The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in KENT Alack,why thus?EDMUND Yet Edmund was beloved:
The one the other poison'd 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 the 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 hath the office?
Send Thy token of reprieve.EDMUND Well thought on:take my sword,Give it the captain.ALBANY Haste thee,for thy life.
Exit EDGAR 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 Re-enter KING LEAR,with CORDELIA dead in his arms;EDGAR,Captain,and others following KING LEAR Howl,howl,howl,howl!O,you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes,I'ld 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!KING 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 [Kneeling]O my good master!KING LEAR Prithee,away.EDGAR 'Tis noble Kent,your friend.KING 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 say'st?Her voice was ever soft,Gentle,and low,an excellent thing in woman.
I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.Captain 'Tis true,my lords,he did.KING LEAR Did I not,fellow?
I have seen the day,with my good biting falchion I would have made them skip:I am old now,And these same crosses spoil me.Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o'the best:I'll tell you straight.KENT If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,One of them we behold.KING LEAR This is a dull sight.Are you not Kent?KENT The same,Your servant Kent:Where is your servant Caius?KING 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,--KING LEAR I'll see that straight.KENT That,from your first of difference and decay,Have follow'd your sad steps.KING LEAR You are welcome hither.KENT Nor no man else:all's cheerless,dark,and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves,And desperately are dead.KING LEAR Ay,so I think.ALBANY He knows not what he says:and vain it is That we present us to him.EDGAR Very bootless.
Enter a Captain Captain 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!KING LEAR And my poor fool is hang'd!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!
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 much 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 usurp'd 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.ALBANY 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.