Scene 6 LEAR Ay, every inch a King,
When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. I pardon that man’s life. What was thy cause?51 Adultery? Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? No: The wren goes to’t, and the small gilded52 fly Does lecher53 in my sight. Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester’s bastard son Was kinder to his father than my daughters Got ’tween the lawful sheets.54 To’t, luxury, pell-mell, for I lack soldiers.55 Behold yond simpering dame, Whose face between her forks presages snow,56 That minces virtue57 and does shake the head To hear of pleasure’s name58 – The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to’t With a more riotous appetite.59 Down from the waist they are Centaurs, Though women all above; But to the girdle do the gods inherit, Beneath is all the fiend’s;60 There’s hell,61 there’s darkness, there’s the sulphurous pit – burning, scalding, stench, consumption! Fie, fie, fie! Pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet,62 good apothecary,63 to sweeten my imagination. There’s money for thee.64
GLOUCESTER O let me kiss that hand!
LEAR Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.65
GLOUCESTER O ruined piece of nature!66 This great world Shall so wear out to naught.67 Dost thou know me?
LEAR I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny68 at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid;69 I’ll not love. Read thou this challenge;70 mark but the penning of it.71
135 110 51. thy cause: case against you
52. gilded: golden-coloured 53. lecher: fornicate; mate
115
54. Got ‘tween … sheets: conceived in a marriage bed
55. To ’t … soldiers: Rush to lechery because I have not enough citizens to fill my army. Lear means that people should breed more children, legitimate or not, to supply him with recruits.
120
57. minces virtue: minces; walks about daintily to pretend she is virtuous
58. pleasure’s name: sexual pleasure named 125
59. The fitchew … appetite: The polecat (slang for prostitute) and the horse made frisky and ready for breeding by being fed fresh grass do not ‘go to it’ with a more lustful appetite.
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60. Down from … fiend’s: From the waist down, women are like centaurs (half-human, half- horse, and noted for lechery) although they look like women above the waist. The gods only have influence as far as the waist, from there down is all the devil’s.
56. Whose face … snow: Whose facial expression predicts frigidity between the fork of her legs.
62. an ounce of civet: The musk of the civet cat was used for perfume but also to cure depression.
61. There’s hell: Lear means that from the woman’s waist down is a place of sinful desire and destruction.
63. apothecary: chemist (from whom the perfume could be bought)
64. thee: Lear now imagines Gloucester to be the apothecary.
65. mortality: death and the human condition – we will all die
66. piece of nature: masterpiece of nature
67. This great … naught: The world will come to nothing, just as Lear has done.
68. squiny: squint
69. blind Cupid: Cupid, the god of love, was represented as blind.
71. mark … it: note the penmanship
Leaving Certificate English Excellence in Texts
171
70. Read … challenge: Lear may try to show Gloucester a piece of paper.
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