Mahesh Dattani is considered as one of the best Indian playwrights and he writes his pieces in English. He is an actor, playwright and director.
A Look at His Early Years:
Mahesh Dattani was born on the 7th of August in 1958 in Bangalore, Karnataka. He was educated at Baldwin’s Boys High School and then went on to graduate from St.Joseph’s College, Bangalore. After graduation, he worked for a brief period as a copywriter for an advertising firm. In 1986, he wrote his first play, ‘Where There is a Will’.
Mahesh Dattani’s Works:
After his first play, Mahesh Dattani began to concentrate on his writing and wrote more dramas like Final Solutions, Night Queen, Dance Like a Man, Tara, and Thirty Days. From 1995, he started working exclusively in theatre.
All his plays address social issues, not the very obvious ones, but the deep-seated prejudices and problems that the society is usually conditioned to turn away from. His plays deal with gender identity, gender discrimination, and communal tensions. The play ‘Tara’ deals with gender discrimination, ‘30 Days in September’ tackles the issue of child abuse head on, and ‘Final Solutions’ is about the lingering echoes of the partition.
It was Alyque Padamsee who first spotted and encouraged Mahesh Dattani’s talent and gave him the confidence to venture into a career in theatre. Dattani formed his own theatre group, Playpen, in 1984.
He is the only English playwright to be awarded the Sahitya Academy Award. He got this award in 1998. He also writes plays for BBC Radio and he was also one of the 21 playwrights chosen by BBC to write plays to commemorate Chaucer’s 600th anniversary in 2000.
His Plays as Movies:
Mahesh Dattani’s Play ‘Dance Like a Man’ was made into a film in 2003, directed by Pamela Rooks and starring Shobana, Arif Zakaria and Anoushka Shankar. This movie won the award for Best Picture in English at the National Panorama.
Mahesh Dattani himself directed Mango Soufflé in 2002. He also wrote and directed Morning Raga in 2004. Starring Shabana Azmi, this movie is about a Carnatic singer whose life has been traumatized by the loss of her son and her best friend in an accident. It earned Dattani an award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Cairo Film Festival.
Mahesh Dattani is one India most successful playwrights and his plays are known for addressing issues that society tries to hide or turn its face away from. Besides being a busy playwright and director, he also conducts Summer Theatre Courses at the University of Oregon, USA. He also has his own theatre studio in Bangalore where he offers courses in acting, directing and writing.
Final Solution Overview :
Act 1
The play Final Solutions opens with Daksha (or Hardika), a newly married girl, writing her diary (on March 31, 1948). In the diary, she writes about her experience in her new house.
She is not of good opinions regarding her in-laws. Though India had gained independence, yet she is imprisoned within the four walls of the house.
She has a good taste for the songs of Shamshad Begum, Noor Jahan etc. She even wanted to become a singer like them but due to the family restrictions, her desires remain unfulfilled.
She got a chance to visit a Muslim girl Zarine, who also had a great taste for the songs of Noor Jahan and Shamshad Begum. In a course of time, they became best friends.
The scene now shifts to the present (in a town of Gujarat) and she is an old woman now. An idol of Hindu God is broken down. There are rumours that it is broken down purposely by Muslims and thus due to the tension between Hindus and Muslims, Slogans by mobs of both the communities are heard alternatively.
Smita (granddaughter of Hardika) is talking on the phone to the family of her friend Tasneem as Tasneem has just called and told her (Smita) and probably her own family as well that some bomb has blasted in her hostel.
Smita’s father Ramanik (son of Hardika) takes the phone from her daughter and assures the safety of Tasneem to her family and ends the call.
As there is quite a tension outside, Hardika advises her daughter-in-law, Aruna (Smita’s mother) to properly check doors and windows as the dogs have been let loose.
Meanwhile, Javed and Bobby, two Muslim boys are in some argument on the side of the road in a nearby area. Suddenly some Hindu men come and start asking them questions and also search them.
Finding a scull-cap in the pocket of Bobby, they at once recognise them as Muslims. As they try to kill them, Javed and Bobby run away and the mob chases them.
They reach the door of Ramanik’s house and start knocking at it. Ramanik, at last, opens the door. They at once rush in and lock the door. They plead Ramanik to save their life.
Mob arrives at the door of Ramanik. They warn Ramanik to either handover Javed and Bobby to them or they will break the door and come in. However, Ramanik refuses to do so.
The mob starts throwing stones and sticks on the house and also abuses Ramanik. Aruna does not like Muslims in her house and forces her husband to throw them out of it. Ramanik bitterly refuses.
Ramanik starts talking to Bobby and Javed. Bobby is polite while Javed is quite harsh in the conversation. Ramanik asks them about their studies and upon learning that Javed is a school drop-out start talking bad about him. Smita comes and recognises both of them.
Act 2
Aruna asks Smita how she knows both of them. Smita tells that Javed is the brother of Tasneem and Bobby is her fiancée. When Ramanik and Aruna start insulting Smita for knowing them Smita defends herself boldly by saying, there’s no harm in that.
It is also revealed that Javed does not live with his parents. Ramanik then asks how he can meet his sister. Javed says that unlike them (the Hindus) he loves the people of his community. Aruna gets outraged and Javed apologies.
Mob throws stones at the house of Ramanik. Javed scolds Ramanik saying, “Those are your people.” Ramanik tries to defend himself. He also tells how his grandfather was killed by Muslim mob soon after the partition.
Ramanik offers them milk. Javed being in thoughts exclaims, “It must feel good being majority, they have full liberty to do whatever they like with them (Javed and Bobby).
Ramanik still sympathetic explains how the conflict started. There were rumours that during the Rath Yatra of Hindus, some Muslims threw stones on the chariots that made the idols of God to fall and break into pieces and even Pujari was stabbed to death.
The event led to the imposition of curfew in their town. Smita comes with pillows for Bobby and Javed. When she asks them to sleep on the floor (as they have no extra space for them) Javed answers, “I’m used to it.” At this Smita starts asking him his real motive behind his coming to Amargaon. Bobby says that he came in search of a job.
Ramanik offers him a job at his cloth-shop but Smita warns her father from doing so. When Ramanik inquires about the matter, she reveals that Javed was hired by a terrorist organisation and was thus expelled from his house.
She also tells that she came to know about this from Tasneem. Javed condemns her for betraying her friend (as she promised Tasneem that she will not expose the reality of Javed). Smita acknowledges her mistake and being speechless runs away.
Act 3
Ramanik starts asking Javed about his involvement in terrorism in a teasing manner. Javed becomes furious and yells hot words. Ramanik angrily slaps Javed and Bobby rushes to calm them down.
Bobby then tells when they were young, Javed happened to touch a letter of his Hindu neighbour who abused the former badly.
Javed got angry and after some days threw pieces of beef meat in his house. That person came to Javed’s house and abused him harshly.
Telling the story, Bobby adds that Ramanik’s community is partially responsible for makes him so because prior to that incident, Javed was the hero of his locality. Bobby and Javed decide to leave.
Ramanik desiring to make Javed accept his job at any cost threatens them by saying that he will call the police. Javed first burst into the laugh and then tells that he was ordered to kill the Pujari in the name of Jihad. He reached the chariot and tried to stab Pujari but the latter begged for mercy and thus he became still.
All his passions died and he threw away the knife but someone else took it and stabbed the Pujari to death. Ramanik is moved and calls Javed brave.
Smita comes and apologises for exposing him. After a while, Aruna also comes and after ensuring that it is safe to go outside thinks of bringing water. Smita suggests taking the help of Bobby.
Aruna being strict in her religious matters condemns Smita for such a suggestion and thus both mother and daughter fall into an argument. Smita exposes Aruna’s blind-faiths and challenges them.
Aruna being astonished for the queer behaviour of her daughter is quite shocked. While in chaos, she goes to take bath. Smita, Bobby and Javed go out to bring water.
Through their discussion, it is revealed that Smita and Bobby loved each other but due to the communal problems they had to separate.
Later Bobby became the fiancée of Javed’s sister Tasneem. All the three friends become frank and start cracking jokes and even throw water on each other.
Meanwhile, Hardika (Daksha) who was memorising how she was beaten by her husband for visiting Zarine’s house (as there arose some conflict between the two families), scolds Javed and wishes that like her father (who was killed by Muslims) his sister should also suffer. Ramanik requests her mother not to blame them.
When Aruna comes out after taking bath, Bobby unexpectedly goes in the small temple and in spite of denial by Aruna he respectfully takes the idol in his hands and talks about communal harmony and keeps back in its place.
Both of them then go away. A little later Ramanik tells Hardika how he, his father and his grandfather burnt the shop of Zarine’s father to buy it at a reduced price (in the name of communal hatred) and now he repents over his past deeds.
He desires not to visit his shop again. Thus the play Final Solutions ends without any solutions to these communal issues that have remained in the society since ages.
King Lear has become homeless after being driven out by his two eldest daughters, to whom he had bequeathed his kingdom. The behavior of his ungrateful daughters coupled with the hardships of stormy weather he has had to endure has driven Lear towards madness. This line is said by Lear, in madness, to his youngest daughter Cordelia who is trying to bring him back to his senses. He is saying that he is a foolish, senile old man who is more than eighty years old, not an hour more or less; the last part added to suggest his insanity as it makes no sense. He then adds that to put it simply he fears that he is not entirely sane. The line is important as Lear is admitting his mistake to Cordelia of expelling her because she didn’t flatter him. It is also ironic as it is in insanity that Lear recognizes his follies and realizes his unjust decision.
"Now, gods, stand up for bastards!”
– Edmund (Act I, Scene II)
Edmund is the illegitimate son, or bastard son, of the Earl of Gloucester; while Edgar, is his brother and the Earl’s legitimate son. The story of these three characters runs parallel to that of King Lear and his daughters; and as Lear is deceived by his two eldest daughters, similarly Gloucester is tricked by his illegitimate son. This line is said by Edmund at the end of his famous soliloquy in which he challenges the social structure which treats illegitimate children unfairly and claims to be have a right to equal status as his legitimate brother. He also reveals that he plans to deceive his father and his brother to achieve his goal of acquiring the power he deserves. In this famous line, he is invoking the Gods to stand up for bastards and aid him in achieving his goal through his treacherous plot. He is thus asking for divine help to reverse the man made social order that treats him unfairly.
"Nothing will come of nothing.”
– King Lear (Act I, Scene I)
This line is spoken by King Lear while he is deciding to divide his kingdom among his daughters. After his two eldest daughters have been able to flatter and deceive him, Lear asks Cordelia to speak, expecting her to flatter him even more. However, she has faith that “my love’s more ponderous than my tongue”, and hence says “Nothing”. Lear replies to this with the most famous lines of the play, “Nothing will come of nothing”, implying that as long as she says nothing to flatter him, she will receive nothing from him. “Nothing comes from nothing” is also a philosophical expression first argued by pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides to prove that existence is necessarily eternal.
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!”
– King Lear (Act III, Scene II)
These lines are part of Lear’s famous diatribe against the storm. The once mighty King Lear is now powerless and has been thrown out by his two eldest daughters. He makes this speech while plodding across a deserted heath in the middle of a storm. In the above lines, Lear calls on the winds to blow so hard that your cheeks crack. He urges the cataracts (torrents) and hurricanoes (hurricanes) of the storm to drench the world until the very tops of buildings – steeples and, cocks or weathervanes, – are drowned. Lear goes on to urge nature to bring on another apocalypse like the Biblical flood so that no more ungrateful humans are ever created. The storm is symbolically related to the state of mind of Lear as he finds that he has been deceived by his ungrateful daughters. The storm speech is not only one of the most important passages in the play but also among the most renowned by Shakespeare.
"As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods.
They kill us for their sport.”
– Earl of Gloucester (Act IV, Scene I)
These are among the most famous lines of the play and are immensely significant as they address one of the major themes of King Lear – whether the world we live in is, by nature, indifferent to human suffering? They are spoken by Gloucester, while wandering on the heath, to an old man. In the previous Act, he has been blinded for aiding Lear, by the king’s daughter Regan and her husband Cornwall. Gloucester suffers a similar fate to Lear as he is tricked by his illegitimate son Edmund into believing that his son Edgar is treacherous, only to realize his mistake later. The difficulties faced by Gloucester are parallel to the difficulties faced by King Lear and like Lear, he too has to face the cruelty of nature. In this quotation, Gloucester says that the gods play around with us as cruelly as schoolboys who pull the wings off flies. He thus compares the gods to immature and unjust children; and man to insignificant flies, creatures subject to the cruelty of their uncaring and whimsical creator.
"When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.”
– King Lear (Act IV, Scene VI)
These words are spoken by Lear to Gloucester after Lear has lost his mind. In madness, he says some well-known philosophical lines and this quotation is the most famous among them. A child always cries when he is born. Here, Shakespeare uses this fact to suggest that a newborn cries because he realizes that he has entered a terrible world of fools; or a world where people behave idiotically and without reason. Lear might be implying that a child cries as he realizes that he has to be among such idiots and he too one day will become a terrible person like all others. Also, like in another famous quotation from the play As You Like It, Shakespeare compares the world to a “stage” in this line.
"The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman.”
– Edgar (Act I, Scene IV)
This line is said by Edgar while he is disguised as mad Tom o’ Bedlam. Tom o’ Bedlam is a famous anonymous poem and the term is often used to describe beggars and vagrants who feign mental illness. Here Edgar is replying to his father, Earl of Gloucester, who doesn’t recognize his son due to the disguise. Gloucester has suggested to Lear that he is keeping poor company and Edgar contradicts this by comparing gentlemen to the devil. “The Prince of Darkness” is a popular description of the devil. It is an English translation of an old Latin phrase “princeps tenebrarum”; with princeps meaning “first one” or “leader” and tenenbrarum referring to the “darkness of night”.
“I am a man more sinned against than sinning.”
– King Lear (Act III, Scene II)
This often-quoted line is said by King Lear while standing in the open field during a storm. He has been thrown out by his two eldest daughters, Regan and Goneril, to whom he gave the responsibility of running his kingdom. These lines come in the later part of the scene which begins with Lear’s famous storm speech. In this passage, Lear is urging the Gods to use this storm to strike against people who have secretly committed crimes. He ends the passage with this quotation which simply means that though he is aware that he has sinned, he knows that people have committed greater sins against him.
“Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest”
– Fool (Act I, Scene IV)
These words are spoken by Lear’s personal, stand-up comedian, the Fool, at a juncture of the play when Lear’s stature is diminishing in his kingdom. Through these lines, and in fact through most of the scene, the Fool is trying to make Lear realize the mistake he has committed by giving up his kingdom to his two eldest daughters just because they flattered him. Simple translation of the lines would be – have more than you show, speak less than you know and lend less than you owe. The Fool is saying that one should be wary in the social world by keeping to oneself more than what one shows the world; speaking wisely and refraining from saying things, even if one knows them, if they could prove harmful later; and not giving up ones possessions in such quantity that one is left in a poor state.
Age and the process of aging is a significant theme of the play, King Lear. When a person starts aging, he starts losing his significance. As King Lear starts aging, he starts making decisions about his kingdom and makes a bet on the persons expressing their profound love for them. However, old King Lear does not understand Cordelia is the loyal one. Sadly, he trusts the deceitful ones. On the other hand, Edmund also waits for his father, Gloucester, to die so that he could inherit something to win social legitimacy in the eyes of the social fabric he wants to live in. In fact, King Lear’s age heralds a new social circle forming around him where he is not the kingpin, but just a commoner having no authority as in the past. However, he wants to retain the same authority even in his old age, that seems impossible. That is why he admits of his being old and the desire for retirement without having to abandon his privileges. Therefore, old age and its attendant features of losing privileges.
Family Relations:
Family relationships and family loyalty are equally prominent as King Lear checks the loyalty of his daughters through their love. Though superficially, love is in abundance, it becomes scary when it comes to its application and demonstration. Cordelia, however, shows true loyalty to her father by staying with him until the end when Goneril and Regan conspire to keep the old man out of their castles. Despite severe emotional consequences and legal and regal repercussions, Goneril and Regan do not budge from their stand of keeping the king out. Similarly, Gloucester’s act of fathering Edmund seems a matter of childishness for him and causes sufferings for all others. King Lear’s earlier act of seeing familial love through expressions of love seems to hinge upon the fact that he wants to ensure family loyalty and blindly trusts the one who vocally vows to love him but abandon him later.
Madness:
Madness and ensuing foolishness is another major theme of the play, King Lear. However, most of the characters, including that of the king, try to determine their reasonable behavior toward the choice they have to make. However, most often, they fail to think clearly. It is because most of them, including the King himself, try to keep their own interests before them, ignoring the interests of others. That is why he puts the entire kingdom in harm’s way with the desire for power come what may. His irrational desire to hear only love and nothing else and then irrational decision to cling to power even after dividing his kingdom seems a foolish decision, bordering madness. That is why the court jester, mostly known as fool, appears to help King Lear realize the situation prevalent in his kingdom. He makes the king realizes his own madness about judging people.
Significance of Order:
Order and its significance in the world is another major theme of the play, King Lear. It is clear from the very start that King Lear is disrupting this order. He brings chaos in his family and his country. His desire for seeming love, even if it is flattery, makes him reject those who want to bring order and calmness. He almost disowns Cordelia for her honesty and divides his kingdom among two undeserving daughters. This brings chaos on which the court jester makes a commentary. Interestingly, even the jester taunts him for throwing away his kingdom. In fact, where Cordelia and Kent bring order and strength, Edmund, Edgar, Goneril, and Regan are the forces who bring disorder and disruption. Even King Lear himself wants disruption as he finally curses his treacherous daughter.
Loyalty:
King Lear tests the loyalty of his daughters and their husbands through a test. He asks them to tell him how much they love him. Regan and Goneril instantly shower praises on him, vowing their everlasting and strong love, while Cordelia, who actually takes care of him and loves him very much, only states that she loves him. The king was enamored of this superficial realization of the love of his daughters that he instantly considers both of them worthy of the heritage to share his kingdom. However, he does not take care of Cordelia. Instead, he instantly disinherits her. Despite this treatment, she stays loyal to her father, demonstrating that the relationships of father-daughter are not subject to property and divisions; rather, it is an enduring bond of loyalty.
Justice:
The theme of justice is intertwined with the theme of royal authority. King Lear does injustice to his daughter, Cordelia, who, despite her intense love for her father, is thrown away, while Regan and Goneril’s deception is bought by King Lear. He, however, faces injustice at the hands of both of his daughters so much so that he is left in the stormy weather to bear the brunt of his own doing. Later, he repents over this injustice meted out to him, saying that he has faced punishment more than his sin. However, later he seeks justice through a mock trial. Another point of injustice is to Edmund committed by Gloucester that he is illegitimate, which makes him jealous of his brother for which he plans his brother’s exile and murder Cordelia. The punishment meted out to him by the end is another instance of justice.
Appearance and Reality:
Appearance and reality is another important theme of the play. Lear believes in the false narrative of his daughters, Goneril and Regan, that they love her more than he can think. However, he equally turns away his attention from the reality that his daughter, Cordelia, loves him the most. The appearances of his two elder daughters fool him, and he ignores his daughter, who shows him true love and loyalty. Similarly, Edmond, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, does not accept this reality and conspires to discredit his brother, Edgar, the legitimate son.
Lear is King of England. Old and tired of the duties of kingship, he decides to retire, and to split his kingdom between his three daughters and their husbands.
He is irascible, hot-tempered, full of self-regard, and lacks self-awareness; though he allows his Fool to tell him the truth, he also threatens him with whipping for coming too close to the mark. He is fond of his daughters, especially his youngest, Cordelia, and expects the same in return from them. He sets great store by the fact that he has never broken his word, even when given in anger. Infuriated by Cordelia’s refusal to play his game of ‘Who Loves Daddy Best,’ he disowns her and splits the kingdom between only the two older daughters, Goneril and Regan. He is so angry that he banishes his oldest and best friend, Kent, when the latter speaks up in Cordelia’s favor. Unaware that the older daughters’ flattering replies were nothing but flattery, and that they do not in fact care for him, he does not realize that he has left himself without a safe home. Hoping to spend his last days in all the enjoyable parts of being a king without having to bother with the boring bits, he does not understand that by giving up all lands and all money from them, he has left himself completely dependent on his daughters, and he refuses to act in the subordinate manner that ought to come with no longer having any real power. His bad treatment at the hands of Goneril and Regan enrages him, and he feels himself slipping towards madness, a fate he fears. When he realizes the extent to which his daughters intend to have him subservient, he rushes out into a storm, where he begins to truly lose his mind. At the same time he begins to start realizing that other humans are also real people, and to feel for them. Sheltering in a hovel with his disguised godson Edgar, he finds himself one of three madmen on the stage, the pretend, the professional, and the real (himself). He loses touch with reality, reliving his wrongs and considering the wrongs of the earth while having little or no awareness of what is going on around him. He slowly comes back to himself when he meets Gloucester, and more so after a long sleep. Once his mind is restored, he is a changed man, humble, pitying, and remorseful. He no longer cares about anything but spending time with Cordelia, whom he realizes he has wronged. Even losing a battle has no effect on him, and he looks forward to simply talking with his favorite child for the rest of his days. When a captain comes to hang Cordelia, he has a burst of strength and is able to kill the man, but too late. His madness returns, and he dies desperately hoping that Cordelia is not in fact dead.
Goneril :
Goneril is Lear’s eldest daughter, and the wife of the Duke of Albany.
She knows how to play the court games and speak as her father requires when he asks for avowals of love, and is rewarded for this ability with a third of the kingdom, which becomes half when her youngest sister Cordelia fails the test. Though she advises Cordelia to obey her husband in all things, she despises her own husband as a weakling, and is not shy about reminding him that hers is the royal blood, not his, and that all of his authority was acquired by marrying her. She has always recognized that her little sister Cordelia was their father’s favorite, and has little regard for Lear. Exasperated by Lear and his train’s continued presence and wild behavior in her house, by his unwillingness to recognize that he has given up his powers, and by what she considers his senility, she insults him into leaving in a rage. When her husband asks what’s going on, she tells him to mind his own business. She plans with her sister Regan to make their father more manageable, and callously leaves him to himself when he rushes out into the storm. She is a cruel woman, quick to think of blinding a traitor. Sent by Cornwall to raise her husband Albany and his army, she is accompanied by Edmund, with whom she falls quite in love, finding him a real man compared to Albany. Hearing that Cornwall is dead, she is worried that Regan, being now free, will be able to snare Edmund. She sends the bastard a letter, requesting that he kill Albany for her, Edmund now being her only aim in life. To be absolutely sure of catching him, she poisons her sister. Faced with the fact that Albany has her letter to Edmund, she tries to claim her royal status, but finds she has no way out but stabbing herself.
Regan :
Regan is Lear’s second daughter, and the wife of the Duke of Cornwall.
She knows how to play the court games and speak as her father requires when he asks for avowals of love, and is rewarded for this ability with a third of the kingdom, which becomes half when her younger sister Cordelia fails the test. Despite her flattery, she does not have any great opinion of her father. She likes Gloucester—or perhaps she only pretends to, as she is quick to join in his interrogation and torture. She is well-matched to her cold-hearted husband Cornwall, though she is even crueler than he is, intensifying the punishment he orders on the disguised Kent and encouraging Cornwall to pull out Gloucester’s second eye. She is quick to point out to Lear that he is old, and sees no reason to go out of her way to serve him, using cold logic to prove that he needs no followers. Her first instinct is to hang Gloucester when he betrays them, but she eagerly joins in tormenting him, treating him with no respect and informing him that his beloved Edmund was the one who betrayed him. She has the backbone to kill a servant who attacks her husband. She regrets having let Gloucester go, and arranges to have him killed, while at the same time planning to marry Edmund now that Cornwall is dead. She does her best to keep Edmund and Goneril away from each other by insisting that her sister stay with her, with the unfortunate effect of giving Goneril an opportunity of poisoning her. She openly claims Edmund for her husband on the field of victory, but too late, and discovers that he has been double-crossing her with her sister.
Cordelia :
Cordelia is Lear’s youngest daughter, and something of a goody-goody. She has always been her father’s favorite, a quiet and obedient girl.
She is being wooed by two powerful political rivals, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. She is rigorously honest, unable to flatter even as part of a ceremonial game, a fact that cuts her off from her father’s love. Despite Kent’s speaking on her behalf, she is publicly humiliated by the King. She is conscious enough of her honor to still be willing to speak up to demand that the reason she is disowned be known to her suitors. She neither likes nor trusts her sisters, as it turns out for good reason. Becoming Queen of France, she hears of what how Lear is being treated, partly from Kent’s messages, and convinces her husband to invade England to restore Lear. Left to command the French army with the Marshal of France, she concentrates on finding her father and restoring him to sanity. She defers to both the Doctor and Kent, and is full of pity for her father. Losing the battle, she is hanged on Edmund’s orders.
Earl of Gloucester:
Gloucester is an old, white-bearded courtier of Lear’s. Loyal but somewhat spineless, he is credulous, superstitious, loving, and not overly intelligent. He also has a fair claim to being the most embarrassing father in the history of creation, telling stag tales about what a great time he had engendering his illegitimate son Edmund while said son is standing right next to him. Though he has kept Edmund away from court for nine years and intends to send him away again, he cares for the boy, though not so much as for his legitimate heir Edgar (who is Lear’s godson). He is however easily convinced that Edgar is plotting against his life, and never considers the possibility that the bastard might be making trouble. Instead he organizes a manhunt for Edgar while promising to help Edmund get ahead in life. He is troubled and confused at all that is going on, and at first no longer knows where his proper allegiance lies—to the King, or to Regan and the Duke of Cornwall, in whose share of the kingdom his lands lie. He is scared of the Duke, and when he tries to speak on Lear’s behalf in his presence he finds himself stripped of his responsibilities. In contact with the French invading forces, he attempts to help Lear in secret, sneaking out of his house to bring him some comfort. Returning to his home to find himself bound to a chair and interrogated, he attempts to say nothing, but in the end bursts out his true opinion of Regan, with the result of having his eyes pulled out, just as he learns of Edmund’s treachery. Blinded just as his has his eyes opened to Edgar’s innocence, he can think of nothing else to do but commit suicide, and asks the madman into whose care he is put to bring him to a cliff from which he can jump. Convinced that he has made his attempt and survived, he still has no great desire to live but decides that it is not up to him to end his life. When Lear loses his final battle, and the man guiding him reveals himself to be Edgar, he cannot take it anymore, and dies.
Earl of Kent :
The Earl of Kent is an old man who has served Lear faithfully for years, and is one of his most loyal subjects and friends.
He knows the royal family well and has the measure of all its members. His loyalty is of the bravest kind: where others might think blind obedience to be the definition of faithfulness, Kent speaks up whenever he sees Lear acting in a way that will do him no good. He is horrified at the King’s treatment of Cordelia, and tells Lear what he thinks to the King’s face, despite all threats. When he is banished for this, he again shows the measure of his loyalty, preferring to risk death by disguising himself and continuing to serve his master rather than obey the order to live in exile. Under the name Caius, speaking in a different accent from his normal one, he becomes Lear’s servant, as whom he continually provokes the servants of Lear’s daughters, thereby pushing things so far that Lear cannot help but see what how far he has fallen. Losing sight of Lear when the latter rushes out into the storm, Kent sends news to Cordelia of the state of things, and goes to seek the King. He soon realizes that Lear has completely lost his mind and goes to the French camp to inform them of this and help them find him. He comes across Gloucester and Edgar just as his blinded fellow Earl dies, and is overcome with grief at the combination of this and Lear’s tragedy, to the extent that Edgar fears for his life. His loyalty and pity for Lear lead him to beg the others to not attempt to save the King’s life, though the deaths of Lear and Cordelia leave him so stricken that he is convinced it is time for him to die, as ever following and serving his King.
Edgar :
Edgar is the Earl of Gloucester’s legitimate son and heir, and Lear’s godson.
He is an honest man, incapable of seeing that others might not be, and is fond of his younger half-brother Edmund, whose advice he takes. He does not habitually carry weapons on him. Forced to flee and hearing himself branded as an outlaw, he disguises himself as a mad beggar, convinced that this is the only way he will escape capture and death. In his mad rants when he pretends to be possessed he accuses himself of every vice under the sun. Helping to keep Lear out of the storm, he finds himself one of three madmen in his hovel, the true, the pretend, and the professional. When his blinded father is put into his care, and reveals that he now knows that Edgar is innocent, Edgar decides to cure Gloucester of his suicidal tendencies by convincing him through trickery that it is divine will that he lives. By painting a view of the cliffs of Dover with his words, he manages to convince Gloucester that he is at the top of them and that he has thrown himself over and survived. Killing Oswald and discovering the letters the steward was carrying, he forms a plot to have his revenge on Edmund, though he lets the battle between English and French take place before he challenges Edmund to single combat. At the last moment before he goes off to fight his brother, he asks for his father’s blessing, revealing his identity, and thereby killing the old man. He is a good enough fighter to best Edmund. He takes over the rule of the kingdom at the end of the play, and will enter history as the man who rid England of wolves. He is a convincing actor, and has a low opinion of sex, thinking that the harms Edmund’s actions caused Gloucester were a reasonable payback for his adultery.
Edmund :
Edmund is Gloucester’s illegitimate son. Though presently at court, he has been away for nine years, and his father intends him to leave again soon.
He is intelligent, highly attractive, and completely amoral, to not say a psychopath. He manages to convince everyone of his loyalty to them, beginning with his father, while in truth working for no one but himself and betraying without a wualm all who trust him when he needs to. Introduced by his father as his bastard on all occasions, and having to hear Gloucester discuss how much fun he had conceiving the lad, he does not consider his bastardy a good enough reason for him to have no land of his own and hence no money. He therefore plots to enrich himself, first by convincing Gloucester that his legitimate son Edgar is seeking his life, which allows Edmund to receive Edgar’s lands; then by betraying Gloucester to Cornwall, and thereby being named Earl of Gloucester in his father’s place; and then by marrying one of the daughters of the King, which will lead to his taking over first one half and then all the kingdom. Only this last part of the plan fails. He is a brilliant actor and an excellent fighter. When both Goneril and Regan fall for him, he has no particular opinion as to which one to go with. He commands Regan’s armies in the battle against Lear, Cornwall being dead, and orders the execution of Lear and Cordelia with Goneril’s prior agreement. He overreaches himself when he begins to act as though he is already of equal rank to Albany. He tries to brazen it out, but is faced with a mysterious opponent who beats him, and turns out to be his brother Edgar. He is willing to forgive his killer on condition that he is of noble blood, and as he lies dying some small spot of conscience awakens in him, first brought on by the story of his father’s death. When Goneril and Regan’s bodies are brought in, and he realizes that even he was loved, he decides to do one good deed in his life and spare Lear and Cordelia, but his repentance comes too late.
King of France:
The King of France has come to England to woo Lear’s remaining unwed daughter, Cordelia.
When Lear suddenly disowns the latter, he decides to marry her all the same, even if she brings no dowry. Later, moved by her pleas to help her father, he invades England to restore the old man to his throne. However, he realizes that he left some problems unattended to in France, and goes back over the Channel to deal with them, leaving Cordelia to lead his armies against the British forces.
Duke of Burgundy
The Duke of Burgundy has come to England to woo Lear’s remaining unwed daughter, Cordelia. When Lear suddenly disowns her, he refuses to marry her without a dowry, and allows his rival the King of France to wed her.
Duke of Cornwall:
Cornwall is the husband of Lear’s second daughter, Regan, and becomes ruler of half of England when Lear passes on the government of the realm to his daughters and their husbands.
He is a hard, hot-tempered man, who will not be pushed around and whom Lear does not overly like. He takes Edmund under his wing, and names him Earl of Gloucester in his father’s place the moment Edmund tells him of Gloucester’s hidden letter, without waiting to find out whether the letter’s contents are true or not. Though he attempts to restrain himself for some time when speaking to a servant of Lear’s, his patience has evident limits and he has no qualms about placing the man in the stocks. He mostly allows his wife to deal with the King, and supports her fully, ordering Gloucester to lock the doors of his house against Lear. When Gloucester attempts to plead for Lear, Cornwall officially takes over his house. Cornwall does not like his brother-in-law Albany, nor agree with him politically, though he requires his help to deal with the French invasion. An excellent interrogator, well in tune with his wife, he is quickly able with her help to force Gloucester to admit his feelings about their actions. He is cruel enough to take Goneril’s suggestion about Gloucester’s eyes, and plucks them out, though in the fight with the servant who objects he receives a mortal wound. He is well-matched to Regan.
Duke of Albany:
Albany is the husband of Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, and becomes ruler of half of England when Lear passes on the government of the realm to his daughters and their husbands.
He is a fairly meek and kindly man, despised by his wife and willing to let her take the lead in most things. He has however unsuspected reserves of strength and a backbone that develops over the course of the play. He neither likes nor agrees with his brother-in-law Cornwall much. He is completely baffled as to why Lear enters in a rage and insists on leaving his house, but despite his wife’s assurances cannot think that the King is entirely to blame in the matter. Later events confirm his suspicions, and he makes his view of Goneril and her sister quite plain. His wife considers him an inveterate moaner rather than a man of action. Though he is on Lear’s side, he is patriot enough that he cannot accept having French forces conquering England, and joins his army with Regan’s to fight Cordelia’s French troops before continuing their dispute. He puts Edmund in his place, reminding him that he is not in fact one of the rulers of the kingdom, despite his commanding role in the battle. On being told of Edmund’s dealings with his wife and sister-in-law, Albany makes plans to be rid of him, letting all of Edmund’s soldiers go so that the bastard is isolated, and pledging to fight Edmund if the mysterious champion does not appear. He does not wish to rule the land, and proposes that Edgar and Kent rule once all is concluded.
• King Lear divides his kingdom into three parts for his three daughters and their husbands, but his youngest daughter Cordelia disappoints him and he therefore gives her share to the other two.
• The King of France agrees to marry Cordelia despite what has happened and she goes with him to France.
• The Earl of Gloucester’s youngest son Edmund fools his father into believing that his older son, Edmund’s half-brother Edgar, wants to kill Gloucester.
• Edmund tells Edgar to run away because his life is in danger and Edgar disguises himself as a ‘mad’ beggar called ‘Poor Tom’.
• King Lear goes to stay with his oldest daughter Goneril. She asks him to reduce the number of his followers because of their noise and behavior. He is deeply offended and goes to stay with his daughter Regan instead. Regan makes sure she is not at home and goes to Gloucester’s house.
• Outside Gloucester’s house, Goneril and Regan unite against their father. He refuses to give up his followers and instead walks off into a storm.
• Lear meets ‘Poor Tom’ in the storm. Gloucester then finds Lear, gives him food and shelter and sends him to Dover to meet up with Cordelia.
• Regan and her husband Cornwall torture Gloucester for helping Lear and gouge out his eyes. ‘Poor Tom’ then finds his blind father and helps him travel to Dover to meet the king.
• Goneril and Regan’s British armies, supported by Edmund, defeat Cordelia’s invading French forces. Lear and Cordelia are captured and she is later killed.
• Edgar kills Edmund in a duel. Goneril poisons Regan and kills herself. Lear dies mourning Cordelia.
Scene by Scene Summery of The Play :
ACT 1 SCENE 1
The play opens with the Earl of Kent and Earl of Gloucester talking about King Lear’s plans for ‘the division of the kingdom’. Kent meets Gloucester’s illegitimate son Edmund and learns he is a year younger than Edgar, Gloucester’s ‘son by order of law’. The King and all his court arrive and King Lear announces his plan to ‘shake all cares and business from our state, / Conferring them on younger years’ and calls on his three daughters to express their love for him before he rewards them with a share of his kingdom. His two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, offer poetic speeches but his youngest and favorite daughter Cordelia refuses, declaring ‘I love your majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less’. Lear is angry and disowns Cordelia, giving her share of the kingdom to her sisters’ husbands to divide between them. Kent, out of loyalty to both Lear and Cordelia, speaks up to tell Lear he is wrong, but Lear does not listen and banishes Kent from the kingdom.
The King of France and the Duke of Burgundy, rivals to marry Cordelia, are brought in and Lear tells them that she is ‘new adopted to our hate / covered with our curse and strangered with our oath’. Hearing what has happened, Burgundy is no longer interested in marrying her but France declares ‘Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance, / Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.’ After Lear and his court have left, Cordelia says goodbye to her sisters and leaves for France. Left alone, Goneril and Regan discuss their father’s ‘poor judgement’ and ‘unconstant starts’.
ACT 1 SCENE 2
Edmund speaks to the audience about his ‘bastardy’, asking ‘Wherefore should I / Stand in the plague of custom’. He resents the fact that he is treated differently to his brother and declares ‘Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land’. He has forged a letter from Edgar that he hopes will make his ‘invention thrive’. Gloucester arrives and believes that Edmund is trying to hide the letter from him. Gloucester insists on reading the letter and finds a plot suggesting that Edmund work with Edgar to get rid of their father and share his wealth. Edmund tells his father ‘It is his hand, my lord, but I hope his heart is not in the contents.’ This helps to convince Gloucester that Edgar is plotting against him and that ‘These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us’. When Gloucester has gone, Edmund makes fun of his father’s superstition, telling the audience ‘we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity.’
Edgar then arrives and Edmund tells him that their father is very angry with him. Edgar believes ‘Some villain hath done me wrong’. When he is gone, Edmund turns once more to the audience to laugh at his ‘credulous father, and a brother noble, / Whose nature is so far from doing harms / That he suspects none’.
ACT 1 SCENE 3
King Lear, his hundred knights and their squires are all staying with Goneril. She complains to her servant Oswald about her father and his ‘riotous’ companions, saying ‘By day and night he wrongs me’. She tells Oswald to ‘Put on what weary negligence you please’ when called on to serve Lear and says her sister is also not prepared to tolerate them.
ACT 1 SCENE 4
The Earl of Kent tells the audience that he has disguised himself in order to return and serve King Lear. He introduces himself to Lear as ‘A very honest-hearted fellow.’ Lear is impressed and tells him ‘Follow me, thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no worse after dinner.’ When Oswald does not behave as Lear expects him to, Kent helps Lear to punish Oswald and Lear thanks him. Lear’s Fool then arrives and offers Kent his coxcomb ‘for taking one’s part that’s out of favour’. Through his word play and songs, the Fool suggests that Lear has been a fool to give his kingdom away, saying ‘thou hast pared thy wit o’both sides and left nothing i’th’middle.’
Goneril enters and complains to Lear about his ‘all licensed fool’ and his ‘insolent retinue’ who do ‘hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth / In rank and not-to-be endured riots.’ She asks him ‘a little to disquantify your train’. He grows angry and curses her, saying ‘Into her womb convey sterility’, and hopes that if she does have a child it teaches her ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child.’ He sets off to stay with Regan, believing she will be ‘kind and comfortable’. When Lear has gone, Goneril calls Oswald and sends him with a letter to Regan.
ACT 1 SCENE 5
Lear sends his new servant, the disguised Kent, on ahead to take letters to Regan and let her know he is coming to stay. Kent promises ‘I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered your letter.’ Lear is left with his Fool who tells him that a snail has a shell ‘to put’s head in, not to give it away to his daughters and leave his horns without a case.’ Lear confesses ‘I did her wrong’ and worries that he may be going ‘mad’.
ACT 2 SCENE 1
Edmund learns from a servant that Regan and Cornwall are on their way to Gloucester’s house and that there are rumours of ‘likely wars toward ’twixt the dukes of Cornwall and Albany.’ Edmund hopes Cornwall’s arrival will help his plans. He calls for his brother Edgar who has been in hiding and advises him to ‘fly this place’. He sees their father Gloucester approaching and tells Edgar ‘pardon me / In cunning I must draw my sword upon you’. As Edgar runs off, Edmund gives himself a wound to make his story about Edgar’s treachery more convincing. He then tells his father that Edgar tried to ‘Persuade me to the murder of your lordship’. Gloucester is convinced that Edgar is a ‘murderous caitiff’.
Regan and her husband arrive and sympathise with Gloucester over Edgar’s betrayal. Cornwall tells Edmund ‘For you, Edmund, / Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant / So much commend itself, you he news received from her father and her sister.
ACT 2 SCENE 2
Oswald has arrived at Gloucester’s house and meets Kent, still disguised as ‘Caius’. Oswald does not recognise him as a follower of Lear and the two men argue. Kent hurls insults and draws his sword against Oswald for bringing ‘letters against the king’ and taking ‘vanity the puppet’s part against the royalty of her father’.
Regan, Cornwall, Gloucester and Edmund arrive and stop the fight but Kent refuses to back down saying ‘anger hath a privilege’. Cornwall calls for the stocks to punish Kent who appeals to Regan saying ‘Why, madam, if I were your father’s dog / You should not use me so’. Gloucester speaks up that ‘The king his master needs must take it ill’ but Regan and Cornwall are unconcerned. Left alone, Kent shows the audience a letter he has received from Cordelia ‘Who hath most fortunately been informed / Of my obscured course’.
Edgar tells the audience that he plans to disguise himself as a ‘Bedlam beggar’ called ‘Poor Tom’ and run away. Lear then arrives and wakes up Kent who is still sleeping in the stocks. Lear is shocked at Kent’s treatment, complaining ’tis worse than murder / To do upon respect such violent outrage’. He is further outraged when Gloucester tells him that Regan and Cornwall will not see him. They finally appear and Lear complains to Regan that Goneril ‘hath tied / Sharp-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here’. Regan tells her father to return to Goneril and ‘Say you have wronged her’. When Goneril herself arrives, Regan takes her hand and together they tell Lear they will look after him in their homes, but not his knights. Goneril asks ‘What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five, / To follow in a house where twice so many / Have a command to tend you?’ Lear calls his daughters ‘unnatural hags’ and walks away from the castle as a storm is brewing.
ACT 3 SCENE 1
Kent is looking for the king and a gentleman tells him that Lear is ‘Contending with the fretful elements’, accompanied by ‘None but the fool’. Kent tells the gentleman of difficulty ‘’twixt Albany and Cornwall’ and that spies in their courts are reporting back to Cordelia’s husband the King of France. Kent sends the gentleman with a ring to find Cordelia.
ACT 3 SCENE 2
Lear shouts at the stormy skies ‘Blow winds and crack your cheeks!’ The Fool tries to calm him down but Lear continues to complain to the elements that they are taking his daughters’ side ‘gainst a head / So old and white as this’. Kent finds them and persuades Lear to head towards the shelter of ‘a hovel’ and the king finally agrees, showing sympathy for the Fool, ‘Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart / That’s sorry yet for thee.’
ACT 3 SCENE 3
Gloucester confides in Edmund his concerns about how Regan, Goneril and Cornwall have forbidden him to help Lear. He tells Edmund of a letter locked in his closet that is ‘dangerous to be spoken’ and that ‘there is part of a power already footed’ to revenge ‘these injuries the king now bears’. As soon as Gloucester leaves, Edmund tells the audience that he will immediately report all of this to Cornwall.
ACT 3 SCENE 4
Kent has led Lear to the hovel and urges him to go in. Before he enters, Lear thinks about the ‘Poor naked wretches’ in his kingdom who have no shelter and confesses ‘I have ta’en / Too little care of this’. Just then the Fool comes back out of the hovel, scared of ‘a spirit’ inside it called ‘Poor Tom’. Edgar emerges disguised as Poor Tom, behaving and speaking like a ‘Bedlam beggar’. Lear is intrigued by Poor Tom and considers how ‘unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare, forked animal’. He begins to take off his own clothes to be more like ‘Poor Tom’. At this moment, Gloucester finds them. He tells Lear ‘my duty cannot suffer / T’obey in all your daughters’ hard commands’ and says he will take them to where ‘both fire and food is ready.’ Lear agrees to follow but not without his ‘Noble philosopher’ ‘Poor Tom’.
ACT 3 SCENE 5
Edmund tells Cornwall what his father told him and shows Cornwall Gloucester’s letter which ‘approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France’ and therefore a traitor to his own country. Cornwall praises his action, telling him ‘it hath made thee Earl of Gloucester.’
ACT 3 SCENE 6
Gloucester brings Lear, Kent, ‘Poor Tom’ and the Fool to a place of shelter near his house. Lear continues to complain about how his daughters have treated him, and sets up a mock trial of Regan and Goneril. Kent eventually persuades him to rest but then Gloucester returns and tells Kent they must leave immediately and ‘drive toward Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet / Both welcome and protection.’ The Fool speaks his last lines in the play.
ACT 3 SCENE 7
Regan and Goneril are angry to hear of Gloucester’s betrayal, Regan says ‘Hang him instantly’ and Goneril adds ‘Pluck out his eyes.’ Oswald arrives with news that Lear and ‘Some five- or six-and-thirty of his knights’ have gone toward Dover, where they boast / To have well-arme`d friends.’ Goneril sets off back to her house, accompanied by Edmund, while Cornwall sends servants to bring in ‘the traitor Gloucester’.
Gloucester is brought in and protests ‘Good my friends, consider you are my guests / Do me no foul play, friends’ but he is tied to a chair and interrogated. He tells Regan he has sent Lear to Dover ‘because I would not see thy cruel nails / Pluck out his poor old eyes’. In response, Cornwall gouges out one of Gloucester’s eyes but before he can take out the other eye a servant calls ‘Hold your hand, my lord’. Cornwall fights with the servant and kills him then returns to pluck out Gloucester’s remaining eye, saying ‘Out vile jelly’. Gloucester calls out for Edmund but Regan tells him it was Edmund ‘That made the overture of thy treasons to us’.
Gloucester finally realises he has trusted the wrong son. Cornwall has been hurt in the fight with his servant. Regan orders the remaining servants to ‘Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell / His way to Dover’ and then helps her bleeding husband.
ACT 4 SCENE 1
Still disguised as ‘Poor Tom’, Edgar comes across his blinded father being led away from his house by an old man who lived on Gloucester’s land and is horrified to see his father in this state. He hears Gloucester tell the old man ‘I have no way and therefore want no eyes / I stumbled when I saw’, and confessing that he was unfair to his son Edgar. On hearing that ‘Poor Tom’ is there, Gloucester asks the ‘naked fellow’ to lead him to the cliffs at Dover. The old man is not convinced this is a good idea but Gloucester tells him ‘Tis the time’s plague, when madmen lead the blind.’
ACT 4 SCENE 2
Goneril arrives home with Edmund and Oswald tells her that Albany is behaving oddly and smiled at the news of the French invasion. Goneril sends Edmund back to Cornwall but kisses him first and tells him ‘To thee a woman’s services are due’. Albany says the sisters’ treatment of Lear makes them ‘Tigers, not daughters’. Goneril calls her husband ‘Milk-livered man’ and ‘a moral fool’ and they continue to argue until a messenger arrives with news that Cornwall has died from the wound he got fighting his servant. Albany is shocked to hear what Cornwall did to Gloucester and that it was Edmund who betrayed his father. Goneril is concerned that Regan will make a move on Edmund now she is a widow. After Goneril has left, Albany declares ‘Gloucester, I live / To thank thee for the love thou showed’st the king / And to revenge thine eyes.’
ACT 4 SCENE 3
Kent talks to a gentleman in Dover about the letters he sent to Cordelia about her father. The gentleman tells him that Cordelia was very emotional reading the letters so that her ‘tears and smiles’ were like ‘Sunshine and rain at once’. Kent tells the gentleman that Lear is nearby but that ‘burning shame / Detains him from Cordelia’.
ACT 4 SCENE 4
Cordelia is concerned about her father who has been seen ‘As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud’ and wearing a crown of ‘furrow weeds’. She sends people to ‘Search every acre in the high-grown field / And bring him to our eye’. A messenger comes in to tell her ‘The British powers are marching hitherward’ and she gets ready for battle saying ‘O dear father, / It is thy business that I go about’.
ACT 4 SCENE 5
Regan talks about the impending battle with Oswald who has just brought messages to her from Goneril. She tries to get him to reveal what is in the messages he carries from Goneril to Edmund, saying ‘I know you are of her bosom’ but Oswald remains loyal to Goneril and tells Regan ‘My lady charged my duty in this business.’ Regan gives him her own message to take to Edmund and tells him that if he meets ‘that blind traitor’ Gloucester, ‘Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.’
ACT 4 SCENE 6
Edgar has led his blinded father to Dover, still pretending to be ‘Poor Tom’ although Gloucester recognizes that his guide’s ‘voice is altered’. Despite Gloucester also recognizing that ‘the ground is even’, Edgar convinces him that they are at the top of a high cliff from which ‘The fishermen that walk upon the beach /Appear like mice’. Gloucester sends his guide away with ‘another purse’.
When Gloucester falls forward, believing he is throwing himself from the cliff top, Edgar confesses that his plan may ‘may rob / The treasury of life’ and rushes to his father to check if he is still alive. He now pretends to be a passer by on the beach who saw the old man fall and declares ‘Thy life’s a miracle’. Gloucester agrees to ‘bear / Affliction till it do cry out itself /‘Enough, enough’ and die.’
At that moment King Lear joins them, behaving very oddly and ranting about his daughters. Gloucester recognizes the king’s voice. Lear comments on Gloucester’s lack of eyes and tells him ‘A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. / Look with thine ears’.
Lear finally admits, ‘I know thee well enough: thy name is Gloucester’ before running off, chased by three gentlemen sent to calm him down and take him to Cordelia. Edgar learns from one of the gentleman that the opposing army are ‘Near and on speedy foot’.
Edgar tells Gloucester he is ‘A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows’ and begins to lead him to shelter when Oswald appears, ready to kill Gloucester. Edgar defends Gloucester and kills Oswald who dies believing Edgar is a ‘bold peasant’. He gives Edgar his purse and tells him to ‘bury my body / And give the letters which thou find’st about me / To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester’.
Edgar reads aloud the letter from Goneril to Edmund which asks Edmund to take one of the ‘many opportunities’ he will have to kill Albany so that he can marry Goneril. Edgar disposes of Oswald’s body and then leads his father away.
ACT 4 SCENE 7
Cordelia asks Kent ‘how shall I live and work / To match thy goodness?’ and he asks her not to reveal his identity until he is ready. A doctor tells Cordelia that the king ‘sleeps still’ and asks if they can wake him. Lear is brought in and Cordelia kisses him, judging her sisters by saying ‘Had you not been their father, these white flakes / Did challenge pity of them.’ Lear is confused when he wakes up but seems more calm and rational. He calls himself ‘a very foolish fond old man.’ He recognizes Cordelia and tells her ‘your sisters / Have, as I do remember, done me wrong: / You have some cause, they have not.’ The doctor reassures Cordelia saying, ‘Be comforted, good madam: the great rage, / You see, is killed in him.’
ACT 5 SCENE 1
Edmund has command of Regan’s troops now that Cornwall is dead. Regan questions him about his relationship with her sister and Edmund insists his only love for Goneril is ‘In honoured love.’ Goneril and Albany arrive and Goneril convinces everyone to ‘Combine together gainst the enemy, / For these domestic and particular broils / Are not the question here.’ As the others leave, Edgar stops Albany and gives him a letter, saying ‘If you have victory, let the trumpet sound’ and ‘a champion’ will step forward to prove the truth of the letter. In a soliloquy, Edmund then tells the audience that he has sworn his love to both Goneril and Regan and asks ‘Which of them shall I take?’ He also says that he intends to stop the pardon which Albany intends to give to Lear and Cordelia for siding with the French.
ACT 5 SCENE 2
As the battle rages, Edgar lets Gloucester rest. He soon returns with the news that ‘King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta’en’. Gloucester wants to stay where he is, saying ‘a man may rot even here’, but Edgar leads him away.
ACT 5 SCENE 3
Edmund calls for his officers to lock up Lear and Cordelia. She tells her father ‘We are not the first / Who with best meaning have incurred the worst’ and he tells her they will live together in prison ‘As if we were God’s spies’ hearing ‘poor rogues / Talk of court news’. Edmund secretly sends his captain after them with a note to ensure that they are both put to death, telling the captain ‘to be tender-minded / Does not become a sword.’
Albany enters followed by Regan and Goneril who argue over Edmund’s position. Regan announces her intention to make Edmund her ‘lord and master’. Regan also begins to feel very ill and Goneril admits to the audience she has poisoned her sister.
Albany has Edmund arrested for ‘capital treason’, and calls Goneril a ‘gilded serpent’ for her betrayal in promising to marry Edmund if he kills her husband. A trumpet sounds and Edgar steps forward, in armour which hides his face. Edgar publicly accuses Edmund of being a traitor. Edmund and Edgar fight and Edmund is defeated. Edmund admits ‘What you have charged me with, that have I done, / And more, much more’.
Edgar reveals who he is really is and how he disguised himself as ‘Poor Tom’ and looked after his blinded father. Edgar describes how he finally told his father everything and ‘asked his blessing’ to fight this duel with Edmund but that ‘’Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief’ Gloucester’s heart ‘Burst smilingly’ and he died. Listening to this as he dies, Edmund says ‘This speech of yours hath moved me, / And shall perchance do good’ but they are interrupted by a gentleman who runs on with a bloody knife taken from Goneril’s heart and tells Albany that Goneril died after confessing that ‘her sister / By her is poisoned’.
Kent arrives dressed as himself again. Albany order the bodies to be brought in and Edmund says ‘Yet Edmund was beloved: / The one the other poisoned for my sake / And after slew herself.’ Edmund then confesses that the Captain ‘hath commission from thy wife and me / To hang Cordelia in the prison’ and Albany quickly dispatches men to try and save her.
Lear then enters carrying the dead body of Cordelia, crying ‘Howl, howl, howl’. Kent tries to tell Lear who he is and that his older daughters ‘have fordone themselves, / And desperately are dead’, but Albany tells him that Lear ‘knows not what he says, and vain is it / That we present us to him.’ Lear dies and Kent wonders how ‘he hath endured so long’.
Albany and Edgar are left with a kingdom to rule and to consider how they can ‘Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say’.
