King Lear

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. Albany

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.

Colophon

King Lear
was published in 1606 by
William Shakespeare.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
David Grigg,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1993 by
Jeremy Hylton
for the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and on digital scans available at the
HathiTrust Digital Library.

The cover page is adapted from
King Lear,
a painting completed in 1788 by
Benjamin West.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook