71 beastly irrational

  76 holy cords sacred bonds of affection (as between husbands and wives, parents and children)

  77 intrince entangled, intricate

  77 smooth appease

  80 Renege deny

  80 halcyon beaks (the halcyon or kingfisher serves here as a type of the opportunist because, when hung up by the tail or neck, it was supposed to turn with the wind, like a weathervane)

  81 gale and vary varying gale (hendiadys)

  83 epileptic distorted by grinning

  84 Smile you do you smile at

  Goose, if I had you upon Sarum Plain,deg

  I'd drive ye cackling home to Camelot.deg

  Cornwall. What, art thou mad, old fellow?

  Gloucester. How fell you out? Say that.

  Kent. No contrariesdeg hold more antipathy Than I and such a knave.

  Cornwall. Why dost thou call him knave? What is his fault?

  Kent. His countenance likesdeg me not.

  Cornwall. No more perchance does mine, nor his, nor hers.

  Kent. Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain: I have seen better faces in my time

  Than stands on any shoulder that I see

  Before me at this instant.

  Cornwall. This is some fellow Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth

  affect

  A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb

  Quite from his nature.deg He cannot flatter, he;

  An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth.

  Anddeg they will take it, so; if not, he's plain.

  These kind of knaves I know, which in this

  plainness

  Harbor more craft and more corrupter ends

  Than twenty silly-ducking observantsdeg

  That stretch their duties nicely.deg

  Kent. Sir, in good faith, in sincere verity, Under th' allowancedeg of your great aspect,deg

  Whose influence,deg like the wreath of radiant fire 85 Sarum Plain Salisbury Plain

  86 Camelot the residence of King Arthur (presumably a particular point, now lost, is intended here)

  89 contraries opposites

  92 likes pleases

  99-100 constrains ... nature forces the manner of candid speech to be a cloak, not for candor but for craft

  102 And if

  105 silly-ducking obesrvants ridiculously obsequious attendants

  106 nicely punctiliously

  08 allowance approval 108 aspect (1) appearance (2) position of the heavenly bodies

  109 influence astrological power

  On flick'ring Phoebus' frontdeg--

  Cornwall. What mean'st by this?

  Kent. To go out of my dialect,deg which you discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer. Hedeg that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain knave, which, for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to't.deg

  Cornwall. What was th' offense you gave him?

  Oswald. I never gave him any. It pleased the King his master very latedeg

  To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;deg

  When he, compact,deg and flattering his displeasure,

  Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed,

  And put upon him such a deal of mandeg

  That worthied him,deg got praises of the King

  For him attempting who was self-subdued;deg

  And, in the fleshmentdeg of this dread exploit,

  Drew on me here again.

  Kent. None of these rogues and cowards But Ajax is their fool.deg

  Cornwall. Fetch forth the stocks! You stubborndeg ancient knave, you reverentdeg

  braggart,

  We'll teach you.

  Kent. Sir, I am too old to learn. 110 Phoebus' front forehead of the sun

  111 dialect customary manner of speaking

  112 He i.e., the sort of candid-crafty man Cornwall has been describing

  114-15 though ... to't even if I were to succeed in bringing your graceless person ("displeasure" personified, and in lieu of the expected form, "your grace") to beg me to be a plain knave

  118 very late recently

  119 misconstruction misunderstanding

  120 compact in league with the king

  122 put ... man pretended such manly behavior

  123 worthied him made him seem heroic

  124 For ... self-subdued for attacking a man (Oswald) who offered no resistance

  125 fleshment the bloodthirstiness excited by his first success or "fleshing"

  126-27 None ... fool i.e., cowardly rogues like Oswald always impose on fools like Cornwall (who is likened to Ajax: [1] the braggart Greek warrior [2] a jakes or privy)

  128 stubborn rude

  128 reverent old

  Call not your stocks for me, I serve the King,

  On whose employment I was sent to you.

  You shall do small respect, show too bold malice

  Against the grace and persondeg of my master,

  Stocking his messenger.

  Cornwall. Fetch forth the stocks. As I have life and honor, There shall he sit till noon.

  Regan. Till noon? Till night, my lord, and all night too.

  Kent. Why, madam, if I were your father's dog, You should not use me so.

  Regan. Sir, being his knave, I will.

  Cornwall. This is a fellow of the selfsame colordeg Our sister speaks of. Come, bring awaydeg the stocks. Stocks brought out.

  Gloucester. Let me beseech your Grace not to do so. His fault is much, and the good King his master

  Will checkdeg him for't. Your purposeddeg low

  correction

  Is such as basest and contemned'stdeg wretches

  For pilf'rings and most common trespasses

  Are punished with.

  The King his master needs must take it ill

  That he, so slightly valued indeg his messenger,

  Should have him thus restrained.

  Cornwall. I'll answerdeg that.

  Regan. My sister may receive it much more worse, To have her gentleman abused, assaulted,

  For following her affairs. Put in his legs.

  [Kent is put in the stocks.]

  Come, my good lord, away!

  [Exeunt all but Gloucester and Kent.]

  133 grace and person i.e., Lear as sovereign and in his personal character

  140 color kind

  141 away out

  144 check correct

  144 purposed intended

  145 contemned'st most despised

  149 slightly valued in little honored in the person of

  150 answer answer for

  Gloucester. I am sorry for thee, friend. 'Tis the Duke's pleasure, Whose dispositiondeg all the world well knows

  Will not be rubbeddeg nor stopped. I'll entreat for

  thee.

  Kent. Pray do not, sir. I have watcheddeg and traveled hard. Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I'll whistle.

  A good man's fortune may grow out at heels.deg

  Givedeg you good morrow.

  Gloucester. The Duke's to blame in this. 'Twill be ill taken.deg Exit.

  Kent. Good King, that must approvedeg the common saw,deg Thou out of Heaven's benediction com'st

  To the warm sun.deg

  Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,deg

  That by thy comfortabledeg beams I may

  Peruse this letter. Nothing almost sees miracles

  But misery.deg I know 'tis from Cordelia,

  Who hath most fortunately been informed

  Of my obscureddeg course. And shall find time

  From this enormous state, seeking to give

  Losses their remedies.deg All weary and o'erwatched,

  Take vantage,deg heavy eyes, not to behold

  This shameful lodging. Fortune, good night;

  Smile once more, turn thy wheel.deg

  Sleeps.

  156 disposition inclination

  157 rubbed diverted (metaphor
from the game of bowls)

  158 watched gone without sleep

  160 A ... heels even a good man may have bad fortune

  161 Give God give

  162 taken received 163 approve confirm

  163 saw proverb

  164-65 Thou ... sun i.e., Lear goes from better to worse, from Heaven's blessing or shelter to lack of shelter

  166 beacon ... globe i.e., the sun, whose rising Kent anticipates

  167 comfortable comforting

  168-69 Nothing ... misery i.e., true perception belongs only to the wretched

  171 obscured disguised

  171-73 shall ... remedies (a possible reading: Cordelia, away from this monstrous state of things, will find occasion to right the wrongs we suffer)

  174 vantage advantage (of sleep)

  176 turn thy wheel i.e., so that Kent, who is at the bottom, may climb upward

  [Scene 3. A wood.]

  Enter Edgar.

  Edgar. I heard myself proclaimed, And by the happydeg hollow of a tree

  Escaped the hunt. No port is free, no place

  That guard and most unusual vigilance

  Does not attend my taking.deg Whiles I may 'scape,

  I will preserve myself; and am bethoughtdeg

  To take the basest and most poorest shape

  That ever penury, in contempt of man,

  Brought near to beast;deg my face I'll grime with filth,

  Blanketdeg my loins, elfdeg all my hairs in knots,

  And with presenteddeg nakedness outfacedeg

  The winds and persecutions of the sky.

  The country gives me proofdeg and precedent

  Of Bedlamdeg beggars, who, with roaring voices,

  Strikedeg in their numbed and mortifieddeg bare arms

  Pins, wooden pricks,deg nails, sprigs of rosemary;

  And with this horrible object,deg from lowdeg farms,

  Poor peltingdeg villages, sheepcotes, and mills,

  Sometimes with lunatic bans,deg sometime with

  prayers,

  Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod, Poor Tom,deg

  That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am.deg Exit.

  2.3.2 happy lucky

  5 attend my taking watch to capture me

  6 am bethought have decided

  8-9 penury ... beast poverty, to show how contemptible man is, reduced to the level of a beast

  10 Blanket cover only with a blanket

  10 elf tangle (into, "elflocks," supposed to be caused by elves)

  11 presented the show of

  11 outface brave

  13 proof example

  14 Bedlam (see 1.2.r. 146-47)

  15 strike stick

  15 mortified not alive to pain

  16 pricks skewers

  17 object spectacle

  17 low humble

  18 pelting paltry

  19 bans curses

  20 Poor ... Tom (Edgar recites the names a Bedlam beggar gives himself)

  21 That's ... am there's a chance for me in that I am no longer known for myself

  [Scene 4. Before Gloucester's castle. Kent in the stocks.]

  Enter Lear, Fool, and Gentleman.

  Lear. 'Tis strange that they should so depart from home, And not send back my messenger.

  Gentleman. As I learned, The night before there was no purposedeg in them Of this remove.deg

  Kent. Hail to thee, noble master.

  Lear. Ha! Mak'st thou this shame thy pastime?deg

  Kent. No, my lord.

  Fool. Ha, ha, he wears crueldeg garters. Horses are tied by the heads, dogs and bears by th' neck, monkeys by th' loins, and men by th' legs. When a man's overlusty at legs,deg then he wears wooden netherstocks.deg

  Lear. What's he that hath so much thy place mistook To set thee here?

  Kent. It is both he and she, Your son and daughter.

  Lear. No.

  Kent. Yes.

  Lear. No, I say.

  Kent. I say yea.

  2.4.3 purpose intention

  4 remove removal

  6 Mak'st ... pastime i.e., are you doing this to amuse yourself

  7 cruel (1) painful (2) "crewel," a worsted yarn used in garters

  9-10 overlusty at legs (1) a vagabond (2) ? sexually promiscuous

  10 netherstocks stockings (as opposed to knee breeches or upperstocks)

  Lear. No, no, they would not.

  Kent. Yes, they have.

  Lear. By Jupiter, I swear no!

  Kent. By Juno, I swear ay!

  Lear. They durst not do't; They could not, would not do't. 'Tis worse than

  murder

  To do upon respectdeg such violent outrage.

  Resolvedeg me with all modestdeg haste which way

  Thou mightst deserve or they impose this usage,

  Coming from us.

  Kent. My lord, when at their home I did commenddeg your Highness' letters to them,

  Ere I was risen from the place that showed

  My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,deg

  Steweddeg in his haste, half breathless, panting forth

  From Goneril his mistress salutations,

  Delivered letters, spite of intermission,deg

  Which presentlydeg they read; ondeg whose contents

  They summoned up their meiny,deg straight took

  horse,

  Commanded me to follow and attend

  The leisure of their answer, gave me cold looks,

  And meeting here the other messenger,

  Whose welcome I perceived had poisoned mine,

  Being the very fellow which of late

  Displayeddeg so saucily against your Highness,

  Having more man than witdeg about me, drew;

  He raiseddeg the house, with loud and coward cries.

  Your son and daughter found this trespass worthdeg

  The shame which here it suffers.

  23 upon respect (1) on the respect due to the King (2) deliberately

  24 Resolve inform

  24 modest becoming

  27 commend deliver

  29 reeking post sweating messenger

  30 stewed steaming

  32 spite of intermission in spite of the interrupting of my business

  33 presently at once

  33 on on the strength of

  34 meiny retinue

  40 Displayed showed off

  41 more man than wit more manhood than sense

  42 raised aroused

  43 worth deserving

  Fool. Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.deg Fathers that wear rags

  Do make their children blind,deg

  But fathers that bear bagsdeg

  Shall see their children kind.

  Fortune, that arrant whore,

  Ne'er turns the keydeg to th' poor.

  But for all this, thou shalt have as many dolorsdeg for

  thy daughters as thou canst telldeg in a year.

  Lear. O, how this motherdeg swells up toward my heart! Hysterica passio,deg down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element'sdeg below. Where is this daughter?

  Kent. With the Earl, sir, here within.

  Lear. Follow me not; Stay here. Exit.

  Gentleman. Made you no more offense but what you speak of?

  Kent. None. How chancedeg the King comes with so small a number?

  Fool. Anddeg thou hadst been set i' th' stocks for that question, thou'dst well deserved it.

  Kent. Why, Fool?

  Fool. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no laboring i' th' winter.deg All that follow 45-46 Winter's ... way i.e., more trouble is to come, since Cornwall and Regan act so ("geese" is used contemptuously, as in Kent's quarrel with Oswald, 2.2. 85-6)

  48 blind i.e., indifferent

  49 bags moneybags

  52 turns the key i.e., opens the door

  53 dolors (1) sorrows (2) dollars (English name for Spanish and German coins)

  54 tell (1) tell abou
t (2) count

  55-56 mother ... Hysterica passio hysteria, causing suffocation or choking

  57 element proper place

  62 How chance how does it happen that

  63 And if

  66-67 We'll ... winter (in the popular fable the ant, unlike the improvident grasshopper, anticipates the winter when none can labor by laying up provisions in the summer. Lear, trusting foolishly to summer days, finds himself unprovided for, and unable to provide, now that "winter" has come)

  their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him that's stinking.deg Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following. But the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again. I would have none but knaves follow it since a Fool gives it. That sir, which serves and seeks for gain,

  And follows but for form,deg

  Will pack,deg when it begins to rain,

  And leave thee in the storm.

  But I will tarry; the Fool will stay,

  And let the wise man fly.

  The knave turns Fool that runs away,

  The Fool no knave,deg perdy.deg

  Kent. Where learned you this, Fool?

  Fool. Not i' th' stocks, fool. Enter Lear and Gloucester.

  Lear. Denydeg to speak with me? They are sick, they are weary, They have traveled all the night? Mere fetches,deg

  The imagesdeg of revolt and flying off!deg

  Fetch me a better answer.

  Gloucester. My dear lord, You know the fiery qualitydeg of the Duke,

  How unremovable and fixed he is

  In his own course.

  Lear. Vengeance, plague, death, confusion! Fiery? What quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester,

  I'd speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.

  67-70 All ... stinking i.e., all can smell out the decay of Lear's fortunes

  78 form show

  79 pack be off 83--84 The ... knave i.e., the faithless man is the true fool, for wisdom requires fidelity. Lear's Fool, who remains faithful, is at least no knave

  84 perdy by God (Fr. par Dieu)

  87 Deny refuse

  88 fetches subterfuges, acts of tacking (nautical metaphor)

  89 images exact likenesses

  89 flying off desertion

  91 quality temperament.