No Fear Shakespeare
King Lear
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 4, Scene 6
Original Text | Modern Text | |
Enter GLOUCESTER, and EDGAR disguised in peasant clothing |
GLOUCESTER enters with EDGAR, who is dressed as a peasant. | |
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GLOUCESTER
When shall we come to th' top of that same hill?
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GLOUCESTER
When will we get to the top of that cliff?
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EDGAR
You do climb up it now. Look how we labor.
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EDGAR
We’re walking up to the top right now. See how hard it is to climb?
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GLOUCESTER
Methinks the ground is even.
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GLOUCESTER
The ground feels flat to me.
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EDGAR
Horrible steep.
Hark, do you hear the sea?
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EDGAR
No, it’s dreadfully steep. Listen. Do you hear the sea?
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GLOUCESTER
No, truly.
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GLOUCESTER
No, really, I don’t.
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5 |
EDGAR
Why then, your other senses grow imperfect
By your eyes' anguish.
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EDGAR
Then your other senses must be getting worse because of the trauma of blindness.
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GLOUCESTER
So may it be indeed.
Methinks thy voice is altered, and thou speak’st
In better phrase and matter than thou didst.
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GLOUCESTER
It may be so. It seems to me that your voice has changed, and that your speech is more elegant than it used to be.
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10 |
EDGAR
You’re much deceived. In nothing am I changed
But in my garments.
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EDGAR
You’re mistaken about all that. The only thing different about me is my clothes.
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GLOUCESTER
Methinks you’re better spoken.
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GLOUCESTER
I think you’re more articulate.
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15 |
EDGAR
Come on, sir. Here’s the place. Stand still. How fearful
And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles. Halfway down
Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.
The fishermen that walk upon the beach
Appear like mice. And yon tall anchoring bark,
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EDGAR
Come on, sir. This is the place. Stand still. It’s so scary to look down! It makes me dizzy. The crows flying down below look as small as ants. Halfway down the cliff there’s somebody clinging to the rock and gathering wild herbs—a risky business! He looks like a dot to me. The fishermen walking along the beach are as small as mice. That big ship over there looks no bigger
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