...transgressors, but not the powerful criminals" (p. 62), precisely the point that Lear emphasizes: Thorough tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes and...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. (IVvi.166-169)1" In Act III Lear had used legal language in connection with the thunder...

...hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener. Thorough tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes and...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. (IV. vi. 151-69) A narrowly humanistic reading of this passage (following the approach...

...rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thy own back; Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whipp'st her....justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. None does offend, none, I say, none! I'll able 'em. Take that of me, my friend, who...

...lash that whore? Strip thy own back; Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whip'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener. Through tatter'd...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. None does offend, none - I say none; I'll able 'em. Take that of me, my friend, who...

...much the same in both versions. The only significant change is the addition in the Folio of the lines Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice...straw doth pierce it. None does offend, none, I say; I'll able 'em: Take that of me, my friend, who have the power To seal th' accuser's lips. (4.6.165-69)...

...Art (1796) (London, Pickering & Chatto, 1997), p. 42. 65 Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene vi: Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. 66 Inchbald, Nature and Art, p. 81. 67 Burke, Reflections, p. 73. 68 Robinson, The...

...But in my garments (iv, vi, 9-10) and in the same scene (rv, vi) Lear returns to his former argument: Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. (iv, vi, 168-71) Yet vesture has its positive significance; at the reunion of Cordelia...

...whore? Strip thine own back, Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whip'st her. . . Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; Robes...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. Then in the next line the King fires a lightning bolt against any ultimate condemnation...

...intrinsic worth, has its corollary: power itself is in control of'justice' (l. 166) rather than vice versa: The usurer hangs the cozener. Through tatter'd clothes...breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it. (IV. vi. 163-7) Scenes like this one remind us that King Lear Is, above all, a play about power, property...

...corruption which make the punished one with the punisher : Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;...justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. (IV.vi.i64-7i) In denying authority, Lear is again denying his own position as a king...