Monologue

Lear Monologue from King Lear

From King Lear by William Shakespeare

male · anguished · 1:49 min

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Vengeance! plague! death! confusion! Fiery? What quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester, I’d speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife. (GLOUCESTER: Well, my good lord, I have inform’d them so.) Inform’d them! Dost thou understand me, man? (GLOUCESTER: Ay, my good lord.) The King would speak with Cornwall; the dear father Would with his daughter speak, commands, tends, service, Are they inform’d of this? My breath and blood! Fiery? The fiery Duke, tell the hot Duke that— No, but not yet: maybe he is not well: Infirmity doth still neglect all office Whereto our health is bound: we are not ourselves When nature, being oppress’d, commands the mind To suffer with the body: I’ll forbear; And am fallen out with my more headier will, To take the indispos’d and sickly fit For the sound man. (Looking on Kent.) Death on my state! Wherefore Should he sit here? This act persuades me That this remotion of the Duke and her Is practice only. Give me my servant forth. Go tell the Duke and’s wife I’d speak with them, Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me, Or at their chamber door I’ll beat the drum Till it cry sleep to death.

About this piece

King Lear is grappling with his deteriorating mental state and the betrayal he feels from his daughters, leading to a confrontation with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.

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

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