Per Bevington: Sources date to ancient legends.

Geoffrey of Monmouth in "Historia Regum

Britanniae" c. 1136 tells of King Lear or Leir, and traces his lineage to Burt the great-
grandson of Aeneas of Troy through Locrine, Bladud, then Leir and leading on eventually to
Arthur. [The Tudor kings though they derived from this dynasty]. This version has a happy
ending. The story is repeated in "The Mirror for Magistrates" (1574), Warner's "Albion's
England" 1586, and Holinshed's "Chronicles" 2nd Ed 1587, also Spenser "Faerie Queen".
WS's immediate source was probably a more recent play called "The True Chronicle History
of King Leir" publ. 1605 but prob. written as early as 1588. This also ends happily. The plot
of Gloucester, Edgar, and Edmund draws on Sidney's "Arcadia" 1590, and the traditional
Vice character derives in part from late medieval morality plays. Tom o' Bedlam draws on
Harsnett's "Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures" 1603.

Depicts a malign or indifferent universe, the wretchedness of human existence. Injustice

appears to triumph for a long time. Earlier versions (by other authors) had ended more
happily. Subsequent productions and criticism of WS's KL favoured a happier ending (e.g.,
Tate, Samuel Johnson). Contains a complex double plot (Lear, Gloucester)--such complexity
is found nowhere else in his plays. Lear and Gloucester are fathers who end up cared for by
loving but rejected children, to whom they are belatedly reconciled. The play opposes
allegorical-like parable (having folklore and legendary elements) with realism--this dualism
of focus invites conflicting interpretations. Edgar's story grows increasingly improbable, his
motives hard to follow. Edmund is gleefully villainous like Iago, but shows belated desire to
do good. There is a union of the universal and the particular, both parable and compelling
reality. Some of the tension is between fathers and their marriageable daughters
(Lear/Cordelia), her right to her own life, and the ability to grant authority to her husband as
well as to her father. Lear is deficient in self-knowledge--his acquisition of wisdom comes at
great cost. His actions set in motion a civil war and a French invasion, and are only partly
plausible on political grounds. Lear's Fool provides warnings about the impending disaster--
there is an inversion of folly and wisdom [i.e., Lear is the real fool]. The Fool disparages
kindness and love, yet later suggests it is better to be a fool and suffer than to win on the
cynical world's terms. These inversions parallel Christian teachings such as "Blessed are the
meek...", etc. Cordelia's vision of genuine love is of this exalted spiritual order. Lear's vision
of perfect justice is visionary and utopian, utterly mad. Lear speaks his first kind and
compassionate words to the fool, as he is losing his mind. Enlightenment comes to Gloucester
and Lear only through suffering, and at a terrible price. They are devastated, savagely
humiliated. Justice on earth is personified by a madman (Lear), Edgar (disguised as Tom o'
Bedlam), and the Fool. Gloucester no longer needs eyes to see the truth. Other inversions
invert the values of loyalty, obedience, and family bonds. Personal and sexual relationships
betray the universal malaise. There is nowhere a healthy love that is both sensual and
spiritual. Lear indicts carnality and expresses his fear of female sexual appetite. Edmund is
the "natural" [itself a paradoxical word] son of Gloucester and spurns Boethian [or Christian]
concept of divine harmony, opting for a Machiavellian rationalist creed. He creed provides
the play the supreme test: which definition of the natural order is true [i.e., Machiavellian vs.
Christian/divine order]. But several characters exhibit ultimately good and virtuous behavior:
Cornwall's servants, Albany, Cordelia, Edgar, [Kent], even Edmund at the last. The play
suggests that villainy will ultimately destroy itself. But here, the devastation is so appalling
that our questions about justice go unanswered. Women must often die in order for men to
learn their hard lessons. We cannot be sure what if any restoration can occur at the end, but
we can at least decide whether to live like Cordelia and Edgar or to settle for being our worst
selves like Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. "Overwhelmed as we are by the testimonial before
us of humankind's vicious capacity for self-destruction, we are stirred nonetheless by the
ability of some men and women to confront their fearful destiny with probity and stoic
renunciation, adhering to what they believe to be good and expecting Fortune to give them
absolutely nothing. The power of love, though learned too late to avert catastrophe, is at last
discovered in its very defeat."

Per Alan Grob (lecture c. 1965): WS's finest work. The questions posed are metaphysical,
about good vs. evil and the nature of the universe, not good vs. bad daughters. Lear is not
only vain, he is generous. He also mistakes his power as residing in him rather than in his
position. Lear's 3 great lessons: (1) that he is a human being, (2) that justice does not always
prevail unless man makes it so, (3) the only human hope is human love (i.e., only love
redeems the horrors of the world). Edmund is Machiavellian or Hobbesian, a modern
argument for individualism, survival of the fittest. Gloucester is antiscientific in the extreme,
believing in astrology, credulous. The Fool is a choric commentator with worldly wisdom.
His view of man as an animal is determined by fear. In storm, Lear tries to impose on nature
his own values, desiring retribution on his daughters, but Edmund realizes that nature is
indifferent to man's needs. He comes in the storm to see the general injustice of the universe.
Edgar represents essential man. Garment imagery plays a central role in the play, and Lear
strips off his clothes as he gains greater understanding. But dressed in flowers in 4.6, Lear
does not seem to have completely found reality. His clarity is incomplete as seen in his
meeting with Cordelia (e.g., his belief that she must be a spirit because of her kindness to
him, and his views about being in prison with her). Even human love, redemptive as it is to
the inner life (i.e., providing life its meaning), cannot move the universe, and can increase
suffering and horror.

Per Harold Bloom in "Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human": 4 main characters are
Lear, Fool, Edmund, and Edgar. Except for Edmund, everyone either loves or hates too
much. Love is not a healer, it starts all the trouble and is a tragedy itself. The play manifests
intense anguish about human sexuality and omits maternal love. The only valid loves shown
are between Cordelia and Lear and between Edgar and Gloucester. The apparent misogyny is
a mask for even more profound alienation. Freud believed repressed desire for Cordelia
caused Lear's madness (Bloom feels Lear is anything but repressed). The play is profoundly
nihilistic. It is set 9 centuries before Christ. Lear's rhetorical power preempts speech.
Feminists attack Lear's views on sexuality. Edmund is highly attractive, WS's most original
character, perhaps representing Christopher Marlowe. The play succeeds because of Lear's
greatness of affect. There can be no King Lear of our times because individual scale is too
diminished.

Act I

Act I Scene 1

Lear's palace in Britain, mythical ?preChristian times [Lear is said to be 6 generations

removed from Aeneas in Geoffrey's Historia and precedes King Arthur]. The Earls of Kent
and Gloucester discuss how evenly Lear has partitioned the country for distribution to his 3
daughters. Gloucester introduces his bastard ("natural") son Edmund to Kent and alludes to
the good sport at his conception, as well as to his legitimate son Edgar. Edmund has been
away for 9 years and will be leaving again.
Lear enters carrying a coronet [perhaps for Cordelia or her betrothed], along with his
daughters, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall, and attendants. He takes a map of Britain and
explains why he is dividing his land: "'Tis our fast intent / To shake all cares and business
from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths while we / Unburdened crawl toward
death." He asks "Since now we will divest us both of rule, / Interest of territory, cares of
state-- / Which of you shall we say doth love us most, / That we our largest bounty may
extend / Where nature doth with merit challenge?"

Goneril, his eldest and wife of Albany, speaks first with great flattery: "... A love that makes
breath poor, and speech unable. / Beyond all manner of so much I love you." Cordelia to
herself worries "What shall Cordelia speak? / Love and be silent." Lear bestows her lands
upon her.

The middle daughter Regan, married to Cornwall, then outdoes Goneril, saying "... I profess /
Myself an enemy to all other joys / Which the most precious square of sense possesses, / And
find I am alone felicitate / In your dear Highness' love." Cordelia worries further as Lear
bestows Regan's portion.

When Lear in turn asks "our joy", Cordelia can only respond "Nothing". Lear is taken aback
and warns "Nothing will come of nothing." But Cordelia recalcitrantly insists ". . . I cannot
heave / My heart into my mouth. I love Your Majesty / According to my bond [of filial
obligation]; no more nor less." Lear warns her again and she says "Good my lord, / You have
begot me, bred me, loved me. I / Return those duties back as are right fit, / Obey you, love
you, and most honor you. / Why have my sisters husbands, if they say / They love you all?
Haply, when I shall wed, / That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry / Half my
love with him, half my care and duty. / Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters, / To love my
father all [i.e., exclusively]." Lear persists in challenging her answers and Cordelia insists she
is being true, not untender. Lear then proclaims that he is disowning her: "Let it be so! Thy
truth, then, be thy dower! / . . . / Here I disclaim all my paternal care, / Propinquity, and
property of blood, / And as a stranger to my heart and me / Hold thee from this forever. The
barbarous Scythian, / Or he that makes his generation messes / To gorge his appetite, shall to
my bosom / Be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved / As thou my sometime daughter."

Kent intervenes unsuccessfully to dissuade Lear. He calls for the King of France and Duke of
Burgundy, suitors to Cordelia, to be admitted and tells Albany and Cornwall that they will
divide the share that would have gone to Cordelia. Lear intends to keep 100 knights, will
keep the name and prerogatives of king. He tells them to divide the coronet (?). Kent again
tries to defend Cordelia, despite Lear's warning to him. He calls Lear mad and warns him
"Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak / When power [Lear] to flattery [the
daughters] bows? / To plainness honor's bound / When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy
state; / And, in thy best consideration check / This hideous rashness. Answer my life my
judgment, / Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least, / Nor are those emptyhearted
whose low sound / Reverbs no hollowness [i.e., insincerity]." Lear is enraged, swears by
Apollo, prepares to take his sword. Albany and Cornwall ask Lear to restrain himself. Kent
tells him he does evil. Lear banishes him forever, swearing to Jupiter that his decision is
irrevocable. Kent bids a sad goodbye to Cordelia and tells the other sisters that he hopes their
future deeds will be in accordance with their flattering words.

Gloucester, France, and Burgundy enter. Lear addresses Burgundy, telling him that Cordelia's
dowry has fallen, that now all she offers is herself. He is taken aback. France questions the
gravity of her offence, since Lear had spoken so praisingly of her before. Cordelia defends
herself to Lear before France: "If for I want [lack] that glib and oily art [of flattery] / To
speak and purpose not, since what I well intend / I'll do't before I speak--that you make
known / It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness, / No unchaste action, or dishonored step /
That hath deprived me of your grace and favor, / But even for want [lack] of that [flattery] for
which I am richer. / A still-soliciting [ever begging] eye, and such a tongue / As I am glad I
have not, though not to have it /Hath lost me in your liking." Lear wishes she had never been
born. 

France is amazed that this is the extent of her offense. Burgundy asks Lear to stick to his
original dowry offer, but Lear refuses and Burgundy withdraws as a suitor. Cordelia
expresses disdain for this suitor whose goal is not merely her love.

But France is consoling to her and wants her as his bride: "Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich,
being poor, / Most choice, forsaken, and most loved, despised, / Thee and thy virtues here I
seize upon, / Be it lawful I take up what's cast away." He marvels that the neglect of the gods
has led to his increased respect for her, and asks her to bid farewell to those present for a
better life. Lear expresses more contempt for her and rudely tells her [and perhaps France]
"begone / Without our grace, our love, our benison." Lear leaves. Cordelia speaks guardedly
to her sisters, hoping they will care for her father as they have claimed they will. Regan and
Goneril are hostile and say she has neglected her own duty to Lear. She and France depart.

Goneril and Regan, now alone, discuss the poor judgment Lear has shown in turning out
Cordelia (thus revealing the negative opinion they shared of him all along). Goneril says "'Tis
the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself." But Regan says he
has always been stormy and unpredictable: "The best and soundest of his time hath been but
rash. Then must we look from his [old] age to receive, not alone the imperfections of long-
ingraffed condition [i.e., long-implanted habit], but therewithal [added onto] the unruly
waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them."

Act I Scene 2

At the Earl of Gloucester's House. Edmund soliloquizes on his self-serving amoral

materialistic Machiavellian-like philosophy and resentment over his illegitimate status. He is
plotting to win his father's lands away from the current heir, his brother Edgar, using evil
deceit via a letter: "Thou, 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, / For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines / Lag of a brother? Why
bastard? Wherefore base? / When my dimensions are as well compact, / My mind as
generous, and my shape as true, / As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us / With base?
With baseness? Bastardy? Base, base? / Who in the lusty stealth of nature take / More
composition and fierce quality / Than doth within a dull, stale, tired bed / Go to th' creating a
whole tribe of fops / Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then, / Legitimate Edgar, I must have
your land. / Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund / As to th' legitimate. Fine word,
"legitimate"! / Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund
the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow, I prosper. / Now, gods, stand up for bastards!" 

Gloucester enters, disturbed over Kent's banishment, the rude treatment of France, and the
abrupt division of the kingdom. He sees the letter Edmund pretends to hasten to conceal, and
asks to read it. Edmund acts reluctant, saying it is from Edgar. Gloucester reads it and sees in
it a conspiracy against him: " . . . If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should half
his revenue forever and live the beloved of your brother, Edgar." Edmund says he has heard
Edgar say that aging fathers should be like wards of their sons. Edmund says he found the
note in his closet. Gloucester is enraged at the ostensibly planned villainy. Edmund professes
reluctance to believe Edgar capable of such action and proposes that he stage a meeting with
Edgar which Gloucester would listen in on.

Gloucester blames the many recent adverse turn of events on hostile portents and malign
forces: "These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom
of nature [natural science] can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the
sequent effects [devastating consequences]. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide;
in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked twixt son
and father. This villain of mine [Edgar] comes under the prediction; there's son against father.
The king falls from bias of nature [natural inclination]; there's father against child. We have
seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders,
follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee
nothing . . ."

Left alone, Edmund is more cynically rational in his view, refusing to blame the stars or fate
etc. for the actions of men: "This is the excellent foppery [foolishness] of the world, that
when we are sick in fortune--often the surfeits [excesses] of our own behavior--we make
guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains on necessity,
fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance
[astrological determinism, whereby a certain planet was ascendant at the hour of one's birth],
drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence, and all that
we are evil in, by a divine [supernatural] thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster
man, to lay his goatish [lecherous] disposition on the charge of a star! My father compounded
with my mother under the Dragon's tail [under the constellation Draco] and my nativity was
under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut, I should have been that I
am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. . . . O, these
eclipses do portend these divisions!

Edgar arrives and Edmund tells him of an astrological prediction he heard regarding the
effects of the eclipses that have occurred [in contrast to his just professed skepticism]: "I
promise you, the effects he writes of succeed unhappily, as of unnaturalness between the
child and the parent, death, dearth, dissolutions of ancient amities, divisions in state, menaces
and maledictions against king and nobles, needless diffidences, banishment of friends,
dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches, and I know not what." He proceeds to plant concern
that his father is angry with Edgar due to an unstated offense and suggests he lay low and
avoid Gloucester. Edgar suspects some villain is responsible for this. Edmund advises he arm
himself. Left alone, Edmund gloats at the credulity of Edgar and his father.

Act I Scene 3

Albany's palace. Goneril discusses with her servant her anger at Lear's behavior. His 100
knights are riotous, he is constantly critical. "Idle old man, / That still would manage those
authorities / That he hath given away! Now, by my life, / Old fools are babes again; and must
be used / With checks [rebukes] as flatteries, when they are seen abused." She instructs
Oswald to slack off on his former services to Lear, and wishes to provoke a confrontation.

Act I Scene 4

Same. Kent enters, disguised as Caius, hoping to resume his faithful service to Lear. Lear
wants his dinner without delay. He asks Kent/Caius who he is, and Kent describes himself as
an honest man--Lear agrees to hire him if he still pleases him after dinner. He calls for his
fool.

Oswald enters and treats Lear rudely. His knight comments on the decline in graciousness
and kindness with which they are being treated and received. Lear has also perceived a faint
degree of neglect recently. The knight says Fool has been pining away since Cordelia left for
France. Oswald reenters and again behaves impertinently toward Lear--Lear strikes him and
trips him. Kent angrily pushes Oswald away.

Fool enters and seems to recognize Kent, calling him also a fool "for taking one's part
[Cordelia] that's out of favor." He speaks to Lear humorously but ironically and bitterly about
the foolishness of the king's actions toward his daughter, his giving of his lands to his
daughter, the giving of all titles away except "fool". He says he has made his daughters into
his mothers (i.e., to discipline him). He notes paradoxically that he can be whipped for being
silent or for speaking his mind.

Goneril enters and begins to rebuke Lear for the insolence of his fool and his retinue. Fool
alludes to the cuckoo now eating the head off of the sparrow that raised it. Lear is incredulous
at her defiance and wonders aloud "Doth any here know me? This is not Lear. / Doth Lear
walk thus, speak thus? Where are his eyes? / Either his notion weakens, his discernings / Are
lethargied--Ha! Waking? 'Tis not so. / Who is it that can tell me who I am?" Goneril proceeds
to complain about his large retinue: "Men so disordered, so debauched and bold / That this
our court, infected with their manners, / Shows like a riotous inn. / Epicurism and lust / Make
it more like a tavern or a brothel / Than a graced palace." She ends with a request combined
with a threat: "Be then desired, / By her, that else will take the thing she begs, / A little to
disquantity your train . . ." Lear is enraged, calls her a degenerate bastard, and decides to
depart for his other daughter Regan.

Albany enters and weakly tries to placate Lear, asking him to be patient. Lear is beginning to
see his own foolishness and that Cordelia was right: "O most small fault, / How ugly didst
thou in Cordelia show! / Which, like an engine, wrenched my frame of nature / From the
fixed place; drew from heart all love, / And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear! / Beat at
this gate [his head], that let thy folly in, / And thy dear judgment out!" He curses Goneril and
wishes her to be sterile: "Hear, Nature, hear! Dear goddess, hear! / Suspend thy purpose if
thou didst intend / To make this creature fruitful! / Into her womb convey sterility; / Dry up in
her the organs of increase, / And from her derogate body never spring / A babe to honor her!
If she must teem, / Create her child of spleen, that it may live / And be a thwart disnatured
torment to her! / Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth, / With cadent tears fret channels
in her cheeks, / Turn all her mother's pains and benefits / To laughter and contempt, that she
may feel / How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is / To have a thankless child! Away, away!"
He leaves but soon returns angry that she has already reduced his retinue to 50 men. He
curses and casts off Goneril forever, assuming that Regan will treat him kindly. He seems to
threaten to reassume royal power, and leaves.

Albany tries to moderate his wife's behavior toward Lear but she cuts him off. She angrily
chases the Fool away. She fears her father, who could "hold our lives in mercy". She has
Oswald carry a letter to Regan, telling of Lear's actions and asking for her solidarity against
Lear. She concludes by chastising Albany for his mildness: "No, no, my lord, / This milky
gentleness and course of yours / Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon [i.e., if you will
excuse me for seeing it], / You are much more attasked [blamed] for want [lack] of wisdom /
Than praised for harmful mildness." He counters "How far your eyes may pierce I can not
tell. / Striving to better, oft we mar what's well."

Act I Scene 5
Before Albany's palace. Lear sends Kent/Caius with a letter to Regan at Gloucestershire. Fool
predicts that Regan will be no more receptive to them than Goneril was, saying Lear would
make a good fool and that "Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise." Lear
exclaims "To take 't again perforce! Monster ingratitude!" [Interpretable as (1) Goneril has
forcibly taken back the privileges he retained for himself, or less likely (2) He is
contemplating an armed restoration of his power.] Lear and Fool depart.

Lear, fearing he is going mad, exclaims "O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! /
Keep me in temper: I would not be mad!"

Act II

Act II Scene 1

At the Earl of Gloucester's house [2 days later]. Edmund speaks with Curan, a member of the
household who tells him that Cornwall and Regan will be coming that night. Curan alludes to
growing "wars" between Cornwall and Albany. To himself, Edmund sees this as an
opportunity to promote his evil designs.

Edgar enters, and Edmund tells him to flee to save his life from his father's wrath and asks if
he has spoken ill of Cornwall or Albany. He has Edgar draw his sword on him as Gloucester
arrives [why does Edgar agree to do this? -- because he trusts Edmund's good intentions?]
They mock fight and Edmund wounds his arm as Edgar flees. Edmund tells his father that
Edgar tried to persuade him to kill Gloucester, but he opposed this. Gloucester swears he will
be caught and executed for his intended crime, and that the one who catches him will be
rewarded. Edmund quotes what Edgar allegedly said, that no one would believe Edmund's
story against Edgar's. 

Trumpets announce the arrival of the Duke, and Gloucester frets as to why they have come as
he makes plans for his son's capture and Edmund's assumption of Edgar's role. Cornwall asks
G. why his son has attacked him--Regan suggests it is because he has kept company with
Lear's riotous knights. She has heard from Goneril by letter about their behavior at Goneril's
house, and decided to leave so Lear would not find them at home when he arrived. Cornwall
praises Edmund for his heroic actions in defense of his father and says, "You shall be ours. /
Natures of such deep trust we shall much need; / You we first seize on.", and Edmund agrees
to serve him. Regan explains further the reason for their abruptly planned visit, of the letters
she received from both Lear and Goneril--they say they have come for his counsel.

Act II Scene 2

Outside Gloucester's house. Oswald (Goneril's servant) and Kent/Caius arrive separately.
Kent is immediately insulting and provocative to Oswald and launches into an extended foul-
mouthed and intemperate tirade against him, challenging him to fight (it has been 2 days
since Kent kicked him at Goneril's). Gloucester arrives and Kent continues his diatribe,
leaving all puzzled. Gloucester asks for an explanation and Kent says "Sir, 'tis my occupation
to be plain: / I have seen better faces in my time / Than stands on any shoulder that I see /
Before me at this instant." Cornwall offers comments on such an unflattering knave as Kent.
Oswald tells how Kent joined in the abuse heaped on him earlier by Lear. Cornwall calls for
Kent to be placed in stocks, and will not relent even though Kent says he is the messenger of
the King and such an action will show "malice / Against the grace and person of my master".
He tells Regan "If I were your father's dog / You should not use me so." She has heard about
him from her sister's letter. Gloucester worries at this affront to the king, but Regan is more
concerned about the affront to her sister's own gentlemen by Lear et al. Gloucester tells Kent
he will plea for him.

Left alone in the stocks, Kent pulls out a letter from Cordelia and hopes that the warming sun
will rise soon, that she will come to remedy his plight, and that his fortune will improve.

Act II Scene 3

Same, with Kent now asleep in the stocks. Edgar enters--he is on the run, hiding to escape
capture. He plans to assume the guise of or like crazy Poor Tom 'o Bedlam, naked, ragged,
and grimy. 

Act II Scene 4

Same. Lear arrives with Fool and a gentleman. He wonders why he did not find Regan and
Cornwall at home and why his messenger (Kent) to Gloucester has not returned to him. 
Kent greets his master, and Lear is shocked to learn Cornwall and Regan are responsible for
placing him in the stocks: "'Tis worse than murder, / To do upon respect such violent
outrage." Kent relates that he had earlier gone to their house with Lear's letter, and that before
they replied to it, Oswald arrived with Goneril's letter. They made no response to Kent, but
hastily left to come to Gloucester's. Fool comments on the dire implications of Regan's
actions: "Fathers that wear rags / Do make their children blind, / But fathers that bear bags /
Shall see their children kind. / Fortune, that arrant whore, / Ne'er turns the key to the poor."
Lear is beginning now to realize how neither daughter will support him--he exits to look for
his daughter. The Fool continues with further gloomy aphorisms, though pledging he will
continue to serve Lear.

Lear reenters with Gloucester. He is angry that they have refused to speak with him or allow
him entrance, pleading weariness. Gloucester warns Lear of Cornwall's fiery nature, but Lear
is only further enraged to be denied an audience. He tries to calm himself and be forbearing
of the indignity he is suffering. But seeing Kent in stocks, he concludes that the Duke and
Regan are only feigning fatigue and demands via Gloucester to be admitted or he'll keep them
awake with drums.

Finally Regan and Cornwall emerge with Gloucester. Lear threatens to disown Regan but
also compares her favorably to her sharp-toothed sister. But Regan defends her sister and
states Goneril was justified in wanting to limit the numbers of his riotous followers. She says
"O, sir, you are old; / Nature in you stands on the very verge / Of her confine: you should be
ruled and led / By some discretion that discerns your state / better than you yourself." She
wants Lear to return to and ask Goneril for her forgiveness. Lear is contemptuous of this
suggestion, but she insists. He is adamant against this and curses Goneril. Cornwall scorns
this, but Lear continues his curse against her though he says Regan will never be so cursed
and describes her as having a tender-hafted nature.

Lear demands to know who put Kent in the stocks. At the same time, trumpets announce the
arrival of Goneril--she enters. Lear persists in the question, but Regan and Goneril join hands,
united against him. Goneril says "All's not offense that indiscretion finds / And dotage terms
so." Cornwall states Kent deserved to be in the stocks. Regan says she was not expecting
Lear and is not prepared to entertain him and his retinue, and wants him to return to Goneril.
But Lear rages "... No! Rather I abjure all roofs, and choose / To wage against the enmity o'
the air, / To be a comrade with the wolf and owl ..." He would just as soon kneel to beg
before France. He appeals to Goneril not to further anger him, that he will not see her again,
and tries to restrain himself. Then he further reflects "But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my
daughter-- / Or rather a disease that's in my flesh, / Which I must needs call mine. Thou art a
boil, / A plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle / in my corrupted blood." He says he will be
patient and stay with Regan. But Regan does not want the 100 knights, or even 50, and
suggests it be reduced to 25. Lear ponders her ingratitude to him, but she is adamant. He
reluctantly agrees to return to Goneril with 50 men. But now Goneril questions why he
should need even 5 men of his own since she has so many servants.

Lear is incensed to have to defend his royal prerogatives and finally realizes he cannot
depend on either daughter: "O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars / Are in the poorest
thing superfluous. / Allow not nature more than nature needs, / Man's life's as cheap as
beast's. Thou art a lady; / If only to go warm were gorgeous, / Why, nature needs not what
thou gorgeous wear'st, / Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need-- / You heavens,
give me that patience, patience I need! / You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, / As full
of grief as age; wretched in both. / If it be you [the gods] that stir these daughters' hearts /
Against their father, fool me not so much / To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, /
And let not women's weapons, water-drops, / Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
/ I will have such revenges on you both."

He leaves with Gloucester etc. Cornwall notes it will be a storm, but Goneril and Regan are
indifferent to Lear's fate, though they each say they would take just him in provided he left
his followers outside.

Gloucester returns and says the king is calling for a horse and will ride into the storm. Goneril
asks Gloucester not to entreat Lear to stay. Regan cold-heartedly says "To wilful men / The
injuries that they themselves procure / Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors."

Act III

Act III Scene 1

An open place in Gloucestershire. Kent and a Gentleman enter separately and discuss how
the king is contending against the storm, tearing his hair, trying to outstorm the storm, etc.
Kent again refers to the impending conflict between Cornwall and Albany, and says an army
from France has already landed at several ports in England. He asks the man to go to Dover
and to report on the king's abused condition.

Act III Scene 2

Same area. Lear rages in sympathy with the storm: "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!
Rage, blow! / You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout / Till you have drenched our steeples,
drowned the cocks!" But the more practical Fool wishes they had dry shelter, and asks him to
ask his daughter's blessing [thereby acknowledging their authority]. But Lear for now only
encourages the storm more, oblivious to the suffering of the Fool. Fool makes irreverent
jokes.

Kent/Caius enters, and marvels at the ferocity of the storm. Lear rages on, claiming "I am a
man / More sinned against than sinning." Kent says there is a nearby hovel, though he was
denied entrance. Lear shows at last some recognition of the Fool's being cold in the storm and
agrees to seek the hovel with Kent. Fool makes some satirical observations about the present
and prophecies the future, referring to Merlin anachronistically (Arthur came well after Lear).

Act III Scene 3

Gloucester's house. Gloucester frets to Edmund that Cornwall et al have forbidden him from
helping Lear. He alludes to the split between Cornwall and Albany, and to a letter he has
received from the foreign forces promising revenge on Lear's plight. He wants to inform Lear
and asks Edmund to cover up his absence. To himself, Edmund resolves instead to inform
Cornwall immediately of his father's actions.

Act III Scene 4

An open place before the hovel. Kent urges Lear to enter, but he resists, saying that if he is
relieved of the suffering caused by the storm, he will be left to suffer from the injury from his
daughters. He worries that further thinking on his daughter's ingratitude will cause him to go
mad. He sends Fool in and meanwhile expresses his developing compassion, worrying about
the plight of others out in the storm: "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! " Edgar/Tom is heard yelling within and Fool comes back out,
followed by Edgar, who tries unsuccessfully to drive them away.

Lear speaks at length to Edgar--Lear in his overt madness regards Edgar variously as a wise
philosopher and a judge. He wonders if Edgar's daughters have caused this ruin to him. Edgar
dispenses various advice, e.g. "Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray
thy poor heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from
lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend." Lear wonders "Is man no more than this" and
commenting on Edgar's unclothed and more natural state, decides to take off his own (which
Fool discourages).

Gloucester now enters. Edgar/Tom describes himself in mad phrases. Gloucester tells Lear he
could not obey the harsh commands of his daughters. Lear continues his philosophical
queries to Edgar, now on the cause of thunder. Kent comments Lear is losing his wits.
Gloucester informs Kent/Caius that Lear's daughters are seeking his death, and recalls that
Kent had predicted their unfaithfulness. He comments on his own traitorous son to Kent (as
Lear and Edgar converse). Edgar refers to "Child Rowland to the dark tower came".

Act III Scene 5

Gloucester's house. Edmund has informed Cornwall of Gloucester's opposition and ostensible
treason. Cornwall tells Edmund he will have revenge on Gloucester. Edmund feigns concern
about going against his loyalty to his father to be loyal to Cornwall. Cornwall now wonders if
Edgar had wanted to kill his father because he sensed the man merited death. He confers on
Edmund the title of Earl of Gloucester, taking away the title and lands from his father, saying
he now will serve as a father to Edmund.

Act III Scene 6

On Gloucester's estate, perhaps in or near his house. Gloucester conceals Kent and Lear,
Fool, and Edgar. More mad talk, and witty observations by the Fool. Lear commences an
imaginary trial of his daughters, with Edgar/Tom as judge [a parody on the theme of justice].
Edgar is moved to tears by the tragic Lear. Kent tries to get Lear to settle in and rest, and Lear
finally goes to sleep. Gloucester enters, and urges Kent to transport Lear to Dover, as there is
a plot to kill him--they take the sleeping king and depart. Edgar, to himself, observes "When
we our betters see bearing our woes, / We scarcely think our miseries our foes. / Who alone
suffers suffers most i' the mind, / Leaving free things and happy shows behind."

Act III Scene 7

Gloucester's house. Cornwall dispatches a letter to Albany via Goneril (accompanied by

Edmund, Oswald, etc.)--he is aware the army of France has landed, and demands the traitor
Gloucester. Regan wants him hung and Goneril suggests they pluck out his eyes. Cornwall
advises Edmund that he will not want to be present to see the punishment inflicted on his
father. He wants to be in close communication with Albany.

Oswald enters to say that the king is being taken to Dover by some of Gloucester's men.
Cornwall believes he cannot execute Gloucester without a trial, and plans instead some other
punishment. Cornwall's servants bring in Gloucester, who is bound, for a trial of sorts [this
depiction of justice is a companion to that of 3.6]. Gloucester objects to this ill treatment in
his own home by his guests. Cornwall demands to know what letters Gloucester has received
from France [as has been related to C by Edmund]. Gloucester is evasive, but acknowledges
he has sent Lear to Dover "Because I would not see thy [Regan's] cruel nails / Pluck out his
poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister / In his anointed flesh rash [slice diagonally] boarish
fangs." He chastises their cruelty to their father and says he will see vengeance on such
children. This provokes Cornwall to grind out one of his eyes with his boot. Regan demands
the other as well. One of Cornwall's servants intervenes, rebukes Regan, and wounds
Cornwall, but is slain by Regan (who runs him through the back with a sword). Cornwall puts
out Gloucester's other eye. Gloucester calls for his son Edmund, but Regan informs him it
was Edmund that informed on him. Too late, Gloucester see the truth: "O my follies! Then
Edgar was abused. / Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!" Regan demands that the
blinded man be thrown out the gates of his own home and smell his way to Dover, in which
Cornwall concurs. Two servants are left behind to plan how to help Gloucester and tend his
eyes, hoping for the downfall of Regan & Cornwall.

Act IV

Act IV Scene 1
An open place. Edgar/Tom tells himself it is better to be openly despised than to be flattered
but secretly despised. An old man (one of Gloucester's long-time tenants) enters, leading
Gloucester. Gloucester tells him to leave for his own safety, saying "I have no way and
therefore want no eyes; / I stumbled when I saw." Edgar is grieved to see his father so but
maintains his disguise. Gloucester continues to the Old Man and Edgar bitterly: "As flies to
wanton boys are we to th' gods; / They kill us for their sport." Gloucester insists he be left
with the naked madman, and sends the Old Man for clothing for Tom. He observes "'Tis the
times' plague, when madmen lead the blind." He gives Edgar/Tom a purse and asks him to
lead him to the edge of the cliff at Dover (even as Tom speaks of various fiends such as
Flibbertigibbet), to which Edgar agrees.

Act IV Scene 2

Before Albany's house. Goneril and Edmund arrive and are greeted by Oswald. O. has
informed Albany that the French army is landed, that she is coming, the action against Lear,
etc., and he has reacted unexpectedly. Goneril says to Edmund he should turn back to rally
Cornwall to war, since Albany seems to be becoming cowardly. She plans to assume power
over her husband, tells Edmund she will send Oswald with letters from her, kisses him, and
implies her eagerness to become his mistress, to which he gives his implied approval.

Albany comes out and berates Goneril for her cruelty to her own father [it is unclear if he also
has been told about Gloucester's injuries], wonders if Cornwall put her up to it, calls for the
heavens to rectify these wrongs, etc. She in turns berates him as cowardly and asks why he
does not make preparations to defend against the French attack. He says she is a fiend, else he
would tear her apart.

A messenger arrives to say the wound that Gloucester's servant gave to Cornwall, trying to
save his remaining eye, has led to Cornwall's death. Albany apparently had not heard yet
about Gloucester's abuse and he further condemns Goneril for this. The messenger gives her a
letter from Regan, and she exits. Goneril to herself sees both an advantage and a threat to
Regan's being widowed, and she worries that Regan will now be alone with Edmund. Albany
asks where Edmund was when Gloucester was being punished, and he says he was coming
with Goneril to Albany's. The messenger says that Edmund was the one who informed on his
father and that he left to make it easier for Cornwall etc. to exact the punishment. Albany is
grateful for Gloucester's efforts to help the king and vows to revenge his injuries.
Act IV Scene 3

French camp near Dover. Kent/Caius and a Gentleman discuss the sudden departure of the
King of France back for France, on urgent home business--he has left the Marshal of France
in charge. The Gentleman has given letters to Queen Cordelia, which have moved her both to
joy and to tears: "Those happy smilets / That played on her ripe lip seemed not to know /
What guests were in her eyes, which parted thence / As pearls from diamonds dropped." She
is grieved to learn of her sister's behavior, their lack of pity in the storm, etc. Kent marvels "It
is the stars, / The stars above us, govern our conditions, / Else one self mate and make could
not beget / Such different issues [as the three sisters]." Kent says Lear, though present now
there, is so ashamed that he is prevented from seeing her. Kent has important secret plans and
asks the Gentleman to attend Lear.

Act IV Scene 4

The French Camp. Cordelia confers with the Doctor, distressed about the report about her
mad father, who has been seen wandering and crowned with weeds. She asks them to find
him and bring him to her. The doctor urges her to let him heal through rest. A messenger
arrives to say the British troops are approaching. To herself, she says it is to aid Lear and her
love for him and not any ambition for power that has caused her to persuade her husband to
come to England.

Act IV Scene 5

Gloucester's house. Regan speaks to Oswald, who has been sent by Goneril with a letter to
Edmund. She wonders why Edmund was sent away without speaking to Albany and wants to
see the letter. She wishes they had killed Gloucester, since he will evoke pity. She believes
Edmund has gone to kill his father and to spy on the enemy's strength. She knows Goneril
loves Edmund and has noted the glances they have exchanged. She does not get to see the
letter, but decides to send one of her own to Edmund, saying she is widowed and needs
Edmund more than Goneril does. She offers a reward for him or anyone to kill Gloucester.

Act IV Scene 6
Open place near Dover. Edgar/Tom leads Gloucester to a place he insists is the edge of the
cliff, though it is a flat area. He claims to hear the sea. Gloucester notes he speaks in a
different voice [i.e., that of a fiend], but Edgar says it is only his garments that have changed,
and describes in detail the cliff, the ocean, boats below, etc. Gloucester rewards and dismisses
him. Edgar believes he is doing this to cure his father. Gloucester renounces the world,
blesses Edgar (who he believes to be absent) and falls forward. Edgar then speaks to him in a
new voice as if Gloucester had fallen like gossamer to the bottom of the cliff, saying his life
is a miracle. Edgar says he saw him above with a monstrous fiend, and that therefore it must
be the wishes of the gods for him to survive. Gloucester resolves to bear his afflictions
without further efforts at suicide, recalling how Tom had often spoken of "The fiend".

Lear wanders in dressed in wild flowers, babbling about raising an army. He refers to
Gloucester as Goneril with a white beard, and recalls his daughter's lies. He says he is "every
inch a king" and speaks about adultery and the baseness of female sexuality: "Down from the
waist they're Centaurs, / Though women all above. / But to the girdle do the gods inherit; /
Beneath is all the fiends'. / There's hell, there's darkness, there is the sulfurous pit, Burning,
scalding, stench, consumption." Lear wants Gloucester to read a challenge he has written, and
they talk of understanding without seeing, seeing with one's ears, etc. Lear continues to rant
against beadles who lust for whores, hypocritical usurers, and other injustices rampant in the
world. Edgar sees reason in his madness. Lear offers his own eyes to Gloucester, and recalls
the newborn state: "We came crying hither. / Thou know'st the first time that we smell the
air / We wawl and cry." He wants to kill his sons-in-law. 

A gentleman arrives with men searching for Lear, and Lear leads them on a chase, exiting.
The gentleman praises the virtue of Cordelia and the pitiful state of the king, and tells Edgar
of the impending battle and that Cordelia is nearby, though her army has moved on--he then
exits. Gloucester has softened and proclaims "You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me;
/ Let not my worser spirit tempt me again / To die before you please!" Edgar offers to lead
him away, a "most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows".

Oswald comes on them, hopes to win the promised bounty on Gloucester, draws his sword, is
slain by Edgar's cudgel, and asks they give the love letter from Goneril to Edmund to
Edmund. But Edgar reads the letter and decides to keep it as evidence of her lust for Edmund
and plotting against her husband. He vows to show the letter to Albany. He hears the drum of
the approaching army and leads his father away.
Act IV Scene 7

The French Camp. Cordelia praises and thanks Kent for his loyalty and aid to her father. He
asks that he be allowed to remain in disguise [as Caius] for a while longer. The doctor tells
her Lear is still sleeping, and she appeals to the gods to "cure this great breach in his abused
nature". Lear is brought in, now properly clothed. Music awakens him. Cordelia tenderly
addresses him, lamenting the inhumane treatment he had from her sisters. Lear replies "You
do me wrong to take me out o' the grave. / Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound / Upon a
wheel of fire, that mine own tears / Do scald like molten lead." He thinks she is a spirit. She
asks for his blessing, and he attempts to kneel. He knows he is a foolish old man, does not
seem to know her but realizes at last she is Cordelia. He thinks she is justified to kill him, but
she is only loving. He says "Forget and forgive. / I am old and foolish" and is taken away.

Kent and Gentleman are left behind to discuss the approaching battle, etc.

Act V

Act V Scene 1

British camp near Dover. Edmund asks a gentleman if Albany is coming to his support.
Regan fears something bad has happened to Oswald [since Goneril's letter has not been
delivered], and Edmund agrees. Regan begins to court Edmund's love, asks if he has "found
my brother's way to the forfended place [i.e., to Goneril's adulterous bed]?" He denies it, she
asks him not to be familiar with Goneril, and he reassures her.

Goneril arrives with Albany etc. Goneril frets about losing Edmund to Regan. Albany has
heard Lear is with Cordelia, and wants them to respond only to the invading army, and not
against Lear and Cordelia who have just grievances. But Goneril dismisses his lenient
attitude, and they prepare to plan the battle. Regan wants Goneril to go with her, to keep her
from Edmund, and Goneril sees her intentions.

Edgar arrives in disguise and presents the letter from Goneril to Edmund to Albany, refusing
to say who he is but stating that he will champion Albany against Edmund afterwards, if they
are victorious in battle--he should sound a herald to summons him at the right time.
Edmund, left alone, comments on his indifference and deception toward both of the sisters
and his plan to murder Cordelia and Lear: "To both these sisters have I sworn my love, / Each
jealous [suspicious] of the other as the stung / Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take? /
Both? One? Or neither? Neither can be enjoyed, / If both remain alive. To take the widow /
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril, / And hardly shall I carry out my side [i.e.,
succeed in his plans], / Her husband being alive. Now then we'll use / His countenance for the
battle, which being done, / Let her who would be rid of him devise / His speedy taking off
[murder]. As for the mercy / Which he [Albany] intends to Lear and to Cordelia, / The battle
done, and they within our power, / Shall never see his pardon; for my state / Stands on me to
defend, not to debate."

Act V Scene 2

Battlefield. Lear and Cordelia flee across the stage. Edgar hides his father by a tree and prays
that "the right may thrive" and that he will be able to return to him. He returns, saying Lear
and Cordelia have been captured. Gloucester is despondent again, but Edgar insists "What, in
ill thoughts again? Men must endure / Their going hence [dying], even as their coming hither
[birth]; / Ripeness [i.e., being at the proper end of one's life] is all". They exit together.

Act V Scene 3

British camp. Edmund, without speaking to them, orders Lear and Cordelia to be taken away
under guard. Cordelia asks of Lear if they will see her sisters, but he wants to go immediately
to jail. He is thrilled to be with her and fantasizes that they will live a blessed life in prison
together, singing like birds, telling tales, and vows they will not be separated except by death.

After they are led away, Edmund gives secret papers to a captain [ordering Cordelia's
execution].

Albany et al enters--he demands to have Cordelia and Lear handed over. Edmund pretends
they are being kept until passions have cooled and his army has rested from battle before they
are tried. Albany says Edmund is his subordinate, not like a brother. Regan tries to speak up
on Edmund's behalf as Albany's equal, and Goneril jumps in against Regan's implied claims
on Edmund. Regan takes ill in the stomach. Leaving, she offers her troops, patrimony, and
herself to Edmund. Regan wants their engagement announced, but Albany squelches this by
announcing he is arresting Edmund on capital treason for plotting with "this gilded serpent"
Goneril against him. Goneril disparages this action as an "interlude" [i.e., like a melodramatic
play or farce]. Albany throws down his glove in challenge to Edmund to back up his
accusation. Regan is sicker, and Goneril to herself hopes the poison she gave her sister will
be effective. Edmund throws down his glove in exchange. A herald is summoned, and
Albany tells Edmund he must depend only on his own fighting skills, as his troops have been
levied by Albany. Regan is taken to her tent. The herald sounds his trumpet and announces
the call for anyone to take up the cause against Edmund. Edgar appears, armed [and not
recognizable apparently], refuses to give his name, but accusing Edmund of treason etc.
Edmund waives his right to not fight against an unknown inferior, they fight, and he is
wounded. Albany asks him to spare Edmund [for trial]. Albany angrily responds to Goneril
by showing her the letter she wrote to Edmund. She exits, refusing to comment.

Edmund acknowledges his treason, and "much, much more". He wants to know who Edgar
is, and Edgar tells him "My name is Edgar, and thy father's son. / The gods are just, and of
our pleasant [pleasurable] vices / Make instruments to plague us. / The dark and vicious place
where thee he got / Cost him his eyes." Edmund knows his fate is sealed. Albany embraces
Edgar, pledging he never meant any ill toward him or Gloucester. 

He asks Edgar where he has been, and Edgar relates how he secretly nursed his father
disguised as a mad man. He revealed his identity to his father only as he was arming for the
challenge, at which time he asked for his blessing. But his father's weakened heart burst at
this news--he died "twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief". Edmund is moved at this
speech. Edgar continues that the banished Kent arrived, grieved for Gloucester's death and
told of his nursing of Lear also in disguise.

A gentleman arrives with a bloody knife, to say that Goneril has killed herself and that before
she died she confessed to poisoning Regan, who has also died. Albany coldly claims "This
judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble, / Touches us not with pity." Kent arrives and
wants to greet Lear and Cordelia. Albany asks Edmund where they are. The sister's bodies are
brought in. Edmund reflects "Yet Edmund was beloved. / The one the other poisoned for my
sake, / And after slew herself." 

Edmund wants at last to do some good before he dies, and urges them to run to the castle and
save Lear and Cordelia from his order for execution. He sends his sword via a captain to the
other captain, to persuade him against the deed commissioned by him and Goneril, namely to
hang Cordelia and make it look like a suicide. Edmund is taken away.

Lear arrives with the dying Cordelia in his arms, wailing against her death. Kent wonders if
this is the promised end [Last Judgement]. Lear wonders if she may still be alive. He praises
her gentleness: "Her voice was ever soft, / Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman." He
has killed the captain that hung her with his sword. Lear at last recognizes Kent, who admits
he has been serving in the guise of Caius. Lear welcomes him. Kent tells him his older
daughters are dead, but Lear has suspected that.

A messenger arrives to say Edmund is dead. Albany decides to resign his position and
reinstate the king to power, to be succeeded by Kent and Edgar. Lear mourns the death of
Cordelia, who indeed is not breathing, speaks of her lips, and dies. Kent urges they allow
Lear's departing spirit to pass unimpeded. Kent declines to share in the rule of the land, as he
believes he too will die soon, and Edgar sadly concludes: "The weight of this sad time we
must obey; / Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. / The oldest hath borne most; we
that are young / Shall never see so much, nor live so long."