Page 82 [82]
SHAKESPEARE’S ART OF POESY IN KING LEAR
gentleman from a yeoman: a souldier from a citizen, and the chiefe of euery
degree from their inferiours, because in confusion and disorder there is no
manner of decencie.”?!°
In King Lear, there are at least two passages that make this description
relevant to the interpretation of this scene, one of which is the Fool’s riddle,
when he asks Lear, “Prithe Nunckle tell me, whether a mad man be a Gentleman
or a Yeoman.”*"! According to Puttenham’s examples, this question could be
easily decided by looking at their clothing, yet Lear’s answer refers to Lear
himself: “A King, a King...” though the only “mad” character on stage is Edgar
in the disguise of the half-naked poor Tom. Nevertheless, later, Lear draws
attention to Edgar’s clothing again, saying, “You sir, I entertaine you for one
of my hundred, / Only I do not like the fashion of your garments youle say, /
They are Persian attire, but let them be chang’d.”*”” Puttenham also provides
a description of the characteristics of Persian clothing: “And the country
custome maketh things decent in vse [...] The Turke and Persian to wear great
tolibants of ten, fifteen, and twentie ells of linen a peece vpon their heads,
which can not be remooued: in Europe to were caps or hats, which vpon euery
occasion of saluation we vse to put of, as a sign of reuerence.”*!
If Lear’s remark on “Persian attire” partly refers to Edgar’s imaginary
tolibant, then the king seems to ask him to take it off, which Edgar could
hardly do, according to Puttenham’s description; therefore, these lines may
also contribute to the indecent quality of the scene.* Yet the source of
mockery in both cases is the fact that the characters point out something
unacceptable about Edgar’s clothing, though Edgar actually appears as a half¬
naked madman.
Still, by seventeenth-century standards, Edgar’s most outrageously indecent
deed is in fact that he almost starts crying: “My teares begin to take his part
so much, They marre my counterfetting.”# As Puttenham explains, “but
generally to weepe for any sorrow (as one may doe for pitie) is not so decent
in a man: and therefore all high minded persons, when they cannot chuse but
310 Ibid., 237.
31 Shak-speare: His True Chronicle, sig. G3v.
322 Tbid., sig. G4r-G4v.
313 Puttenham: The Arte, 239.
34 According to the OED, in the seventeenth century, the words attire and garment had general
meanings and could denote any article of dress. In the case of attire, the dictionary lists a
meaning typical of the sixteenth and seventeenth century: “a head-dress of women,” which
could strengthen the impression that these lines might have referred to a piece of clothing
on Edgar’s head. And if this association with female pieces of clothing is appropriate, then
the scene gains an even more comical overtone.
Shak-speare: His True Chronicle, sig. G4r.
31
a
* 80°