Page 346 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

5.3. NOTES 271
236. Speak, Edmund 'No sufficiently clear reason is
supplied for Edm.'s delay in attempting to save Cord,
and Lear', though Sh. seems on the brink of telling us at
11. 162-3, 198-9. 'The real cause lies outside the
dramatic nexus. It is Sh.'s wish to deliver a sudden and
crushing blow to the hopes which he had excited'
(Bradley, p. 253). 'It is as if Sh. said to us: "Did you
think weakness and innocence have any chance here?
Were you beginning to dream that ? I will show you it
is not so" (ibid. p. 271). 237. object seeG.
S.D. (Q) F 'Gonerill and Regans bodies brought
out.' (1. 230). 244. F's brackets. Noting.
245. Is on =Has been issued against.
247. To who, my lord Spoken to Alb.; Edg. never
calls Edm. 'my lord', has (F) £> (+Camb.) 'hath'.
office sc. of killing them.
250. the captain Cf. 11. 27-40. Haste...life! Q
( + Camb.+Al.) assigns to Alb. ('Duke.')-, F ( + Muir)
to Edg.—'improperly', since 'Edg. had the moment
before received the token of reprieve' from Edm.
[Mai.], while Edg. clearly takes Alb.'s 'Run, run,
O run!' as addressed to himself.
S.D. (J.D.W.<Mal.+Camb.). None in Q, F. Cf.
G.I.D. 1949 ed. p. 191.
256. S.D. (i) 'Edmund...off' (Theob.), Q, F om.
(ii) 'Enter...arms' (Q, F). 'Edgar...following' (Mai.
+Camb.). Lear, I think, lays the body down on the
front stage, and then speaks, standing over her.
257. men of stones Cf. R. Ill, 3. 7. 224 and n.
261. She's dead as earth Cf. Wordsworth's
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
262. stone=mirror. See G. 263. promised end—
Last Day, foretold by the prophets.