Part 20 (1/2)
[Footnote 128: It is to Lear's altered plan that Kent applies these words.]
[Footnote 129: There is talk of a war between Goneril and Regan within a fortnight of the division of the kingdom (II. i. 11 f.).]
[Footnote 130: I mean that no sufficiently clear reason is supplied for Edmund's delay in attempting to save Cordelia and Lear. The matter stands thus. Edmund, after the defeat of the opposing army, sends Lear and Cordelia to prison. Then, in accordance with a plan agreed on between himself and Goneril, he despatches a captain with secret orders to put them both to death _instantly_ (V. iii. 26-37, 244, 252). He then has to fight with the disguised Edgar. He is mortally wounded, and, as he lies dying, he says to Edgar (at line 162, _more than a hundred lines_ after he gave that commission to the captain):
What you have charged me with, that have I done; And more, much more; the time will bring it out; 'Tis past, and so am I.
In 'more, much more' he seems to be thinking of the order for the deaths of Lear and Cordelia (what else remained undisclosed?); yet he says nothing about it. A few lines later he recognises the justice of his fate, yet still says nothing. Then he hears the story of his father's death, says it has moved him and 'shall perchance do good' (What good except saving his victims?); yet he still says nothing. Even when he hears that Goneril is dead and Regan poisoned, he _still_ says nothing.
It is only when directly questioned about Lear and Cordelia that he tries to save the victims who were to be killed 'instantly' (242). How can we explain his delay? Perhaps, thinking the deaths of Lear and Cordelia would be of use to Goneril and Regan, he will not speak till he is sure that both the sisters are dead. Or perhaps, though he can recognise the justice of his fate and can be touched by the account of his father's death, he is still too self-absorbed to rise to the active effort to 'do some good, despite of his own nature.' But, while either of these conjectures is possible, it is surely far from satisfactory that we should be left to mere conjecture as to the cause of the delay which permits the catastrophe to take place. The _real_ cause lies outside the dramatic _nexus_. It is Shakespeare's wish to deliver a sudden and crus.h.i.+ng blow to the hopes which he has excited.]
[Footnote 131: Everything in these paragraphs must, of course, be taken in connection with later remarks.]
[Footnote 132: I say 'the reader's,' because on the stage, whenever I have seen _King Lear_, the 'cuts' necessitated by modern scenery would have made this part of the play absolutely unintelligible to me if I had not been familiar with it. It is significant that Lamb in his _Tale of King Lear_ almost omits the sub-plot.]
[Footnote 133: Even if Cordelia had won the battle, Shakespeare would probably have hesitated to concentrate interest on it, for her victory would have been a British defeat. On Spedding's view, that he did mean to make the battle more interesting, and that his purpose has been defeated by our wrong division of Acts IV. and V., see Note X.]
[Footnote 134: It is vain to suggest that Edmund has only just come home, and that the letter is supposed to have been sent to him when he was 'out' See I. ii. 38-40, 65 f.]
[Footnote 135: The idea in scene i., perhaps, is that Cordelia's marriage, like the division of the kingdom, has really been pre-arranged, and that the ceremony of choosing between France and Burgundy (I. i. 46 f.) is a mere fiction. Burgundy is to be her husband, and that is why, when Lear has cast her off, he offers her to Burgundy first (l. 192 ff.). It might seem from 211 ff. that Lear's reason for doing so is that he prefers France, or thinks him the greater man, and therefore will not offer him first what is worthless: but the language of France (240 ff.) seems to show that he recognises a prior right in Burgundy.]
[Footnote 136: See Note T. and p. 315.]
[Footnote 137: See Note U.]
[Footnote 138: The word 'heath' in the stage-directions of the storm-scenes is, I may remark, Rowe's, not Shakespeare's, who never used the word till he wrote _Macbeth_.]
[Footnote 139: It is pointed out in Note V. that what modern editors call Scenes ii., iii., iv. of Act II. are really one scene, for Kent is on the stage through them all.]
[Footnote 140: [On the locality of Act I., Sc. ii., see _Modern Language Review_ for Oct., 1908, and Jan., 1909.]]
[Footnote 141: This effect of the double action seems to have been pointed out first by Schlegel.]
[Footnote 142: How prevalent these are is not recognised by readers familiar only with English poetry. See Simpson's _Introduction to the Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets_ (1868) and Mr. Wyndham's edition of Shakespeare's Poems. Perhaps both writers overstate, and Simpson's interpretations are often forced or arbitrary, but his book is valuable and ought not to remain out of print.]
[Footnote 143: The monstrosity here is a being with a woman's body and a fiend's soul. For the interpretation of the lines see Note Y.]
[Footnote 144: Since this paragraph was written I have found that the abundance of these references has been pointed out and commented on by J. Kirkman, _New Shaks. Soc. Trans._, 1877.]
[Footnote 145: _E.g._ in _As You Like It_, III. ii. 187, 'I was never so berhymed since Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember'; _Twelfth Night_, IV. ii. 55, '_Clown._ What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild fowl? _Mal._ That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird. _Clown._ What thinkest thou of his opinion? _Mal._ I think n.o.bly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion,' etc. But earlier comes a pa.s.sage which reminds us of _King Lear_, _Merchant of Venice_, IV. i. 128:
O be thou d.a.m.n'd, inexecrable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accused.
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith To hold opinion with Pythagoras, That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter, Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam, Infused itself in thee; for thy desires Are wolvish, b.l.o.o.d.y, starved and ravenous.]
[Footnote 146: I fear it is not possible, however, to refute, on the whole, one charge,--that the dog is a sn.o.b, in the sense that he respects power and prosperity, and objects to the poor and despised. It is curious that Shakespeare refers to this trait three times in _King Lear_, as if he were feeling a peculiar disgust at it. See III. vi. 65, 'The little dogs and all,' etc.: IV. vi. 159, 'Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar ... and the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority': V. iii. 186, 'taught me to s.h.i.+ft Into a madman's rags; to a.s.sume a semblance That very dogs disdain'd.' Cf. _Oxford Lectures_, p. 341.]
[Footnote 147: With this compare the following lines in the great speech on 'degree' in _Troilus and Cressida_, I. iii.:
Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! Each thing meets In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the sh.o.r.es And make a sop of all this solid globe: Strength should be lord of imbecility, And the rude son should strike his father dead: Force should be right; or, rather, right and wrong, Between whose endless jar justice resides, Should lose their names, and so should justice too.