5 10 Scene III. The Duke of Albany's Palace. Enter Goneril and Oswald, her steward. Goneril. Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool? Oswald. Ay, madam. Goneril. By day and night he wrongs me, every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other, That sets us all at odds. I'll not endure it. His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us I will not speak with him; say I am sick. If you come slack of former services, You shall do well; the fault of it I'll answer. Oswald. He's coming, madam; I hear him. Goneril. Put on what weary negligence you please, You and your fellows; I 'd have it come to ques tion. If he distaste it, let him to my sister, Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one. Oswald. Well, madam, Goneril. And let his knights have colder looks among you. What grows of it, no matter; advise your fellows So. I'll write straight to my sister, To hold my very course. 15 Prepare for dinner. (Exeunt.) Scene III. It is the third day of the play; and some time, perhaps about two weeks, must be considered to have elapsed since the opening of the first scene. Lear has spent the intervening time with Goneril, at the Duke of Albany's palace. It has been impossible for him to conform to the ways of any other household than his own, or to give up in any degree the imperiousness which the rather grows upon him with increasing age. That he has been a very real trial to Goneril and her servants cannot be doubted. Goneril, in part it may be because of her rank as princess, but even more because of her naturally dominating character, is master in the Duke's palace. Her husband is a man of peace, avoiding strife, and willing to allow his wife her own way, at least in minor matters. Oswald is superintendent in Goneril's household and has an honourable position, but is utterly lacking in those qualities of character which make up true manhood. He is a tool, subject only to Goneril. 1. gentleman: In the Quarto Editions, Oswald is termed Gentleman not Steward. The position is one of importance, and the use of this term is not surprising or particularly significant. 10. slack, etc.: are less attentive to Lear's demands. 11. answer: be responsible for. 14. question: an issue, a crisis. Scene IV. An outer Hall in Albany's Palace. Enter Kent, disguised. Kent. If but as well I other accents borrow, That can my speech defuse, my good intent May carry through itself to that full issue For which I raz'd my likeness. Kent, Now, banish'd If thou canst serve where thou dost stand con demn'd, So may it come, thy master, whom thou lov'st, Shall find thee full of labours. Horns within. Enter Lear, Knights and Attendants. Lear. Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready. (Exit an attendant.) How now! what art thou? Kent. A man, Lear. with us? sir. What dost thou profess? What wouldst thou 5 10 Kent. I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to love him that 15 is honest; to converse with him that is wise and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no fish. Kent. A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king. 20 scene. Scene IV. With but a short interval, this follows the third Kent apparently accepted his banishment (I. I:189). It is not likely that Lear followed up his command with any investigation; and, in fact, he was not in a position to enforce his order. Nevertheless, to be separated from his old master was practical banishment to Kent; and he now appears in disguise at Albany's palace in the hope that he may in some capacity become a member of Lear's company of followers. Lear returns from the hunt with a great appetite; but it is not so much his hunger as his natural temper that makes him impatient of any delay. Character is revealed in small matters more surely than in great; and Shakespeare's men and women are in nothing more natural than in the way their secret natures shine forth through the apparently insignificant details of daily living. Kent approached Lear in the garb and manner of a servant, but his words show many of the characteristics of the Fool whom the king loves. Long association has taught Kent to understand Lear; and he acts the fool, knowing the king's delight in the blunt jests which were permitted to men of that class. 2. defuse: diffuse, disguise through a disordered manner of speaking. 4. raz'd: destroyed. 6. So may it come: a parenthetic wish that he may be allowed to serve the king. 8. jot: an instant. Jot is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet and hence the word is used figuratively for that which is minute. 12. profess: what is your profession or trade? 14. profess: declare. 15. put me in trust: in a position of trust. 16. converse: to keep company with, to talk. 18. cannot choose: cannot help it. eat no fish: not fond of a meagre diet, and so a jolly fellow; or, possibly, a Protestant Christian who does not feel obliged to abstain from meat, substituting fish, as do Roman Catholic Christians upon certain days; hence a friend to the king, as a Protestant. Lear. If thou be'st as poor for a subject as he is for a king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst Lear. Dost thou know me, fellow? Kent. No, sir; but you have that in your countenance which I would fain call master. 25 30 Kent. I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain 35 message bluntly; that which ordinary men for, I am qualified in, and the best of me is diligence. Lear How old art thou? are fit Kent, Not so young, sir, to love a woman for 40 singing, nor so old to dote on her for anything; I have years on my back forty-eight. Lear. Follow me; thou shalt serve me; if I like thee no worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet. Dinner, ho, dinner! Where's my knave? my Fool? Go you, and call my Fool hither. 45 (Exit an Attendant.) |