Kent later follows to protect Lear. Gloucester protests against Lear's mistreatment. With Lear's retinue of a hundred knights dissolved, the only companions he has left are his Fool and Kent. Wandering on the heath after the storm, Edgar, in the guise of a madman named Tom o' Bedlam, meets Lear. Edgar babbles madly while Lear denounces his daughters. Kent leads them all to shelter.

Why not my hand, sir?’ said Goneril ‘How have I offended? Something isn’t offensive just because someone says so and because old men call it that.’

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Oh you slave! Criminal!’ Lear’s hand went to the hilt of his sword and his two sons-in law sprang up in alarm, with expressions of concern. Lear put his hand up to his throat. ‘Oh how this smothering sensation wells up towards my heart,’ he moaned. ‘This choking! Down, you climbing sorrow – your place is down below. Where is this daughter?’ Hughes Media Internet Limited. "16. King Lear – Big Finish Classics". Big Finish . Retrieved 1 August 2022.

I’ve never thought of my life as anything more than a poor pawn to be used against your enemies: nor do I fear to lose it in the interests of your safety.’ It always seemed so to us,’ said Gloucester. ‘But now, in dividing up his kingdom, it’s not clear which of the dukes he values more. Their share of the kingdom is so well balanced that neither can be said to be preferred.’ So be it,’ he said curtly. ‘Let your honesty be your dowry. By the sacred beams of the sun: the mysteries of Hecate and the night: by all the workings of the planets that govern our lives and deaths, I here disclaim my parental love, my kinship and blood relationship, and regard you as a stranger to my heart and to me forever. The barbarous Scythian, or those who eat their offspring to satisfy their appetites, will be as well received, pitied and given comfort as you, my sometime daughter.’ John F. Danby, in his Shakespeare's Doctrine of Nature – A Study of King Lear (1949), argues that Lear dramatizes, among other things, the current meanings of "Nature". The words "nature", "natural", and "unnatural" occur over forty times in the play, reflecting a debate in Shakespeare's time about what nature really was like; this debate pervades the play and finds symbolic expression in Lear's changing attitude to Thunder. There are two strongly contrasting views of human nature in the play: that of the Lear party (Lear, Gloucester, Albany, Kent), exemplifying the philosophy of Bacon and Hooker, and that of the Edmund party (Edmund, Cornwall, Goneril, Regan), akin to the views later formulated by Hobbes, though the latter had not yet begun his philosophy career when Lear was first performed. Along with the two views of Nature, the play contains two views of Reason, brought out in Gloucester and Edmund's speeches on astrology (1.2). The rationality of the Edmund party is one with which a modern audience more readily identifies. But the Edmund party carries bold rationalism to such extremes that it becomes madness: a madness-in-reason, the ironic counterpart of Lear's "reason in madness" (IV.6.190) and the Fool's wisdom-in-folly. This betrayal of reason lies behind the play's later emphasis on feeling. Brother, I’m giving you the best advice,’ said Edmund. ‘If there’s any good will towards you I’m no honest man. I’ve told you what I’ve seen and heard, but I’ve played it down – nothing like the real horror of it. Please, go now.’

Teaching King Lear

No, Regan, you’ll never have my curse. Your tender-hearted nature won’t allow harshness. Her eyes are hostile but yours are comforting and don’t smolder. You don’t have it in you to begrudge me my pleasures, to cut off my retinue, to exchange hasty words, to reduce my following and, finally, to bolt the door against me. You understand better the duties of a child, good manners, dues of gratitude. You haven’t forgotten the half of the kingdom that I gave you.’

Act 5, scene 1 Albany joins his forces with Regan’s (led by Edmund) to oppose the French invasion. Edgar, still in disguise, approaches Albany with the letter plotting Albany’s death, and promises to produce a champion to maintain the authenticity of the letter in a trial by combat. Edmund then enters and, when alone, reflects upon his possible marriage to either Goneril or Regan and upon his intention to have Cordelia and Lear killed if the British forces are victorious. Act 3, scene 7 Cornwall dispatches men to capture Gloucester, whom he calls a traitor. Sending Edmund and Goneril to tell Albany about the landing of the French army, Cornwall puts out Gloucester’s eyes. Cornwall is himself seriously wounded by one of his own servants, who tries to stop the torture of Gloucester. Oh sir,’ said Regan, ‘Wilful men have to learn from their destructive actions. Shut your doors. He’s attended by such a desperate mob and it would be wise to be be on guard against whatever they may provoke him into doing.’

Introduction to the play

In the early 18th century, some writers began to express objections to this (and other) Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare. For example, in The Spectator on 16 April 1711 Joseph Addison wrote " King Lear is an admirable Tragedy ... as Shakespeare wrote it; but as it is reformed according to the chymerical Notion of poetical Justice in my humble Opinion it hath lost half its Beauty." Yet on the stage, Tate's version prevailed. [d] Cordelia faced them. ‘Treasures of our father,’ she said, ‘Cordelia leaves you in tears. I know you for what you are, but because I’m your sister I’m reluctant to call a spade a spade. Love our father well. I commit him to your professed hearts. Alas, if I were still in favour with him I wouldn’t allow him near you. So farewell to you both.’ The courtiers were gathered in the great hall of the royal palace. The Duke of Gloucester had welcomed the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy, who waited in a nearby apartment to be called in. They had come to woo the king’s youngest daughter, Cordelia, and King Lear was about to announce his decision. The elderly Gloucester had brought his son, Edmund, and they were chatting to the Duke of Kent while they waited.

My dear lord,’ she said, ‘You have conceived me, brought me up and loved me. I return those duties accordingly – obey you, love you, and honour you entirely. Why do my sisters have husbands if they say they love you exclusively? If it happens that I should marry, that man who has my hand in marriage will have half my love, half my care and duty. Certainly, I’ll never marry like my sisters to love my father totally.’ Act 4, scene 7 In the French camp, Lear is waked by the doctor treating him and is reunited with Cordelia. There is no direct evidence to indicate when King Lear was written or first performed. It is thought to have been composed sometime between 1603 and 1606. A Stationers' Register entry notes a performance before James I on 26 December 1606. The 1603 date originates from words in Edgar's speeches which may derive from Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603). [16] A significant issue in the dating of the play is the relationship of King Lear to the play titled The True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Leir and his Three Daughters, which was published for the first time after its entry in the Stationers' Register of 8 May 1605. This play had a significant effect on Shakespeare, and his close study of it suggests that he was using a printed copy, which suggests a composition date of 1605–06. [17] Conversely, Frank Kermode, in the Riverside Shakespeare, considers the publication of Leir to have been a response to performances of Shakespeare's already-written play; noting a sonnet by William Strachey that may have verbal resemblances with Lear, Kermode concludes that "1604–05 seems the best compromise". [18] The play offers an alternative to the feudal-Machiavellian polarity, an alternative foreshadowed in France's speech (I.1.245–256), in Lear and Gloucester's prayers (III.4. 28–36; IV.1.61–66), and in the figure of Cordelia. Until the decent society is achieved, we are meant to take as role-model (though qualified by Shakespearean ironies) Edgar, "the machiavel of goodness", [29] endurance, courage and "ripeness". [28] Three daughters of King Lear by Gustav Pope It’s his own fault,’ said Goneril. ‘He’s upset himself and has to take the consequences of such folly.’You concentrate on pleasing your husband, who has taken you in as a beggar,’ said Goneril. ‘You have been disobedient and fully deserve what’s happened to you.’ Goneril stood up. She went to her father and kissed him. Then she half turned and spoke, both to him and to the court. ‘Sir, I love you more than words can express. Dearer than eye-sight, space and freedom. Beyond what can be valued rich or rare: no less than life itself, with all its grace, health, beauty and honour, as much as a child ever loved or father ever enjoyed. A love that takes the breath away and renders speech inadequate. Beyond everything, I love you.’