In this excerpt from Act I, Scene I of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the king is about to divide up his kingdom as wedding gifts to his daughters and their new husbands. In return, he asks each of his three daughters to describe how much she loves him.
1 KING LEAR
. . . . Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters’ several dowers,1 that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer’d. Tell me, my daughters,—
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state,—
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.
2 GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e’er lov’d, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
3 CORDELIA
[Aside] What shall Cordelia speak?
Love, and be silent.
4 KING LEAR
Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich’d,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany’s issue
Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
5 REGAN
Sir, I am made
Of the selfsame metal that my sister is,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness’ love.
6 CORDELIA
[Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since I am sure my love’s
More richer than my tongue.
7 KING LEAR
To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr’d on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess’d; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
8 CORDELIA
Nothing, my lord.
9 KING LEAR
Nothing!
10 CORDELIA
Nothing.
11 KING LEAR
Nothing can come of nothing: speak again.
12 CORDELIA
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your Majesty
According to my bond; no more nor less.
13 KING LEAR
How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.
14 CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, lov’d me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.
15 KING LEAR
But goes thy heart with this?
16 CORDELIA
Ay, good my lord.
17 KING LEAR
So young, and so untender?
18 CORDELIA
So young, my lord, and true.
19 KING LEAR
Let it be so! thy truth then be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night;
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever.
Excerpt from King Lear by William Shakespeare. In the public domain.