No Fear Shakespeare
King Lear
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 3, Scene 4
Original Text | Modern Text | |
Enter LEAR, KENT disguised, and FOOL
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LEAR enters with KENT in disguise and the FOOL. | |
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KENT
Here is the place, my lord. Good my lord, enter.
The tyranny of the open night’s too rough
For nature to endure.
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KENT
Here’s the hut, my lord. Please go inside. The night’s too rough for humans to bear.
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Storm still | The storm continues. | |
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LEAR
Let me alone.
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LEAR
Leave me for a bit.
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KENT
Good my lord, enter here.
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KENT
My lord, here is the entrance.
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LEAR
Wilt break my heart?
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LEAR
Will you break my heart?
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KENT
I had rather break mine own. Good my lord, enter.
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KENT
I’d rather break my own heart. Now please go in.
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10 15 20 |
LEAR
Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious storm
Invades us to the skin. So ’tis to thee.
But where the greater malady is fixed
The lesser is scarce felt. Thou’dst shun a bear,
But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea
Thou’dst meet the bear i' th' mouth. When the mind’s free,
The body’s delicate. The tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there—filial ingratitude.
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to ’t? But I will punish home.
No, I will weep no more. In such a night
To shut me out! Pour on, I will endure.
In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril,
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all—
Oh, that way madness lies. Let me shun that.
No more of that.
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LEAR
You think it’s a big deal that this fierce storm is soaking me to the skin. It’s a big deal to you. But whenever you feel a larger pain, the smaller one disappears. You would run away from a bear, but if the only way to run was into the stormy ocean, you’d turn around and confront the bear. When your mind is at peace, your body is sensitive to the elements. But this storm in my mind keeps me from feeling anything except what’s tormenting me—how ungrateful my children are! Isn’t their ingratitude like the mouth biting the hand that feeds it? But I’ll punish them thoroughly. No, I won’t cry any more. Imagine them locking me out on a night like this! But let it rain; I’ll survive. On a night like this! Oh, Regan, Goneril, your kind old father whose generous heart gave you everything—Oh, if I think about that I’ll go mad. I want to avoid that. No more of these thoughts.
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