King Lear Cornwall Quotes

With my two daughters’ dowers digest the third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Preeminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustained, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
The name, and all the additions to a king.
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Belovèd sons, be yours, which to confirm,
This coronet part betwixt you.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. In this opening scene King Lear bestows his entire kingdom upon Regan and Goneril and their husbands, the Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Albany. There is a tragic irony in Lear’s blind trust and love for these two daughters whom he abdicates his kingly role to. For they prove not to love him at all and they end up betraying him completely. Lear does wish to hold onto some power for himself, however, and will retain one hundred knights. As far as Cordelia is concerned, he says she can marry her "pride." This is also ironic as it is Lear’s pride that stops him from seeing the virtue of Cordelia’s plain honesty.

CORNWALL: Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father
A childlike office.
EDMUND: It was my dury, sir.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 1. Gloucester and others are completely taken in by Edmund’s vicious lies about Edgar. The Duke of Cornwall says that he has been told Edmund acted like a true son to his father Gloucester. Basking in his new popularity, Edmund replies that it was his duty, suggesting that it is a child’s duty to protect his father. The reality is that Edmund is not a good son, but an evil villain scheming to usurp Gloucester’s title and possessions from Edgar.

This is some fellow
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter, he.
An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth!
An they will take it, so; if not, he’s plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends
Than twenty silly-ducking observants
That stretch their duties nicely.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 2. Cornwall calls into question Kent’s true nature and his real motivation behind the honest and plain speaking that he prides himself for. Accusing Kent of duplicity, he suggests that his bluntness is just a "garb" and strategy to conceal his real intentions. Kent is not able to flatter, says Cornwall, but his "garb" of honest speech hides more craftiness and dishonest purpose than is seen in twenty bootlicking servants who bow and flatter. Cornwall is not completely off the mark in calling Kent a deceiver. For the Earl of Kent is disguised here as the commoner Caius – Cornwall is not aware of this, but the audience is, making this a good example of dramatic irony.

REGAN: O, sir, to wilful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors:
He is attended with a desperate train,
And what they may incense him to, being apt
To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear.
CORNWALL: Shut up your doors, my lord. ‘Tis a wild night.
My Regan counsels well. Come out o’ th’ storm.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. There is a total lack of compassion from daughter Regan for her father Lear’s welfare and safety. Having driven the old man out of the house and into the storm, she cold-heartedly says that the injuries Lear gets from his foolishness will be his "schoolmasters" (metaphor meaning to teach him a lesson). Both she and her husband Cornwall command Gloucester to shut up his doors, effectively locking Lear out in the storm. Any bond that may have existed in the past between Lear’s older daughters and their father has now completely disappeared.

There is division,
Although as yet the face of it is covered
With mutual cunning, ‘twixt Albany and Cornwall,
Who have – as who have not, that their great stars
Throned and set high? – servants, who seem no less,
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof perchance these are but furnishings;
But true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scattered kingdom, who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports and are at point
To show their open banner.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1. Kent talks about the power struggle that is going on in the kingdom between Albany and Cornwall, and also that France is preparing to invade. He reveals that there is growing division between Albany and Cornwall, though they have cunningly hidden it so far. Both have servants who appear loyal to them but who are actually French spies. These spies have noted the quarrels of the dukes and their harsh treatment of the kindly old King Lear. Meanwhile an army from France has landed in some of Britain’s ports and are ready to reveal themselves.

How malicious is my fortune that I must repent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens, that this treason were not, or not I the detector.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 5. Edmund betrays his father Gloucester and gains Cornwall’s approval by showing him a letter proving Gloucester’s support for an invasion of England by the French. Edmund pretends to be shocked by his father’s "treason" and that he was the one who detected it. But in reality he is very pleased, as Cornwall now makes him Earl of Gloucester. When Edmund says he must repent of being just, he is pretending to be in a difficult moral position where he has to apologize for doing the right thing. Deception comes naturally to Edmund, who cheats and lies to everybody he meets.

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.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7. This is the Duke of Cornwall’s homage to nihilism. While Cornwall recognizes that he doesn’t have the authority to execute Gloucester without a formal trial, he argues that he still has the power to do something to express his wrath. Some men may blame him for that, but they won’t be able to do anything about it, he says. When Gloucester is brought before him Cornwall makes no attempt to control himself and goes on to pluck out the unfortunate Gloucester’s eyes. Cornwall abuses power, doesn’t believe in being morally just and believes he can do whatever he wants.

CORNWALL: See ‘t shalt thou never. – Fellows, hold the chair. –
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
GLOUCESTER: He that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help!
[As Servants hold the chair, Cornwall forces out one of Gloucester’s eyes.]
O cruel! O you gods!
REGAN: One side will mock another. Th’ other too.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7. In a particularly brutal scene Cornwall blinds Gloucester, whom he has branded a "traitor" – his betrayal being his support for and loyalty to King Lear. When Cornwall physically plucks out one of Gloucester’s eyes, Regan calls on him to pull the other one out too.

Out, vile jelly!

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7. There is a thin line between civilization and savagery especially where people in power are concerned. That line is well and truly crossed here by the sadistic Duke of Cornwall. In this horrific torture scene Cornwall forces out Gloucester’s second eye, making him completely blind. To call Gloucester "vile" as he is doing this is highly ironic on the part of Cornwall, in view of his own despicable and wicked actions. The fuller quote here with stage direction is: "Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly! [Forcing out Gloucester’s other eye.] Where is thy lustre now?" It is one of the most chilling lines in the whole of the Shakespeare canon of 39 dramatic works.

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.
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