21 to i.e. and tell her to
Act 1 Scene 4
1 as will I perhaps “as I intend” (but most editors opt for the Quarto “well”- i.e. “as well as being disguised”)
2 defuse confuse, disorder
3 full issue complete outcome
4 razed my likeness erased my true appearance
8 stay wait
11 What … profess? What is your occupation? (Kent shifts the sense of profess to “claim, declare”)
11 wouldst thou do you want
12 us Lear continues to use the royal plural pronoun
16 judgement i.e. God’s judgment/the judgment of fellow men
16 cannot choose have no other option
16 to eat … fish i.e. only to eat a hearty diet of meat/not to eat fish on Fridays like a Roman Catholic/not to have sex with prostitutes
31 keep honest counsel keep secrets like an honorable man/keep secrets that are honorable
31 mar … tale spoil an elaborate story
37 anything “thing” plays on the sense of “vagina”
41 knave rogue/servant
44 So if it
45 clotpoll idiot
49 slave servant/villain
51 roundest bluntest
55 entertained received, treated hospitably
56 wont accustomed (to receive)
57 general dependants servants as a whole
63 rememb’rest remind
63 conception notion, thought
64 faint slight/lazy, half-hearted
65 jealous curiosity mistrustful fastidiousness
65 very pretence real intention
77 cur dog
79 bandy exchange looks as an equal (literally, “bat to and fro” as in tennis)
80 strucken struck, beaten
81 football played by the lower classes (unlike tennis)
84 differences class distinctions
85 measure … length be knocked flat to the floor
85 lubber clumsy lout
86 tarry stay
86 go to an expression of impatient dismissal
88 earnest part-payment in advance
90 coxcomb fool’s headgear with a crest like a cock’s comb
91 pretty fine-looking/clever
95 an … sits i.e. if you cannot please those in power
97 on’s of his
98 needs necessarily
99 nuncle contraction of “mine uncle”
99 Would I wish
102 living property, possessions
106 Brach bitch
107 pestilent gall troublesome irritation
110 Mark pay attention to
113 owest own
114 goest walk
115 trowest believe
116 Set … throwest don’t stake everything on the throw of the dice
119 have … score i.e. make a profit
120 score twenty
122 unfee’d unpaid
123 use employment/profit
134 crowns coins (the sense then shifts to “eggshells,” “royal headgear,” and “head”)
136 meat edible contents
136 clovest split
140 like myself i.e. foolishly
141 grace favor, patronage
142 foppish foolish
144 apish silly
146 used it made it my custom
147 rod punishment cane
151 bo-peep a child’s game (in which an adult alternately conceals and reveals his or her face)
152 the fool among among fools
154 fain gladly
155 An if
156 marvel wonder
160 pared trimmed
163 frontlet ornamental headband/band worn round forehead at night to smooth wrinkles
166 figure accompanying digit (to make it a number higher than zero)
168 forsooth in truth
171 nor … crumb i.e. no part of the loaf
172 want some need something/experience need
173 peascod peapod
174 all-licensed licensed to speak entirely freely
176 carp complain
177 rank excessive, uncontrolled
179 safe certain
180 too late all too recently
181 course behavior
181 put it on encourage it
183 scape escape
183 redresses sleep punishments be neglected
184 in … proceeding might offend and shame you but which, in the interests of maintaining a healthy state, must be deemed a prudent course of action
189 cuckoo young cuckoo, hatched from an egg its mother had laid in another bird’s nest
190 it’s had it it had its
190 it young the young cuckoo
191 darkling in darkness
194 fraught equipped (literally “freighted”)
195 dispositions moods
198 Jug a form of “Joan,” often used as a generic name for a prostitute
201 notion understanding
201 discernings Are lethargied power of discernment is asleep
202 Waking? Am I awake?
204 shadow reflection/ghost/shadow cast by the sun/imitator, actor
206 admiration air of wonder
206 o’th’savour of the flavor
209 should i.e. you should
211 bold presumptuous, audacious
213 epicurism gluttony/pleasure-seeking
215 graced honorable
215 speak call
216 desired requested, entreated
218 disquantity your train reduce your retinue
219 depend be your dependants, serve you
220 besort befit, suit
221 know … you i.e. know their place, and yours
224 Degenerate having lost the qualities proper to a family member