GLOUCESTER The trick of that voice I do well remember:
Is ‘t not the king?
KING LEAR Ay, every inch a king
(King Lear act 4, sc. 6)
Comments. Confirm the exceptional standing of a person. You can change ‘king’ to ‘queen’, ‘prince’ or other equivalent (preferably monosyllabic) titles with equal effect. Equally effective in a negative sense, e.g. “Every inch a scoundrel.” Or a possible answer to, “Is it you?”, “Ay, every inch myself.” Comments on personalities tend to be the metaphorical double-edge sword. For example, the English writer and Clergyman Sidney Smith (1771-1845), commenting on a couple he knew, said, “I like them both. He is so ladylike and she such a perfect gentleman…” The evident power of personality so concisely expressed in the Shakespearean entry was expressed (in its consequences) by the American writer and suffragette Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945). Referring to a strong female leader she said, “In her single person she managed to produce the effect of a majority.”
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In the Play. Gloucester, blinded by the Duke of Cornwall rejoins Lear and his party at Dover.
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