Act 3, scene 7 – LaGuardia Arts English

Scene VII. A Room in Gloster’s Castle.

[Enter Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Servants.]

Corn.
Post speedily to my lord your husband, show him this letter:— the army of France is landed.—Seek out the traitor Gloster.

[Exeunt some of the Servants.]

Reg.
Hang him instantly.

Gon.
Pluck out his eyes.

Corn.
Leave him to my displeasure.—Edmund, keep you our sister company: the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding. Advise the duke where you are going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound to the like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us. Farewell, dear sister:—farewell, my lord of Gloster.

[Enter Oswald.]

How now! Where’s the king?

Osw.
My lord of Gloster hath convey’d him hence:
Some five or six and thirty of his knights,
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate;
Who, with some other of the lord’s dependants,
Are gone with him towards Dover: where they boast
To have well-armed friends.

Corn.
Get horses for your mistress.

Gon.
Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.

Corn.
Edmund, farewell.

[Exeunt Goneril, Edmund, and Oswald.]

Go seek the traitor Gloster,
Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.

[Exeunt other Servants.]

Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame, but not control.—Who’s there? the traitor?

[Re-enter servants, with Gloster.]

Reg.
Ingrateful fox! ’tis he.

Corn.
Bind fast his corky arms.

Glou.
What mean your graces?—Good my friends, consider
You are my guests: do me no foul play, friends.

Corn.
Bind him, I say.

[Servants bind him.]

Reg.
Hard, hard.—O filthy traitor!

Glou.
Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.

Corn.
To this chair bind him.—Villain, thou shalt find,—

[Regan plucks his beard.]

Glou.
By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly done
To pluck me by the beard.

Reg.
So white, and such a traitor!

Glou.
Naughty lady,
These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin
Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host:
With robber’s hands my hospitable favours
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?

Corn.
Come, sir, what letters had you late from France?

Reg.
Be simple-answer’d, for we know the truth.

Corn.
And what confederacy have you with the traitors
Late footed in the kingdom?

Reg.
To whose hands have you sent the lunatic king?
Speak.

Glou.
I have a letter guessingly set down,
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one oppos’d.

Corn.
Cunning.

Reg.
And false.

Corn.
Where hast thou sent the king?

Glou.
To Dover.

Reg.
Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charg’d at peril,—

Corn.
Wherefore to Dover? Let him first answer that.

Glou.
I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course.

Reg.
Wherefore to Dover, sir?

Glou.

Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endur’d, would have buoy’d up,
And quench’d the stelled fires; yet, poor old heart,
He holp the heavens to rain.
If wolves had at thy gate howl’d that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said, ‘Good porter, turn the key.’
All cruels else subscrib’d:—but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children

Corn.
See’t shalt thou never.—Fellows, hold the chair.
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.

[Gloster is held down in his chair, while Cornwall plucks out one of his eyes and sets his foot on it.]

Glou.
He that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help!—O cruel!—O ye gods!

Reg.
One side will mock another; the other too!

Corn.
If you see vengeance,—

First Serv.
Hold your hand, my lord:
I have serv’d you ever since I was a child;
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.

Reg.
How now, you dog!

First Serv.
If you did wear a beard upon your chin,
I’d shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean?

Corn.
My villain!

[Draws, and runs at him.]

First Serv.
Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger.

[Draws. They fight. Cornwall is wounded.]

Reg.
Give me thy sword [to another servant.]—A peasant stand up thus?

[Snatches a sword, comes behind, and stabs him.]

First Serv.
O, I am slain!—My lord, you have one eye left
To see some mischief on thim. O!

[Dies.]

Corn.
Lest it see more, prevent it.—Out, vile jelly!
Where is thy lustre now?

[Tears out Gloster’s other eye and throws it on the ground.]

Glou.
All dark and comfortless.—Where’s my son Edmund?
Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature
To quit this horrid act.

Reg.
Out, treacherous villain!
Thou call’st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us;
Who is too good to pity thee.

Glou.

Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!

Reg.
Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell
His way to Dover.—How is’t, my lord? How look you?

Corn.
I have receiv’d a hurt:—follow me, lady.—
Turn out that eyeless villain;—throw this slave
Upon the dunghill.—Regan, I bleed apace:
Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm.

[Exit Cornwall, led by Regan; Servants unbind Gloster and lead him out.]

Second Serv.
I’ll never care what wickedness I do,
If this man come to good.

Third Serv.

Second Serv.
Let’s follow the old earl, and get the Bedlam
To lead him where he would: his roguish madness
Allows itself to anything.

Third Serv.
Go thou: I’ll fetch some flax and whites of eggs
To apply to his bleeding face. Now heaven help him!

[Exeunt severally.]

“My Eyes” by Katherine Berko My windows to the world have been shattered Every pane in the glass battered My empty eye sockets are like deserts Once flooded with But now drained Of my tears At first I was beside myself Lost in an instance of horror What little hair I had left on my head My shaking fingers pulled off quickly Like a loose thread Yet after the initial wave of despair I discovered I was better off No longer need I watch the cruel world Observing the lies The cheats The murdering The deceit The ugliness is now eternally erased Now I am free Now what I see Is a choice left up to me Faces no longer deceive The tremors in voices say it all The motives The falseness The real personas I am left to paint a picture in my mind Of swirling rainbow colors Of happiness It is an image I retreat to Ignoring the chaos around me This loss of my eyesight Could not have been better For I live now in an angelic light That I created to escape the surrounding plight.

<a title="Familial Relationships" href="http://nathanblom.com/familial-relationships/#ElizabethEssay" target="_blank">Is Gloucester a good father? Starting in Act 1, Scene 2 we can see that Gloucester makes hasty decisions about his children. He takes a letter from his son Edmund that says his favorite son, Edgar, wants to steal his land and within moments he’s assumed it’s true. He says “O, villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter” (1.2.72). This is a rather quick jump- that his child, with whom just the day before he had spent hours talking with, was trying to kill him.</a> <a title="Familial Relationships" href="http://nathanblom.com/familial-relationships/#ElizabethEssay" target="_blank">Then the next time we see Gloucester, Edmund has framed Edgar so it looks like Edgar attacked him. Gloucester asks Edmund multiple times where Edgar is, and Edmund says, “Look, sir, I bleed” (2.1.42). But Gloucester ignores Edmund’s injuries until sixty lines later when he finally refers to it saying, “This hurt you see” (2.1.108). For a father who has already given up on one son, he sure is slow to acknowledge or even care about his other son’s wounds.</a> <a title="Familial Relationships" href="http://nathanblom.com/familial-relationships/#ElizabethEssay" target="_blank">Gloucester favors Edmund until Act 3, scene 7. He says, “All dark and comfortless. Where’s my son Edmund? Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature to quit this horrible act” (3.7.85-87). Then Regan makes a four-line comment that Gloucester was tricked, and he yells, “O my follies! Then Edmund was abused. King gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!” (3.7, lines 91-92). Regan gives no proof. She has no witness. Gloucester is simply willing to give up his love for Edmund as fast as he was willing to give up love for Edgar initially. If Gloucester doesn’t love his sons enough to give them the basic benefit of the doubt, then what does this say about how they, particularly Edmund, develop emotionally? </a> <a title="Familial Relationships" href="http://nathanblom.com/familial-relationships/#ElizabethEssay" target="_blank"> </a> <a title="Familial Relationships" href="http://nathanblom.com/familial-relationships/#ElizabethEssay" target="_blank">– Elizabeth Hibbard</a>

<a title="Analysis of Themes in King Lear" href="http://nathanblom.com/analysis-of-themes-in-king-lear/#Schneider_Essay" target="_blank">At the beginning of King Lear, Regan’s and Goneril’s disrespect for their father seems to be supported by their husbands, Cornwall and Albany. They know that they will benefit from Lear’s wealth and understand the security it provides. By the climax of Act 3, it seems that Cornwall is fully prepared to stand up to his wife, Regan, but he decides against it. It is almost intuitive that he remain subservient to her, because she is the main benefactor in the marriage. Once Regan inherits her portion of Lear’s wealth, she immediately becomes the dominant personality in the marriage. While Cornwall struggles to retain his power and pride as the head of the house, he is no match for Regan’s dominance. As a result, he quickly deteriorates into the submissive personality in the relationship.</a> <a title="Analysis of Themes in King Lear" href="http://nathanblom.com/analysis-of-themes-in-king-lear/#Schneider_Essay" target="_blank"> In Act 3 Scene 7, both Regan and Cornwall prove their true evil. The reader can see a classic example of Shakespeare’s misogyny through their relationship; he portrays Regan as an evil woman who demeans and controls her husband. As a man, Cornwall is expected to handle everything by himself, calling upon his wife only when he needs help with something menial. In this case, Shakespeare has portrayed the situation in the opposite manner. Regan uses Cornwall to her advantage when things do not go her way, and she is in need of assistance. There is semblance that he has control over Regan when she says, “Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not charged at peril—” (III, vii, 50-51) and Cornwall interrupts her to feign dominance, saying “Wherefore to Dover?—let him first answer that” (III, vii, 52). This curt response to his wife shows that he is still trying to take hold of the situation for the benefit of the servants, Gloucester, and Cornwall’s own ego. It is clear that he is losing control. Regan stands out in a society dominated by males and is portrayed as an evil person as a result.</a> <a title="Analysis of Themes in King Lear" href="http://nathanblom.com/analysis-of-themes-in-king-lear/#Schneider_Essay" target="_blank"> In order to assert his power, Cornwall gouges out Gloucester’s eyes and engages in a sword fight with a servant later in Act 3 Scene 7. However, it is Regan yet again who shows true dominance when she says “Give me thy sword.—A peasant stand up thus? (takes sword, runs at FIRST SERVANT behind, and kills him)” (III, vii, 81-83). She successfully kills the servant after Cornwall’s failed attempt to illustrate his authority. Shakespeare’s hatred of women is exemplified through the servants’ hatred of Regan, proving Cornwall’s lack of power as well as the inherent evil that Shakespeare believed women had. Regan’s outright puppeteering of her husband and disrespect toward him is evidence of this. Cornwall’s demonstration of weakness at the end of the scene seals this idea. The third servant seems to mimic Shakespeare’s woes when he says, “If she live long/And in the end meet the old course of death/Women will all turn monsters” (III, vii, 106-108).</a> – Joanna Schneider