108 curfew i.e. nightfall
109 cock cockcrow
109 web … pin cataract of the eye
110 squints causes to squint
112 old wold, downs
112 swithold probably Saint Withold, apparently a protector from harm
112 footed thrice walked three times
113 nightmare evil female spirit supposed to settle upon a sleeper’s chest, inducing bad dreams and feelings of suffocation
113 nine-fold perhaps the imps who attend her
115 her troth plight give a solemn promise (to do no more harm)
116 aroint begone (used to witches and demons)
118 What’s who’s
122 wall-newt i.e. lizard on the wall
122 water i.e. water newt
124 ditch-dog i.e. dead dog in a ditch
125 mantle scum
125 standing stagnant
125 whipped the standard punishment for vagabonds
126 tithing parish
127 three … shirts the clothing allowance of a servant
129 deer animals
131 Smulkin the name of a devil (that, according to Harsnett, took the form of a mouse)
133 The … darkness the devil
133 Modo … Mahu the names of two devils
135 flesh and blood i.e. children (Gloucester is thinking of Edgar, Goneril, and Regan)
135 vile debased, corrupted
136 gets begets, conceives
147 Theban i.e. Greek philosopher (from Thebes)
149 prevent forestall, thwart
151 Importune urge
152 t’unsettle to be disturbed
158 blood lineage, family
163 cry you mercy excuse me
170 keep still remain
171 soothe indulge, humor
172 him you on him along with you
174 Athenian i.e. Greek philosopher (from Athens)
176 Child … came perhaps a line from a lost ballad about the legendary French hero Roland (Child was the title for a young man seeking knighthood)
177 word password/customary saying
177 still always
177 fie … man the cry of the giant in the children’s tale of Jack the giant-killer
Act 3 Scene 5
3.5 Location: the Earl of Gloucester’s residence
1 his i.e. Gloucester’s
2 nature natural familial affection
3 something fears somewhat frightens
5 his i.e. Gloucester’s
5 provoking … himself Edgar’s sense of his own worth, provoked into action by Gloucester’s reprehensible badness/a provoking quality in Gloucester, which incited Edgar’s reprehensible wickedness
8 to be of being
9 approves proves
9 an intelligent party a spy, an informer
17 apprehension arrest
19 his suspicion suspicion of Gloucester
Act 3 Scene 6
3.6 Location: unspecified; presumably an outbuilding on the Earl of Gloucester’s estate
2 piece out supplement
5 impatience anger/inability to bear suffering
6 Frateretto the name of a devil; in Harsnett he is associated with a “fiddler,” which perhaps suggests Nero, the first-century Roman emperor who famously played the fiddle while Rome burned
6 angler fisherman/thief
7 lake of darkness presumably the Stygian lake of the classical underworld, but a phallic fishing rod and vaginal dark lake may also be implied; perhaps Nero’s murder of his own mother is glanced at—she reportedly asked to be stabbed in the womb as this was where her son had grown
10 yeoman land owner below the rank of gentleman
12 to as
13 mad sense now shifts to “angry”
15 a thousand i.e. a thousand devils
16 hizzing hissing
16 ’em them i.e. Goneril and Regan; the Quarto text continues at this point with an imaginary “arraignment” of Goneril (see “Quarto Passages That Do Not Appear in the Folio,” p. 132)
21 mar my counterfeiting spoil my pretense
23 Trey … Sweetheart names for bitches—even his female dogs, he imagines, have turned against him; their names may suggest Lear’s daughters (“tray” can mean “pain, affliction,” “blanch” can mean “to deceive,” “to flatter”)
24 throw his head unclear; presumably a threatening gesture of some sort
24 Avaunt begone
25 or black or either black or
26 poisons i.e. with rabies
27 grim fierce
28 brach bitch
28 him male
29 bobtail tyke small dog with a tail that has been bobbed (cut short)
29 trundle-tail dog with a long, curling tail
32 hatch lower half of a divided door
33 Do … de apparently the sound of chattering teeth again
33 Sessa! cry of encouragement used in hunting or may derive from the French cessez (“stop”)
33 wakes annual parish fairs (frequented by beggars)
34 horn beggars carried drinking horns on strings round their necks
35 anatomize dissect
37 entertain employ
39 Persian i.e. gorgeous, luxurious
41 curtains Lear imagines that he is in a curtained bed
48 litter vehicle containing a bed, here apparently drawn by horses
49 Dover port on the south coast
54 to … conduct i.e. hastily guide you to the necessary supplies for your journey
Act 3 Scene 7
3.7 Location: the Earl of Gloucester’s residence
1 Post travel swiftly
7 sister sister-in-law, i.e. Goneril
8 Advise counsel, urge
9 duke i.e. the Duke of Albany
9 festinate preparation hasty preparation of troops