Act 2, Scene 1

A court within the Castle of the Earl of Gloster.

[Enter Edmund and Curan, meeting.]
Edmund
890 Save thee, Curan.
Curan
891 And you, sir. I have been with your father, and given him
892 notice that the Duke of Cornwall and Regan his duchess will be
893 here with him this night.
Edmund
894 How comes that?
Curan
895 Nay, I know not.—You have heard of the news abroad; I mean the
896 whispered ones, for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments?
Edmund
897 Not I: pray you, what are they?
Curan
898 Have you heard of no likely wars toward, 'twixt the two dukes
899 of Cornwall and Albany?
Edmund
900 Not a word.
Curan
901 You may do, then, in time. Fare you well, sir.
[Exit.]
Edmund
902 The Duke be here to-night? The better! best!
903 This weaves itself perforce into my business.
904 My father hath set guard to take my brother;
905 And I have one thing, of a queasy question,
906 Which I must act:—briefness and fortune work!—
907 Brother, a word!—descend:—brother, I say!
[Enter Edgar.]
Edmund
908 My father watches:—sir, fly this place;
909 Intelligence is given where you are hid;
910 You have now the good advantage of the night.—
911 Have you not spoken 'gainst the Duke of Cornwall?
912 He's coming hither; now, i' the night, i' the haste,
913 And Regan with him: have you nothing said
914 Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany?
915 Advise yourself.
Edgar
916 I am sure on't, not a word.
Edmund
917 I hear my father coming:—pardon me;
918 In cunning I must draw my sword upon you:—
919 Draw: seem to defend yourself: now quit you well.—
920 Yield:—come before my father.—Light, ho, here!
921 Fly, brother.—Torches, torches!—So farewell.
[Exit Edgar.]
Edmund
922 Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion
923 Of my more fierce endeavour:
[Wounds his arm.]
Edmund
924 I have seen drunkards
925 Do more than this in sport.—Father, father!
926 Stop, stop! No help?
[Enter Gloster, and Servants with torches.]
Gloucester
927 Now, Edmund, where's the villain?
Edmund
928 Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out,
929 Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon
930 To stand auspicious mistress,—
Gloucester
931 But where is he?
Edmund
932 Look, sir, I bleed.
Gloucester
933 Where is the villain, Edmund?
Edmund
934 Fled this way, sir. When by no means he could,—
Gloucester
935 Pursue him, ho!—Go after.
[Exeunt Servants.]
Gloucester
936 —By no means what?
Edmund
937 Persuade me to the murder of your lordship;
938 But that I told him the revenging gods
939 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend;
940 Spoke with how manifold and strong a bond
941 The child was bound to the father;—sir, in fine,
942 Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
943 To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion
944 With his prepared sword, he charges home
945 My unprovided body, lanc'd mine arm;
946 But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
947 Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to the encounter,
948 Or whether gasted by the noise I made,
949 Full suddenly he fled.
Gloucester
950 Let him fly far;
951 Not in this land shall he remain uncaught;
952 And found—dispatch'd.—The noble duke my master,
953 My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night:
954 By his authority I will proclaim it,
955 That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks,
956 Bringing the murderous coward to the stake;
957 He that conceals him, death.
Edmund
958 When I dissuaded him from his intent,
959 And found him pight to do it, with curst speech
960 I threaten'd to discover him: he replied,
961 'Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think,
962 If I would stand against thee, would the reposal
963 Of any trust, virtue, or worth in thee
964 Make thy words faith'd? No: what I should deny
965 As this I would; ay, though thou didst produce
966 My very character, I'd turn it all
967 To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice:
968 And thou must make a dullard of the world,
969 If they not thought the profits of my death
970 Were very pregnant and potential spurs
971 To make thee seek it.
Gloucester
972 Strong and fast'ned villain!
973 Would he deny his letter?—I never got him.
[Trumpets within.]
Gloucester
974 Hark, the duke's trumpets! I know not why he comes.—
975 All ports I'll bar; the villain shall not scape;
976 The duke must grant me that: besides, his picture
977 I will send far and near, that all the kingdom
978 May have due note of him; and of my land,
979 Loyal and natural boy, I'll work the means
980 To make thee capable.
[Enter Cornwall, Regan, and Attendants.]
Cornwall
981 How now, my noble friend! since I came hither,—
982 Which I can call but now,—I have heard strange news.
Regan
983 If it be true, all vengeance comes too short
984 Which can pursue the offender. How dost, my lord?
Gloucester
985 O madam, my old heart is crack'd,—it's crack'd!
Regan
986 What, did my father's godson seek your life?
987 He whom my father nam'd? your Edgar?
Gloucester
988 O lady, lady, shame would have it hid!
Regan
989 Was he not companion with the riotous knights
990 That tend upon my father?
Gloucester
991 I know not, madam:—
992 It is too bad, too bad.
Edmund
993 Yes, madam, he was of that consort.
Regan
994 No marvel then though he were ill affected:
995 'Tis they have put him on the old man's death,
996 To have the expense and waste of his revenues.
997 I have this present evening from my sister
998 Been well inform'd of them; and with such cautions
999 That if they come to sojourn at my house,
1000 I'll not be there.
Cornwall
1001 Nor I, assure thee, Regan.—
1002 Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father
1003 A childlike office.
Edmund
1004 'Twas my duty, sir.
Gloucester
1005 He did bewray his practice; and receiv'd
1006 This hurt you see, striving to apprehend him.
Cornwall
1007 Is he pursu'd?
Gloucester
1008 Ay, my good lord.
Cornwall
1009 If he be taken, he shall never more
1010 Be fear'd of doing harm: make your own purpose,
1011 How in my strength you please.—For you, Edmund,
1012 Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant
1013 So much commend itself, you shall be ours:
1014 Natures of such deep trust we shall much need;
1015 You we first seize on.
Edmund
1016 I shall serve you, sir,
1017 Truly, however else.
Gloucester
1018 For him I thank your grace.
Cornwall
1019 You know not why we came to visit you,—
Regan
1020 Thus out of season, threading dark-ey'd night:
1021 Occasions, noble Gloster, of some poise,
1022 Wherein we must have use of your advice:—
1023 Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,
1024 Of differences, which I best thought it fit
1025 To answer from our home; the several messengers
1026 From hence attend despatch. Our good old friend,
1027 Lay comforts to your bosom; and bestow
1028 Your needful counsel to our business,
1029 Which craves the instant use.
Gloucester
1030 I serve you, madam:
1031 Your graces are right welcome.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 896archaic vocab
“ear-kissing arguments”
'Ear-kissing arguments' means whispered rumours -- news so sensitive it is breathed right into the ear rather than spoken aloud. Curan signals that the talk of war between Cornwall and Albany is still only quiet rumour, not open report.
TLN 902rhetorical device
“The better! best! This weaves itself perforce”
Edmund is alone on stage and speaks directly to himself (and effectively to the audience) in rapid, clipped phrases. The climbing exclamations -- 'The better! best!' -- show his mind accelerating as he sees Cornwall's arrival as an unexpected gift for his scheme. 'Perforce' means 'by necessity' or 'without effort on my part'; the plot is weaving itself for him.
historical The Stage Machiavel
TLN 905archaic vocab
“a queasy question, Which I must act”
'Queasy' here means hazardous or risky -- the plan Edmund is about to execute is one that could easily go wrong. 'Briefness and fortune work!' is a plea for speed and luck: he needs the scheme to play out fast before anything can unravel.
TLN 929cultural context
“Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon To stand auspicious mistress”
Edmund accuses Edgar of muttering spells and calling on the moon as a patron goddess of his conspiracy. The moon was widely associated in Elizabethan belief with witchcraft, fortune-telling, and night-walking; to 'conjure' the moon was to summon its power through ritual. The accusation is pure invention, designed to terrify Gloucester, who believes in such things.
classical Triple Hecate
TLN 938cultural context
“the revenging gods 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend”
Edmund claims he warned Edgar that the gods direct their thunderbolts specifically against parricides -- people who murder a parent. 'Parricide' (killing one's own father or parent) was the ultimate crime in Roman law and in Elizabethan moral thought, punishable by special divine wrath. The irony is sharp: Edmund himself is plotting his father's destruction.
TLN 940archaic vocab
“how manifold and strong a bond The child was bound to the father;—sir, in fine”
'In fine' is Latin-derived and means 'in the end' or 'to sum up' -- Edmund uses it to close off the litany of reasons he claims to have given Edgar for not killing Gloucester. The phrase was common in legal and formal discourse in Shakespeare's English.
TLN 946archaic vocab
“my best alarum'd spirits, Bold in the quarrel's right, rous'd to the encounter, Or whether gasted by the noise”
Two unusual words here: 'alarum'd' means roused to battle-readiness (an 'alarum' was a military signal to arm); 'gasted' means frightened or terrified -- from the same root as 'aghast.' Edmund is saying Edgar either fled because he saw Edmund's fighting spirit rise, or because he was simply scared by the noise of the shouting.
TLN 956historical topical
“Bringing the murderous coward to the stake”
'To the stake' alludes to the practice of bear-baiting -- in which a bear was chained to a stake and attacked by dogs -- as a metaphor for bringing a dangerous criminal to a public, fatal confrontation. The image was vivid and immediate for Shakespeare's audience: bear-baiting arenas stood near the Globe itself.
TLN 961archaic vocab
“Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think, If I would stand against thee, would the reposal Of any trust”
Edmund quotes the words Edgar supposedly threw at him. 'Unpossessing bastard' means a bastard who cannot legally hold or inherit property -- under English law illegitimate children could not inherit real estate. 'Reposal of any trust' means the placing of confidence or belief -- Edgar (in Edmund's fabrication) is saying no one would believe the word of a bastard with nothing to lose.
TLN 965archaic vocab
“though thou didst produce My very character”
'Character' here means handwriting -- specifically Edmund's own handwriting on a document. 'Produce my very character' means 'bring forward a letter or paper written in my own hand as evidence.' The word was commonly used in this sense; it has nothing to do with 'character' as personality.
TLN 969archaic vocab
“the profits of my death Were very pregnant and potential spurs”
'Pregnant' here means obvious or compelling -- full of a meaning that presses itself on you, as a pregnancy is visibly undeniable. 'Potential' means powerful or forceful. The sentence means: the gains Edgar would get from Gloucester's death were obvious and powerful enough motives to make anyone suspect Edgar of plotting it.
TLN 975historical topical
“All ports I'll bar”
Gloucester plans to close all sea-ports so Edgar cannot flee the kingdom. In Shakespeare's England a royal proclamation could close ports to prevent a fugitive or traitor escaping -- this is a real administrative power Gloucester claims he can exercise with Cornwall's authority. The measure was used against actual state enemies in the Tudor and early Stuart period.
TLN 979archaic vocab
“natural boy, I'll work the means To make thee capable”
Both words here carry legal weight. 'Natural boy' does not mean genuine or sincere -- it is a common Elizabethan term for an illegitimate child (a 'natural son,' born in nature but outside lawful wedlock). 'Make thee capable' means make you legally able to inherit -- to overcome the legal bar that bastards faced in inheriting real property and titles. Gloucester is promising to find a way to legitimise Edmund's inheritance rights.