Kent. Lear. Peace, Kent! Good my liege, Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I lov'd her most, and thought to set my rest † On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight! So be my grave my peace, as here I give Her father's heart from her! Call Burgundy. Call France. Who stirs? Cornwall and Albany, With my two daughters' dowers digest the third. I do invest you jointly with my power, Pre-eminence, and all the large effects That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course, With reservation of an hundred knights, By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode Make with you by due turn. Only we shall retain The name and all th' additions to a king; The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm, 125 130 135 This coronet part between you. 124. wrath: object of wrath. Come not between to protect that object. Here, and throughout the play in the text, smaller type signifies words spoken in soliloquy or without conscious address. 140 Lear's quick anger at Cordelia, blazing in proportion as his expectations have been disappointed and in proportion to the inten. sity of his former love for her, characterizes the man swayed by passion. His prayer for a peaceful grave only as he may withdraw all his love from her is terrible, for it is to be granted; his love for her returns like a flowing tide and his death is in agony of grief the greater because of his great love for her. 125. set my rest stake all. His confidence in Cordelia's tender love was so great that upon its enduring nature he felt that he could stake all. 126 b. addressed to Kent, who by his manner seems about to remonstrate further. 127. May my rest in death be peaceful in proportion as I now withdraw my love from her. 130. digest: assimilate, take up as one's own. 131. marry: secure her a husband, 133. effects: material possessions. 138. additions: title and due honour. 139. execution of the rest; all other business. Kent. Royal Lear, Whom I have ever honour'd as my king, Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd, As my great patron thought on in my prayers,— Lear. The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft. Kent. Let it fall rather, though the fork invade The region of my heart! Be Kent unmannerly, When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man? Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak, When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour 's bound, When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state, And in thy best consideration check This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgment, Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound Reverbs no hollowness. 144. thought on, etc.: made an object of prayer. 146. fork: barb of the arrow. 149. have dread: fear. 153. Answer my life, etc.: let my life be answerable for my judg ment, or I will stake my life on my opinion. (Johnson,) 145 150 155 Kent can hardly be termed a religious man; yet here there is evidence, entirely unforced by circumstances and free from cant, of that exalted sense of the Supreme which characterizes religion. His loyalty is of that fine, rare type which would serve his master even against that master's will. Love for Lear is the prime motive of his life; and that love makes him oppose royal foolishness even at the risk of life. Others serve Lear in his later misfortune through pity; Kent serves and opposes through love. In this he is a contrasting foil to the elder daughters who through lack of love cater to their father's folly. Kent has a high regard for Cordelia and sees in her a true affection for her father; but his defence of her is but a secondary motive in his opposition, Kent's interruption (122) is interpreted by Lear as in defence of Cordelia, as his mind at the moment is occupied with her; but in reality the whole of his opposition is directed against the king's foolishness in casting away his authority and every assurance of future comfort to himself., Lines 154, 155 form a kind of secondary argument to his chief point of contention. And his question, in line 148, is called forth not so much by any threatening action on Lear's part, though there may have been such, as by an inner desire to protest against the king's madness in the foolish surrender of his royal power. Lear. Kent, on thy life, no more! Kent. My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thine enemies; ne'er fear'd to lose it, Thy safety being the motive. Lear. Out of my sight! Kent. See better, Lear, and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye. Lear. Now, by Apollo, Kent. Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift; Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, I'll tell thee thou dost evil. 156. on thy life: at the risk of danger to thy life. 157. pawn: a pledge risked in a wager. 158. fear'd: Furness' suggestion for fear of the Folio. 161. blank: the white centre of a target, here the object of one's vision: within one's sight. 163. swear'st thy gods: callest them to witness. 164. forbear: forbear to use the sword. 166. gift: the gift of power and sovereignty against which is Kent's chief contention. 160 165 |