King Lear : Act 4, Scene 1
Enter EDGAR.
EDGAR
contemn'd condemned; despised
1
Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,
still contemn'd and flatter'd always despised (behind my back) and flattered (to my face)
Stands still in esperance i.e., always gives one reason to hope for better things
The worst returns to laughter i.e., experiencing the worst that fortune can do allows one to laugh at anything fortune may do
Owes nothing cannot be called upon to pay anything more (by fortune)
Stands still in esperance i.e., always gives one reason to hope for better things
The worst returns to laughter i.e., experiencing the worst that fortune can do allows one to laugh at anything fortune may do
Owes nothing cannot be called upon to pay anything more (by fortune)
2
Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst,
3
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,
4
Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:
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The lamentable change is from the best;
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The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
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Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!
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The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
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Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here?
Enter GLOUCESTER, [led by] an Old Man.poorly led
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, / Life would not yield to age i.e., if the strange changes of fortune did not make life hateful, we would never die of old age
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee, / Life would not yield to age i.e., if the strange changes of fortune did not make life hateful, we would never die of old age
10
My father, poorly led? World, world, O world!
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But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,
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Life would not yield to age.
Old Man
12
O, my good lord,
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I have been your tenant, and your father's tenant,
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These fourscore years.
GLOUCESTER
15
Away, get thee away; good friend, be gone:
comforts assistance
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Thy comforts can do me no good at all;
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Thee they may hurt.
Old Man
17
You cannot see your way.
GLOUCESTER
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I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;
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I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen,
Our ... commodities. Our prosperity makes us overconfident, while sheer deprivation proves beneficial (by teaching us humility).
The food of thy abused father's wrath the object of anger on which your deceived father fed
to see thee in my touch i.e., to touch your face
The food of thy abused father's wrath the object of anger on which your deceived father fed
to see thee in my touch i.e., to touch your face
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Our means secure us, and our mere defects
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Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar,
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The food of thy abused father's wrath!
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Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
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I'ld say I had eyes again!
Old Man
![]() | John Hamilton Mortimer as Edgar (1775-1776) |
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How now! Who's there?
EDGAR [Aside.]
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O gods! Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'?
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I am worse than e'er I was.
Old Man
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'Tis poor mad Tom.
EDGAR [Aside.]
27
And worse I may be yet: the worst is not
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So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'
Old Man
29
Fellow, where goest?
GLOUCESTER
29
Is it a beggar-man?
Old Man
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Madman and beggar too.
GLOUCESTER
reason sanity
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He has some reason, else he could not beg.
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I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw;
worm a lowly creature
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Which made me think a man a worm: my son
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Came then into my mind; and yet my mind
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Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard
more since.
wanton playful; careless; thoughtless
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As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
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They kill us for their sport.
EDGAR [Aside.]
37
How should this be?
Bad ... sorrow It is bad business to have to play the fool in the face of sorrow
Ang'ring Distressing
Ang'ring Distressing
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Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
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Ang'ring itself and others.Bless thee, master!
GLOUCESTER
40
Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man
40
Ay, my lord.
GLOUCESTER
41
Then prithee get thee gone: if, for my sake,
hence a mile or twain a mile or two from here | do it for ancient love do it for the sake of our long and loyal relationship (as master and servant)
entreat plead earnestly with
entreat plead earnestly with
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Thou wilt o'ertake us, hence a mile or twain,
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I' the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;
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And bring some covering for this naked soul,
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Who I'll entreat to lead me.
Old Man
45
Alack, sir, he is mad.
GLOUCESTER
'Tis the times' plague the times are truly sick
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'Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind.
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Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure;
Do ... gone Do what I asked you to do, or do whatever you want, but above all, leave this place.
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Above the rest, be gone.
Old Man
'parel apparel
Come on't what will no matter what the consequences
Come on't what will no matter what the consequences
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I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have,
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Come on't what will.
Exit.
GLOUCESTER
51
Sirrah, naked fellow,
EDGAR
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Poor Tom's a-cold.
[Aside.]
I cannot daub it further. I cannot continue the charade. daub mask, plaster
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I cannot daub it further.
GLOUCESTER
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Come hither, fellow.
EDGAR [Aside.]
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And yet I must.Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.
GLOUCESTER
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Know'st thou the way to Dover?
EDGAR
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Both stile and gate, horse-way and foot-path. Poor
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Tom hath been scared out of his good wits: bless
good man's commoner's
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thee, good man's son, from the foul fiend! Five
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fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as
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Obidicut; Hobbididence, prince of dumbness; Mahu,
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of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of
mopping and mowing making faces
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mopping and mowing, who since possesses chamber-
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maids and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!
GLOUCESTER
64
Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens' plagues
to all strokes to accept all blows (of Fortune) | happier less wretched | still always | Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man Let the overprosperous man who indulges his appetite | That slaves your ordinance Who makes your laws subservient to his own desires | distribution even distribution of goods
Dover's "bending head" overhanging head confined deep i.e., the sea held in by both sides like the Straits of Dover
repair alleviate
about me on my person
![]() |
repair alleviate
about me on my person
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Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched
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Makes thee the happier: heavens, deal so still!
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Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,
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That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
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Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;
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So distribution should undo excess,
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And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?
EDGAR
72
Ay, master.
GLOUCESTER
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There is a cliff, whose high and bending head
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Looks fearfully in the confined deep:
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Bring me but to the very brim of it,
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And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear
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With something rich about me: from that place
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I shall no leading need.
EDGAR
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Give me thy arm:
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Poor Tom shall lead thee.
Exeunt.