No Fear Shakespeare: King Lear: Act 1 Scene 2

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King Lear

William Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 2

Original Text

Modern Text

Original Text

Modern Text

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Original Text	Modern Text
Enter EDMUND the bastard, with a letter	Enter EDMUND the bastard, with a letter
EDMUND Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me 5 For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why “bastard”? Wherefore “base”? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us 10 With “base,” with “baseness,” “bastardy,” “base,” “base”— Who in the lusty stealth of nature take More composition and fierce quality Than doth within a dull, stale, tirèd bed Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fops 15 Got ’tween a sleep and wake? Well then, Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate.—Fine word, “legitimate”!— Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed 20 And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top th' legitimate. I grow, I prosper. Now, gods, stand up for bastards!	EDMUND Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why “bastard”? Wherefore “base”? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us With “base,” with “baseness,” “bastardy,” “base,” “base”— Who in the lusty stealth of nature take More composition and fierce quality Than doth within a dull, stale, tirèd bed Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fops Got ’tween a sleep and wake? Well then, Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate.—Fine word, “legitimate”!— Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top th' legitimate. I grow, I prosper. Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
Enter GLOUCESTER. EDMUND looks over his letter	Enter GLOUCESTER. EDMUND looks over his letter
GLOUCESTER Kent banished thus? And France in choler parted? And the king gone tonight, prescribed his power 25 Confined to exhibition? All this done Upon the gad?—Edmund, how now? What news?	GLOUCESTER Kent banished thus? And France in choler parted? And the king gone tonight, prescribed his power Confined to exhibition? All this done Upon the gad?—Edmund, how now? What news?
EDMUND (pocketing the letter) So please your lordship, none.	EDMUND (pocketing the letter) So please your lordship, none.
GLOUCESTER Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter?	GLOUCESTER Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter?
EDMUND I know no news, my lord.	EDMUND I know no news, my lord.
GLOUCESTER 30 What paper were you reading?	GLOUCESTER What paper were you reading?
EDMUND Nothing, my lord.	EDMUND Nothing, my lord.
GLOUCESTER No? What needed, then, that terrible dispatch of it into your pocket? The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see.—Come, if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles.	GLOUCESTER No? What needed, then, that terrible dispatch of it into your pocket? The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see.—Come, if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles.
EDMUND I beseech you, sir, pardon me. It is a letter from my brother that I have not all o'er-read. And for so much as I have perused, I find it not fit for your o'erlooking.	EDMUND I beseech you, sir, pardon me. It is a letter from my brother that I have not all o'er-read. And for so much as I have perused, I find it not fit for your o'erlooking.
GLOUCESTER Give me the letter, sir.	GLOUCESTER Give me the letter, sir.
EDMUND I shall offend, either to detain or give it. The contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.	EDMUND I shall offend, either to detain or give it. The contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.
GLOUCESTER (taking the letter) Let’s see, let’s see.	GLOUCESTER (taking the letter) Let’s see, let’s see.
EDMUND I hope, for my brother’s justification, he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue.	EDMUND I hope, for my brother’s justification, he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue.
GLOUCESTER (reads) “This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times, keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways not as it hath power but as it is suffered.	GLOUCESTER (reads) “This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times, keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways not as it hath power but as it is suffered.
Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue forever, and live the beloved of your brother, Edgar.” Hum, conspiracy? “'Sleep till I wake him, you should enjoy half his revenue”—my son Edgar? Had he a hand to write this, a heart and brain to breed it in? When came this to you? Who brought it?	Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue forever, and live the beloved of your brother, Edgar.” Hum, conspiracy? “'Sleep till I wake him, you should enjoy half his revenue”—my son Edgar? Had he a hand to write this, a heart and brain to breed it in? When came this to you? Who brought it?
EDMUND It was not brought me, my lord. There’s the cunning of it. 60 I found it thrown in at the casement of my closet.	EDMUND It was not brought me, my lord. There’s the cunning of it. I found it thrown in at the casement of my closet.
GLOUCESTER You know the character to be your brother’s?	GLOUCESTER You know the character to be your brother’s?
EDMUND If the matter were good, my lord, I durst swear it were his. But in respect of that, I would fain think it were not.	EDMUND If the matter were good, my lord, I durst swear it were his. But in respect of that, I would fain think it were not.
GLOUCESTER It is his.	GLOUCESTER It is his.
EDMUND It is his hand, my lord, but I hope his heart is not in the contents.	EDMUND It is his hand, my lord, but I hope his heart is not in the contents.
GLOUCESTER Has he never before sounded you in this business?	GLOUCESTER Has he never before sounded you in this business?
EDMUND Never, my lord. But I have heard him oft maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect age and fathers declined, the father should be as ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue.	EDMUND Never, my lord. But I have heard him oft maintain it to be fit that, sons at perfect age and fathers declined, the father should be as ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue.
GLOUCESTER O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain—worse than	GLOUCESTER O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain—worse than
brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him. I’ll apprehend him. Abominable villain! Where is he?	brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him. I’ll apprehend him. Abominable villain! Where is he?
EDMUND I do not well know, my lord. If it shall please you to suspend your indignation against my brother till you can derive from him better testimony of his intent, you shall run a certain course—where if you violently proceed against him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a great gap in your own honor and shake in pieces the heart of his obedience. I dare pawn down my life for him that he hath wrote this to feel my affection to your honor and to no other pretense of danger.	EDMUND I do not well know, my lord. If it shall please you to suspend your indignation against my brother till you can derive from him better testimony of his intent, you shall run a certain course—where if you violently proceed against him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a great gap in your own honor and shake in pieces the heart of his obedience. I dare pawn down my life for him that he hath wrote this to feel my affection to your honor and to no other pretense of danger.
GLOUCESTER 85 Think you so?	GLOUCESTER Think you so?
EDMUND If your honor judge it meet, I will place you where you shall hear us confer of this and by an auricular assurance have your satisfaction—and that without any further delay than this very evening.	EDMUND If your honor judge it meet, I will place you where you shall hear us confer of this and by an auricular assurance have your satisfaction—and that without any further delay than this very evening.
GLOUCESTER 90 He cannot be such a monster—	GLOUCESTER He cannot be such a monster—
EDMUND Nor is not, sure.	EDMUND Nor is not, sure.
GLOUCESTER To his father, that so tenderly and entirely loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek him out, wind me into him, I pray you. Frame the business after your own wisdom. I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.	GLOUCESTER To his father, that so tenderly and entirely loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek him out, wind me into him, I pray you. Frame the business after your own wisdom. I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.
EDMUND I will seek him, sir, presently, convey the business as I shall find means, and acquaint you withal.	EDMUND I will seek him, sir, presently, convey the business as I shall find means, and acquaint you withal.
GLOUCESTER These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide, in cities	GLOUCESTER These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide, in cities
mutinies, in countries discord, in palaces treason, and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction—there’s son against father. The king falls from bias of nature—there’s father against child. We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, Edmund. It shall lose thee nothing. Do it carefully.—And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished, his offense honesty! 'Tis strange, strange.	mutinies, in countries discord, in palaces treason, and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction—there’s son against father. The king falls from bias of nature—there’s father against child. We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, Edmund. It shall lose thee nothing. Do it carefully.—And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished, his offense honesty! 'Tis strange, strange.
Exit GLOUCESTER	Exit GLOUCESTER
EDMUND This is the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence, and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting-on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon’s tail and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar—	EDMUND This is the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence, and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting-on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon’s tail and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar—
Enter EDGAR	Enter EDGAR
and pat on ’s cue he comes like the catastrophe of the old comedy. My cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. Oh, these eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol, la, mi.	and pat on ’s cue he comes like the catastrophe of the old comedy. My cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. Oh, these eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol, la, mi.
EDGAR How now, brother Edmund? What serious contemplation are you in?	EDGAR How now, brother Edmund? What serious contemplation are you in?
EDMUND I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other day, what should follow these eclipses.	EDMUND I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other day, what should follow these eclipses.
EDGAR Do you busy yourself about that?	EDGAR Do you busy yourself about that?
EDMUND I promise you, the effects he writes of succeed unhappily — as of unnaturalness between the child and the parent, death, dearth, dissolutions of ancient amities, divisions in state, menaces and maledictions against king and nobles, needless diffidences, banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches, and I know not what.	EDMUND I promise you, the effects he writes of succeed unhappily — as of unnaturalness between the child and the parent, death, dearth, dissolutions of ancient amities, divisions in state, menaces and maledictions against king and nobles, needless diffidences, banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches, and I know not what.
EDGAR How long have you been a sectary astronomical?	EDGAR How long have you been a sectary astronomical?
EDMUND Come, come. When saw you my father last?	EDMUND Come, come. When saw you my father last?
EDGAR Why, the night gone by.	EDGAR Why, the night gone by.
EDMUND Spake you with him?	EDMUND Spake you with him?
EDGAR 145 Ay, two hours together.	EDGAR Ay, two hours together.
EDMUND Parted you in good terms? Found you no displeasure in him by word or countenance?	EDMUND Parted you in good terms? Found you no displeasure in him by word or countenance?
EDGAR None at all.	EDGAR None at all.
EDMUND Bethink yourself wherein you may have offended him. And at my entreaty forbear his presence till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure, which at this instant so rageth in him that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay.	EDMUND Bethink yourself wherein you may have offended him. And at my entreaty forbear his presence till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure, which at this instant so rageth in him that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay.
EDGAR Some villain hath done me wrong.	EDGAR Some villain hath done me wrong.
EDMUND That’s my fear. I pray you, have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower. And as I say, retire with me to my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord speak. Pray ye, go. There’s my key. If you do stir abroad, go armed.	EDMUND That’s my fear. I pray you, have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower. And as I say, retire with me to my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord speak. Pray ye, go. There’s my key. If you do stir abroad, go armed.
EDGAR 160 Armed, brother?	EDGAR Armed, brother?
EDMUND Brother, I advise you to the best. Go armed. I am no honest man if there be any good meaning towards you. I have told you what I have seen and heard—but faintly, nothing like the image and horror of it. Pray you, away.	EDMUND Brother, I advise you to the best. Go armed. I am no honest man if there be any good meaning towards you. I have told you what I have seen and heard—but faintly, nothing like the image and horror of it. Pray you, away.
EDGAR 165 Shall I hear from you anon?	EDGAR Shall I hear from you anon?
EDMUND I do serve you in this business.	EDMUND I do serve you in this business.
Exit EDGAR	Exit EDGAR
A credulous father, and a brother noble— Whose nature is so far from doing harms That he suspects none, on whose foolish honesty 170 My practices ride easy. I see the business. Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit. All with me’s meet that I can fashion fit.	A credulous father, and a brother noble— Whose nature is so far from doing harms That he suspects none, on whose foolish honesty My practices ride easy. I see the business. Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit. All with me’s meet that I can fashion fit.
Exit	Exit