All 3 Uses of
bedlam
in
King Lear
- —he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy: my cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam.†
Scene 1.2 *bedlam = a noisy and disorderly situation
- The country gives me proof and precedent Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary; And with this horrible object, from low farms, Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills, Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers, Enforce their charity.†
Scene 2.3
- Let's follow the old earl, and get the Bedlam To lead him where he would: his roguish madness Allows itself to anything.†
Scene 3.7