King Lear Foreshadowing Quotes

KENT: Is not this your son, my lord?
GLOUCESTER: His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to ‘t.
KENT: I cannot conceive you.
GLOUCESTER: Sir, this young fellow’s mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. The Earl of Gloucester jokes to the Duke of Kent about his illigitimate son Edmund, setting the scene for some family drama to come. Gloucester admits that Edmund has been an embarrassment to him and Kent says he doesn’t understand what he means. Gloucester responds with verbal irony, playing on the word "conceive," to explain how Edmund was born out of wedlock. He then cracks a rude joke about female genitals, mocking Edmund’s mother while ignoring Edmund’s presence. "Do you smell a fault?" he tells Kent. This is foreshadowing of how a resentful Edmund will embark on a plot against his father and half-brother.

But I have a son, sir by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave came something saucily to the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. – Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Gloucester makes a lewd and cruel joke to Kent about his bastard son Edmund arriving "saucily" into the world. He says he had "good sport" with his "fair" mother at Edmund’s making. The tactless Earl associates lust with love and is also blind to the feelings of Edmund who is standing beside him, calling him a "whoreson." Gloucester also tells Kent that he has another legitimate son Edgar, although he doesn’t love him any more than Edmund. This passage is foreshadowing of the family conflict to come as Gloucester is punished by a resentful Edmund.

Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. –
Give me the map there.
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburdened crawl toward death.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. King Lear calls his court together to formally divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The aging monarch expresses his desire to live his last years free of care and responsibilities that could be handled by a younger person. But instead of bringing peace and contentment, giving up his power and dividing his kingdom has the opposite result and is a decision that Lear will come to regret right up to his death. The passage is an ironic foreshadowing of the strife and deaths that will follow Learr’s rash decision. His words "our darker purpose" also reflect his blindness to the consequences of his actions. And his bleak image of life, "while we Unburdened crawl toward death," is the language of nihilism – the play is sometimes seen as nihilistic on account of all the betrayal, malice and moral nihilism shown by some of the characters.

Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now.
The two great princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters –
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state –
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest born, speak first.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. The proud and egotistical old King Lear devises a "love test" to decide how to divide his kingdom between his daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. He demands that they flatter him with a declaration of total love, and their share of the kingdom will be based on whoever professes to love him most. Lear’s plan is to prevent "future strife" that might result from him dying without an heir – he has no sons and three daughters, with Regan married to the Duke of Cornwall, Goneril to the Duke of Albany, and the King of France and Duke of Burgundy love rivals for youngest daughter Cordelia’s hand. There is a terrible irony in this because Lear’s foolish action results in tragic consequences and the very strife he wishes to avoid. Lear’s fatal flaw is his pride and that and its fellow traveler folly bring about his downfall, which is foreshadowed in this passage.

Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e’er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Goneril is the first to respond to her Lear’s "who loves me most?" test. She falsely professes undying love for her father, using verbal irony to say that she loves him more than words can express. The gullible Lear shows mental and moral blindness when he fails to recognize Goneril’s over the top and insincere flattery as she tells him what he wants to hear. In the matter of his daughters’ love, he cannot tell the difference between the appearance and reality. So he goes on to award Goneril a generous share of his kingdom. The Earl of Gloucester’s later blinding is also forshadowed by Goneril’s declaration of her love being "dearer than eyesight," a phrase that underlines how terrible it would be to lose your eyesight.

I am made of that self mettle as my sister
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys
Which the most precious square of sense possesses,
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear Highness’ love.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Regan, not to be outdone by Goneril’s exaggerated declaration of love for Lear, tries to "one up" her sister. A hypocritical Regan suggests that Goneril’s love "comes too short" compared to hers, and that the only thing that makes her truly happy is Lear’s love. This highlights the competition between the pair, a rivalry that will climax in destructive violence in the final act, so foreshadowing the murder-suicide to come. Regan talks of having the same "mettle" as her sister, her pun on the word "metal" conveying dramatic irony. For the sisters are very much alike and both have the hardness of metal. As with Goneril, Lear rewards Regan with a large share of his kingdom, unable to distinguish between her empty flattery and the truth. Both sisters are simply trying to gain as much of his power and wealth as possible but he doesn’t see.

LEAR: Speak.
CORDELIA: Nothing, my lord.
LEAR: Nothing?
CORDELIA: Nothing.
LEAR: Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Lear asks Cordelia to articulate the depth of her love for him, so that in the division of the kingdom she can "draw a third more opulent than your sisters." But his favorite daughter has nothing to say, her pride and stubbornness won’t allow her play her father’s game like her sisters have done. The repetition of the word "nothing" in this passage and throughout the play reflects themes of disorder, chaos and disintegration in the tragedy of King Lear. English Shakespearean actor Corin Redgrave said in an article in The Guardian newspaper: "Cordelia’s little word ‘nothing’, from which, according to classical philosophy, there could be no consequences, sets in motion a chain of action and reaction that, like the butterfly’s wings in the chaos theory, leads to Armageddon." Lear does indeed warn Cordelia that she will gain no favors from him if she does not make flattering speeches of her love for him. Lear’s use of the language of nihilism, "nothing will come of nothing" is significant. It prepares us for a drama that opens with the absurdity of Lear’s rash and senseless actions and ends with hopelessness, despair and lack of redemption for some of its characters. Ironically Lear is one of these characters, who ends up with nothing in the end, foreshadowed here by his own words.

See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. After told to get out of his sight by Lear for standing up for Cordelia and speaking the truth, Kent urges Lear to see better, since the King has been blinded by stubborness and pride. The loyal Kent also appeals to Lear to allow him to remain where he can look to him for honest advice. Kent’s metaphor of a "blank" – meaning the center of a target – asks us to imagine a weapon aimed at an eye, so this is foreshadowing of Gloucester’s blinding.

Five days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from disasters of the world,
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the tenth day following
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Lear shows great disloyalty to his devoted and loyal courtier Kent by banishing him from the kingdom under pain of death. The King is so blinded by his own pride that he cannot see Kent’s true qualities. Kent pays dearly for his outspoken protest, as Lear gives him five days to gather provisions to shield him from the "disasters of the world." But as he shuts the gates on Kent, Lear fails to see own homelessness coming, even though his words to Kent foreshadow it.

You see how full of changes his age is; the observation we have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off appears too grossly.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Goneril can see Lear’s growing instability and poor judgment more clearly than he can see himself – Lear has little self-knowledge. Goneril is concerned that Lear has just disowned the daughter he loved most. Not because she cares for Cordelia, however, but because of Goneril’s self-interest and concern that Lear’s poor judgment might affect her and Regan. This foreshadows the conflict that will arise between the older sisters and Lear.

The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash. Then must we look from his age to receive not alone the imperfections of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Goneril agrees with sister Regan that Lear has always been rash and quick-tempered, but with age and senility she warns that they could expect his unpredictable bad temper to worsen. This foreshadows Lear’s eventual descent into insanity.

FOOL: I can tell why a snail has a house.
LEAR: Why?
FOOL: Why, to put ‘s head in, not to give it away to his daughters and leave his horns without a case.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 5. The Fool makes a joke to Lear about his foolish decision to give his kingdom away to his daughters. He compares Lear to a snail who has given away his shell and is without a home. This passage is foreshadowing of Lear’s homelessness, which he fails to foresee despite the warnings given to him by his wise Fool.

That sir which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,
Will pack when it begins to rain
And leave thee in the storm.
But I will tarry; the Fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly.
The knave turns fool that runs away;
The Fool no knave, perdie.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. The Fool in this song uses a metaphor from nature, about rain and storm, to convey his loyalty to Lear. He is also foreshadowing the metaphorical storm to follow. He tells Kent that the person who serves for profit and puts on the appearance of loyalty will take off when it starts to rain and leave him in the storm. But the Fool will stay and let the wise man flee. The scoundrel who runs away is a fool, but this fool is no scoundrel, says the Fool.

O, reason not the need! our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. This is Lear’s response when Goneril and Regan questions why he needs his retinue of knights. Lear declares that need is not the point, the poorest beggars have at least something they don’t need. If you only allow people what they need to survive – "allow not nature more than nature needs" – then man’s life is no better than an animal’s. Lear is railing against the injustice of it all. The passage also foreshadows that Lear with soon be living alongside the poorest beggars.

No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall – I will do such things –
What they are yet I know not, but they shall be
The terrors of the Earth! You think I’ll weep.
No, I’ll not weep.
I have full cause of weeping, but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I’ll weep. – O Fool, I shall go mad!

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. Lear expresses deep hatred of his two daughters Gonerel and Regan, denouncing them as "unnatural hags," thus adding them to Shakespeare’s list of evil women. He vows "The terrors of the Earth!" and revenge for their betrayal of him. But despite his pain he will not weep even though he has good reason to. His heart will break into a hundred thousand pieces before he will weep, he says. In his final line to the Fool he foreshadows his own descent into madness, which happens shortly after this. Lear vents his rage here as his daughters strip away his knights and attendants, his dignity amd power. But all he can do is vent, for when he tries to assert his authority he find that he is powerless.

When priests are more in word than matter,
When brewers mar their malt with water,
When nobles are their tailors’ tutors,
No heretics burned but wenches’ suitors,
When every case in law is right,
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When slanders do not live in tongues,
Nor cutpurses come not to throngs,
When usurers tell their gold i’ th’ field,
And bawds and whores do churches build,
Then shall the realm of Albion
Come to great confusion;
Then comes the time, who lives to see ‘t,
That going shall be used with feet.
This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 3. Lear’s Fool makes a witty and garbled prophecy that the kingdom of England will come to an end when priests don’t follow their preaching, brewers water down ale, pimps and whores build churches, the law is always right, and there is no debt, slander or theft. The Fool’s speech is cryptic and its meaning is the subject of debate. He is contrasting two worlds. One is full of injustice where religion is marked by hypocrisy, business is crooked, nobles are full of vanity and venereal disease is widespread. The other is the ideal world of justice where good overcomes evil. The nonsense prophecy also echoes some of the play’s characters and their actions. Priests who say one thing and do another and greedy brewers who water ale bring to mind Goneril and Regan’s pretence of love for Lear with the sold purpose of getting their hands on inheritance. The line about the priests suggests too Lear’s hypocricy in preaching about love then deying it to the one who truly loves him. "No slanders" and the next line about "cutpurses" (pickpockers) could be seen to refer to Edmund’s deceit. "Usurers" counting their gold in fields and "bawds and whores" who build churches are also foreshadowing of Edmund being made Earl of Gloucester by Cornwall for selling out his father and the unholy alliance Edmund makes with Goneril and Regan.

O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4. Lear is caught between self-pity and the thought that he will lose his sanity. He recalls the betrayal of Goneril and Regan, but reminds himself that dwelling on this will only drive him to madness and he must avoid that. He is demonstrating some self-knowledge, the lack of which is very evident in the early part of the play. This is also foreshadowing Lear’s fate late in the play when he goes competely crazy. The fuller quote: "O Regan, Goneril, Your old kind father whose frank heart gave all! O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that." But "kind father"? Lear is not a kind father, he was very cruel and unkind and showed no compassion to his youngest daughter Cordelia, who gave him nothing but her love and honesty and was rewarded with banishment and disinheritance.

Because I would not see thy cruel nails
Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7. Gloucester tells Regan why he supports Lear. He says that he wants to protect Lear from the evil intentions of Regan and her sister Goneril, using animal imagery to describe their predatory and violent nature. Gloucester’s unfortunate words "pluck out his poor old eyes" foreshadows his own blinding, which happens moments after he speaks them. His words also reflect Lear’s metaphorical blindness.

She that herself will sliver and disbranch
From her material sap perforce must wither
And come to deadly use.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2. In Albany’s comment about Goneril cutting herself off from father, he uses a metaphor comparing her to a branch that tries to tear itself from the tree that sustains it. He says that she will wither and come to a deadly end. This is foreshadowing that Goneril will destroy herself and others – in the next act she commits suicide by stabbing herself, having poisoned her sister Regan.

One way I like this very well,
But being widow and my Gloucester with her
May all the building in my fancy pluck
Upon my hateful life.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2. Goneril says this in an aside after hearing about Cornwall’s death. On one hand she is glad that Cornwall is dead, but on the other she is worried because Regan is now a widow and Edmund ("my Gloucester") is with her and might choose her over Goneril. Goneril’s hopes of having Edmund to herself would then be shattered and she would have to continue this hateful life, she says. Both sisters are in love with Edmund and jealous of one another. Goneril’s use of the words "hateful life" and "pluck" – Gloucester’s eyes were plucked out by Goneril’s cruel husband Cornwall on her bidding – could be seen as Goneril foreshadowing her own downfall.

Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?
He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,
And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep: we’ll see ’em starve first.
Come.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. From their prison cell after being captured by Edmund, Lear sees the goodness of Cordelia and recognizes his love for her even in the midst of the evil around them. In a bid to cheer Cordelia up, Lear makes an ironic promise to her. Lear says that anyone who wants to separate them will have to use fire to smoke them out like foxes. Since a fox hunt usually ends with the fox being killed by the hunter, this foreshadows the death of Cordelia, who will soon be hung in prison, and also of Lear who essentially dies of a broken heart.
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