concentrated truths. 'A man may see how this world goes with no eyes' is the line that brings together the entire play's sight-and-blindness theme: the blind see more truly than the sighted. The discovery of Goneril's letter to Edmund — which reveals a plot against Albany's life — puts a weapon in Albany's hands.

If this happened today…

Someone talks their suicidal friend to a cliff's edge — but actually leads them to a parking lot and lets them fall six inches. Then convinces them a miracle happened. Meanwhile a homeless man wanders in wearing flowers and delivers a lecture on justice, flattery, and the law that is completely insane and completely accurate. Then someone arrives trying to commit a murder, gets killed for it, and is found to be carrying evidence of a conspiracy.

Continue to 4.7 →