King Lear Good vs Evil Quotes

Thou, Nature, art my goddess. To thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? why "bastard"? Wherefore "base,"
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous and my shape as true
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
With "base," with "baseness," "bastardy," "base," "base,"
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth within a dull, stale, tired bed
Go to th’ creating a whole tribe of fops
Got ‘tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to th’ legitimate. Fine word, "legitimate."
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th’ legitimate. I grow, I prosper.
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. In this soliloquy Edmund says that the only laws he shows loyalty to are the laws of nature, exposing him as a moral nihilist and one of the play’s evil villains. The proud and resentful Edmund laments his "base" status as the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester. He questions the injustice of customs that deprive bastards like him of the birthright given to legitimate sons like his half-brother Edgar. Edmund, who does not feel bound by legal rules, shows his determination to set things right regarding this. Scheming for power, he plots to take Edgar’s legitimate inheritance of "land" – the Gloucester property and position. The letter referred to in his "bastard" speech is one Edmund forged implicating Edgar in a plot against Gloucester and which Edmund is about to present to father to trick him.

Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to th’ legitimate. Fine word, "legitimate."
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th’ legitimate. I grow, I prosper.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. The Machiavellian Edmund has a lot in common with Lear’s villainous daughters Goneril and Regan – the capacity for duplicity! While the sisters fool Lear with deceptive expressions of love, Edmund forges a letter to trick his father the Earl of Gloucester and falsely accuse his innocent abrother Edgar. Edmund notes that his father loves him as much as his legitimate son, but he is unhappy that as a bastard he stands to inherit nothing. However, Edmund pledges that through his scheme to discredit his brother he will enjoy prosperity, triumph over the honest Edgar and take his inheritance. Edmund feels no loyalty to his family and believes he is entitled to the Gloucester wealth and title.

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, – often the surfeits of our own behaviour, – we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!…I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardising.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. The amoral Edmund has nothing but scorn for people like his father who blame higher powers when things go wrong. He ridicules the foolishness of those like Gloucester who blame the sun, moon and stars for their fate. He believes that the motion of the heavenly bodies has nothing to do with determining human actions, including having a depraved nature. And he should know! He admits that his own evil is self-taught, indicating that he has a deep level of self-knowledge.

A credulous father and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms
That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy. I see the business.
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit.
All with me’s meet that I can fashion fit.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2.
At the end of Act 1, Scene 2. Edmund says this to himself after Edgar exits. If he cannot have Edgar’s "lands" – inheritance of property, wealth, title – by birthright, then he will seek to get them by cunning. There is no denying Edmund’s manipulative and persuasive skills in pursuit of his evil plan to inherit the Gloucester wealth and position. He is successful in creating division between his father Gloucester and brother Edgar. He admits doing this by exploiting Gloucester’s "credulous" ways (gullible and too ready to believe Edmund’s deceptions) and the "foolish honesty" of his "noble" brother Edgar. In philosophical terms, Edmund was centuries ahead of his time. How proud Nietzsche, the 19th century German father of nihilism, would be of Edmund’s nihilistic sentiments expressed in the last line, where he says that he can adapt his amoral nature to fit his own purposes.

Put on what weary negligence you please,
You and your fellows. I’d have it come to question.
If he distaste it, let him to my sister,
Whose mind and mine I know in that are one,
Not to be overruled. Idle old man
That still would manage those authorities
That he hath given away. Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again and must be used
With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused.
Remember what I have said.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 3. Goneril’s evil intent and wicket behavior towards her retired father can be seen when she instructs the servant Oswald to be rude and less polite to Lear. She calls him a foolish old man, who believes he can still wield the power that he has given away. Old fools become like babies again, she points out to Oswald, and they must be disciplined instead of flattered when they are misguided.

Let the great gods
That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulgèd crimes
Unwhipped of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,
Thou perjured, and thou simular of virtue
That art incestuous. Caitiff, to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming
Has practiced on man’s life. Close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents and cry
These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2. Lear calls on the gods who summoned up the storm to seek out and strike the enemies of good. He calls for justice against all who have committed secret crimes and gone unpunished by justice. He lists out bloody murderers, perjurers and men who practice incest and pretend to be virtuous. Lear believes that the gods will be kinder to him, because the sins against him are worse than the sins he has committed himself. But is that really so? For Lear certainly brought on or contributed to his own suffering by his own foolish pride and blindness to the truth.

I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2. Lear would say that, wouldn’t he? Acknowledging that he’s not a saint, Lear feels that he is more the victim of sin than a sinner. While he has begun to acquire some self-knowledge, he has a long way to go. He is blind to the fact that it was entirely his foolish pride made him banish his most loving daughter and reward her two evil, self-serving sisters with the keys to his kingdom. He has been unjusted treated, he protests, but he has been very cruel and unjust to his youngest daughter. The author of his own downfall, he hasn’t yet owned this.

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.

Who gives anything to Poor Tom, whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and through ford and whirlipool e’er bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made film proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting-horse over four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4. Edgar as the mad Poor Tom babbles about being chased by the "foul fiend" trying to get him to commit suicide by laying knives under his pillow. The "foul fiend" is a reference to his evil half-brother Edmund who tricked and deceived the honest Edgar who was forced to flee after hearing himself declared an outlaw.

Is there any cause in nature that make these hard hearts?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 6. A troubled King Lear wonders is there any reason why nature should provide such hard hearts lacking in kindness and compassion to Regan and Goneril. In a mock trial of his daughters, with Edgar and the Fool and Kent as judges, Lear is questioning whether evil is natural and a part of human nature, or whether it comes from somewhere else. In the sentences before this quote, Lear speaks of dissecting Regan to examine her heart: "Then let them anatomise Regan; see what breeds about her heart."

Thou changèd and self-covered thing, for shame
Bemonster not thy feature. Were ‘t my fitness
To let these hands obey my blood,
They are apt enough to dislocate and tear
Thy flesh and bones: howe’er thou art a fiend,
A woman’s shape doth shield thee.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2. Albany wants nothing more of his evil wife Goneril. He calls her a devil in a woman’s shape and warns her not to make herself look even more monstrous. If he allowed his hands do what his heart wishes, he would tear her apart with his hands, but he says that her woman’s appearance protects her. Goneril is saved here only by her gender.

There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 3. The Gentleman in the French camp near Dover reports to Kent on the Queen receiving Kent’s letters. He gives a moving account of Cordelia’s sorrow on reading of her father’s mistreatment at the hands of her two evil sisters. The Gentleman regards Cordelia as so good and virtuous that he calls her tears "holy water" (metaphor) and her eyes "heavenly." This is one of a number of passages in the play that describe Cordelia’s saint-like qualities.

No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. Even if there is evil in the world, the good will still be there. That is what Lear seems to be saying in his "gilded butterflies" speech to daughter Cordelia. Lear accepts his tragic fate, unlike many Shakespearean characters who rebel against theirs. He is excited to be in prison in the company of Cordelia’s goodness. He fantasizes about a future in which they will share life together like birds in a cage (simile). He speaks about a tender and joyful relationship with her in their prison cell, where they will sing like birds, tell old stories, pray together and laugh at pretentious courtiers. Who, in the circumstances, would begrudge Lear his flight from reality and vision of a simple happy life reunited with his favorite daughter? Yet in the midst of Lear’s unreal fantasy, he is still sane enough to be aware of his own guilt. When Cordelia asks for his blessing, he says that he will kneel down and ask for her forgiveness.

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.

Draw thy sword,
That if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice. Here is mine.
Behold, it is my privilege, the privilege of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession. I protest,
Maugre thy strength, place, youth, and eminence,
Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,
Thy valor, and thy heart, thou art a traitor,
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father,
Conspirant ‘gainst this high illustrious prince,
And from th’ extremest upward of thy head
To the descent and dust below thy foot,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou "no,"
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent
To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
Thou liest.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. A disguised Edgar draws his sword and accuses his half-brother Edmund of committing treason and being a liar before they duel. Edmund has been exposed as a traitor for plotting against the Duke of Albany with Albany’s wife Goneril, with both intending to murder him and marry each other. Edgar says that Edmund has betrayed the gods, his brother, his father and plotted against the noble Duke. The duel between the brothers in the last act is symbolic of the ongoing war between good and evil.

ALBANY: Shut your mouth, dame,
Or with this paper shall I stop it – Hold, sir:
[Gives the letter to Edmund] Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil.
[To Goneril] No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. This passage by Albany comes after Edmund is wounded by Edgar and Goneril becomes hysterical. Albany shows his moral mettle and takes charge and is not the meek and mild-mannered man we met earlier in the play. Having arrested Edmund and his wife Goneril for treason, he tells Goneril to shut up and brandishes the letter that she wrote to Edmund plotting against Albany’s life. At this stage Albany is the last remaining figure of authority in Britain. He is also a highly moral person.

My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. Edgar reveals his true identity to Edmund after mortally wounding his half-brother in a duel. He says that the gods are just because they punish human beings for their wrongdoings. He believes that Edmund got what he deserved. But Edgar seems to suggest that Gloucester’s blinding is punishment from the gods for his illicit love which resulted in Edmund’s conception. Edgar claims that the woman Gloucester committed adultery with, Edmund’s mother, cost Gloucester his eyes and he calls her a "dark and vicious place." Not everyone would agree with Edgar’s belief that such divine retribution for Gloucester’s adultery is fair and proper justice. His blinding is the plays’s greatest act of cruelty and one of the most violent and shocking scenes in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. However, few would quibble with the justice of killing the evil Edmund.

I pant for life: some good I mean to do
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send –
Be brief in it, to th’ castle; for my writ
Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.
Nay, send in time!

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. As Edmund takes his last breaths he makes an effort to redeem himself by showing his desire to do good despite his evil nature. He admits that he has ordered the executions of Lear and Cordelia and urges that a messenger be quickly sent to the castle to intervene to save them. Even though Edmund is one of the villains in the play, he shows in the face of imminent death that he may still possess some small shred of humanity.

All friends shall taste
The wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. Albany restores Edgar’s and Kent’s positions of power and titles to them, along with extra rewards that he says they have more than earned – "With boot, and such addition as your honours Have more than merited." It’s the reward for their virtue, he says. On the other hand all enemies will get what they deserve, he adds. From Albany’s words, one would be led to believe that justice has triumped over villainy. But that’s just not the way things turn out in a play, in which the stage is littered with the bodies of the good as well as the wicked. One can accept that the deaths of the treacherous Edmund, the self-serving Oswald, the brutal Cornwall and the evil Regan and Goneril, were fully deserved. But why did the innocent Cordelia deserve to die, and also Gloucester and Lear?
Close