Edmund: “Thou, nature, art my goddess”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

This is the opening of Act 1, Scene 2 of King Lear. Edmund is the younger son of the Earl of Gloucester, born outside marriage. In the play’s first lines, with Edmund standing right there, Gloucester joked to the Earl of Kent about the “good sport” he had with Edmund’s mother, said he used to blush to acknowledge the boy, and mentioned that Edmund has been away for nine years “and away he shall again.” Gloucester also has a legitimate son, Edgar, about a year older, who will inherit everything.

In the same scene King Lear divided his kingdom between his two flattering daughters, disowned Cordelia and banished Kent. The old order is already cracking.

Now Edmund is alone, holding a letter he has forged in Edgar’s handwriting, which hints that Edgar is plotting against their father and offers Edmund half his income. He speaks to Nature, to the audience and to his absent brother. As he finishes, Gloucester enters, still reeling from what has just happened at court. Edmund makes a show of hiding the letter, so that his father will insist on reading it, and the plot begins.

Lines: 22
Words: 165
At 150 wpm: 1.1 min
Form: Verse

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 5 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–6 · Why should custom rule me?

1Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
5For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?

In plain English Nature, you are my goddess, and I serve your law alone. Why should I put up with the curse of custom, and let the fussy rules of society cut me out, just because I was born twelve or fourteen months after my brother? Why “bastard”? Why “base”?

Acting note He chooses his god in the first line. StageMilk stresses that he is literally speaking to Nature, setting her law against the law of men. Then one long question builds to the two words he hates.

Lines 7–10 · As good as any

7When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
10With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?

In plain English My body is as well made, my mind as noble, my looks as true to my father’s as any respectable wife’s son. So why do they brand us with “base”? With “baseness”? “Bastardy”? “Base, base”?

Acting note The RSC points to the repeated b sounds here, as if he is spitting the words out. Each “base” is a different blow; find a reason for every repeat.

Lines 11–15 · Children of passion

11Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
15Got ’tween asleep and wake? Well, then,

In plain English We are made in the lusty secrecy of nature, and we get more substance and fire from it than a whole tribe of idiots conceived in a dull, stale, tired marriage bed, somewhere between sleeping and waking. Well, then,

Acting note He turns the insult upside down: being born of passion makes him stronger. It is an argument, not a dirty joke, though he clearly enjoys it. Line 15 is short, and “Well, then” is the hinge into action.

Lines 16–18 · Legitimate Edgar

16Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word—legitimate!── 60-second cut ends here ──

In plain English legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father loves his bastard Edmund just as much as his legitimate son. What a fine word, “legitimate”!

Acting note Now he speaks to the brother who isn’t there. StageMilk calls “legitimate” the word he hates more than any other; play with it differently each time. The 60-second cut on this page ends at line 18.

Lines 19–22 · The letter

19Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
20And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

In plain English Well, my legitimate brother, if this letter works and my scheme succeeds, Edmund the base will come out on top of the legitimate one. I grow, I prosper. Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

Acting note The letter makes the plan real, so the energy rises from here. “I grow; I prosper” can be felt in the body. The last line is a cry for allies, flung up at the gods just before his father walks in.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
Wherefore	2	why
plague of custom	3	the curse of social convention
curiosity of nations	4	the fussy, hair-splitting rules of society
moon-shines	5	months
Lag of	6	behind, younger than
base	6	low-born; also worthless
compact	7	put together, formed
generous	8	noble, well-bred
honest madam’s issue	9	a respectable married woman’s child
lusty stealth of nature	11	secret, passionate sex outside marriage
composition	12	substance, makeup
fops	14	fools
Got	15	conceived
speed	19	succeed
invention	20	scheme, plot
top	21	get the better of, rise above

How to perform it

Know your three listeners: Nature, whom he addresses as a real goddess in line 1; the audience, whom he wins over through the arguments of lines 2 to 15; and Edgar, who is not there, from line 16. Make each switch clear, and let the audience feel he is recruiting them.
Play the objective, not the villain. StageMilk warns that this speech lends itself to overacting and over-characterisation, and that it is never useful to see a character as evil. Edmund has been called names all his life and has a case to make. LitCharts notes that a modern reader may well sympathise with him at this point.
Follow the thoughts through the verse. Lines 2 to 6 and lines 7 to 10 are each one long question, and many lines run on without a pause. Carry each question through to its question mark rather than stopping at the end of every line.
Make the repeated words do the work. “Base” comes five times (plus “baseness”) and “legitimate” five times. If they all sound the same, the speech turns into noise. Find what each one is doing: questioning, mocking, savouring, triumphing.
Use the letter. Whether you hold a real page or an imagined one, it is the proof that this is not just complaint but a plan already in motion. The shift at “if this letter speed” (line 19) is where the speech changes gear.
Common mistakes: snarling from the first word; rushing lines 11 to 15 because they are awkward to say; and ending on a scream. The last line can be playful as much as loud.

Using it in an audition

This is one of the most common classical speeches for young men. Acting Coach Scotland lists it among the seven most popular male Shakespeare monologues for drama school auditions, and StageMilk calls it one of the best-known audition pieces and also one of the most poorly performed. That means a panel will compare you with many others, so clarity and a specific point of view matter more than intensity. The full speech runs about 1.1 minutes at 150 words a minute, comfortably inside a 90-second limit. The 60-second cut on this page ends at line 18, on his sneer at the word “legitimate”; it loses the letter and the final cry, so use the full version unless you are strictly held to a minute. Gloucester calls Edmund “this young fellow” in the first scene, so the speech suits younger actors best. Pair it with something warm and comic, such as Benedick’s “This can be no trick” from Much Ado About Nothing.

Edmund, King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	1.3 minutes
Conversational	150	1.1 minutes
Brisk	170	1.0 minutes

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer. The cut marks in the text stop at a full sentence near 60 seconds (line 18).

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

T, n, a m g; t t l

M s a b. W s I

S i t p o c, a p

T c o n t d m,

F t I a s t o f m-s

L o a b? W b? w b?

W m d a a w c,

M m a g, a m s a t,

A h m i? W b t u

W b? w b? b? b, b?

W, i t l s o n, t

M c a f q

T d, w a d, s, t b,

G t t c a w t o f,

G ’t a a w? W, t,

L E, I m h y l:

O f l i t t b E

A t t l: f w—l!

W, m l, i t l s,

A m i t, E t b

S t t l. I g; I p:

N, g, s u f b!

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for men, Dramatic monologues.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Edmund’s Thou, nature, art my goddess speech?

22 lines and 165 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.1 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 1.3 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.