King Lear (37 page)

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Act 1 Scene 1

^1.1
Location: the royal court, Britain

¹
affected
favored

⁵
qualities … moiety
their qualities are so evenly balanced that the most careful scrutiny cannot distinguish between either man’s share

⁸
breeding
upbringing (plays on the sense of “conception”) charge cost (plays on the sense of “accusation, blame”)

⁹
brazed
made brazen, hardened

¹⁰
conceive
understand (Gloucester then plays on sense of “become pregnant”)

¹³
ere
before

¹⁴
fault
transgression/loss of scent during a hunt/vagina

¹⁵
undone
plays on the sense of “not copulated with” issue outcome/child

¹⁶
proper
handsome/worthy/rightful

¹⁷
by … law
legitimate

¹⁷
some
year about a year

¹⁸
dearer
more beloved (plays on the sense of “more expensive”)

¹⁸
account
estimation (plays on the financial sense)

²¹
whoreson
i.e. bastard (here used affectionately)

²⁷
sue
entreat, seek

²⁸
deserving
to be worthy of (your esteem)

²⁹
out
away (perhaps abroad or in the house of another nobleman; it was common for a nobleman’s son to be educated in the house of another important family)

^1.1
Sennet
trumpet call signaling a procession

^1.1
bearing a coronet
carrying a small crown denoting inferior rank/wearing a wreath or garland about the head (must be of material that can be broken in half)

³¹
Attend
wait on, look after

³⁴
darker
secret (with sinister connotations)

³⁶
fast intent
firm intention

³⁷
business
official duties/exertion/anxiety

³⁹
son
i.e. son-in-law (like Albany)

⁴¹
constant will
unshakable intention

⁴¹
publish
proclaim, make public

⁴²
several dowers
individual dowries

⁴²
that
so that

⁴⁵
sojourn
stay

⁴⁸
Interest
possession

⁵⁰
bounty
generosity/gift

⁵¹
nature … challenge
natural affection, combined with merit, makes a claim

⁵³
wield
express

⁵⁶
grace
virtue

⁵⁸
makes breath poor
makes words insufficient/renders one breathless (in the attempt to express it)

⁵⁸
unable
inadequate

⁵⁹
all … much
i.e. all possible expressions of the amount of love

⁶¹
bounds
territories

⁶²
shadowy
shady

⁶²
champaigns riched
rich open countryside

⁶³
wide-skirted meads
extensive meadows

⁶⁷
self-mettle
same temperament/same substance (“metal”)

⁶⁸
prize … worth
value myself in equal terms

⁶⁹
deed
action, performance/bond, legal document

⁷⁰
that
in that

⁷²
square of sense
guiding principle governing the senses/(physical or mental) region of the senses

⁷³
alone felicitate
only happy

⁷⁷
ponderous
weighty

⁷⁸
hereditary
by inheritance

⁸⁰
validity
value

⁸³
vines … Burgundy
Lear characterizes France and Burgundy by their assets: vineyards and cattle pastures

⁸⁴
interessed
admitted, given a share

⁸⁴
draw
attract/receive, collect/pull forth (as one “draws lots”)

⁹²
bond
duty (with connotations both of a binding legal agreement and of restrictive shackles)

⁹³
Mend
improve

⁹⁴
mar
spoil

⁹⁶
begot
conceived, fathered

⁹⁶
bred
raised, brought up

¹⁰¹
plight
pledge, promise

¹⁰⁶
untender
hard/cruel (plays on the sense of “not young”)

¹¹⁰
Hecate
Greek goddess of witchcraft and the moon

¹¹¹
operation
movement and astrological influence

¹¹¹
orbs
planets

¹¹⁴
Propinquity … blood
close ties of kinship

¹¹⁶
this
this time (or Lear gestures toward himself)

¹¹⁶
Scythian
person from Scythia, an ancient region extending over much of eastern Europe and Asiatic Russia, notorious for its barbarous inhabitants

¹¹⁷
generation
children/own people

¹¹⁷
messes
small groups of people who eat together/portions of food, meals/disgusting concoctions/troubled, confused conditions

¹¹⁹
neighboured
treated with hospitable kindness

¹²⁰
sometime
former

¹²¹
liege
lord, one to whom feudal duty and service was owed

¹²⁴
set my rest
stake everything (card-playing term)/repose, be at ease

¹²⁵
kind
affectionate (in the manner of a family member)

¹²⁵
nursery
care

¹²⁵
avoid
leave

¹²⁷
Who stirs?
Get on with it!/Why don’t you move?

¹²⁹
digest
absorb, incorporate

¹³⁰
plainness
frankness, plain speaking

¹³⁰
marry her
be her dowry/get her a husband

¹³²
large effects
extensive trappings

¹³³
troop with
accompany

¹³⁴
With reservation of
reserving the right to have (legal language)

¹³⁵
sustained
maintained, supported

¹³⁷
th’addition to
the title and honors of

¹³⁷
sway
authority, rule

¹⁴⁵
make … shaft
avoid the arrow (of my anger)

¹⁴⁶
fork
barbed arrowhead

¹⁴⁸
thou
kings are almost always addressed, respectfully, as “you”; Kent is
unmannerly
in his use of the familiar “thou”

¹⁵¹
Reserve thy state
retain your sovereignty

¹⁵²
in … consideration
with wise and careful reflection

¹⁵³
Answer … judgement
I’ll stake my life on my opinion

¹⁵⁶
Reverb no hollowness
do not reverberate hollowly (i.e. emptily/insincerely)

¹⁵⁸
held
regarded, valued

¹⁵⁸
pawn
a pledge, surety

¹⁵⁹
wage
deposit as security

¹⁶³
blank
center of a target/line of sight (Kent asks to be the means to help Lear see better)

¹⁶⁴
Apollo
Greek and Roman sun god

¹⁶⁷
vassal
servant/wretch

¹⁶⁷
Miscreant
villain (literally, “infidel, unbeliever”)

¹⁶⁸
forbear
stop, desist

¹⁶⁹
Kill … disease
i.e. Lear has got things the wrong way round

¹⁷⁰
foul disease
loathsome, festering disease/syphilis

¹⁷³
recreant
traitor

¹⁷⁴
That
in that, since

¹⁷⁵
durst
dared

¹⁷⁵
strained
excessive/unnatural

¹⁷⁶
sentences
pronouncements, decisions

¹⁷⁷
nor … nor
neither … nor

¹⁷⁷
place
status, rank

¹⁷⁸
potency
power

¹⁷⁸
made good
being carried into effect/shown to be valid/secured, defended

¹⁸⁰
disasters
misfortunes

¹⁸³
trunk
body

¹⁸⁴
Jupiter
supreme Roman god

¹⁸⁶
sith
since

¹⁹⁰
your … approve
may your actions prove the truth of your grand statements

¹⁹³
shape … course
behave in his usual manner

^1.1
Flourish
trumpet fanfare signaling the arrival of an important person

¹⁹⁷
rivalled
competed

¹⁹⁷
in the least
at the lowest

¹⁹⁸
present dower
immediately available dowry

²⁰²
tender
offer

²⁰⁴
hold her so
consider her to be
dear
(i.e. beloved/worth a great deal)

²⁰⁶
aught
anything

²⁰⁶
little seeming substance
insignificant (or physically small) thing/one who totally refuses to play a part

²⁰⁷
pieced
augmented, increased

²⁰⁸
fitly like
justly please

²¹¹
infirmities
deficiencies

²¹¹
owes
owns

²¹³
Dowered with
given as a dowry

²¹³
strangered
made a stranger, disowned

²¹⁶
Election … up
choice is impossible

²¹⁸
tell you
inform you of/enumerate

²¹⁹
from … stray
stray so far from your love as

²²⁵
your object
your focus, the object of your sight (the apple of your eye)

²²⁶
argument
theme

²²⁶
balm
soothing ointment

²²⁷
trice
mere moment

²²⁸
monstrous
unnatural

²²⁸
dismantle
strip off (the
folds
of the metaphorical cloth of favor)

²³¹
monsters it
it becomes monstrous

²³¹
fore-vouched
previously sworn

²³²
Fall into taint
(must) come under suspicion

²³²
which … me
i.e. and to believe in all reason that she had committed such a monstrous offense would require a miracle

²³⁶
for
(your anger is) because

²³⁶
want
lack

²³⁷
purpose not
not intend to do what I say

²³⁹
foulness
wickedness/moral impurity

²⁴²
for which
i.e. for lack of which