King Lear Summary and Analysis

Act I Summary:

scene i:

Gloucester and Kent, loyal to King Lear, objectively discuss his division of the kingdom (as Lear is preparing to step down) and to which dukes, Cornwall and Albany, they believe it will equally fall. Kent is introduced to Gloucester's illegitimate son, Edmund. Gloucester nonchalantly admits that the boy's breeding has been his charge ever since impregnating another woman soon after his legitimate son, Edgar, was born. Kent is pleased to meet Edmund. Gloucester mentions that Edmund has been nine years in military service and will return shortly.
Lear enters and sends Gloucester to find France and Burgundy, Cordelia's suitors. He then begins to discuss the partitioning of Britain he has devised to each of his three daughters and their husbands. Lear decides to ask each of his daughters to express how much they love him before he hands over their piece of the kingdom. As oldest, Goneril speaks first, expressing her love as all encompassing. Regan adds that she is enemy to other joys. Lear gives each their parcel, wishing them well. Cordelia, as the youngest and most liked daughter, is saved the choicest piece of land. However, she responds to her father's request by saying she has nothing to add. She loves only as much as her obligation entitles and will save some of her love for a husband. Lear is enraged and hurt. After giving her a few chances, he strips Cordelia of any title or relation. Kent intercedes on her behalf but he too is estranged by Lear. Kent cries that honesty will continue to be his guide in any kingdom.
Cordelia's suitors enter. Lear apprises them of Cordelia's new state of non-inheritance. Burgundy cannot accept her under the circumstances, but France finds her more appealing and takes her as his wife. Cordelia is not unhappy to leave her sisters and leaves with France. Goneril and Regan conspire to take rule away from Lear quickly as he is becoming more unreasonable.

scene ii:

The scene centres around Edmund, at first alone on stage, crying out against his position as bastard to the material world. He is envious of Edgar, the legitimate son, and wishes to gain what he has by forging a treasonous letter concerning Gloucester from Edgar. Gloucester enters, amazed at the events which have occurred during the last scene. He wishes to know why Edmund is hiding a letter and demands to see it. He shrewdly acts as if he is embarrassed to show it to Gloucester and continually makes excuses for Edgar's apparent behaviour. Gloucester reads the letter detailing "Edgar's" call to Edmund to take their father's land from him. Edmund asks that he not make too quick a judgment before they talk to Edgar as perhaps he is simply testing Edmund. He suggests forming a meeting where Edmund can ask Edgar about his proposals while Gloucester listens in secret. Gloucester agrees, musing on the effects of nature and its predictions. He leaves directly before Edgar enters. Edmund brings up the astronomical predictions he had discussed with Gloucester and alerts Edmund that Gloucester is very upset with him, though he knows not why. Edmund offers to take Edgar back to his lodging until he can bring he and Gloucester together and advises him to go armed. Edgar leaves and Edmund notes that he will soon take his due through wit.

scene iii:

Scene iii reintroduces Goneril, as she is outraged by the offences she contends Lear has been showing her since moving into her residence. He has struck Oswald for criticizing his fool, his knights are riotous and so on, she claims. Lear is out hunting. Goneril commands Oswald to allow her privacy from Lear and to treat Lear with "weary negligence". She does not want him to be happy, hoping that he will move to Regan's where she knows he will face the same contempt. She demands Oswald to treat his knights coldly as well. She leaves to write Regan.

scene iv:

Kent enters, disguised and hoping to serve in secret as a servant to Lear so that he can help him though he is condemned. Lear accepts to try him as a servant. Oswald comes in quickly before exiting again curtly. A knight tells Lear that Goneril is not well and that Oswald answered him curtly as well. The knight fears Lear is being treated wrongly. Lear had blamed himself for any coldness but agrees to look into a problem in Goneril's household. Lear's fool has hidden himself since Cordelia's departure so Lear sends the knight for him. Oswald re-enters, showing Lear the negligence Goneril had suggested. Lear and Kent strike him, endearing Kent in Lear's eyes. Oswald exits as Fool enters. Fool persistently mocks and ridicules Lear for his actions in scene i, his mistreatment of Cordelia, trust in Goneril and Regan, and giving up of his authority. He calls Lear himself a fool, noting he has given away all other titles. The fool notes that he is punished by Lear if he lies, punished by the household if he speaks the truth, and often punished for staying silent.
Goneril harps on the trouble Lear and his retinue are causing, such as the insolence of Fool and the riotous behaviour of the knights. She states that he is not showing her the proper respect and consideration by allowing these actions to occur. Lear is incredulous. Goneril continues by adding that as Lear's large, frenzied train cannot be controlled she will have to ask him to keep fewer than his hundred knights. Outraged, Lear admits that Goneril's offence makes Cordelia's seem small. As Albany enters, Lear curses Goneril with infertility or, in its stead, a thankless child. He then finds that his train has already been halved and again rages against the incredible impudence Goneril has shown him. He angrily leaves for Regan's residence. Albany does not approve of Goneril's behaviour and is criticized by her for being weak. Goneril sends Oswald with a letter to her sister, detailing her fear that Lear is dangerous and should be curtailed as soon as possible.

scene v:

Impatient, Lear sends the disguised Kent to bring letters to Gloucester. The Fool wisely warns that Regan will likely act no better than her sister had. He criticizes Lear for giving away his own home and place, using examples such as a snail carrying his shell. Lear recognizes he will have to subdue his fatherly instincts toward Regan as well. Fool points out that Lear has gotten old before he is wise. Lear cries out, praying that he will not go mad.

Act I Analysis:

The kingdom's division as alluded to by Kent and Gloucester is strange in that it is not mentioned in the context of Lear's daughters. The seeming arbitrariness this sheds on Lear's enactment of the love test provides a contrast through which to view the misplaced importance Lear is placing on words, appearance, and position. We will soon learn that Kent and Gloucester are two of the only men who could provide Lear with sound, sincere advice, thus endowing their original take of the situation with a greater significance. They have no problem with Lear's decision to divide the kingdom as he is old and is attempting to escape greater conflict after his death. Thus Kent's revolt against Lear's actions arises not from Lear's initial undertaking but from his reaction to Cordelia. Notice too that he does not protest when Lear asks for an estimation/competition for love from his daughters or when Goneril and Regan respond in very coarse, superficial words. He only strikes against Lear's rule when Lear does not notice the sincerity of Cordelia's words and then moves to strip her of his love and titles. This is not only foolish but hurtful and unjust.
The love test was foolish but, on the surface, harmed little. Yet, Goneril and Regan likely knew that their sister would not compete with them if their were extravagant enough in their claims of love toward their father. Of course, they did not love him with their all, but in Lear's old and insecure state, they knew he would fall for their insincerity and Cordelia would refrain from competing on such a hypocritical level. Notice the sonorous quality of the sisters' names. The two oldest have very harsh, coarse sounding names, lacking in femininity or beauty. Cordelia's name is much more melodic and feminine. This is the first constructed quality which sets her apart from her sisters. Also pay attention to the inflated verse Goneril and Regan use when addressing their father as opposed to the much harsher prose they regress to upon his exit in scene i. Their true voices are symbolized by the harsh prose we receive from them when alone, just as their names reverberate with crudeness. Cordelia however often speaks in rhyming couplets, a much more elevated form than her sisters, which allows her to be further set apart from their hypocrisy. We also note that Kent will at times, especially in his defence of Cordelia, slip into rhyming couplets. Shakespeare stresses the elevation of language to symbolize the true nature of characters, highlighting Kent and Cordelia as honourable characters.
Cordelia frequently however understates her sincerity and true affections. She is aware that her sisters speak superficially, employing terms of value and worth in expressing their love, and refuses to echo their hypocrisy, thus responding more coldly than she likely otherwise would. Her asides to the audience give an unadulterated view into her thoughts, similar to the true voices of Goneril and Regan we meet at the end of scene i. Her response "Nothing" echoes these asides instead of disguising them and illustrates to the reader how Cordelia as a character is stripped of pretence and artifice. The idea is echoed literally and symbolically in Lear's comment of scene iv, "Nothing can be made out of nothing" (I.iv.126). In the very same scene that Lear admits he has overreacted toward Cordelia, though only at this point acknowledging that Goneril's offence is greater, he perceives that truth and sincerity cannot be represented by pretence. Regardless of how well Lear has been fooled by the artifice of his older daughters, he allows the Fool to counteract his elderly need for praise and love. Not surprisingly in Shakespeare's plays, the Fool is often the least foolish, directing the lead characters to their miscues in slightly comedic or condescending ways. His singing to Lear illustrates further the use of language and the presentation of language which Shakespeare employs to distinguish between different characters' qualities or the different intentions of single characters.
King Lear is a parable, encrusted with symbolic figures and actions toward a predicted and fabled end. Suspension of disbelief must be enacted on a level as many readers are moved to question Lear's decision making and early blindness toward truth and goodness. As one critic raises, how would Kent and France recognize Cordelia's sincerity and inner beauty when her own father cannot? On a realistic level, Lear has started to regress toward dementia and old age. We know by Kent and Gloucester's loyalty toward him, that he had once been more reasonable. On the figurative and more appropriate level, Lear is a allegorical figure in a parable and must move blindly toward this character demise in order to be resurrected to honesty and the goodness his fallen daughter represents in the end. He committed a fatal and selfish human error which cannot be mended without the journey and transformation he must undergo. The story of King Lear had been kicked around in old British literature and lore, but Shakespeare appears to be the first to allow it to end as tragically as the story's course first suggests. With this in mind, Lear's life is headed in an almost inevitable downward spiral. The plot centres more around how Lear will handle this spiral and his conquering of artifice and insincerity.
Blindness is one of the most frequently employed metaphors in King Lear. Blindness will become a physical problem for Gloucester later in the play, but its metaphoric weight is used to foreshadow and heighten this development. Lear is blind to the blatant hypocrisy of his two oldest daughters from the first moment we meet him. However, unlike the implication that he was once a more noble man since he has the support of seemingly noble sub characters, Kent and Gloucester, we are not given the impression that he ever knew well enough to previously suspect Goneril or Regan of ingratitude or dishonesty. They have obviously shown their true colours at some point before though since Cordelia responds in such a manner to alert us that she will not sink as low in hypocrisy as her sisters will. For instance, she comments, "A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue/ That I am glad I have not, though not to have it/ Hath lost me in your liking" (I.i.231-233).
Thus, although Lear has obviously favoured Cordelia, he has been blind to the inherent ingratitude of his two other daughters and is foolish enough to trust them with his livelihood after more foolishly disinheriting Cordelia and exiling Kent. A good example of this is presented in the very first scene. Lear cries to Kent, "Out of my sight!" to which Kent retorts, "See better, Lear, and let me still remain/ The true blank of thine eye" (I.i.158-159). He wishes to be allowed to remain the one who could centre Lear's focus. Yet even when Kent re-enters the play disguised, he cannot alter the course that Lear has begun. Lear becomes increasingly blind to the truth around him. Sight, or the lack of it, is referenced a few scenes later more explicitly when Lear himself notices that he has lost sight of what is important, so to say. He cries, "Does any here know me? This is not Lear./ Does Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes?" (I.iv.216-217). Kent cannot become his eyes as the tragic plot and subplot move toward blindness and disillusion.
The subplot of child betraying sibling and father eerily and intentionally mirrors the plot of children betraying father and father betraying child. Shakespeare's method of juxtaposing the two plots through the interspersing of a scene relating to the plot with a scene centred around Edmund's sinister conspiracy allows the audience to have a heightened awareness of the actions of one through the other. In both, the strong, honourable patriarch is undone by the ingratitude of at least one of his children. Both patriarchs seem to have contributed slightly to the misdeeds of their children. Gloucester directly separates his sons as legitimate and illegitimate and mentions it frequently. He also notes that he sent Edmund away, likely because of his illegitimacy, for a long period of time and plans to do so again. Stripped of property and title, one is less surprised by Edmund's move to undo his destiny. However, Shakespeare creates in the characters of Edgar and Gloucester hearts which seem honourable and trusting, making Edmund's plot to betray them more disgusting. Note that Gloucester immediately believes the letter which Edmund shows him, not at once questioning Edmund's honesty although it would be doubtful that Gloucester had any previous reason to suspect or distrust Edgar. Similarly, Edgar immediately believes Edmund when he tells him he should worry about his safety and his relationship with his father. The audience gains from these interactions that Edmund has done nothing in the past to arouse suspicion. Instead it seems that he has been waiting patiently to upset the familial balance and now hurries to do so when threatened with further military service.
But remember, we must also keep in mind that an attempt to make sense out of every encounter and character intention is not the purpose of the play. Instead, we must explore the character flaws and relationship developments as they are entwined within the parable Shakespeare is constructing and expanding. The parable's breadth is exaggerated and amplified by the doubling of themes in the plot and subplot. The demise of the father's position through betrayal by his own children was considered to be one of the cruellest, harshest offences imaginable. This reflection of plot, for which the seeds are planted in Act I, magnifies the horrors of the tragedy. In this manner, blindness is one of the main symbolic and physical vehicles through which Shakespeare describes the horrors of ingratitude, insincerity, and hypocrisy.
Goneril is represented to the audience as one of the most evil participants in the familial crimes taking place. This character description is illustrated through the contrast Shakespeare establishes between her and her husband. Woman as the most evil of characters is not a new experiment for Shakespeare. Shortly before writing King Lear, he created a Lady Macbeth who expressed the need to sacrifice one's own children if necessary to gain more power and who urged her more weak hearted husband to kill the kind-hearted King. Though in the end of Macbeth Lady Macbeth is suffering from her evil, she was still the instigator who brought about the continued evils by urging her husband to yearn for more and more power. Here, Goneril also yearns for power but does not feel the need to aim indirectly for it. Albany is basically told to stay out of her way as he is too weak to know what is best. She places more trust in her servant Oswald, it seems, as she sends him off to run her important letter to Regan whereas she pushes Albany off to the side. She manipulates how her sister will act and the manner in which they will strip Lear of his property and authority. The stories she creates of Lear's riotous knights and so on are supported by nothing in Shakespeare's text. The characters in Lear's train who speak to him are well behaved, polite, and honourable. They try to protect him and Lear himself is shown well when he places the blame for Goneril's coldness on himself instead of her and her household. Thus we exit the first Act with the knowledge of Cordelia's goodness, Lear's previous goodness and impending madness, Fool's truth telling, Edmund's plotting, and Goneril's evil. The parable is well in place.

Act II Summary:

scene i:

Act II begins with a return to the secondary plot of Edmund, Edgar, and Gloucester. Edmund speaks with the courtier, Curan, who advises him that Regan and Cornwall will arrive shortly at Gloucester's castle. He also passes on the gossip that there may soon be a war between Cornwall and Albany. After Curan leaves, Edmund expresses his delight over the news he has learned as he can use that in his plot. Edgar enters and Edmund cleverly asks if he has offended Cornwall or Albany. Edgar says he has not. Edmund cries that he hears Gloucester coming and forces Edgar to draw his sword with him. Telling Edgar to flee, Edmund then wounds himself with his sword before calling out to Gloucester for help. Gloucester arrives quickly and sends servants to chase down the villain. Edmund explains that he would not allow Edgar to persuade him into murdering their father causing Edgar to slash him with his sword. He continues that Edgar threatened him and by no means intended to permit Edmund, an "unpossessing bastard", to stop him from his evil plot. Gloucester is indignant and claims that Edgar will be captured and punished. He promises that Edmund will become the heir of his land.
At this point, Cornwall and Regan enter the scene, wondering if the gossip they had heard about Edgar is correct. Gloucester confirms it is. Edmund cleverly confirms Regan's fear that Edgar was acting as part of Lear's riotous knights. Cornwall acknowledges the good act Edmund has done for Gloucester and promises to take him into their favour. After Gloucester and Edmund thank them, Regan explains why she and Cornwall have come to Gloucester's castle. She had received a letter from Goneril and so had left home to avoid Lear. She asks for Gloucester's assistance.

scene ii:

Oswald, Goneril's servant, and Kent, still disguised as Lear's servant Caius, meet at Gloucester's castle after first trekking to Cornwall's residence with messages. Oswald does not first recognize Kent but Kent recognizes him and responds to him curtly with curses and name-calling. He claims that Oswald comes with letters against the King and sides with his evil daughter. He calls Oswald to draw his sword at which Oswald cries out for help. The noise brings in Edmund, Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, and some servants.
When asked what the commotion is, Kent continues to insult Oswald, who is breathless. Oswald claims that he has spared Kent because of his grey beard at which Kent scoffs. He describes that Oswald is like a dog, ignorantly following a master. To Cornwall's incredulousness, Kent says that he does not like the look of his face. Oswald explains that Kent had no reason to strike him in Lear's company or to draw on him at Gloucester's. Kent refers to Cornwall and Regan as cowards and they call for the stocks. Regan comments that they should leave him not only until noon, as Cornwall had suggested, but for over a day. Gloucester protests but is overruled. After the others have exited, Gloucester apologizes to Kent and admits that the Duke is to blame. Alone, Kent muses over a letter he has received from Cordelia, implying that she knows he has taken disguise and promises to try to save her father from the evil of her sisters. Kent recognizes he is at the bottom of luck. He falls asleep.



scene iii:

Scene iii is solely a soliloquy by Edgar discussing his transformation into poor Tom, the beggar. He tells us that he has just missed being hunted as he heard them coming for him and hid in a hollow tree. In order to remain safe, he proposes to take on "the basest and most poorest shape", that of a beggar. He covers himself with dirt and filth, ties his hair in knots, strips off much of his clothing, and pricks his skin with pins and nails and so on. He no longer resembles Edgar.
scene iv:

Lear enters the scene with his fool and a gentleman, who tells him that he was not advised of Regan and Cornwall's removal to Gloucester's castle. They come upon Kent, still in the stocks. Lear does not believe that Regan and Cornwall would commit such an offence to Lear has to place his servant in the stocks but Kent reassures him that they have. He stresses that their punishment came only because he was angered enough by Oswald's presence and his letter to Regan to draw his sword upon Oswald. Fool comments on human nature, retorting that children are only kind to their parents when they are rich and that the poor are never given the chance for money. Lear feels ill and goes to look for Regan. Kent asks why Lear's train has shrunk to which Fool replies that many have lost interest in Lear as he has lost his riches and power. He advises all that are not fools to do the same.
Lear returns, amazed that Regan and Cornwall refuse to speak with him over weariness from travel. Gloucester attempts to excuse them by mentioning Gloucester's "fiery quality". Lear is enraged by this excuse. Although he momentarily considers that Gloucester may truly be ill, he is overwhelmed by anger and threatens to beat a drum by their door until they speak to him. Gloucester leaves to get them and shortly returns with them. They appear to act cordial at first to Lear and set Kent free. Lear is cautious toward Regan and tells her that if she is not truly glad to see him he would disown her and her dead mother. He expresses his grief to her over his stay with Goneril and Goneril's demands on him. Regan replies that he is very old and should trust their counsel. She advises him to return to Goneril and ask for her forgiveness as she is not yet prepared to care for him. Lear admits that he is old but pleads with Regan to care for him. She again refuses even with his arguments that Goneril has cut his train and his subsequent curses of Goneril. Regan is horrified. Lear pleads with her to act better than her sister. He finally asks who put Kent in the stocks.
Goneril arrives, as forecast in a letter to her sister. Lear calls on the gods to help him and is upset that Regan takes Goneril by the hand. He asks again how Kent was put in the stocks and Cornwall replies that that it was his order and Lear is appalled. Regan pleads again for him to return to Goneril's but he still holds hope that Regan will allow him all hundred of his train. However, Regan assures him that she has no room for the knights either and alerts him that he should only bring twenty-five with him after his month stay with Goneril. Lear replies that he has been betrayed after giving his daughter's his all, his land, authority and his care. He decides to go then with Goneril as she must love him more if she will agree to fifty knights. At this point, Goneril diminishes her claim, asking him if needs twenty-five, ten, or five? Regan adds that he does not even need one. Lear cries that need is not the issue. He compares his argument to Regan's clothes which are too scant for warmth. She wears them not for need but for vanity just as a King keeps many things he does not need for other reasons. He hopes that he will not cry and fears that he will go mad. He leaves with Fool, Kent, and Gloucester. A storm is heard approaching and Cornwall calls them to withdraw. Regan and Goneril discuss how it is Lear's own fault if they leave him out in the storm. Gloucester asks them to reconsider but is again overruled. Regan has the house boarded up.
Act II Analysis:

Interestingly, we begin Act II with the subplot, encountering Edmund with a minor character, the courier Curan. Shakespeare is pointing out that the subplot carries significant weight in his message. Furthermore, stylistically it makes sense for the subplot to start the Act because the main plot had finished the Act before and the two plots generally alternate. Edmund speaks with the courtier so that he can learn of Regan and Cornwall's approach and so the audience can see his inherent ability to quickly manipulate information and use it to his advantage. Within moments, he has succeeded in convincing Edgar that Albany and Cornwall are after him and that it is better to draw swords.
He also easily manages to demonize Edgar in Gloucester's eyes with out arousing any suspicion toward himself. His appeals to Gloucester are craftily devised, even to the extent that he brings up the subject of his position in such a manner that he creates sympathy in his father while further ruining Edgar. These events further establish Edmund as evil, especially compared to the gullible Gloucester and Edgar, and move him closer to the monster we will see him become. It is common in Shakespeare's plays, however, for the good characters to easily fall victim to their evil counterparts, whether to show how trusting they are or simply to make the plot flow easier. Especially in King Lear, which follows a very patterned, symbolic parable form, the good characters must fulfil their role without questioning much of the evil they encounter. We see Gloucester making attempts to overcome the cruelty Cornwall and Regan show to Kent when they put him in the stocks and to Lear when he is closed out in the storm. However as he is overruled on both occasions, we note that Gloucester is too weak to follow his conscience at this point in the play.
These encounters also illustrate Regan's dominance over her husband, paralleling the relationship we saw between Goneril and Albany except for in the manner in which the husbands react. Cornwall easily acquiesces to his wife's demands and calls them into action himself. Albany shows a bit of humanity when he questions Goneril's treatment of her father and refuses to agree with her. Thus Regan and Cornwall set up a united and cruel front when facing Kent and Lear. Regan's demands are harshest as she calls for Kent to remain in the stocks through the next night. Furthermore, it is her idea to close her father out in the storm. The largest front though which Lear faces is the united team of Goneril and Regan who, regardless of their husband's supposed land quarrel, stand together against their father's attempt to guard his dignity. In much the same way Shakespeare allows the audience to feel a certain sympathy to Edmund, people could empathize with Goneril and Regan's positions as they are forced to have a new and somewhat pompous house guest with a hundred followers. The evil they show more and more as the play progresses thus hits the audience harder as they must come to realize the true and hardened evil the sisters represent. Again, they are emblems following a pattern in the parable. King Lear, it has been said, is very much a Cinderella type fable and Goneril and Regan satisfy the roles of the evil stepsisters. They are cold-hearted and by the end of the Act we cannot help but feel pity for Lear is stripped of every one of his knights if he wishes to live in accordance to the agreement he set up with his daughters so that he could live out his retirement happy. That will not be and they are cruel in understanding his transition.
Moreover, the two sisters calmly justify their treatment of Lear to each other while they nonchalantly decide to leave their elderly and emotional father out in the large storm forming. Symbolically that storm is a representation of Lear's own fury and the evil doings of his daughters, while also foreshadowing the mental storms to come for Lear and Gloucester. With the familial conflicts brewing, the gods, so to say, are not pleased, thus echoing the emotional environment on Earth. In this Pagan play, the symbolism becomes important, establishing a spiritual signifier, an agent, for expressing the mood which Shakespeare is creating. Gloucester functions as the character who follows the messages of the gods and cosmos the most in order for the audience to get a feel for its importance in the lives of the characters without having to involve Lear himself too deeply in this issue. Gloucester predicts the disasters to come through comments such as, "'Twill be ill taken" (II.2.155). He cannot be referring to the household itself with this comment, spoken about Cornwall's action in putting Kent in the stocks. Likely the action would be ill taken by Lear but also by the Gods and they prepare to show their fury and unleash their storm.
Lear's descent toward madness is foretold further, and more explicitly, when he cries, "O fool, I shall go mad!" (II.4.281). During Act II, the symbolic components in addition to the cruelty of Goneril and Regan surpass Lear's threshold for sanity and he is thrown out into the elements and left to find himself. Lear after this point will move toward what many call essential man, stripping himself of the pretence and artifice and assumed importance he has drawn around himself as King and ruler and father. Lear, though seeming more the honourable man we know he must have once been, is still hung up on love as an object which can be quantified. He decides which daughter he would most want to live with based on how many knights they will allow him to keep. He claims, "I'll go with thee [Goneril]./ Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,/ And thou are twice her love" (II.4.253-255). By so basely equating love and quantity, love and material things, the audience feels dearly how much Lear is still missing the point.
One almost wonders if the methods through which Goneril and Regan expressed to Lear their love in Act I was based somewhat on the way they had been taught to love by their father. We must conclude, however, that love was not their intention, but manipulation. We are given even greater notice of their contrast with Cordelia as we hear of Kent's letter from her. Time is left vague in the play purposely. We are not meant to question how it is Cordelia knew how to find Kent, nor how she knew he was in disguise when it had been about a day, it seems, since he had arrived to Lear in disguise. Instead, recognize these events as part of the sequence of patterned movement in the parable. Cordelia, often seen as a Christ figure (though less significant in a pagan setting), is moving behind the scenes to aid her ailing father and save him from her evil sisters before too much cruelty is enacted. Kent is her agent on the front, seeing more clearly through his disguise than Lear has yet been able to in broad daylight.
It is intriguing to consider Kent in his disguise along with the disguise Edgar takes on as Tom the beggar and to think about them in the context of clothing within the play. One of the best speeches Lear makes in the play concerns the topic of need. Of course he does not need his knights and train, but so little of life is made up with solely what we need. He points to Regan's skimpy clothing, noting that she needs warmth from her clothing but sacrifices that for fashion and beauty whereas the poor must simply wear clothing for warmth. He is taking his first step her to stripping humanity of its artifice, by relating need to clothing and the way in which humans wear both. Edgar is Shakespeare's attempt to combine a number of the issues it seems he wished to be brought to attention. The beggar costume will allow Edgar to remain on stage much of the time without his father having an inkling who it is. It also allows the struggle of the poor in Shakespeare's time to be commented on. We will speak much more about Edgar and the contemporary issues he raised. For now, think about the act of disguise and how it is honourable characters who are forced to create themselves anew in order to accepted in their society. The ruling people after Lear gives up his authority will only promote a society in which good is covered or put in the stocks or abandoned.

Act III Summary:

scene i:

As it continues to storm, Kent enters the stage asking who else is there and where is the King. A gentleman, one of Lear's knights, answers, describing the King as struggling and becoming one with the raging elements of nature. The King has been left alone except for his fool. Kent recognizes the gentleman and fills him in on the events he has learned concerning the Dukes and the news from France. He explains that a conflict has grown between Albany and Cornwall which is momentarily forgotten because they are united against Lear. He then mentions that French spies and soldiers have moved onto the island, nearly ready to admit openly to their invasion. He urges the gentleman to hurry to Dover where he will find allies to whom he can give an honest report of the treatment to the King and his declining health. Kent gives him his purse and a ring to confirm his honour and to show to Cordelia if he sees her. They move out to look for Lear before the gentleman leaves on his mission.


scene ii:

We meet Lear, raging against the storm, daring the storm to break up the Earth. Fool pleads with him to dodge his pride and ask for his daughters' forgiveness so that he can take shelter in the castle. Lear notes that the storm, unlike his daughters, owes him nothing and has no obligation to treat him any better. Still, the storm is joining to help his ungrateful daughters in their unnecessary punishing of him. The fool says he is foolish, nevertheless, to reside in the house of the storm but Lear responds that he will say nothing to his daughters.
Kent enters, pleased to have found the King, and remarks that he has never witnessed a more violent storm. Lear cries that the gods will now show who has committed any wrongs by their treatment in the storm and Kent pushes him toward a cave where they can find a little shelter. Lear agrees to go, recognizing the cold which must be ravaging he and his fool. Before entering the hovel, Fool prophecies that when the abuses of England are reformed, the country will come into great confusion.

scene iii:

Gloucester and Edmund speak in confidence. Gloucester complains of the unnatural dealings of Cornwall and Regan, taking over his home and forbidding him to help or appeal for Lear. Edmund feigns agreement. Taking him further in confidence, Gloucester alerts him to the division between Albany and Cornwall. He then tells him that he has received a letter, which he has locked in the closet because of it dangerous contents, divulging that a movement has started to avenge Lear at home. Gloucester plans to go find him and aid him until the forces arrive to help. He tells Edmund to accompany the Duke so that his absence is not felt and if they ask for him to report that he went to bed ill. Gloucester notes that he is risking his life but if he can save the King, his death would not be in vain. After he departs, Edmund tells the audience that he will alert Cornwall immediately of Gloucester's plans and the treasonous letter. The young will gain, he comments, where the old have faltered.

scene iv:

Kent and Lear find their way to the cave, where Lear asks to be left alone. He notes that the storm rages harsher in his own mind and body due to the "filial ingratitude" he has been forced to endure. Thinking it may lead to madness, Lear tries not to think of his daughters' betrayal. Feeling the cruelty of the elements, Lear remarks that he has taken too little care of the poor who often do not have shelter from such storms in life. The fool enters the cave first and is frightened by the presence of Edgar disguised as poor Tom. Edgar enters, speaking in confused jargon and pointing to the foul fiend who bothers him greatly. Lear decides that Tom must have been betrayed by daughters in order to have fallen to such a state of despair and madness. Kent attempts to tell Lear that Tom has no daughters, but Lear can comprehend no other reason. Fool notes that the cold night would turn them all into madmen. Lear finds Tom intriguing and asks him about his life, to which Edgar replies that Tom was a serving man who was ruined by a woman he had loved. Lear realizes that man is no more than what they have been stripped to and begins to take off his clothes before Fool stops him.
Gloucester finds his way to the cave. He questions the King's company before remarking that he and Lear must both hate what their bodies have given birth to, namely Edgar, Regan, and Goneril. Although he has been barred from securing shelter in his own castle for Lear, Gloucester entreats the King to come with him to a better shelter. Lear wishes to stay and talk with Tom, terming him a philosopher. Kent urges Gloucester to plead with Lear to go, but Gloucester notes it is no surprise that Lear's wits are not about him when his own daughters seek his death. Lear is persuaded to follow Gloucester when they agree to allow Tom to accompany him.

scene v:

Cornwall and Edmund converse over the information Edmund has shared with him. Edmund plays the part of a tortured son doing his duty for the kingdom. Cornwall muses that Edgar's disloyalty is better understood in terms of his own father's betrayal. Handing over the letter Gloucester had received, Edmund cries out wishing that he were not the filial traitor. Cornwall makes Edmund the new Earl of Gloucester and demands he find where his father is hiding. In an aside, Edmund hopes he will find Gloucester aiding the King to further incriminate him although it would be greater filial ingratitude on his part. Cornwall offers himself as a new and more loving father to Edmund.

scene vi:

Gloucester finds the group slightly better shelter and then heads off to get assistance. Edgar speaks of the foul fiend and Fool tells the King a rhyme, concluding that the madman is the man who has too greatly indulged his own children. Lear pretends to hold a trial for his evil daughters, placing Edgar, the fool, and Kent on the bench to try them. Lear tries Goneril first and then Regan before crying that someone had accepted a bribe and allowed one to escape. Kent calls for him to remain patient as he had often been in the past and Edgar notes in an aside that he has nearly threatened his disguise with tears. He tells Lear that he will punish the daughters himself. Lear appreciates the gesture and claims that he will take Tom as one of the hundred in his train if he will agree to change his seemingly Persian garments. As Gloucester returns, he urges Kent to keep the King in his arms due to the death threats circulating. There is a caravan waiting which will take Lear to Dover and safety if they hurry. Edgar is left on stage and soliloquizes that the King's pains are so much greater than his own and he will pledge himself to helping him escape safely.

scene vii:

Cornwall calls for Goneril to bring the letter concerning France's invasion to her husband and calls to his servants to seek out the traitor, Gloucester. Regan and Goneril call for tortuous punishment. Edmund is asked to accompany Goneril so as not to be present when his father is brought in. Oswald enters and alerts the court to the news of Gloucester's successful move of the King to Dover. As Goneril and Edmund depart, Cornwall sends servants in search of Gloucester. Gloucester enters with servants and Cornwall commands that he be bound to a chair. Regan plucks his beard as he protests that they are his guests and friends. They interrogate him on the letter he received from France and his part helping King Lear. Gloucester responds that he received the letter from an objective third-party but he is not believed. He admits that he sent the King to Dover, explaining that he was not safe out in the terrible storm nor in the company of those who would leave him in such conditions. He hopes that Lear's horrific children will have revenge light upon them. Cornwall answers that he will see no such thing, blinding one of his eyes.
A servant speaks up in Gloucester's defence and is quickly stabbed by Regan using the sword Cornwall had drawn. Before the servant dies, he cries that Gloucester has one eye remaining to see harm come to the Duke and Duchess. Cornwall immediately blinds the other eye. Gloucester calls out for Edmund to help him in the time of peril to which Regan replies that it was Edmund who had alerted them to Gloucester's treachery. At this low point, Gloucester realizes the wrong he has shown Edgar if Edmund has done such evil. Regan has Gloucester thrown out of the castle and then helps Cornwall, who has received an injury, out of the room. Two servants discuss the incomprehensible evil of Cornwall and Regan, proposing to aid Gloucester in his blind stumbles. One of the servants leaves to find him while the other searches for ointments to sooth Gloucester's wounds.

Act III Analysis:

The theme of madness is explored deeply in Act III as we encounter at least three different forms of madness in at least three different characters. King Lear most notably goes, or is driven, to a madness he had predicted in this Act, but he is accompanied by two others whom are meant to be playing fools or madmen but to whom he grants the greatest sincerity. These two men, the two Lear places on the bench of his fictitious jury, are Edgar as poor Tom and Lear's Fool. Edgar feigns a madness as poor Tom that provides a great contrast to Lear's actual madness by bringing into question what madness is and how it was looked upon in Shakespeare's day. History shows that in Shakespeare's time lunatics were viewed as comic entertainment. Elizabethans would go to certain places simply in order to watch lunatics act crazy. Furthermore, Edgar's character was believable on the level of a mad trickster, a common character in the day who was known to trick others into believing him out of his wits. In a time such as this, one had to be careful to illuminate a lunacy which would be taken seriously if that was Shakespeare's intent, which concerning King Lear we must assume it was. The reasons which justify his serious plunge into insanity are many as the audience is privy to the actions of his daughters and the indignity he has been shown since giving up his title which could easily drop an old proud former king into madness. The horrific action of all but two children in the play, Cordelia and Edgar, is summed up in a neat sentence by Gloucester as he enters the hovel to speak to Lear. He cries, "Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown so vile/ That it doth hate what gets it" (III.4.136-137). The vileness, the evil, of Lear's two daughters and of Edmund (though ironically, at this point Gloucester is still speaking of Edgar) is such a betrayal that it has made the skin crawl and wish to reject the beings it helped to create. They have forsworn any human tie to their parents in such a vile way that hatred is the only word which can describe the relation. We also learn from Gloucester that Lear's daughters are now trying to kill him. Not only have they stripped him of all dignity, condescendingly and hypothetically turned many of his own knights against him, and thrown him unsheltered out into a raging dangerous storm, but they have finally cut the corner of pretence in which they said they would accept their father if he came without train and resolved to kill their own father who gave them all of his kingdom. Lear's fault in facing them was a quick temper and a love quantified into value and material weight. This love, as we have discussed, could not have always existed in this form as we know from Lear's reaction in Act I that Cordelia had been his favourite daughter and that she had never rejected him or his wish previously. Thus, the self-centred plea for love seems to be a fault of old age as well as ego. As Gloucester mentions flesh and blood, Lear's daughters have turned out for blood and power, in a way again similar to the ambition of Lady Macbeth, to which they have no need to battle for but of which they can seemingly not get enough. The rumours continue along the vein of a rift between Albany and Cornwall and we will soon encounter a major rivalry between Regan and Goneril. Their undoing, their evil, is thus based on an arrogant ambition and a horrific filial ingratitude.
This evil leads Lear to his belief that madness on a large scale can only result from the betrayal of daughters. He has sincerely been led astray in his trust and loyalty and thus plunges into a darkness and a madness which the storm, the hovel, and the night quite literally and symbolically portray. Vividly Shakespeare portrays the transformation of man into storm and storm into man as Lear goes mad. Personifying the storm with himself and the children he has begotten, Lear wails, "Rumble thy bellyful. Spit, fire. Spout, rain./ Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters" (III.2.14-15). The storm is given a belly and the elements are compared to daughters. Note even the sound effects are called for at key points in the dialogue to echo Lear's mutation. "Storm still " is included by Shakespeare, for example, between poor Tom's continuing rants and Lear's conclusion that his madness must be the result of the betrayal of his daughters (III.4.59-61).
In this state of rugged, stripped, essential man, Lear is able to focus on some important human issues that he has overlooked as king. Left to battle the elements of nature and the storms that are its products like the poor, Lear is forced to think on the daily lives of the homeless and his ignorance of the poor's situation. He comments, "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,/ That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,/ How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,/ Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you/ From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en/ Too little care of this!" (III.4.28-33). This is a climactic moment for Lear, as he stands on the threshold of madness. He will descend, it seems, as soon as he comes face to face with Edgar the reflection of madness he holds as philosophy and wisdom. And perhaps Lear comes much closer to a wisdom of humankind as a result. Madly, he attempts to strip himself naked only moments later before being stopped by the Fool, whose madness (when faced with Lear's) becomes simple complacency as he tries to look out for his master's safekeeping. In this, we see again how sane the Fool has been all along and how real Lear's madness is to make the Fool's speech become so practical. Lear is trying to physically strip himself of the artifice he has noticed within himself and most of mankind. He wishes to be put on par with poor Tom, a man who has lived much closer, he thinks, to the truth of nature.
Edgar's character of poor Tom of Bedlam was based greatly on a text published shortly before Shakespeare's writing of King Lear. Harsnet's Declaration of Egregious Popishe Impostures, published in 1603, seems to provide much of the basis for Tom's language as well as the mention of the surreptitious "foul fiend" which plagues Tom constantly, biting at his back and instigating other evils upon him. With a feigned demonic madness, Tom's character is questioned less by the other characters allowing Edgar to provide commentary through his asides and the irony he often provides, especially in the contrast established between the disguised and acted madness he chooses and the uncontrollable, anguished madness which overtakes Lear. Tom also provides the physical character to represent the man Lear realizes he has ignored during his rule as King of Britain. Immediately after Lear cries out in recognition of his ignorance, he meets poor Tom. This allows Shakespeare to give more distinct meaning to Lear's, and later Gloucester's, wish for greater equality among the population in terms of money and favours. Lear exclaims, "Take physic, pomp;/ Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,/ That thou mayst shake the superflux to them/ And show the heavens more just" (III.4.33-36). In much the same vein as Robin Hood, Shakespeare here promotes a system where the rich would share their excess, their artifice, with the poor in order to even out the ranks a bit. Lear, in this manner, places himself at an equitable level with Tom and refuses to leave the stormy outdoors for shelter unless he can bring Tom with him. Lear has made his greatest leaps in humane awareness since his descent toward madness and his acquaintance with Tom. He states this for the audience when he remarks, "Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou ow'st the/ worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume / Thou art the thing itself; unaccomodated man is no/ more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou [Edgar] art" (II.4.97-102). Clothing, excesses such as Lear referred to when speaking to Regan and Goneril about the need of his train, is superfluous and a great symbol of the artifice Lear has finally stripped from his body.
Regan and Goneril move ever closer to their tragic ends as they progress substantially in their evil, as evidenced through their desire to kill Lear and the blinding of Gloucester. Regan, thought at first to be the tenderer of the two by Lear, leads the charge against Gloucester. Gloucester responds finally to the demands of why he sent Lear to Dover by addressing her and her sister as the basest of evils. It is her nails he mentions, not the power of Cornwall, even though the two have been joined in the punishment of Gloucester. He declares, "Because I would not see thy cruel nails/ Pluck out his poor old eyes" (III.7.56-57). Ironically, this statement has greater truth for Gloucester himself. Regan taunts Gloucester after one eye is blinded and then takes the sword herself to kill a servant who stands up for Gloucester's honour. Moreover, she happily brags to Gloucester that his trusted Edmund was the one who alerted them to his treachery and then sends Gloucester out to "smell his way to Dover" (III.7.93-94). In truth, we recognize this woman as more of a beast, a "bare, forked animal" than any of the characters against whom she is battling.
Act IV Summary:

scene i:

Edgar is alone on stage soliloquizing about his fate. He seems more optimistic than earlier, hoping that he has seen the worst. This changes when Gloucester and an old man enters, displaying to Edgar the cruelty of Regan and Cornwall's punishment. Gloucester urges the old man aiding him to leave him, noting that his blindness should not affect him as "I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;/ I stumbled when I saw" (IV.1.18-19). He then laments the fool he has been toward his loyal son, Edgar. The old man tells him a mad beggarman is present to which Gloucester replies that he cannot be too mad if he knows to beg. Ironically, he notes that his introduction to a madman the night before (who was poor Tom) had made him think of Edgar. This causes Edgar further pain. Gloucester again urges the old man to leave, commenting that poor Tom can lead him. He reasons that the time is such that madmen will lead the blind and tells the old man to meet them in a mile with new clothes for the beggar. The old man agrees to and leaves.
Edgar wishes he did not have to deceive his father but reasons that he must. He speaks in his poor Tom manner of all of the fiends whom have plagued him. Gloucester gives him his purse, hoping to even out some of the inequality which exists between them, and asks him to lead him to the summit of the high cliff in Dover and leave him there.

scene ii:

Goneril and Edmund are en route to Goneril's home when Goneril asks Oswald why her husband has not met them. Oswald answers that Albany is a changed man. To all events Oswald expects he would be pleased by, he is upset and vice versa. The examples Oswald gives are the landing of the French army at which Albany smiled and Edmund's betrayal of Gloucester to which Albany was very displeased. Goneril is disgusted and sends Edmund back to Cornwall's with a kiss, telling him that she will have to become master of her household until she can become Edmund's mistress.
After Edmund's departure, Albany enters and greets Goneril with disgust toward her character and the events with which she and Regan have been involved. He notes that humanity is in danger because of people like her. Goneril responds that he is weak, idly sitting by and allowing the French to invade their land without putting up protest or guarding against traitors. He lacks ambition and wisdom. The woman form she takes, Albany proclaims, disguises the fiend which exists beneath and if it were not for this cover, he would wish to destroy her.
A messenger enters, conveying the news that Cornwall has died from the wound given him during the conflict with the servant who had stood up for Gloucester after one of his eye's had been blinded. In this manner, Albany learns of the treatment and subsequent blindness imparted to Gloucester by the hands of Regan and Cornwall. Though horrified, Albany remarks that the gods are at least conscious of justice and have already worked toward avenging the death of Gloucester by killing Cornwall. The messenger then delivers a letter to Goneril from Regan. In an aside, Goneril comments that the news of Cornwall's death is bad for her in that it leaves Regan a widow so she could easily marry Edmund. However, it may be a positive event since it takes Cornwall's threat to her reign out of the picture. She leaves to read and answer the letter. Albany asks the messenger of Edmund's location when Gloucester was blinded. The messenger informs him that Edmund was with Goneril at the time but that Edmund knew of the events which were to take place because it was he who had informed on Gloucester's treason. Albany swears to fight for Gloucester who has loved the good king and received such horrible treatment.

scene iii:

We learn from Kent's conversation with a gentleman that the King of France has had to return to France for important business and has left the Marshal of France in charge. The gentleman informs him also of Cordelia's response to Kent's letter. She was very moved, lamenting against her sisters and their treatment of her father. Kent comments that the stars must control people's characters if one man and one woman could have children of such different qualities, like Cordelia and her sisters. Kent notifies the gentleman that Lear refuses to see Cordelia as he is ashamed of his behaviour toward her. The gentleman confirms that Albany and Cornwall's powers are advancing. Deciding to leave Lear with him, Kent goes off to handle confidential business.



scene iv:

Pained, Cordelia laments the mad state of Lear and asks the doctor if there is a way to cure him. Rest might be the simple answer, the doctor replies, since Lear has been deprived of it. Cordelia prays for him and hopes that he will be revived. She must leave briefly on business for France.

scene v:

Regan and Oswald discuss how Albany's powers are afoot. Oswald points out that Goneril is the better soldier and informs Regan that Edmund did not have a chance to speak with Albany. Regan asks what the letter which Oswald brought from Goneril for Edmund says but Oswald knows only that it must be of great importance. Regan regrets blinding Gloucester because allowing him to live arouses sympathy which results in more parties turned against Regan and her company. Stating that Edmund has gone in search of Gloucester to put him out of his misery, she then claims that he is checking out the strength of the enemy forces. She urges Oswald to remain with her because the roads are dangerous. She is jealous of what she fears the contents of the letter may be, namely entreaties to Edmund for his love. Advising him to remind Edmund of the matters he had discussed with her considering their marriage, Regan allows Oswald to continue. Oswald agrees to halt Gloucester if he comes upon him and thus show to whom his loyalty lies.

scene vi:

Edgar leads Gloucester to Dover and pretends they are walking up the steep hill Gloucester wished to be taken to. Edgar says that it is steep and he can hear the ocean, noting that Gloucester's other senses must have grown dim as well if he cannot feel these things. Gloucester comments that poor Tom's speech seems much more elevated than before so Edgar attempts to drop back into his beggarman dialect. Edgar says they have reached the highest spot and Gloucester asks to be placed where he is standing. He then takes out another purse for Tom and requests to be left. Thinking Tom has gone, Gloucester prays to the gods to bless Edgar and then wishes the world farewell and falls forward of the cliff, he believes. Edgar approaches again as another man entirely, playing along with the idea that Gloucester has fallen off the high cliff and survived, calling it a miracle. Gloucester believes what the man says, though he cannot look up to verify. Edgar helps him up and questions the thing which left him at the top of the cliff, making it sound like it was not an actual man but a spirit. Gloucester is sceptical at first but realizes that would make sense for why he lived.
Stumbling onto the scene is Lear, still mad and wearing weeds. He rambles on about being king and then bitterly speaks of Goneril and Regan agreeing to all he said and then stabbing him in the back. Gloucester recognizes the voice and Lear confirms he is the King. He lectures about Gloucester's adultery being no cause to fear because his bastard son treated him better than Lear's own daughters. He then rages on the evil nature of women in his daughter's shapes, similar to Centaurs but fiends from the waist down instead of horses. Gloucester is saddened by this diatribe and wonders if Lear knows him. He does, but refuses to be saddened by Gloucester's blindness since one sees the world better through other venues than the eyes. In his ranting, Lear touches on such issues as the artifice of politicians and others in positions of authority who cover up their evil-doing and self-centred ambition with wealth and fashion. Edgar notices the sanity in his madness. Lear then identifies Gloucester and rages bitterly against the state of the world which has made them as they are.
A gentleman enters and, glad to find Lear, calls for them to put a hand upon him. Lear is afraid he is being taken prisoner but they are the attendants of Cordelia and happy to follow Lear as King. Still confused and mad, Lear runs out so they will not catch him. The gentleman informs Edgar that the army is approaching speedily, except for Cordelia's men who are on a special purpose and have moved on. When he leaves, Edgar assures Gloucester that he will lead him to a biding place. Oswald enters, pleased to have found Gloucester, and draws his sword upon him. Edgar interposes, using a rustic accent to play the part of a peasant. They fight and Oswald falls. Before dying, Oswald pleads with Edgar to take his purse and deliver his letter to Edmund, "Earl of Gloucester". Edgar reads the letter which is from Goneril, pleading with Edmund to slay Albany so Goneril can be free and they can be together. Edgar vows to defend Albany and defeat the lechers. Gloucester muses that he is self-centred to worry about his plight when Lear is mad. He wishes though that he too were mad in order to numb the pain he feels.

scene vii:

Cordelia thanks Kent for the goodness he has shown her father and the bravery he has espoused. She asks him to discard his disguise but he knows that he will be able to work better for Lear if he remains disguised. The Doctor remarks that Lear has slept for a long while so that they may try waking him. Lear is brought in, still sleeping. Hoping to resolve the horrors committed by her sisters, Cordelia kisses Lear and reflects on the vileness and ingratitude of her sisters, treating Lear worse than a dog by shutting their doors on him in the storm. Lear wakes and Cordelia addresses him. Lear feels awakened from the grave and wishes they had left him. Very drowsy at first, Lear thinks Cordelia is a spirit and then realizes he should know her and Kent (disguised) but has difficulty putting his memory together. Finally he recognizes Cordelia, to her delight, but thinks he is in France. The Doctor advises them to give Lear his space so Cordelia takes him for a walk. The gentleman remains and asks Kent if the rumours of Cornwall's death and Edgar's position in Germany with the Earl of Kent are true. Kent confirms the first, but leaves the latter unanswered. The gentleman warns that the battle to come will be bloody.
Act IV Analysis:

Act IV begins on a misleading high note as Edgar is pleased that any changes in his life will have to bring better times. Things cannot get worse, he implies. The paradox is established then with Gloucester's subsequent entrance and Edgar realizes that his life has gotten worse now that he knows the terrible treatment his father has endured. It is important to keep in mind that Edgar does not know how Edmund deceived his father into believing Edgar was the evil doer. All Edgar knows is that he had to run for his life because of the feelings Gloucester, Cornwall, and Albany held against him. Yet, even though he is incredibly saddened by Gloucester's appearance and torment, he does not once act reluctant to aid his father.
Oddly however, to the audience, must have been Edgar's desire to remain disguised. He is still not sure of Gloucester's feelings toward him and leads him to Dover regardless. But he does soon learn of the events which have occurred, when Gloucester, thinking he is alone with the old man, wails, "O dear son Edgar,/ The food of thy abused father's wrath,/ Might I but live to see thee in my touch/ I'ld say I had eyes again!" (IV.1.21-24). Thus, though Edgar cannot know yet of the plot led by Edmund, he is aware that his father dearly wishes to see him and be reconciled to him. So why not give him this favour? The most practical answers critics provide concern the theatrical quality of leaving Edgar in his beggar/madman attire. This disguise materially is quite important to the theme of artifice which flows throughout the play. Picking up from Lear's discussion of poor Tom's "Persian" robes when in fact he was wearing rags, we have moved through Lear's realization that rich clothing and authority does not shield one from having to be human underneath. Need is often hugely exploited by the wealthier and more powerful, Lear learns, as he becomes more cognizant of the many poor in his kingdom whom he has ignored. This metaphor is again employed by Albany in scene ii who notes that a woman's form saves Goneril from him ripping her apart but does not excuse the monster she is underneath. Another allusion to this deceptive form is given by Lear in scene vi who compares women, especially the women his daughters have represented, to centaurs as fiends from waist down. The covering of clothing or womanly ways, in the case of evil Regan and Goneril, is a heavily significant symbolic weapon displayed by Shakespeare. Thus many critics point to the symbolic utility of having Edgar dressed as a poor beggarman leading a once authoritative and wealthy, now blind and ruined, old man.
Not only can Shakespeare further emphasize the dignified position which should be afforded to elders with this move, but he can make social commentary. The essential man, the philosopher for whom Lear saw Tom as, is stripped of social pretence and is leading the once powerful Earl. Moreover, he is the mad man leading the blind. Gloucester now too has been stripped of the illusions he once entertained and thus is rather fitted for this predicament. He gives voice to this element in the text by proclaiming, "'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind" (IV.1.46). Gloucester himself has finally developed as a character whom has learned, like Lear has in his madness, of the errors in his life and of the things he has not given enough of his attention. He admits to the audience the central paradox of the entire play, one which we have pointed out since the beginning as it was highlighted very early by Shakespeare in many of the character's lines and references. "I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;/ I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen/ Our means secure us, and our mere defects/ Prove our commodities" (IV.1.18-21). The eyes are not the necessary vessels, such as the heart or mind might be, to a better understanding of humankind.
He too, as Lear did, tries to equalize the financial inequalities by giving poor Tom his purse. Money provides another agent of the artifice which is becoming abhorrent to Gloucester and Lear but is desired by Goneril and Regan. Their battle for Edmund's hand stems not from love, as they eagerly wish to give up their husbands in order to take Edmund's side, but from their ambition and thirst for power. With Cornwall dead and Albany viewed as weak and overly moral, both sisters see Edmund as the proper choice for a mate. He has shown himself to be ambitious and loyal, even at the price of his own father's torture. Goneril views Edmund head and shoulders above a man who does not condone her ambition and refuses to fight for the power she wants to gain. She, as with Regan, likely hopes to rule a reunited kingdom and knows that her husband will not help her in this endeavour. Oswald, ever loyal to his mistress, retorts rightly to Regan that, "Your sister is the better soldier [than Regan's brother-in-law]" (IV.5.3). Albany has raised himself in the standards of nobility and clearly has separated himself from the evil of the two sisters, Cornwall, Edmund, and even Oswald. Though often paired with Cornwall earlier, he here moves so far from this category that Edgar later vows to defend him. Albany's angry outburst at Goneril echoes what the audience is likely thinking of her. It deepens their hatred for her when they realize that he does not even know yet about the blinding of Gloucester and he has no idea of the adulterous plans which Goneril has just hatched. We then look at Regan in scene v through the lens of the hatred toward Goneril and find her steeped in a hypocrisy just as great. Regan tries to manipulates Oswald, Goneril's loyal steward, to work for her means and when she cannot, she warns him to threaten Edmund.
By the time Cordelia enters the Act, she is already a paramount of good will and honour simply in comparison. Her complete absence in the text, excepting the few times that Kent has mentioned her and the letter from her, has created a curiosity, a void, which allows for a greater suspense and then satisfaction when she fills that void. Some critics feel that the reason she is absent for such a long period has more to do with the fact that the Fool may have been played by the same actor. They point to the Fool's entrance after Cordelia's banishment and his disappearance before her return. In any case, the last time Cordelia was present in a scene was the very first scene of Act I in which she acted rather coldly when questioned by her father. We are given good reason when she points to the nature of her sisters, quantifying love and manipulating their father, as well as by the support she receives from Kent and France and by the way her father had previously favoured her. Yet, we are given no proof from her own mouth until this point in the fourth act. Similar to Edmund's caretaking of Gloucester, she immediately forgives her father for the misjudgement he has made and strives to bring him back to his comfort and sanity. Echoing an the earlier outrage of Gloucester, she bemoans the manner in which her sisters turned Lear out by crying,
Was this a faceTo be opposed against the jarring winds?To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder?In the most terrible and nimble strokeOf quick cross lightening to watch, poor perduWith this thin helm? Mine enemy's dog,Though he had bit me, should have stood the nightAgainst my fire; and wast thou fain, poor father,To hovel thee with swine and rogues forlornIn short and musty straw? Alack, alack,'Tis wonder that thy life and wits at onceHad not concluded all. (IV.7.31-42).

The audience had not heard any sort of passion from the earlier Cordelia but we hear her now, and the change is extremely welcomed by the audience.
This nature of extremes allows for the conclusion many make, linking Cordelia to a Christ figure. Ironically, this idea persists although she is a character in a pagan setting. Standing above the baseness of her fellow creatures, she has arrived in order to nurse her father back to health, having them change his garments (also significant if we think in terms of clothing and character) and bring him into the music. In a sense, she brings him back from the dead, as he moans, "You do me wrong to take me out o' th' grave" (IV.7.45). Moreover, she turns her other cheek to the abuses her father had committed and eagerly forgives him and accepts him back into her life. Truly, there are Christian overtures in this, and throughout much of the play if we look for them. At any rate, Cordelia's sense of forgiveness and the goodness she exudes sets her far above her sisters and justifies the far lengths France and Kent have gone to defend her.

Act V Summary:

scene i:

Edmund sends an officer to learn of Albany's plans since he has become so fickle. Regan approaches Edmund, sweetly asking him if he loves her sister and if he has ever found his way into her bed. He replies that though he loves in "honoured love" he has done nothing adulterous or to break their vow. Warning him to stay away from Goneril, Regan threatens that she will not put up with her sister's entreaties to him. Goneril and Albany enter as Goneril tells the audience that her battle for Edmund is more important to her than the battle with France. Albany informs Regan of Cordelia and Lear's reunion. Regan wonders why he brings up the subject of the King and his grievances. Goneril points out that they must join together against France and ignore their personal conflicts.
As the two camps separate, Regan pleads with Goneril to accompany her instead of the other camp where Edmund will be present. Goneril refuses at first but then sees Regan's purpose and agrees. Edgar finds Albany alone and asks him to read the letter to Edmund from Goneril he had intercepted. Though he cannot stay while Albany reads it, he prays him to let the herald cry when the time is right and he will appear again. Albany leaves to read it when Edmund re-enters to report of the oncoming enemy. In soliloquy, Edmund wonders what he will do about pledging his love to both sisters. He could take both of them, one, or neither. He decides to use Albany while in battle and after winning, to allow Goneril to kill him. Moreover, he plans to forbid any mercy Albany may show Cordelia and Lear because his rule of the state is his highest priority.

scene ii:

The army of France, accompanied by Cordelia and Lear, crosses the stage with their battle colours and drums and exits. Next, Edgar and Gloucester enter. Edgar offers Gloucester rest under a nearby tree while he goes into battle. The noises of the battle begin and end, at which time Edgar re-enters the stage to speak with Gloucester. He calls for Gloucester to come with him as Cordelia and Lear have lost and been taken captive. Entertaining ideas of suicide again, Gloucester tries to remain but Edgar talks him into accompanying him, noting that men must endure the ups and downs of life.

scene iii:

Edmund holds Cordelia and Lear prisoner. Trying to keep Lear's spirits up, Cordelia tells him that they are not the first innocent people who have had to endure the worst and she will be happy to endure for the King. She asks if they will see Goneril and Regan but Lear rejects that notion. He wants them to spend their days in prison enjoying their company, conversing and singing and playing and debating the "mystery of things". As they are taken away at Edmund's command, Lear encourages Cordelia to dry her tears and enjoy their reunion as they will never again be separated. Edmund demands the subordinate captain follow Lear and Cordelia to prison and carry out the punishment detailed by his written instructions. Threatened with demotion, the captain agrees.
Albany praises Edmund for his work in the battle and in obtaining his prisoners. He then commands Edmund to turn Cordelia and Lear over into his protection. Edmund replies that he thought it best to send Lear and Cordelia into retention so that they did not arouse too much sympathy and start a riot, but he assures Albany that they will be ready the next day to appear before him. Albany warns Edmund to remember that he is only a subordinate to which Regan replies that Edmund is in fact her husband and thus an equal. Goneril proclaims that he is more honourable on his own merit than as Regan's partner. Not feeling well, Regan implores Edmund to accept all of her property and herself. Goneril asks if she means to be intimate with him to which Albany retorts that the matter does not relate to her. Edmund disagrees and Regan calls for him to take her title. Albany interrupts, arresting Edmund for treason and barring any relationship between Goneril and Edmund. He calls Edmund to duel, throwing down his glove. Edmund throws down his glove as well and Albany alerts him that all of his soldiers have been sent away. Feeling very ill, Regan is taken off.
The herald reads aloud Albany's notice, calling for anyone who holds that Edmund is a traitor to come support that claim. The trumpet is sounded three times and Edgar, still disguised, appears after the last. Asked why he has responded, Edgar states that he is a noble adversary who desires to fight with Edmund, a traitor to "thy gods, thy brother, and thy father". They fight and Edmund falls. Albany calls for him to be spared while Goneril supports Edmund for fighting an unknown man when not required, noting that he cannot be defeated. Albany quiets her with the letter she wrote desiring Edmund's hand but Goneril retorts that as she is the ruler, he can bring no punishment upon her. She leaves before he can take command over her. Dying, Edmund asks his conqueror to reveal himself. Edgar tells of his identity and their relation, noting that Edmund has rightly fallen to the bottom as a result of his father's adulterous act, which also cost Gloucester his sight. Edmund agrees that he has come full circle and Albany rejoices in Edgar's true identity, sorrowful that he had ever worked against him or his father. Edgar describes his disguise and how he led his blinded father, protecting him and sheltering him. He had never revealed his identity until a half hour before, telling his father the entire story. Gloucester was so overwhelmed by the news that his heart gave out. Furthermore, after learning who Edgar was, Kent revealed his identity to Edgar, embracing him and spilling all of the horrid details of Lear's state and treatment. Edgar then learned that Kent too was dying but was forced to rush off as he heard the trumpet call.
A gentleman runs onto the stage with a bloody knife, informing the company that it was just pulled from Goneril's heart. She had stabbed herself after admitting that she had poisoned Regan. Edmund notes that as he had been contracted to both sisters, now all three would die. Albany calls for the gentleman to produce the bodies and comments on the immediate judgment of the heavens. Kent enters, hoping to say goodbye to Lear. Realizing that he has forgotten about the safety of Cordelia and Lear in the excitement, Albany demands Edmund to tell of their circumstances. Edmund admits that he had ordered their murders but as he hopes to do some good, he sends an officer to try to halt Cordelia's hanging. He and Goneril had commanded it look like a suicide. Lear stumbles in, carrying the body of Cordelia. Overcome by grief, Lear rages against the senseless killing of Cordelia, admitting that he killed the guard who was hanging her. Lear recognizes Kent, though he can hardly see, and Kent informs him that he has been with him all along, disguised as his servant Caius. It is not clear if Lear ever understands. Kent tells him that his evil daughters have brought about their own deaths. A messenger enters to tell them that Edmund has died. Albany tries to set things right, reinstating Lear's absolute rule and Kent and Edgar's authority, promising to right all of the good and punish the evil. Lear continues to mourn the loss of Cordelia and then dies himself. Albany thus gives Kent and Edgar the rule of the kingdom to which Kent replies that he must move on to follow his master, leaving Edgar as the new ruler.


Act V Analysis:

Let us return to the idea of King Lear as parable, as a patterned and figurative story, as we approach the play's conclusion and see the result of the prophesies and symbolic gestures we have noted all along. Lear was the king whose major flaw was a need for flattery and whose major error was his banishment of the honest daughter in favour of the two insincere daughters. Once this act is committed, Lear is destined to reap the consequences through a painful journey to essential man. Unaccommodated man is reached, in and within Lear's madness, in the very middle of the story, Act III, and his redemption begins following this point, conveniently as he is transported to Dover where Cordelia and the allies await. It is a Cinderella type fairy tale where the good daughter is cast aside for the betterment of the two wicked daughters. Lear makes this error and is punished for it. We also have the parallel subplot of Gloucester whose major flaw was adultery. This backfires when his bastard son resents his illegitimacy and moves to displace both Edgar and Gloucester. Somewhat coldly, Edgar sums up the nature of these events after he has fatally wounded Edmund. He states, "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices/ Make instruments to plague us./ The dark and vicious place where thee he got/ Cost him his eyes" (V.3.171-174). Some critics view this line very harshly whereas others feel that Edgar was explaining the events in a manner which Edmund would understand and feel was justified. Edmund does respond in agreement which supports the last viewpoint.
Furthermore, we have discussed Edgar as a parallel character to Cordelia and Kent, as he has both led his father to safety and nursed him because of filial love and loyalty. None of the three hold a grudge against Lear or Gloucester. This type of resentment was not necessary on their parts because of their roles as the good characters. They have saved the fallen men, their masters, and led them to safety. This has been their role. Edmund, Regan, and Goneril on the other hand, have been heavily tortured with resentment toward their fathers or siblings or anyone else whom holds power. As completely evil characters, they work laterally, fulfilling their evil role and not departing much from it. They are evil and become progressively so to the extent that Regan and Goneril are responsible for their own deaths. And one could hardly say Goneril is more at fault because she was the actual murderer in both occasions. We watched both women fight and claw for power from their father, husbands, Edmund, and each other. Whichever action or behaviour fit their motive at the time, whether it was uniting against their father or becoming rivals for Edmund's hand, they eagerly took it on. Their jealousy and hostility bore itself up to the point that they barely resembled women as we noted was commented on by both Lear and Albany.
Albany is one of the only characters who is seen to grow and develop over the course of the play. He is never truly evil, simply ambitious at the start. He is quickly transformed once he uncovers the true nature of his wife. Cordelia purposely remains at an even keel of goodness and virtue to aid the audience in understanding her station. Note that in the few lines Cordelia has in Act V, she voices them in rhymed couplet as she did in the very first scene. Melodically, she declares, "We are not the first/ Who with best meaning have incurred the worst./ For thee, oppressed king, I am cast down;/ Myself could else outfrown false Fortune's frown" (V.3. 3-6). Her figure stands above the others, nobly and saintly. On the other hand, Edmund progresses in degrees of evil before alleviating his cruelty slightly at the end when he tries to stop the hanging of Cordelia. Most will feel however that this action is too little too late, especially considering how he waits for awhile after insinuating that he may do good before he actually does anything. The hesitation, this instance of the unsaid, is a metaphor for the character of Edmund as he can be understood as a figure of circumstance. We do not know if he would have been evil if he had been born into legitimacy and privilege as Edgar was. We know only that his largest grievance is his bastard status and this drives all else. Thus, he cannot easily let go of this drive when dying and is slow to think of anyone but himself. Edmund had continually worked between the lines to influence and manipulate the other characters. Hence, as he tries to effect change up front, he is not able to do so effectively.
Lear and Gloucester both come to heavily allegorical ends, the first carrying his abused daughter dead in his arms and the latter dying not from his torture or attempted suicide, but from the strain of knowing his wronged son had helped him when he needed him most. They both seem a bit contrived, but that is the intention. This is the ends they were fated to have, one echoing the fate of the other. In this manner, it is not surprising that the play ends as it began with Lear and his three daughters on stage. Yet this time, all three are dead and Lear as well, though he is the last to go. Kent and Gloucester spoke to open the play and here Kent and the new Earl of Gloucester have the last two lines to end the play. Moreover, the kingdom is being divided in both cases with Lear as the divider in the beginning and Albany, one of the previous inheritors, dividing at the end. Wisely, Shakespeare ends the play without another shared division even though this means the death of Kent.
Regardless of whether this was Shakespeare's intention (it likely was not seeing that nearly every other good character dies), a sole ruler bodes better for the kingdom overall. Edgar had shown himself true to his father and the King throughout the text and as critics note, he played a different role in the play almost every couple of pages, from beggar to rustic peasant to poor gentleman to soldier to kindly son. Thus, it makes sense, allegorically if nothing else, that he would be best fitted to take over the role of king, which Lear taught us must be a person of tolerance, removed from artifice. When Lear and Cordelia are being sent to prison, we see Lear happy for the first time. He is looking forward to time when they can discuss life and sing and enjoy the world. Edgar, as one who has grown from a too trusting young man to a man who has seen many levels of life and death, can best support the void left by Lear.
This pleasant take on the end should not distract the reader from the dismal events of Act V. Lear dies without knowing it was Kent who helped him and without having the chance he had wished for to spend time with Cordelia. Though Edgar's place on the throne at the end gives hope, the play ends with an overwhelming sentiment of failure. The efforts that Kent, Cordelia, and Edgar took to save Lear and Gloucester come to little. All prayers made to the gods to save the righteous or help the good were not answered. Many were senselessly killed, including those killed in a battle which occurred behind the scenes. Ironically, as several characters tried to persuade each other to focus on the larger battle against Lear's avengers rather than on their personal quarrels, the actual battle is hidden from view whereas the personal confrontations are mainly staged in full view. Scene ii of Act V is thus an example of synecdoche, representing the whole of the play by broadcasting that the battle with France plays second fiddle. Lear's battle with himself, for instance, takes precedent and points our attention to the battles of man and of the self and of good versus evil over any war-like battles which take place. This explains why the play must end in a broken-hearted atmosphere. Life's mysteries, as Lear referred to, are not meant to be won through manipulation or sword fighting. Lear's battle with pretence and the physical representations of it embodied in Regan, Goneril, Cornwall, and Edmund had to crumble the very existence of those who survived in order to illustrate to the audience the meaning underneath the death and broken hearts.