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The Illustrated Works of Shakespeare
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Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, The (1990)(Animated Pixels)[!][CDTV-PC].iso
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1991-04-10
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The British Camp near Dover.
Enter, in conquest, with DRUM and COLOURS,
EDMUND, with LEAR and CORDELIA as prisoners, a CAPTAIN and SOLDIERS.
Edmund Some officers take them away. Good guard,
Until their greater pleasures first be known
That are to censure them.
Cordelia We are not the first
Who with best meaning have incurred the worst.
For thee, oppressd king, I am cast down;
Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
Lear No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison;
We two alone will sing like birds i'th'cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness; so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too-
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out-
And take upon's the mystery of things
As if we were gods' spies; and we'll wear out
In a walled prison packs and sects of great ones
That ebb and flow by th'moon.
Edmund Take them away.
Lear Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?
He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,
And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The good years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep. We'll see 'em starved first.
Come.
[Exeunt LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded.
Edmund Come hither, captain; hark.
Take thou this note.
[Giving a paper.
Go follow them to prison.
One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
To noble fortunes. Know thou this: that men
Are as the time is; to be tender-minded
Does not become a sword. Thy great employment
Will not bear question; either say thou'lt do't,
Or thrive by other means.
Captain I'll do't, my lord.
Edmund About it; and write happy when th'hast done.
Mark-I say 'instantly'; and carry it so
As I have set it down.
Captain I cannot draw a cart nor eat dried oats;
If it be man's work I'll do't.
[Exit.
Flourish.
Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, OFFICERS and SOLDIERS.
Albany Sir, you have showed today your valiant strain,
And fortune led you well. You have the captives
Who were the opposites of this day's strife;
I do require them of you, so to use them
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.
Edmund Sir, I thought it fit
To send the old and miserable king
To some retention and appointed guard;
Whose age had charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the common bosom on his side,
And turn our impressed lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the queen,
My reason all the same; and they are ready
Tomorrow, or at further space, t'appear
Where you shall hold your session. At this time
We sweat and bleed; the friend hath lost his friend,
And the best quarrels in the heat are cursed
By those that feel their sharpness.
The question of Cordelia and her father
Requires a fitter place.
Albany Sir, by your patience,
I hold you but a subject of this war,
Not as a brother.
Regan That's as we list to grace him.
Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded
Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers,
Bore the commission of my place and person,
The which immediacy may well stand up
And call itself your brother.
Goneril Not so hot.
In his own grace he doth exalt himself
More than in your addition.
Regan In my rights
By me invested, he compeers the best.
Albany That were the most if he should husband you.
Regan Jesters do oft prove prophets.
Goneril Holla, holla!
That eye that told you so looked but asquint.
Regan Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
From a full-flowing stomach.-General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony.
Dispose of them, of me; the walls is thine.
Witness the world that I create thee here
My lord and master.
Goneril Mean you to enjoy him?
Albany The let-alone lies not in your good will.
Edmund Nor in thine, lord.
Albany Half-blooded fellow, yes.
Regan [To EDMUND.] Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.
Albany Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest thee
On capital treason; and, in thy attaint,
This gilded serpent.
[Pointing to GONERIL.
For your claim, fair sister,
I bar it in the interest of my wife;
'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
And I her husband contradict your banns.
If you will marry, make your loves to me;
My lady is bespoke.
Goneril An interlude!
Albany Thou art armed, Gloucester; let the trumpet sound;
If none appear to prove upon thy person
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge.
[Throws down a glove.
I'll make it on thy heart,
Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaimed thee.
Regan Sick, O sick!
Goneril [Aside.] If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine.
Edmund There's my exchange.
[Throws down a glove.
What in the world he is
That names me traitor, villain-like he lies.
Call by the trumpet. He that dares approach,
On him, on you, who not, I will maintain
My truth and honour firmly.
Albany A herald, ho!
Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.
Regan My sickness grows upon me.
Albany She is not well; convey her to my tent.
[Exit REGAN, led by one or more.
Enter a HERALD.
Come hither, herald-Let the trumpet sound!-
And read out this.
[A trumpet sounds.
Herald [Reads.] If any man of quality or degree within the lists
of the army will maintain upon Edmund, supposed Earl of
Gloucester, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear
by the third sound of the trumpet. He is bold in his
defence.
Sound!
[First trumpet.
Again!
[Second trumpet.
Again!
[Third trumpet.
[Trumpet answers within.
Enter EDGAR armed, with a TRUMPET before him.
Albany Ask him his purposes, why he appears
Upon this call o'th'trumpet.
Herald What are you?
Your name, your quality, and why you answer
This present summons?
Edgar Know, my name is lost,
By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit;
Yet am I noble as the adversary
I come to cope.
Albany Which is that adversary?
Edgar What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?
Edmund Himself. What sayst thou to him?
Edgar Draw thy sword,
That if my speech offend a noble heart
Thy arm may do thee justice.
[Drawing his sword.
Here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession. I protest-
Maugre thy strength, place, youth, and eminence,
Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,
Thy valour and thy heart-thou art a traitor,
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father,
Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince,
And, from th'extremest upward of thy head
To the descent and dust below thy foot,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'no',
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent
To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
Thou liest.
Edmund In wisdom I should ask thy name;
But since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
What safe and nicely I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head,
With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart,
Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
This sword of mine shall give them instant way
Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak.
[Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls.
Albany Save him, save him!
Goneril This is practice, Gloucester.
By th'law of war thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquished,
But cozened and beguiled.
Albany Shut your mouth, dame,
Or with this paper shall I stop it.
[To EDMUND.] Hold, sir,
Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.
[To GONERIL.] No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it.
Goneril Say if I do?-the laws are mine, not thine;
Who can arraign me for't?
Albany Most monstrous! O!
Know'st thou this paper?
Goneril Ask me not what I know.
[Exit.
Albany Go after her. She's desperate; govern her.
[Exit an OFFICER.
Edmund What you have charged me with, that have I done,
And more, much more. The time will bring it out;
'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thou
That hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,
I do forgive thee.
Edgar Let's exchange charity.
I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
If more, the more th'hast wronged me.
My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.
Edmund Th'hast spoken right, 'tis true.
The wheel is come full circle; I am here.
Albany Methought thy very gait did prophesy
A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.
Let sorrow split my heart if ever I
Did hate thee or thy father.
Edgar Worthy prince, I know't.
Albany Where have you hid yourself?
How have you known the miseries of your father?
Edgar By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;
And when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst!
The bloody proclamation to escape
That followed me so near-O, our lives' sweetness,
That we the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once!-taught me to shift
Into a madman's rags, t'assume a semblance
That very dogs disdained; and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious stones new lost; became his guide,
Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair;
Never-O fault!-revealed myself unto him
Until some half-hour past, when I was armed;
Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
I asked his blessing, and from first to last
Told him my pilgrimage; but his flawed heart,
Alack, too weak the conflict to support,
'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.
Edmund This speech of yours hath moved me,
And shall perchance do good. But speak you on;
You look as you had something more to say.
Albany If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this.
Edgar This would have seemed a period
To such as love not sorrow; but another,
To amplify too much, would make much more,
And top extremity.
Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man
Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunned my abhorred society; but then finding
Who 'twas that so endured, with his strong arms
He fastened on my neck and bellowed out
As he'd burst heaven, threw him on my father,
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received; which in recounting
His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life
Began to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,
And there I left him tranced.
Albany But who was this?
Edgar Kent, sir, the banished Kent, who in disguise
Followed his enemy king, and did him service
Improper for a slave.
Enter 1st GENTLEMAN with a bloody knife.
1st Gentleman Help, help! O, help!
Edgar What kind of help?
Albany Speak, man.
Edgar What means this bloody knife?
1st Gentleman 'Tis hot, it smokes;
It came even from the heart of-O, she's dead!
Albany Who dead? Speak, man.
1st Gentleman Your lady, sir, your lady! And her sister
By her is poisoned; she confesses it.
Edmund I was contracted to them both. All three
Now marry in an instant.
Enter KENT.
Edgar Here comes Kent
Albany Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead.
[Exit 1st GENTLEMAN.
This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
Touches us not with pity.-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?
The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in.
Seest thou this object, Kent?
Kent Alack-why thus?
Edmund Yet Edmund was beloved:
The one the other poisoned 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 th'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 has the office? Send
Thy token of reprieve.
Edmund Well thought on. Take my sword,
Give it the captain.
Edgar Haste thee, for thy life.
[Exit OFFICER.
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.
Enter LEAR with CORDELIA dead in his arms, followed by the OFFICER.
Lear Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones!
Had I your tongues and eyes I'd 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.
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 O my good master!
Lear Prithee away.
Edgar 'Tis noble Kent, your friend.
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 sayst? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low-an excellent thing in woman.
I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee.
Officer 'Tis true, my lords, he did.
Lear Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
I would have made him skip. I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. [To KENT.] Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o'th'best, I'll tell you straight.
Kent If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
One of them we behold.
Lear This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?
Kent The same;
Your servant Kent. Where is your servant Caius?
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-
Lear I'll see that straight.
Kent -That from your first of difference and decay
Have followed your sad steps-
Lear You are welcome hither.
Kent Nor no man else. All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves,
And desperately are dead.
Lear Ay, so I think.
Albany He knows not what he says, and vain is it
That we present us to him.
Edgar Very bootless.
Enter a MESSENGER.
Messenger 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!
Lear And my poor fool is hanged! 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!
[To KENT.] 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
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 usurped 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.
Edgar 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.
