Contents
-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Scene III
Act V
[The British camp near Dover]
Enter, in conquest, with drum and colours, EDMUND; LEAR and CORDELIA as prisoners: Captain, Soldiers, etc.
Edm.Some officers take them away. Good guard,Until their greater pleasures first be knownThat are to censure them.Cor.We are not the firstWho, with best meaning, have incurr’d the worst.For thee, oppressed king, I am cast down;Myself could else out-frown 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’ the cage.When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel downAnd ask of thee forgiveness. So we’ll live,And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laughAt gilded butterflies, and hear poor roguesTalk 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 thingsAs if we were God’s spies; and we’ll wear out,In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,That ebb and flow by the moon.Edm.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 starv’d first.Come.Exeunt [LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded].Edm.Come hither, captain; hark.Take thou this note [giving a paper]; go follow them to prison.One step I have advanc’d thee; if thou dostAs this instructs thee, thou dost make thy wayTo noble fortunes. Know thou this, that menAre as the time is; to be tender-mindedDoes not become a sword. Thy great employmentWill not bear question; either say thou’lt do ’t,Or thrive by other means.Capt.I’ll do ’t, my lord.Edm.About it; and write happy when thou hast done.Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it soAs I have set it down.[Capt.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, [another Captain] and Soldiers
Alb.Sir, you have show’d to-day your valiant strain,And fortune led you well. You have the captivesWho were the opposites of this day’s strife;I do require them of you, so to use themAs we shall find their merits and our safetyMay equally determine.Edm.Sir, I thought it fitTo send the old and miserable kingTo 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 impress’d lances in our eyesWhich do command them. With him I sent the Queen,My reason all the same; and they are readyTo-morrow, or at further space, to appearWhere you shall hold your session. [At this timeWe sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs’dBy those that feel their sharpness:The question of Cordelia and her fatherRequires a fitter place.]Alb.Sir, by your patience,I hold you but a subject of this war,Not as a brother.Reg.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.Gon.Not so hot.In his own grace he doth exalt himself,More than in your addition.Reg.In my rights,By me invested, he compeers the best.Gon.That were the most, if he should husband you.Reg.Jesters do oft prove prophets.Gon.Holla, holla!That eye that told you so look’d but a-squint.Reg.Lady, I am not well; else I should answerFrom a full-flowing stomach. General,Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine.Witness the world, that I create thee hereMy lord and master.Gon.Mean you to enjoy him?Alb.The let-alone lies not in your good will.Edm.Nor in thine, lord.Alb.Half-blooded fellow, yes.Reg.[To EDMUND.]Let the drum strike, and prove my title thine.Alb.Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest theeOn capital treason; and, in thy arrest,This gilded serpent. [Pointing to GON.] 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 bans.If you will marry, make your loves to me,My lady is bespoke.Gon.An interlude!Alb.Thou art armed, Gloucester; let the trumpet sound.If none appear to prove upon thy personThy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,There is my pledge [throwing down a glove]. I’ll prove it on thy heart,Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing lessThan I have here proclaim’d thee.Reg.Sick, O sick!Gon.[Aside.]If not, I’ll ne’er trust medicine.Edm.There’s my exchange [throwing down a glove]. What in the world he isThat names me traitor, villain-like he lies.Call by the trumpet;—he that dares approach,On him, on you, who not? I will maintainMy truth and honour firmly.Alb.A herald, ho![Edm.A herald, ho, a herald!]Alb.Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,All levied in my name, have in my nameTook their discharge.Reg.My sickness grows upon me.Alb.She is not well; convey her to my tent.[Exit REGAN, led.]Enter a Herald
Come hither, herald,—Let the trumpet sound—And read out this.[Capt. Sound, trumpet!]A trumpet sounds.Her. (Reads.)“If any man of quality or decree 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.”[Edm.Sound!]First trumpet.Her.Again!Second trumpet.Her.Again!Third trumpet. Trumpet answers within.Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with a trumpet before him.
Alb.Ask him his purposes, why he appearsUpon this call o’ the trumpet.Her.What are you?Your name, your quality? and why you answerThis present summons?Edg.Know, my name is lost,By treason’s tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit,Yet am I noble as the adversaryI come to cope.Alb.Which is that adversary?Edg.What’s he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?Edm.Himself; what say’st thou to him?Edg.Draw thy sword,That, if my speech offend a noble heart,Thy arm may do thee justice; 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-hewn 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 the extremest upward of thy headTo the descent and dust below thy foot,A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou “No,”This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bentTo prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,Thou liest.Edm.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.]Alb.Save him, save him!Gon.This is [mere] practice, Gloucester.By the law of war thou wast not bound to answerAn unknown opposite. Thou art not vanquish’d,But cozen’d and beguil’d.Alb.Shut your mouth, dame,Or with this paper shall I stop it. Hold, sir.—Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.No tearing, lady; I perceive you know it.Gon.Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine.Who can arraign me for ’t?[Exit.]Alb.Most monstrous! oh!—Know’st thou this paper?Edm.Ask me not what I know.Alb.Go after her; she’s desperate; govern her.Edm.What you have charg’d 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 thouThat hast this fortune on me? If thou ’rt noble,I do forgive thee.Edg.Let’s exchange charity.I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;If more, the more thou ’st wrong’d me.My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.The gods are just, and of our pleasant vicesMake instruments to plague us.The dark and vicious place where thee he gotCost him his eyes.Edm.Thou ’st spoken right, ’tis true.The wheel is come full circle; I am here.Alb.Methought thy very gait did prophesyA royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.Let sorrow split my heart, if ever IDid hate thee or thy father!Edg.Worthy prince, I know ’t.Alb.Where have you hid yourself?How have you known the miseries of your father?Edg.By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;And when ’tis told, oh, that my heart would burst!The bloody proclamation to escape,That follow’d me so near,—oh, our lives’ sweetness!That we the pain of death would hourly dieRather than die at once!—taught me to shiftInto a madman’s rags, to assume a semblanceThat very dogs disdain’d; and in this habitMet I my father with his bleeding rings,Their precious stones new lost; became his guide,Led him, begg’d for him, sav’d him from despair;Never,—O fault!—reveal’d myself unto him,Until some half-hour past, when I was arm’d.Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,I ask’d his blessing, and from first to lastTold him our pilgrimage; but his flaw’d-heart,Alack, too weak the conflict to support!’Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,Burst smilingly.Edm.This speech of yours hath mov’d me,And shall perchance do good. But speak you on;You look as you had something more to say.Alb.If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;For I am almost ready to dissolve,Hearing of this.[Edg.This would have seem’d a periodTo 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,Shunn’d my abhorr’d society; but then, findingWho ’twas that so endur’d, with his strong armsHe fastened on my neck, and bellowed outAs he’d burst heaven; threw him on my father;Told the most piteous tale of Lear and himThat ever ear received; which in recounting,His grief grew puissant, and the strings of lifeBegan to crack. Twice then the trumpets sounded,And there I left him tranc’d. 