Shakespeare's "King Lear", 4.2.47-51

Abstract

Two versions of the IV.ii.47-51 passage are quoted from Alexander's and Foakes's editions because the editorial punctuation of the two texts clearly reflects two quite different interpretations of the passage: in the first, there is no punctuation mark after "come" in line 3, whereas in the second, there is. If we carefully reflect on the two seeming interpretations, it becomes apparent that only one of them actually makes sense, and the other one must be discarded. Daalder argues that, as a result, there should be no punctuation mark after come. Editors who add a punctuation mark as though the First Quarto has wrongly omitted it are in error, and they obscure the sense of the passage.