Lear quotes

Gloucester about Edmund - breeding

His breeding sir , hath been at my charge , I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to’t

Goneril - portrays herself as a victim

By day and night he wrongs me

Lear - animal imagery , heartbreak at his treatment

How sharper than a serpents tooth it is , to have a thankless child

Regan - uses Lears age as justification

O, sir you are old : nature in you stands on the very edge of her confine

Gloucester about Edmund - sport

There was good sport at his making

Lear - motivations for splitting kingdom

It is our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age , conferring them on younger strengths , while we unburdened crawl towards death

Lear - love

Which of you shall say doth love us most ? That we our largest bounty may extend

Goneril - love

I love you more than words can wield the matter

Lear - contrast with Cordelia exile

Our joy

Cordelia - love

I cannot heave my heart into my mouth

Lear - disowning Cordelia

Here I disclaim all my paternal care

Lear to Kent - wrath

Come not between the dragon and it’s wrath

Lear - wants benefits without responsibility

Only we still retain the name and all the additions to a king

Kent - warning

Check this hideous rashness

Kent - loyalty

My life I never held but as a pawn

Lear to Cordelia - lears arrogance

Better thou hadst not been born , than not to have pleased me

Regan about Lear - never knew himself

It is the infirmity of his age , yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself

Fool prophetic - more trouble to come

Winters not gone yet

Edmund - source of resentment

Why basterd ? Wherefore base ?

Edmund - first ambition

Legitimate Edgar , I must have your land

Edmund to Gloucester - manipulation against Edgar

I hope , for my brothers justification , he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue

Gloucester about Edgar - turned against Edgar

Abhorred Gillian ! Unnatural , detested brutish villain !

Goneril - lears lack of power

Old fools are babes again

Oswald - lears lack of status

My lady’s father

Fool to lear - given away

All thy other titles thou hast given away

Fool to Lear - power has been given to daughters

Thou madest thy daughters thy mothers

Lear - beginning of his drop in self-awareness

Who is it that can tell me who I am

Fool about Lear - he is no longer the man he was

Lears shadow

Lear about Goneril - temper and anger

Into her womb convey sterility

Edmund to Edgar - playing both sides

In cunning , I must draw my sword upon you

Edmund - commitment to his schemes

Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion

Gloucester to Edmund - plans succeeded

Loyal and natural boy , I’ll work the means to make thee capable

Regan - about storm

Out of season , threading dark eyed night

Kent - plain

Sir , t’is my occupation to be plain

Kent - flattery

I am no flatterer

Kent - hope for good to prevail

Fortune good night. smile once more , turn thy wheel

Edgar - discards name

Edgar , I nothing am

Lear - mounting madness

Hysterica passio! Down , thou climbing sorrow

Lear -to regan , diminished status

On my knees I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food

Lear to regan - all

I gave you all

Regan to Lear - too late

And in good time you gave it

Lear - realises his fall from grace , poor old man

You see me here , you gods , a poor old man , as full of grief as age , wretched in both

Lear - realises weakness - slave

Here I stand , your slave , a poor , infirm , weak and despised old man

Lear still unwilling to take responsibility

I am a man more sinned against than sinning

Lear to fool - first glimpse of empathy

I have one part in my heart that’s sorry yet for thee

Gloucester - belatedly shows courage

If I die for this , as no less is threatened of me , the king, my old master must be relieved

Edmund - begins to plan against Gloucester

The younger rise when the old doth fall

Lear - newfound compassion , wretches

Poor naked wretches , whereso’er you are

Lears regret - care

O I have taken so little care of this

Lear about Goneril - sees himself as blameless victim

She kicked the poor king , her father

Edgar - comparing his suffering to Lears

How light and portable my pain seems now

Regan - inhumanity

Hang him instantly

Goneril inhumanity

Pluck out his eyes

Gloucester - moral courage , stake

I am tied to the stake and I must stand the course

Regan - mockery escalates cruelty

One side will mock another - the other too

Cornwall - sadism

Out vile jelly ! Where is thy lustre now ?

Regan - cruelty , smell

Let him smell his way to dover

Gloucester - hopelessness and insight

I have no way , and therefore want no eyes . I stumbled when I saw

Gloucester - hopelessness , gods

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods , they kill us for their sport

Gloucester - chaotic state of the times ,plague

‘Tis the times plague , when madmen lead the blind

Edmund - happy to exploit Gonerils feelings

Yours in the ranks of death

Goneril -considers Albany unworthy of her

My fool usurps my body

Albany - on wisdom and morality

Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile

Cordelia - pure intentions , devoid of personal ambition

No blown ambitions doth our arms incite , but love , dear love and our aged fathers right

Regan about Edmund and Goneril - rivalry starts

More convenient is he for my hand than for your lady’s

Gloucester about Edgar - true sorrow and moral change

If Edgar live, O bless him!

Lear about Goneril and regan - acknowledges their schemes and his own faults

They flattered me like a dog

Lear - social conscience , inequality

Through tattered clothes small vices do appear , robes and furred gowns hide all

Edgar about Lear - tragic paradox of the play

Reason in madness !

Cordelia to Lear - restorative love and purity

Let this kiss repair those violent harms that my two sisters have in thy reverence made !

Lear to Cordelia - remorse and recognition of his mistakes

If you have poison for me , I will drink it

Goneril about Edmund and regan - drivin by lust instead of political motivations

I had rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me

Edmund about Goneril and regan - exploitative , callous

Neither can be enjoyed if both remain alive

Edmund - intends to seize absolute pardon from Albany

They within our power shall never see his pardon

Lear to Cordelia - realises what matters most is her love

We two alone will sing like birds i’the cage

Edmund - ordering murder of Cordelia and Lear

If thou dost as this instructs thee , thou dost make thy way to noble fortunes

Albany to Edmund - newfound assertiveness

I hold you but as a subject of this war , not as a brother

Edgar as Edmund dies

The gods are just , and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us

Edmund - back where he started

The wheel is come full circle

Edmund - single act of good

Some good I mean to do , despite of mine own nature

Lear about Cordelia death

She’s gone for ever !

Kent - highlights inevitability of the tragedy that happens at d end

Is this the promised end ?

Kent - showcases the unsparingly tragic ending

Alls cheerless , dark and deadly

Albany - gives hope of a possible restoration of moral order

All friends shall taste the wages of their virtue , and all foes the cup of their deserving

Kent - ambiguous possible suicide , endless loyalty

I have a journey sir , shortly to go , my master calls me I must not say no

Edgar - promise of a better future

Speak what we feel , now what we ought to say