Shakespeare      Shakespeare's Plays and Other Works
- The Tragedies - The Comedies - The Histories - The Sonnets
- The Life of Shakespeare - The Times of William Shakespeare - The Characters from Shakespeare - Stories and Plots
- Quotes from Shakespeare - Doubtful Works - Site Map - More ...
 [Shakespeare Quotes]     
 Home > King Lear
King Lear

SCENE III. A wood.

Enter EDGAR
EDGAR
I heard myself proclaim'd;
And by the happy hollow of a tree
Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape,
I will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins: elf all my hair in knots;
And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod! poor Tom!
That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am.

Exit





     Shakespeare's Plays and Other Works - The Tragedies - The Comedies - The Histories - The Sonnets - The Life of Shakespeare - The Times of William Shakespeare - The Characters from Shakespeare - Stories and Plots - Quotes from Shakespeare - Doubtful Works
- Study Guide - About Us - Privacy Policy - Site Map - More ...

Buy Books at Amazon.com and Save!