Here is better than the open air; take it thankfully. I will
piece out the comfort with what addition I can: I will not be
long from you.
This place is better than being out in the open air; accept it gratefully. I'll add whatever comfort I can provide, and I won't stay away long.
This shelter's better than being stuck outside; be grateful for it. I'll bring whatever I can to make it more comfortable, and I won't disappear for long.
better shelter inside be grateful i'll help soon
All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience:—
the gods reward your kindness!
His mind has completely broken down because of his desperation—may the gods reward your compassion!
His mind's completely fallen apart from panic—the gods better reward you for your kindness!
his mind is gone from desperation thanks for helping
Frateretto calls me; and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake
of darkness. Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.
Frateretto summons me; and tells me Nero is fishing in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent one, and watch out for the evil spirit.
Frateretto's calling to me, telling me Nero's fishing in some dark, evil lake. Pray, innocent one—watch out for that evil spirit.
frateretto's calling watch out 4 evil stay safe
Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a
yeoman.
Please, uncle, tell me whether a madman is a gentleman or a peasant.
Hey uncle, come on—tell me, is a madman a gentleman or just regular working class?
is madman a gentleman or common?
A king, a king!
I am royalty! I am the ruler!
I'm a king! I'm in charge!
im royalty
No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son; for he’s a mad
yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him.
No, he's a peasant with a gentleman for a son; because only a crazy peasant sees his son become a gentleman while he's still alive.
No, he's a peasant whose son turned into a gentleman—which is actually insane, since he has to watch his son outrank him while he's still around.
he's a peasant with a gentleman son crazy to see that
To have a thousand with red burning spits
Come hissing in upon ’em.
To have a thousand enemies with red-hot spits come hissing down on them.
A thousand burning spits hissing down on them.
thousand burning spits hissing down
The mock trial of Goneril and Regan is one of the most disturbing and moving sequences in all of Shakespeare. It is disturbing because a king has been reduced to playing court with a joint-stool; it is moving because the charges are true. Goneril and Regan have committed real wrongs. The law should address them. But the play has carefully dismantled every legal and social mechanism that might produce justice: Lear has surrendered his authority, Cornwall controls the kingdom, Edmund has betrayed Gloucester. There is no court. There is no remedy. So Lear enacts the proceeding in imagination, with a Fool and a pretend-madman as his judiciary. The scene is simultaneously the play's most explicit statement about the failure of justice and its most vivid image of what justice looks like when everything else has failed: it looks like a mad king talking to furniture.
The foul fiend bites my back.
The evil spirit bites my back.
That evil spirit's biting my back.
demon gnawing at me
He’s mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse’s health,
a boy’s love, or a whore’s oath.
He's crazy to trust in a wolf's gentleness, a horse's lasting health, a boy's loyalty, or a prostitute's word.
You'd have to be insane to trust a wolf to be gentle, a horse to stay healthy, a boy to be loyal, or a sex worker to keep her word.
mad to trust: wolf gentleness horse health boy loyalty or sex worker's word
It shall be done; I will arraign them straight.
[_To Edgar._] Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[_To the Fool._] Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she-foxes!—
It will happen. I'll put them on trial immediately. [To Edgar:] Come, sit here, most learned judge. [To the Fool:] You, wise sir, sit here. Now then, you cunning women!—
Let's do it. I'm putting them on trial right now. [To Edgar:] Come on, sit here, you wise judge. [To the Fool:] You, smart guy, sit here. Now then, you vicious creatures!—
let's do it try them now [to edgar] judge sit here [to fool] you sit too you she-devils
Look, where he stands and glares! Want’st thou eyes at trial, madam?
Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me.
Look, there he stands and stares! Do you want your eyes at the trial, madam? Come across the stream, Bessy, to me.
Look at him standing there glaring! You want your eyes for the trial, lady? Come across the stream here, Bessy.
look - he's glaring come across stream bessy
Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.
Her boat has a leak, and she can't say why she doesn't dare come across to you.
Her boat's got a hole in it, and she can't explain why she won't come across to you.
boat's leaking can't come over
The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale.
Hoppedance cries in Tom’s belly for two white herring. Croak not, black
angel; I have no food for thee.
The evil spirit haunts poor Tom speaking like a nightingale. Hoppedance shouts from Tom's stomach wanting two white herrings. Don't croak, black demon; I have no food for you.
That evil spirit's haunting poor Tom, sounding like a nightingale. Hoppedance is screaming from Tom's belly wanting two white herrings. Stop croaking, demon—I don't have any food for you.
evil spirit haunts me craving herrings no food 4 it
How do you, sir? Stand you not so amaz’d;
Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
How are you doing, sir? Don't stand there so stunned; will you lie down and rest on the cushions?
How are you doing? Come on, don't just stand there looking shell-shocked—lie down and rest on these cushions.
u ok? stop staring lie down rest
I’ll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence.
[_To Edgar._] Thou, robed man of justice, take thy place.
I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence against them. [To Edgar:] You, robed man of justice, take your place.
Let me see their trial happen. Get the evidence in here. [To Edgar:] You, the judge in robes, go take your seat.
see their trial first get the evidence [to edgar] judge sit
[_To the Fool._] And thou, his yokefellow of equity,
Bench by his side. [_To Kent._] You are o’ the commission,
Sit you too.
[To the Fool:] And you, his fellow worker in justice, sit on the bench next to him. [To Kent:] You are on the commission. Sit down as well.
[To the Fool:] And you, his partner in justice, sit right next to him. [To Kent:] You're part of this court too. Have a seat.
[to fool] sit with judge be his partner [to kent] you're on jury sit
Let us deal justly.
Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
Thy sheep be in the corn;
And for one blast of thy minikin mouth
Thy sheep shall take no harm.
Purr! the cat is grey.
Let us be just about this. Are you sleeping or awake, happy shepherd? Your sheep are in the grain field; and for one whistle of your delicate mouth your sheep will take no harm. Purr! the cat is grey.
Let's be fair here. Hey shepherd, are you asleep or awake? Your sheep are in the grain—but with just one little sound from you they'll be fine. Purr! the cat is grey.
be just sheep in corn one whistle saves them
The Fool says 'And I'll go to bed at noon' and then is never seen again. No death scene, no explanation, no line from anyone else about what happened to him. This is not an oversight — it is a structural choice. The Fool exists to translate Lear's situation into bearable form: comedy, riddle, song. By Act 3, that function has become impossible. Genuine madness has overtaken the comic, and the Fool's professional tools — jokes, wordplay, songs — cannot process what is happening. He is not killed; he is made irrelevant. His disappearance registers in the play's emotional texture more than an explicit death scene would: he simply ceases to be there, just as the protective comic layer between Lear and his suffering ceases to exist. Some productions have the Fool and Cordelia played by the same actor, which makes Lear's dying cry 'And my poor fool is hanged' land with double force. The ambiguity of that line — is 'fool' the Fool or Cordelia? — is almost certainly deliberate.
Arraign her first; ’tis Goneril. I here take my oath before
this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor King her father.
Put her on trial first; it's Goneril. I swear before this honorable assembly that she kicked the poor King, her father.
Try her first—it's Goneril. I'm swearing before all of you right now: she kicked the poor King, and he's her own father.
try goneril first she kicked her father the king
Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?
Come here, mistress. Is your name Goneril?
Come here, lady. Are you Goneril?
come here are u goneril?
She cannot deny it.
There's no way she can dispute it.
She can't deny it.
cant deny
Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
I beg your pardon, I mistook you for a wooden stool.
Sorry, I thought you were a piece of furniture.
my bad thought u were a stool
And here’s another, whose warp’d looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms! sword! fire! Corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her ’scape?
And here's another one, whose twisted appearance shows what her heart is made of. Stop her there! Soldiers, soldiers! sword! fire! Corruption in this place! False judge, why did you let her escape?
And here's the other one—her warped face shows exactly what kind of heart she's got. Grab her! Soldiers! Swords! Fire! There's corruption in this courtroom! False judge, why did you let her get away?
another one here her face shows evil heart stop her! false judge!
Bless thy five wits!
Bless your five senses!
Bless your wits!
bless ur senses
O pity! Sir, where is the patience now
That you so oft have boasted to retain?
Oh, have mercy! Sir, where is the patience now that you so often boasted about keeping?
Oh, come on! Sir, where's all that patience you used to brag about maintaining?
where's ur patience? u used to brag
[_Aside._] My tears begin to take his part so much
They mar my counterfeiting.
My tears are starting to take his side so much that they're ruining my act of pretending to be mad.
My tears are beginning to sympathize with him so much that I'm messing up my act of being crazy.
my tears take his side they're ruining my act i can't keep pretending
The little dogs and all,
Trey, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.
The little dogs, all of them—Trey, Blanch, and Sweetheart—look, they bark at me.
All the little dogs—Trey, Blanch, Sweetheart—they're all barking at me.
little dogs barking trey blanch sweetheart
Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or him,
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
Tom will make them weep and wail;
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
Do, de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and fairs and market towns.
Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
Tom will throw his head at them. Get away, you dogs! Whether your mouth is black or white, teeth that poison if they bite; mastiff, greyhound, grim mongrel, hound or spaniel, female or male, or bobtail dog or curly-tailed dog, Tom will make them weep and cry out; because, by throwing my head like this, dogs jump over the gate and all run away. Do, de, de, de. Come on! Come, march to festivals and fairs and market towns. Poor Tom, your horn is dry.
Tom will hurl his head at them. Get away, you mutts! Black mouth or white, poisoned teeth; mastiff, greyhound, mean mongrel, any kind of dog—spaniel, male or female, bobtail, curly-tail—Tom will make them all wail and cry; because when I throw my head like this, the dogs jump the gate and scatter. Do, de, de, de. Come on! Let's march to festivals and fairs and market towns. Poor Tom here, your horn's empty.
tom throws head at dogs makes them all flee let's march to fairs tom's horn is dry
Edgar's soliloquy at the close of 3-6 makes explicit what the play's structure has been implying since Act 1: Lear's tragedy and Gloucester's tragedy are the same tragedy, told twice. Both involve a parent deceived by a child and a loyal child betrayed. Both involve a figure of authority (a king, an earl) stripped of everything through the ingratitude and manipulation of those closest to them. 'He childed as I fathered' is the play's double plot compressed to five words. The symmetry is not accidental — it is Shakespeare's method for making the catastrophe feel like more than personal misfortune. This is not one bad family; this is how the world has gone wrong. The double plot escalates everything: when Lear suffers, Gloucester also suffers, and each suffering illuminates the other.
Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds about her
heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard
hearts? [_To Edgar._] You, sir, I entertain you for one of my
hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments. You’ll
say they are Persian; but let them be changed.
Then let them dissect Regan; see what's inside her heart. Is there any natural reason that creates these hard hearts? [To Edgar.] You, sir, I'm hiring you as one of my hundred knights; I just don't like the style of your clothes. You'll say they're Persian; but have them changed.
Then let's dissect Regan and see what's in that cold heart of hers. What makes people's hearts so hard naturally? [To Edgar.] You there, I'm taking you on as one of my hundred servants; I just hate those clothes on you. You'll probably say they're Persian or something, but change them.
dissect regan figure out why hearts r hard y ur hired but change those clothes
Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.
Now, my good lord, lie here and rest for a while.
My lord, come on, lie down here and get some rest.
lie down rest now
Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains.
So, so. We’ll go to supper i’ the morning.
Be quiet, be quiet; close the curtains. There, there. We'll eat dinner in the morning.
Quiet, quiet—draw the curtains shut. There we go. We'll have dinner in the morning.
shh close curtains dinner in morning
And I’ll go to bed at noon.
And I'll go to bed at midday.
And I'll be sleeping at noon.
i'll sleep at noon
Come hither, friend;
Where is the King my master?
Come over here, friend; have you seen my master, the King?
Come here, friend—where's the King, my master?
where's the king?
Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are gone.
Here, sir; but don't bother him, his mind is gone.
He's here, sir, but don't disturb him—his mind is completely gone.
he's here but don't bother him mind's gone
Good friend, I prithee, take him in thy arms;
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him;
There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master;
If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss. Take up, take up;
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.
Good friend, I'm asking you, take him in your arms; I've overheard a plot to kill him; there's a stretcher ready; lay him in it and drive toward Dover, friend, where you'll meet both welcome and protection. Pick up your master; if you delay even half an hour, his life, along with yours and everyone who tries to defend him, will certainly be lost. Pick him up, pick him up; and follow me, and I'll give you quick directions to supplies.
Good friend, please take him in your arms—I've heard about a plot to kill him. There's a litter waiting for him; put him on it and drive toward Dover, friend. You'll find shelter and safety there. Hurry and lift him up; if you wait even half an hour, his life is done—yours too, and anyone who defends him. Come on, lift him! Follow me and I'll show you quickly where to get supplies.
take him now they're plotting kill him go to dover half hour delay = death follow me
Oppressed nature sleeps.
This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken sinews,
Which, if convenience will not allow,
Stand in hard cure. Come, help to bear thy master;
[_To the Fool._] Thou must not stay behind.
His exhausted body is sleeping. This rest could still have healed his broken form, but if circumstances won't allow it, recovery will be difficult. Come help me carry your master. [To the Fool:] You cannot stay behind.
His worn-out body is finally asleep. This rest could have fixed him, but if we can't wait around, healing will be harder. Come on, help me carry him. [To the Fool:] You have to come with us.
he's finally asleep this could heal him but we can't wait help carry him [to fool] you come too
Come, come, away!
Come, come, away!
Come, come, away!
Come, come, away!
When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers, suffers most i’ the mind,
Leaving free things and happy shows behind:
But then the mind much sufferance doth o’erskip
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the King bow;
He childed as I fathered! Tom, away!
Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,
When false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defile thee,
In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more tonight, safe ’scape the King!
Lurk, lurk.
When we see our betters suffering our same troubles, we hardly think our miseries are our enemies. Whoever suffers alone suffers most mentally, losing free happiness and cheerfulness behind: but then the mind can skip past much suffering when grief has company and shared hardship. How light and bearable my pain seems now, when the same thing that makes me suffer makes the King suffer; he lost his children as I lost my father! Tom, let's go! Pay attention to the loud noises; and reveal yourself when false opinion, whose wrong ideas defame you, in your true proof cancels out and restores you. Whatever happens more tonight, may the King escape safely! Hide, hide.
When we see people better than us suffering the same pain, we don't think our own misery is the enemy anymore. When you suffer alone, that's the worst—mentally, I mean—you lose all joy. But when grief has company, when you suffer together, your mind can handle so much more. My pain feels so light now, knowing the King is hurting the same way I hurt; he lost his kids like I lost my father! Tom, come on, let's go! Listen for any loud sounds; and show yourself when all the false ideas about you, the wrong thoughts that are damaging you, get wiped out and you're restored. Whatever happens tonight, at least let the King get away safely! Hide, hide.
shared suffering bearable king suffers like me he lost kids i lost father tom let's go hide hide
The Reckoning
This is one of Shakespeare's most devastating inventions. Lear, past the edge of sanity, conducts a formal trial of his absent daughters using a joint-stool as Goneril and the other as Regan. The Fool plays a court official; Poor Tom is a 'robed man of justice.' The scene is mad and also, in its own way, exactly right: the daughters should be tried. The charges are real. The injustice was real. But there is no court, no law, no remedy — only a mad king playing out the process that the actual world has denied him. Edgar and Kent watch and can barely sustain it. 'I scarce can speak to thee' (Kent); Edgar's aside 'My tears begin to take his part so much, / They mar my counterfeiting.' The Fool has his last lines here. Then Lear is put to sleep, Gloucester arrives to say they must flee, and the little company of suffering people picks itself up and heads toward Dover. The Fool says something — and then is gone. No exit, no farewell.
If this happened today…
A person who has been catastrophically wronged and is having a breakdown sets up a mock trial of the people who hurt them. With chairs standing in for the accused. Friends watch, unable to stop it, unable to help. One of them, disguised and miserable, is so moved he can barely keep his cover. The trial has no power to produce justice. But it is the only thing available.