Monologue

Lear Monologue from King Lear

From King Lear by William Shakespeare

male · defiant · 2:18 min

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So young, and so untender? (CORDELIA: So young, my lord, and true.) Let it be so, thy truth then be thy dower: For, by the sacred radiance of the sun, The mysteries of Hecate and the night; By all the operation of the orbs, From whom we do exist and cease to be; Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom Be as well neighbour’d, pitied, and reliev’d, As thou my sometime daughter. (KENT: Good my liege,—) Peace, Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I lov’d her most, and thought to set my rest On her kind nursery. (To Cordelia.) Hence and avoid my sight! So be my grave my peace, as here I give Her father’s heart from her! Call France. Who stirs? Call Burgundy! Cornwall and Albany, With my two daughters’ dowers digest this third: Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. I do invest you jointly with my power, Pre-eminence, and all the large effects That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course, With reservation of an hundred knights, By you to be sustain’d, shall our abode Make with you by due turn. Only we shall retain The name, and all the addition to a king; the sway, Revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm, This coronet part between you. (Giving the crown.)

About this piece

King Lear, in a moment of rage and disappointment, declares his intentions to divide his kingdom among his daughters while confronting his loyal follower Kent, showcasing his volatile emotions and the impending familial conflict.

60 and up · anger · power · family · betrayal · madness

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