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Enter GLOUCESTER, LEAR, KENT disguised, FOOL, and EDGAR disguised
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GLOUCESTER enters with LEAR, the FOOL, and KENT and EDGAR, both in disguise.
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GLOUCESTER Here is better than the open air. Take it thankfully. I will
piece out the comfort with what addition I can. I will not be
long from you.
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GLOUCESTER It’s better here than outside. Be happy about it. I’ll do what I can to make you even more comfortable. I won’t be gone long.
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KENT All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience.
5The gods reward your kindness!
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KENT He can’t bear his grief and so he’s losing his mind. May God reward you for your kindness!
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Exit GLOUCESTER
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GLOUCESTER exits.
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EDGAR Frateretto calls me and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake
of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.
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EDGAR The devil Frateretto is telling me that the diabolical Roman emperor
NeroNero was a first-century A.D. Roman emperor who, according to legend, played the fiddle while Rome burned. Nero likes to go fishing in hell. Pray to the gods, you fool, and beware the foul devil. |
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FOOL Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman
or a yeoman?
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FOOL Here’s a riddle, uncle. Is the lunatic a gentleman or an ordinary guy?
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LEAR
10A king, a king!
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LEAR He’s a king, a king!
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FOOL No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son, for he’s
a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.
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FOOL No, he’s an ordinary guy who ’s got a gentleman for a son, since someone would have to be crazy to let his son become a gentleman before he’s achieved that distinction himself.
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LEAR To have a thousand with red burning spits
Come hissing in upon 'em!
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LEAR I see Regan and Goneril in hell—A thousand hissing devils with sizzling red pitchforks come up to them!
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EDGAR
15The foul fiend bites my back.
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EDGAR The nasty devil’s biting my butt.
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