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KING LEAR.

Einleitung.

Von King Lear erschienen zuerst im Jahre 1608 zwei wenig von einander abweichende Ausgaben, mit esonderer Hervorhebung von Shakspere's Namen auf dem Titelblatt, welches zugleich den Inhalt ziemlich ausührlich angab und die Notiz hinzufügte, dass die Shakspere'sche Truppe das Drama vor König Jacob in dessen alast zu Whitehall aufgeführt habe, am 26. December, und zwar, wie aus der Eintragung des Buches in die BuchLändlerregister sich ergiebt, am 26. December 1606. Der Titel ist für beide Ausgaben, die wir nach ihren Formaten als Quartausgaben (Qs.) bezeichnen, fast identisch, und lautet:

M. William Shak-speare: His True Chronicle Historie of the life and death of King Lear and his three Daughters. With the unfortunate life of Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earle of Gloster, and his sullen and assumed humour of Tom of Bedlam. As it was played before the Kings Maiestie at Whitehall upon S. Stephans night in Christmas Hollidayes. By his Maiesties servants playing usually at the Gloabe on the Bancke-side. London, Printed for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Churchyard, at the signe of the Pide Bull nere St. Austin's Gate. 1608.

Die Erscheinung weiterer Einzelausgaben von King Lear hat die Shakspere'sche Schauspielertruppe, als rechtmässige Besitzerin des Bühnenmanuscriptes, nach welchem das Drama in den beiden Qs. abgedruckt ist, wahrscheinlich im Interesse ihres Theaters zu verhindern gewusst: King Lear wurde erst wieder veröffentlicht in der Gesammtausgabe von 1623 in Folio (Fol.), unter dem Titel The Tragedie of King Lear, hier zum ersten Male in Acte und Scenen eingetheilt, jedoch ohne Personenverzeichniss, und mit besserer Unterscheidung von Vers and Prosa, die in den überhaupt höchst incorrecten Qs. gänzlich vernachlässigt ist. Der Text der Fol. unterscheidet sich durchgängig von dem der Qs. durch Verbesserungen, durch Zusätze und durch Auslassungen. Die Verbesserungen verrathen durch das ganze Drama hindurch die Hand des Dichters und führen, wie auch Staunton bemerkt, zu der Annahme, dass dem Texte der Fol. eine spätere und durchgesehene Handschrift zum Grunde liegt. Bei den vielfachen Nachlässigkeiten und Incorrectheiten, an denen der Druck der Fol. leidet, behalten freilich die abweichenden Lesarten der Qs., den Varianten der Fol. gegenüber, in einzelnen Fällen ihren vollen Werth. Die Zusätze, grösstentheils aus einzelnen ganzen oder halben Zeilen bestehend, mag Shakspere zugleich mit den ebenerwähnten Verbesserungen dem Texte einverleibt haben. Umfangreicher als die Zusätze, welche die Fol. vor den Qs. voraus hat, sind die Auslassungen: es fehlen in der Fol. ungefähr 220 Zeilen, welche in den Qs. sich finden, sämmtlich Stellen, die entweder ausführende Schilderungen enthalten, oder doch in die Entwickelung der dramatischen Handlung und der Charaktere nicht eingreifen. Es ist anzunehmen, dass der Dichter selbst diese Abkürzungen veranstaltet hat, um das Drama, nachdem sich auf der Bühne dessen übermässige Länge als ein Uebelstand herausgestellt haben mochte, den Anforderungen der Darstellung besser anzupassen.

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Das Jahr, in welchem King Lear verfasst wurde, lässt sich wenigstens annähernd ziemlich genau bestimmen. 1603 erschien Harsnet's von Shakspere für sein Drama mehrfach benutztes Buch Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, und 1605 in neuer Auflage ein älteres Drama von unbekanntem Verfasser, das die Geschichte Lear's behandelte; ein Wiederabdruck, der ohne Zweifel veranlasst war durch die Popularität, deren sich der mittlerweile auf der Bühne, aber noch nicht im Druck erschienene Shakspere'sche Lear erfreute; man wollte, nach einer damals sehr gebräuchlichen Speculation, dem lesenden Publicum jenes ältere Schauspiel ähnlichen Inhalts und Namens statt des neuen, dessen man zur Veröffentlichung nicht habhaft werden konnte, darbieten. Später, am 26. November 1607, liess Nathaniel Butter, der Verleger der beiden 1608 erscheinenden Qs. (siehe oben den Titel derselben), den Shakspere'schen Lear, in dessen Besitz er sich nach einem hnenmanuscripte, wahrscheinlich ohne Ermächtigung des Dichters oder seiner Schauspielergesellschaft, gesetzt latte, als seinen Verlagsartikel in die Verzeichnisse der Buchhändlerregister eintragen, mit der beigefügten Notiz: ayt was played before the King's Majestie at Whitehall, upon St. Stephen's night at Christmas last (gl. oben). Der Dichter muss also den King Lear 1604 oder 1605, in seinem vierzigsten oder einundvierzigsten Lebensjahre, geschrieben haben.

Die Sage

vom König Lear und seinen drei Töchtern hat aus mittelalterlichen lateinischen und französischen Quellen ihren Weg in Holinshed's englische Chronik gefunden, und dorther entlehnte Shakspere diesen wie so

manchen anderen Stoff in seinen allgemeinen, jedoch von ihm künstlerisch vielfach modificirten Umris Holinshed nämlich erzählt folgendermassen:

Leir, the son of Baldud, was admitted ruler over the Britains in the year of the world 3105. what time Joas reigned as yet in Juda. This Leir was a prince of noble demeanour, governing his la and subjects in great wealth. He made the town of Cairleir, now called Leicester, which standeth the river of Dore. It is writ that he had by his wife three daughters, without other issue, whose names ve Gonorilla, Regan, and Cordilla, which daughters he greatly loved, but especially the youngest, Cord far above the two elder.

When this Leir was come to great years, and began to wear unwieldy through age, he though i to understand the affections of his daughters towards him, and prefer her whom he best loved to the cession of the kingdom; therefore, he first asked Gonorilla, the eldest, how well she loved him: the which, calling her gods to record, protested that she loved him more than her own life, which by right and reason should be most dear unto her; with which answer the father, being well pleased, turned to the sec and demanded of her how well she loved him? which answered (confirming her sayings with great vaths) that she loved him more than tongue can express, and far above all other creatures in the world Then called he his youngest daughter, Cordilla, before him, and asked of her what account the made of him: unto whom she made this answer as followeth: - Knowing the great love and fatherly you have always borne towards me (for the which, that I may not answer you otherwise than I think and as my conscience leadeth me), 1 protest to you that I have always loved you, and shall continually r I live, love you as my natural father; and if you would more understand of the love that I b ascertain yourself, that so much as you have, so much you are worth, and so much I love you, and

no more.

The father, being nothing content with this answer, married the two eldest daughters, the unto the duke of Cornwall, named Henninus, and the other unto the duke of Albania, called Maglowu and betwixt them, after his death, he willed and ordained his land should be divided, and the one-ha thereof should be immediately assigned unto them in hand; but for the third daughter, Cordilla, he served nothing.

Yet it fortuned that one of the princes of Gallia (which now is called France), whose name yu Aganippus, hearing of the beauty, womanhood, and good conditions of the said Cordilla, desired to hast her in marriage, and sent over to her father, requiring that he might have her to wife; to whom ansva was made, that he might have his daughter, but for any dowry he could have none, for all was promiųl and assured to her other sisters already.

Aganippus, notwithstanding this answer of denial to receive anything by way of dower with le dilla, took her to wife, only moved thereto (I say) for respect of her person and amiable virtues. T Aganippus was one of the twelve kings that ruled Gallia in those days, as in the British history it is corded. But to proceed; after that Leir was fallen into age, the two dukes that had married his two el est daughters, thinking it long ere the government of the land did come to their hands, arose against his in armour, and reft from him the governance of the land, upon conditions to be continued for ter life: by the which he was put to his portion; that is, to live after a rate assigned to him for the maint nance of his estate, which in process of time was diminished, as well by Maglanus as by Henninus,

But the greatest grief that Leir took was to see the unkindness of his daughters, who seemed t think that all was too much which their father had, the same being never so little, in so much that, gan from the one to the other, he was brought to that misery that they would allow him only one servant ( wait upon him. In the end, such was the unkindness, or, as I may say, the unnaturalness, which he found in his two daughters, notwithstanding their fair and pleasant words uttered in time past, that, bag constrained of necessity, he fled the land, and sailed into Gallia, there to seek some comfort of his est daughter, Cordilla, whom before he hated.

The lady Cordilla hearing he was arrived in poor estate, she first sent to him privately a an of money to apparel himself withal, and to retain a certain number of servants, that might attend p him in honourable wise, as apperteyned to the estate which he had borne. And then, so accompany e appointed him to come to the court, which he did, and was so joyfully, honourably, and lovingly received, both by his son-in-law Aganippus, and also by his daughter Cordilla, that his heart was greatly c forted: for he was no less honoured than if he had been king of the whole country himself. Also, oftes that he had informed his son-in-law and his daughter in what sort he had been used by his other daugh ters, Aganippus caused a mighty army to be put in readiness, and likewise a great navy of ships to be rigged to pass over into Britain, with Leir his father-in-law, to see him again restored to h kingdom. It was accorded that Cordilla should also go with him to take possession of the land, the which he promised to leave unto her, as his rightful inheritor after his decease, notwithstanding any former grants made unto her sisters, or unto their husbands, in any manner of wise; hereupon, when this army end navy of ships were ready, Leir and his daughter Cordilla, with her husband, took the sea, and arriving in Britain, fought with their enemies, and discomfited them in battle, in the which Maglanus and Henni nus were lain, and then was Leir restored to his kingdom, which he ruled after this by the space of two years, and then died, forty years after he first began to reign. His body was buried at Leicester, in a vault under the channel of the river Dore, beneath the town.

In Holinshed's Chronik fand Shakspere auch das Motiv zu seiner Darstellung von Cordelia's Tode, frei lich wiederum in veränderter Weise. Cordelia, die Nachfolgerin ihres Vaters auf dem Throne Britanniens, wird

und

von ihren aufrührerischen Neffen, den Kindern ihrer Schwestern, bekriegt und gefangen genommen, m Gefängniss erhängt sie sich aus Verzweiflung. Dieser Stoff, wie er in Holinshed vorliegt, wurde For Shakspere bereits von andern Dichtern bearbeitet. Edmund Spenser widmete ihm sechs Stanzen in einer Faerie Queene (Buch 2, Gesang 10), ohne dass jedoch Shakspere aus diesem versificirten Chronikenericht etwas Anderes entnahm, als vielleicht den Namen Cordelia. der bei Holinshed Cordilla lautet. Ausführlicher behandelte schon vor Spenser denselben Gegenstand Higgins in dem epischen Lehrgedichte Mirror for Magistrates, aber auch ihm scheint Shakspere nichts entlehnt zu haben, eben so wenig der in Versen gebrachten Geschichte Englands, welche Warner unter dem Titel Albion's England herausgab.

Das alte Drama: The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan and Cordelia, schon im Jahre 1594 in die Buchhändlerregister eingetragen und wahrscheinlich auch damals schon gedruckt, ist auf uns nur in der späteren Auflage von 1605 gekommen. Es behanfelt den Stoff nach der Darstellung des Chronisten und nähert sich der Shakspere'schen Behandlung nur insofern , als die Freundschaft Kent's ihr Vorbild hat an einem Freunde, Namens Perillus, der dem Leir des unbekannen Verfassers eben so tren in seinem Unglück zur Seite steht. Einige weitere Einzelnheiten, die Shakspere mit einem Vorgänger in flüchtiger Aehnlichkeit gemeinsam hat, ergeben sich aus der zweifachen Behandlung eines nd desselben Stückes. Von dem Styl dieses weitschweifigen und schwerfälligen Dramas mag die Scene, welche er ersten in Shakspere's Lear theilweise entspricht, eine Probe geben:

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If any of his daughters love to him:

et for my part, to shew my zeal to you, Which cannot be in windy words rehearst, prize my love to you at such a rale, Ithinke my life inferiour to my love.

Should

you injoine me for to tie a milstone
About my neck, and leape into the sea,
At your commaund I willingly would doe it:
Yea for to doe you good, I would ascend
The highest turret in all Brittany,

And from the top leape headlong to the ground:
Nay, more, should you appoint me for to marry
The meanest vassaile in the spacious world,
Without reply I would accomplish it:

In briefe, commaund whatever you desire,
And if I faile, no favour I require.

Leir. O, how thy words revive my dying

soule!

Cor. O, how I doe abhorre this flattery!
Leir. But what sayth Ragan to her father's

will?

Pag. O, that my simple utterance could suffice

To tell the true intention of my heart,

Which burnes in zeale of duty to your grace:
And never can be quench'd, but by desire
To shew the same in outward forwardnesse.
Oh, that there were some other maid that durst
But make a challenge of her love with me;
Ide make her soone confesse she never loved
Her father halfe so well as I doe you.

I then my deeds should prove in plainer case,
How much my zeale aboundeth to your grace:
But for them all, let this one meane suffice
To ratify my love before your eyes:
I have right noble suters to my love;
No worse then kings, and happely I love one:
Yes, would you have me make my choice anew,
Ide bridle fancy, and be rulde by you.
Leir. Did never Philomel sing so sweet a note.
Cor. Did never flatterer tell so false a tale.
Leir. Speak now, Cordella, make my joys at

full,

And drop downe nectar from thy honey lips.
Cor. I cannot paint my duty forth in words,
I hope my deeds shall make report for me:
But looke what love the child doth owe the father,
The same to you I beare, my gracious lord.

Gon. Here is an answere answerlesse indeed: Were you my daughter, I should scarcely brooke it.

Rag. Dost thou not blush, proud peacock as thou art,

To make our father such a slight reply?

Leir. Why how now minion, are you growne
so proud?

Doth our deare love make you thus peremptory?
What, is your love become so small to us,
As that you scorne to tell us what it is?

Do

you love us, as every child doth love
Their father? True indeed, as some,

Who by disobedience short their father's dayes,
And so would you; some are so father-sick.
That they make meanes to rid them from the
world:

And so would you: some are indifferent,
Whether their aged parents live or die;
And so are you. But, didst thou know, proud
girle,

What care I had to foster thee to this,

Ah, then thou wouldst say as thy sisters do:
Our life is lesse, then love we owe to you.

Cor. Deare father, do not so mistake my words,
Nor my plaine meaning be misconstrued;
My toung was never usde to flattery.

Gon. You were not best say I flatter: if you
do,

My deeds shall shew, I flatter not with you.
I love my father better then thou canst.

Cor. The praise were great, spoke from another's | Shift as thou wilt, and trust unto thyselfe:

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My kingdome will I equally devide
'Twixt thy two sisters to their royal dowre,
And will bestow them worthy their deserts:
This done, because thou shalt not have the hope
To have a child's part in the time to come,
I presently will dispossesse myselfe,
And set up these upon my princely throne.
Gon. I ever thought that pride would have
fall.

Rag. Plaine dealing sister: your beauty
sheene,

You need no dowry, to make you be a queene,
[Exeunt Leir, Gonorill, Baga

Von dem Wahnsinn Lear's, seiner Gefangennehmung und seinem tragischen Ende fand Shakspere bei ki dieser Vorgänger die geringste Spur: denn eine von Percy in seinen Reliques of Ancient English Part mitgetheilte Ballade, in welcher diese Umstände zum Theil vorkommen, ist offenbar von späterem Datur. Tragödie unsers Dichters, und scheint aus einer Vermengung des Shakspere'schen Lear mit dem Lear de hervorgegangen zu sein. Auch die Parallele, in welche Shakspere das Schicksal Gloster's zu dem Schicksal stellt, gehört ganz und gar ihm selber an. Er hatte in Sidney's Arcadia die Geschichte eines paphlag Königs gefunden, der in blinder Vorliebe für seinen unehelichen Sohn, den Edmund unseres Drama's, sich dessen falsche Anklagen gegen seinen gutgearteten rechtmässigen Sohn dergestalt einnehmen lässt, dass er Dienern den Befehl zur Tödtung des Letztern ertheilt. Dieser entwischt jedoch, um dann späterhin seinem V den der Bastard nicht nur der Herrschaft beraubt, sondern auch blenden lässt und in's Elend verstösst, zum rer zu dienen. Auch die Spitze des Felsens, zu der der Alte sich führen lassen will, um durch einen Sturz vo herab seinem verhassten Leben ein Ende zu machen, kommt in der Arcadia wie im Drama vor, nur dass treue Sohn auch nicht einmal scheinbar gehorcht. Die betreffende Stelle, dem Sohn in den Mund gelegt, lautet Sidney so:

This old man, whom I lead, was lately rightful prince of Paphlagonia, by the hard-hearted gratefulness of a son of his, deprived not only of his kingdom, but of his sight, the riches which na grants to the poorest creatures; whereby and by other his unnatural dealings, he hath been drive such griefs, as even now he would have had me to have led him to the top of this rock, thence to himself headlong to death; and so would have had me, who received my life of him, to be the worker his destruction.

Ausser diesen allgemeinen Zügen hat Shakspere auch dieser Quelle nichts zu verdanken; wie alles Uebrige, musste er selbst schaffen.

die Charakteri Für die Rolle, welche Edgar als Besessener zu spielen hat, entlehnte Shakspere das Material thei aus dem 1603 erschienenen obenerwähnten Buche von Dr. L. Harsnet, späterem Erzbischof von York. Buch sollte die damals zum Zweck der Proselytenmacherei von einigen Jesuiten betriebenen Teufelsbanne enthüllen, deren Hauptschauplatz das Haus eines Katholiken, Namens Peckham, war, wo zwei Diener drei Kammermädchen der Familie für Besessene ausgegeben und von den Priestern in die Cur gene wurden. Aus den Bekenntnissen, die durch eine gerichtliche Untersuchung herbeigeführt wurden, und den Hauptinhalt des Buches bilden, nahm der Dichter das in den Anmerkungen bezeichnete sachliche Deta Edgar's Wahnsinnsreden.

Schliesslich mögen hier aus der obenerwähnten Ballade die Verse stehen, welche Lear's Wahnsinn nen, sowie seiner Cordelia Tod enthalten.

Thus twixt his daughters, for relief
He wand'red up and down;
Being glad to feed on beggar's food,
That lately wore a crown.
And calling to remembrance then
His youngest daughter's words,
That said the duty of a child
Was all that love affords:

But doubting to repair to her,
Whom he had banish'd so,

Grew frantick mad; for in his mind

He bore the wounds of woe:

Which made him rend his milk-white locks,

And tresses from his head,

And all with blood bestain his cheeks,
With age and honour spread.

To hills and woods and watry founts
He made his hourly moan,

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In brave and gallant sort,

She gave in charge he should be brought
To Aganippus' court;

Whose royal king, with noble mind

So freely gave consent,

To muster up his knights at arms,
To fame and courage bent.

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