KING LEAR

Act I.

Scene I. A room of State in King Lear's Palace.

Enter Kent, Gloucester and Edmund.

Kent. I thought the king had more affected the 1 Duke of Albany than Cornwall.

Gloucester. It did always seem so to us; but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for qualities are so weighed 5 that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety.

1. affected: felt affection for.

5, 6. qualities...curiosity: The nature or value of the divisions is so exactly determined that the most careful scrutiny (curiosity) can in neither part or division find ground for choice of the part (moiety) belonging to either.

KING LEAR

Scene I.

Scene 1. True to his usual custom, Shakespeare opens this play with a conversation which suggests the background or setting of the scene.

Kent and Gloucester enter together in friendly conversation, followed at a little distance by Edmund who has no part in their conversation but who accompanies his father to this semi-public meeting of the royal court.

The names, Kent, Gloucester, Albany, and Cornwall, as well as France and Burgundy, are territorial, and throughout the play are often used, without attendant titles, to designate individual characters.

The seven lines which open the scene imply much of that which governs its future development. The king has already determined upon the equal division of his kingdom. Kent and Gloucester, probably, as members of the royal council, know of this fact which has not yet been formally announced. Kent, as appears later, opposes the division of the kingdom and the surrender of royal power; and, in speaking of what may have taken place in the council meeting, expresses surprise that Albany, who was the king's favorite son-in-law, had not received the larger share. Kent's evident regret arises from the fact that Albany is by far the better man and loyal in heart to the king, whereas Cornwall is by nature cruel, full of treachery and over ambitious.

The motives which led the king to divide his kingdom are not clear; and the act may be taken as typical of his characteristic rashness. Lear is not now insane; but his violent, emotional nature, never brought under self-control, is, with the coming on of age, rapidly losing all poise, and will, at the least opposition, break into real insanity.

The equality of the division, so contrary to what Kent and Gloucester expected in view of Lear's well-known custom of acting upon impulse in accord with partial preferences, may be an honest attempt to rise superior to personal prejudice and favoritism in such an important matter. The disastrous failure of justice is quite what might be expected from one accustomed to act from impulse when he attempts to guide his action by reason.

Kent.

Gloucester.

Is not this your son, my lord?

His breeding, sir, hath been at my

charge; I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, 10

that now I am brazed to 't.

Kent. I cannot conceive you.

Gloucester. Sir, this young fellow's mother could; wherefore she grew round-wombed, and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her 15 bed. Do you smell a fault?

9. breeding: bringing up, nurture.

10. to acknowledge him: to own or admit him to be a son.

13. could: could conceive, receive within the womb.

16. smell: perceive.

Kent is a devoted subject whose loyalty is a personal passion, and whose fineness of character leads him to fineness in courtesy to others. He notices the young man who, at a respectful distance, has followed Gloucester into the audience ball. He recognizes him by sight, and seeks a formal introduction from the father who appears to treat the youth with cool neglect. Gloucester's response is an indirect statement of Edmund's bastardy which Kent, hoping to save the youth from the shame of public insult, intentionally does not understand. The father will not take the hint; but makes a

vulgar pun upon the word conceive and explains his meaning.

Here we have the soil from which springs the later tragedy of Gloucester's life. To him his sons are as nothing in personal worth or manhood value.

Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of

it being so proper.

Gloucester. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my 20 account; though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.

Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund ?

I

Gloucester. My lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter as my honourable friend.

Edmund. My services to your lordship.

Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better. Edmund. Sir, I shall study deserving.

Gloucester. He hath been out nine years, and

away he shall again.

The king is coming.

25

30

(Sennet within.)

35

18. proper: comely. The word also means respectable, without

moral fault.

19. by order of law: lawful, legitimate.

20. some: about one.

21. knave: in the sense of boy.

something: used adverbially.

33. out: abroad,