King Lear by William Shakespeare (Summary)

 

King Lear

By William Shakespeare

 

Summary

 

Act 1, Scene 1

 

Kent and Gloucester are in King Lear's court, discussing Lear's plan to give up his power and divide it among his daughters. Gloucester introduces Kent to his illegitimate son, Edmund who is standing nearby. Gloucester says that, although Edmund is a "knave" (1.1.21) born out of wedlock, Gloucester loves him no less than the other "son" he has "by order of law" (1.1.19) (i.e., Edgar). 

Lear enters with Albany, Cornwel, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, and their attendants. Having sent Gloucester to fetch Cordelia's suitors, the lords of France and Burgundy, Lear announces that he has divided his kingdom into three parts. He intends to "shake all cares and business from his age, / Conferring them on younger strengths" so that he can "unburdened crawl toward death".

 

Next, Lear calls upon each of his daughters to state how much she loves him. First, Goneril insists that she loves her father "dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty"; Lear awards her one third of his kingdom, accordingly. Then, Regan claims that she loves her father even more than Goneril does; she is an "enemy to all other joys" but his "dear Highness' love" (1.1.80-4). Lear grants her a third, in turn. 

While her sisters speak, Cordelia grows nervous, knowing that she would prefer to "love, and be silent" (1.1.68) than to make such a public declaration of her love for her father. And, indeed, when her turn comes to speak, Cordelia can answer only "Nothing, my lord" (1.1.96). Lear presses her to give another answer, but she insists that she loves him "according to [her] bond, no more, no less".

Enraged by this refusal to play along, and vowing by "all the operation of the orbs", Lear renounces his "paternal care" of Cordelia forever. When Kent attempts to intercede on Cordelia's behalf, Lear reiterates: "here I give/ her father's heart from her". He states that he will from now on alternate months living with his two other daughters, keeping only 100 knights on reserve to be his followers. When Kent continues to counsel him against such a rash decision, Lear banishes him on pain of death: "out of my sight!". Having consoled Cordelia, and exhorted Goneril and Regan to live up to their declarations of love, Kent departs.

 

Gloucester returns with France and Burgundy. Lear addresses Burgundy first, telling him that Cordelia has been disowned. Cordelia interrupts, begging her father to explain that she has not done anything wrong: her only sin is to lack a "still-soliciting eye and such a tongue" (1.1.266) as her sisters. Burgundy asks, won't Lear give the dowry he proposed? Lear replies that he will give "nothing". Then, Burgundy apologizes, he cannot marry Cordelia. France, however, says that the neglect of the gods has only increased his love: he pronounces Cordelia his wife and queen. Lear accepts and exits with his attendants. 

Cordelia then takes leave of Goneril and Regan, saying she knows their faults, but hopes that they will live up to the love they have declared. Cordelia and France leave. Left alone, Goneril observes that Lear's old age is "full of changes" and that he showed "poor judgment" casting off Cordelia. Regan agrees the "infirmity of his age" is to blame for his error. Goneril says that in these "infirm and choleric years" they cannot permit their father to exercise any real authority.

Act 1, Scene 2.

Edmund stands alone on stage, criticizing the injustice of the laws and customs that deprive him of all legal rights just because he was born out of wedlock. Therefore, Edmund says, rather than law he worships "Nature". Then, holding up a letter he has forged, Edmund explains to the audience that he is plotting to steal the land of his half-brother, "legitimate Edgar", by winning all his father, Gloucester's, affection.

 

As Gloucester returns from Lear's court, baffled by the events there, Edmund conspicuously hides the letter in his pocket. When Gloucester asks what it is, Edmund replies "no news […] nothing". Gloucester cheerfully demands to see it: "the quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself […] if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles" (1.2.35-7). 

Feigning hesitation, Edmund hands over the letter, explaining that Edgar sent it to him. Gloucester reads it aloud. The letter argues against the "aged tyranny" (1.2.53) that keeps sons enslaved to fathers past their prime. It goes on to hint that if Edmund will help Edgar dispose of Gloucester, Edgar will grant the bastard half of his legitimate wealth. Edmund adds that Edgar has often said that, with "sons at perfect age and fathers declined" (76-7), sons should take care of fathers as their wards. 

As Gloucester grows enraged, Edmund pretends that he would like to urge moderation: he offers to approach Edgar about the matter, while Gloucester, in hiding, can watch. Gloucester agrees, saying that he would give up everything he has to know whether or not Edgar is actually so untrue to the "father that so tenderly and entirely loves him" (101-2). He adds that he has recently observed disorder in the skies that predicts all the chaos that has happened with Lear, Cordelia, Kent, and now him: "these late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us […] we have seen the best of our time" (109-19).

After Gloucester has exited, Edmund mocks his father's belief in astrology: it is "excellent foppery," he says that when people suffer ill fortune, usually because of their own dumb behavior, they then blame "the sun, the moon, and stars" (125-8). Seeing Edgar, who has just then wandered in, Edmund briefly takes up the subject with him. Edgar is surprised at his brother's sudden interest in astronomy. 

Then Edmund cuts to the chase, asking Edgar if he knows how he has offended Gloucester, who, Edmund reports, is enraged at his legitimate son. Edgar reacts with disbelief: "some villain hath done me wrong" (1.2.172). Replying that that's precisely what he fears, Edmund tells Edgar to go hide in Edmund's rooms, and advises Edgar that if he leaves his hiding place to make sure to carry a weapon to protect himself. Edmund promises to bring Edgar more news soon. Edgar rushes off. 

Once Edmund is left alone, he observes to himself that his father is trusting and Edgar is such a good person that he would never suspect someone else of being anything other than good. Dealing with such "foolish honesty" (1.2.189), Edmund says, will make it easy for him to take, through cunning, the lands that he did not inherit by birth.

Act 1, Scene 3.

At Goneril's palace, where Lear has been spending his first month after giving up power, Goneril complains to her steward, Oswald, about how badly her father, his Fool, and his knights have been behaving in her house. She instructs Oswald to tell Lear that she is sick and will not see him. She also instructs Oswald and the servants to serve him only with "weary negligence" (1.3.13), so that she has an opportunity to broach the subject with Lear. 

Goneril adds that if Lear does not like what she says, he can go to Regan. She knows that she and her sister are of the same mind on this subject and will not be overruled by an "idle old man" (1.3.17). "Old fools are babes again and must be used/ With checks as flatteries" (20-1), she concludes, resolving to write to her sister.

Act 1, Scene 4.

Kent returns in the disguise of Caius, a commoner, to offer his services to Lear. Lear accepts. He sends Kent to fetch his Fool. 

Seeing Oswald, Lear attempts to summon him, but Oswald ignores him. Irritated, Lear sends a Knight to call Oswald back. The Knight returns with the message that Goneril is not well and that Oswald refuses to obey Lear—the Knight thinks that Lear has been "wronged" (66). Lear sends the Knight to fetch his Fool. Both Knight and Lear observe that since Cordelia's departure for France the Fool has been melancholy and sad. Oswald enters again. Lear summons him and demands that Oswald say who Lear is. When Oswald replies, "my lady's father", Lear grows enraged, calling him a "dog," "slave" and "cur" (81), and hitting him. Kent joins in tripping Oswald. 

The Fool enters. He tells Lear to wear his (the Fool's) coxcomb (or fool's hat). He continues to tease Lear, who finally asks whether the Fool is calling him a Fool. The Fool replies that indeed he is: "all thy other titles thou has given away. That thou wast born with" (152-4). The Fool continues to mock Lear, saying that Lear is worth even less than he is: "I had rather be any kind of thing than a Fool. And yet I would not be thee […] I am a Fool. Thou art nothing". 

At this point, Goneril storms on stage, irritated. She blows up at Lear, criticizing the Fool and all of Lear's knights for disturbing the peace in her house. Goneril scolds Lear, telling him he must return to his usual self. Lear, incredulous, jokingly demands whether anyone present recognizes him (i.e., as their former king). "Who is it that can tell me who I am" (1.4.236) But Goneril cuts him off, demanding that he reduce the number of knights with him from 100 to 50. Lear flies into a rage cursing her as a detested kite" (or bird of prey; 1.4.274) and pleading the gods either make her infertile or to send her a "child of spleen" (296) so that she herself can know "how sharper than the serpent's tooth it is/ to have a thankless child" (302-3). Lear and his knights exit, preparing to depart for Regan’s house. As they go, Lear tries, in vain, to stop crying at the loss of his daughter: "Old fond eyes, / Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck you out" (317-8). Lear shouts that when Regan hears of Goneril's unkindness she'll "flay" Goneril's "wolvish visage" (325). He rushes out.

As Lear departs, Albany enters, tentatively criticizing the lack of hospitality that Goneril has shown to her father. Goneril cuts him off. She summons Oswald, double-checks that he has written a letter to Regan, as she instructed, and orders him to bring it to Regan quickly. Then she turns back to her husband, telling him that he is foolish to be so gentle. Albany remains dubious: "How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell./ Striving to better, oft we mar what's well" (368-9)

Act 1, Scene 5.

Lear explains what happened with Goneril to Kent (who is still disguised as Cauis), and then sends Kent to deliver a letter to Regan. Assuring Lear that he will not sleep until he has delivered the message, Kent speeds off. 

As he prepares to head for Regan's castle himself, Lear is teased by his Fool, who predicts that Regan will be as like Goneril as "a crab […] to a crab" (1.5.18). Meanwhile, Lear begins to rave, fearing that he will go mad at the "monster ingratitude" (1.5.39) that Goneril has shown him. As the Fool persists telling Lear "thou wouldst make a good Fool" (1.5.38), Lear begs: "Sweet heaven! / Keep me in temper. I would not be mad!" (1.5.46).

 

Act 2, Scene 1.

At Gloucester's court, Curran mentions to Edmund that there are rumors of imminent war between Cornwall and Albany. Curran also mentions that Cornwall and Regan will be arriving to stay at Gloucester's castle that very night. After Curan has exited, Edmund reflects that this development – both the coming war and the arrival of Cornwall – will help him in his schemes if he acts boldly and is just a bit lucky. He calls to Edgar to come out of his hiding spot. Edgar enters. Edmund pretends to be frightened for Edgar's safety. He tells Edgar that Gloucester has discovered his hiding spot, and that the Duke of Cornwall is also rushing to the castle out of anger with Edgar. He asks if Edgar has said anything publicly against Cornwall? Edgar denies doing any such thing, but just then they hear Gloucester approaching. Edmund apologizes, but says that to keep up good relations with Gloucester he must pretend to be fighting Edgar off. He tells Edgar to pretend to fight him as well. While shouting as if he and Edgar are fighting, he whispers to edgar that he should flee. Edgar does, and exits. Once Edgar is gone, Edmund wounds himself in the arm in order to make the fight seem more real and himself seem more heroic. 

Gloucester enters. Seeing that Edgar has "escaped," he sends servants after him, then questions Edmund, who confirms that Edgar attempted to persuade him to murder their father and, then, when Edmund opposed "his unnatural purpose" (2.1.59), attacked Edmund. Enraged, Gloucester declares that, by the authority of Cornwall, who is supposed to arrive that night, he will put a price on Edgar's head. Gloucester further declares that Edgar is no longer his son ("I never got him" [2.1.90]), and that he will make the "loyal and natural" (2.1.98) Edmund heir to all his property.

 

Just after Gloucester makes this declaration, Cornwall and Regan arrive. They have already heard rumors of Edgar's attempted murder of his father. Gloucester confirms to them that his "old heart is cracked" (1.2.106). Cornwall praises Edmund for having "shown [his] father/ a childlike office" (122-3) and takes him into his service; Edmund gratefully accepts.

Regan then explains to Gloucester why she and Cornwall have come. They have been informed, via letters from both her father and sister, of differences between them. They hoped to seek Gloucester's counsel as their "good old friend" [1.2.146] and thought, in any case, that it was best to handle the matter while not at home. Gloucester welcomes them and says he will be happy to advise.

Act 2, Scene 2.

Outside Gloucester's castle, Kent and Oswald run into each other, waiting for responses to the letters that they brought Regan (from Lear and Goneril, respectively). Kent picks a fight with Oswald, calling him a "son and heir of a mongrel bitch" (2.2.22) and reminding him who he is: two days ago, Kent says, he tripped Oswald at Goneril's castle. 

Hearing the ruckus, Edmund, Cornwall, Regan, Goneril and his servants, enter, and demand to know what is going on. Oswald explains that Kent, an "ancient ruffian" (2.2.63), started the quarrel and that he has spared him only because of "his gray beard" (64). Continuing to abuse Oswald, Kent further insults Regan, Cornwall, and Gloucester by adding that he has "seen better faces in [his] time than [those] before [him] at this instant" (97-9). 

Cornwall orders that Kent be put in the stocks until noon, in order to learn some manners. Kent replies that he is "too old to learn" (2.2.138). Regan lengthens his sentence from noon until the following morning. Kent is shocked: he says, if he were Lear's dog, Regan would be wrong to abuse him in this way. However, Cornwall and Regan are firm. Gloucester, too, is perturbed and seeks to console Kent; but both know that Cornwall will not reverse his command. 

Left alone on stage, Kent takes out a letter, which, he explains to the audience, is from Cordelia. "Nothing almost sees miracles but misery" (180-1). The letter says that Cordelia has been informed of the steps Kent has taken, disguising himself, and will in time return to remedy the trouble in Lear's England.

Act 2, Scene 3.

In a soliloquy, Edgar explains that he escaped the "hunt" (2.3.3) sent after him by hiding in the hollow of a tree. Now that nowhere is safe for him, he intends to disguise himself in the "basest and most poorest shape/ that ever penury in contempt of man/ brought near to beast" (7-9)—that is, as a "Bedlam beggar," or madman escaped from an asylum—and give up his own identity: "Edgar I nothing am" (21).

Act 2, Scene 4.

Lear, his Fool, a Gentleman, and his other followers arrive at Gloucester's castle. Confused not to have found Regan at home, and not to have been informed of her departure, Lear grows infuriated when he sees Kent in the stocks, demanding to know who put him there. Kent explains that Regan and Cornwall themselves are responsible. Lear storms off into the palace to find them. While he is away, Kent asks why Lear has so few attendants with him. The Fool mocks Kent for asking such a stupid question. 

Lear returns with Gloucester, in disbelief, as Gloucester has explained to him that Cornwall and Regan have been informed of Lear's arrival but decline to see him. Lear exclaims: "My breath and blood!" (116-7). As he attempts to calm himself, Gloucester returns inside. Finally, Gloucester persuades Cornwall and Regan to come out with him.

Having freed Kent from the stocks, Cornwall and Regan receive Lear. Lear explains his grievances against Goneril. However, Regan takes her sister's side: "O sir, you are old." (165). Insisting that he should be ruled by someone who "discerns [his] state" (168) better than he can, Regan encourages Lear to return to Goneril's house and ask for her forgiveness. Lear is incredulous: what should he do, apologize for his age? As Cornwall joins in reproaching Lear, Lear curses Goneril—insisting, however, that he will never curse Regan in this manner because she knows better what the "offices of nature, bond of childhood" are. 

Oswald appears, announcing Goneril's arrival. Continuing to rave with displeasure at Kent's having been put in the stocks, Lear asks the gods to take his side and to help preserve his sanity. When Goneril herself shows up, she defends her behavior; Regan tells Lear to accept Goneril's terms, dismissing half of his hundred men and return to Goneril. Lear says that he would rather "abjure all roofs, and choose […] to be a comrade with the wolf and owl". Goneril says coldly that the decision is up to him.

Lear begs Goneril not to drive him mad. She can wait; he will be patient and stay with Regan, with his hundred knights. Regan, however, interjects that he should not make this assumption. Indeed, she thinks it is unsafe for him to keep as many as fifty followers in her household; she will allow him twenty-five. Responding that "wicked creatures yet do look well-favored/ when others are more wicked" (294-5), Lear throws himself back on Goneril: now, however, she says she does not understand why he needs twenty-five, ten, or five in a household where she has so many servants that she will tell to serve him. In fact, Regan questions why he even needs one.

 

Lear responds with outrage, saying that what he needs is not the point: "Allow not nature more than nature needs,/ Man's life is cheap as beasts" (307-8). Begging for divine justice and for the gods to bear witness to how he has been wronged, he says he will have revenge on these "unnatural hags": "I will do such things--/ What they are yet I know not, but they shall be/ The terrors of the earth!). Once again, he insists that he will not weep, and fears that he will go mad. He exits with Kent and his Fool. Gloucester follows them. 

A storm is beginning, Cornwall encourages the group to come inside, but Regan points out that there is no space for all of Lear's followers in Gloucester's house. Regan and Goneril agree that they will receive Lear himself, but not one follower. Gloucester, returns, reporting that Lear is in a high rage, raving around outdoors. Goneril says that they will not beg him to stay, but Gloucester is worried about the storm—there is no shelter for miles. Pitiless, Regan says that Lear has earned whatever suffering he comes by and Cornwall urges Gloucester to shut the doors of his castle.

Act 3, Scene 1.

Kent, out looking for Lear, runs into a Gentleman. The Gentleman describes seeing Lear out in the storm, from which even fierce animals ("the cub drawn bear" and "belly-pinched wolf" ) are hiding, with only the Fool to keep him company.

 

Seeing that the Gentleman is on his side, Kent confides in him that there is division between Albany and Cornwall which is still a secret. And he asks the Gentleman to go to Dover and report of the "unnatural and bemadding sorrow" to which the King has been subjected. Although he does not reveal his real identity, he gives the Gentleman his purse, containing a ring, which he should show Cordelia who will be at Dover. Kent says she will recognize it.

Act 3, Scene 2.

Lear rages out in the storm, calling upon it to "crack nature's molds" and destroy everything "that makes ingrateful man" (3.1.10-11), while the Fool urges him, in vain, to find shelter. "Here I stand your slave/ A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man" (21-2), Lear raves. When Kent arrives on the scene, directing Lear to a hovel that he has found, Lear finally relents, remarking that "the art of our necessities is strange/ and can make vile things precious" (76-7). As they enter, the Fool predicts that they are at the beginning of an era in which the "realm of Albion" (i.e. England) will "come to great confusion".

Act 3, Scene 3.

Back inside, Gloucester confides in Edmund that he does not like the "unnatural dealing" (3.3.2) that Goneril and Regan have shown to their father. Edmund agrees. Gloucester then tells Edmund that there is division between Albany and Cornwall and that he has received a letter with further information, too dangerous to be spoken, which will eventually bring Lear revenge. Gloucester asks Edmund to distract Cornwall while he sneaks off to aid Lear. 

Once Gloucester has exited, Edmund informs the audience that he will immediately report everything that his father has told him to Cornwall, in the hopes that he himself will gain what his father loses: "the younger rises when the old doth fall".

Act 3, Scene 4.

Lear, Kent and the Fool arrive at the hovel. Lear still insists that the "tempest in his mind" has taken "all feeling" from his senses beyond his anger and sadness at his daughter's ingratitude. As the Fool goes inside the hovel, Lear pauses to reflect that he has spent too little time thinking about his poor subjects who were regularly exposed to such hardships. If powerful people spent more time thinking about such matters, he decides, they would be more generous with what they have, making the heavens more just. 

The Fool darts back out, reporting that someone is in the hovel: a spirit named Poor Tom. Edgar emerges raving as if possessed by the "fiend," or devil, in his Bedlam beggar disguise. Lear comments over and over that Edgar could only have been brought to this lowly state by "unkind" or "pelican daughters" (3.4.77; 81). Then he goes on to observe that Edgar would be better off dead than exposing his "uncovered body" (109) to the storm and that he has reduced himself to the state of an animal (as Edgar said was his plan in 2.3): "unaccommodated man is no more than such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art" (113-5). 

Gloucester approaches with a torch. Failing to recognize the disguised and raving Edgar as his son, he leads Lear, Kent, Edgar, and the Fool to a house.

Act 3, Scene 5.

Cornwall enters with Edmund, carrying the letter reporting news of the invasion from France (which Gloucester mentioned to Edmund in 3.3). Edmund waffles, feigning remorse at having betrayed his father. 

Granting Edmund, the title of Earl of Gloucester, Cornwall then sends him to find his father and arrest him. Edmund assents, although he continues to lament a 'sore conflict between his duty and his blood. Cornwall reassures Edmund that he, Cornwall, will be Edmund's "dearer father" from here on.

Act 3, Scene 6.

Inside the house to which he has shown them, Kent thanks Gloucester, and then reports that Lear has gone entirely mad. Gloucester exits as Lear, the Fool, and Edgar enter, raving together. Lear has Edgar and the Fool sit down, announcing that they are the jury for an imaginary trial of the "she-foxes" (24) Goneril and Regan, which he persists carrying out as Kent entreats him to rest and Edgar remarks that he is finding it difficult to restrain his tears. 

In the middle of the trial of Regan, Gloucester returns. Told once again by Kent that Lear's "wits are gone" (92), Gloucester tells Kent that he has overheard a plot against Lear's life. Gloucester then says he has arranged for Lear to be secretly transported to Dover in a litter. He asks Kent to help him get Lear on the litter. All exit except Edgar, who remains on stage. Briefly stepping out of the character of Poor Tom, Edgar expresses his deep pity for Lear, saying that he feels so badly for Lear that he can hardly feel his own pain. Yet he also remarks on the similarity between the two of them: "he childed as I fathered". Then he exits as well.

Act 3, Scene 7.

Cornwall enters with Regan, Goneril, Edmund and servants. Handing Goneril the letter with news that the army of France has landed, and telling her to send it to her husband Albany, he sends servants to find Gloucester. Then Cornwall tells Edmund to leave, as the revenge he plans to take on the traitorous Gloucester is far too brutal for a son to behold. Oswald arrives to report that, thanks to Gloucester, Lear has been carried away to Dover. 

Just then, Gloucester enters. Immediately Cornwall and Regan accuse him as a traitor. Regan even plucks a hair from his "white beard." Gloucester reproaches them, saying that they are breaking the laws of hospitality by turning on their host. As they keep haranguing him, he gives up, noting that he, like a bear in a bear-baiting show, is "tied to th' stake" and "must stand the course". Gloucester tells Regan that he helped Lear escape because he could not bear to see how she and Goneril treated him. 

Cornwall interjects, saying that Gloucester never will see such a thing. Cornwall ties Gloucester down and pulls out one of Gloucester's eyes. He is preparing to pull out the second eye when one of his servants interjects. The servant pleads that Cornwall to stop this course of action. Cornwall, angered that the servant would dare to interrupt him, draws his sword. The two fight. Cornwall is seriously wounded. However, Regan takes a sword from a second servant and stabs the first in the back, killing him. Cornwall forces out Gloucester's other eye, crying "out, vile jelly!". 

Blinded, Gloucester calls out to Edmund for help: "enkindle all sparks of nature/ to quit this horrid act". Regan informs Gloucester that Edmund hates him, that it was Edmund himself who betrayed his father. Devastated, Gloucester realizes that he was misled regarding Edgar. He calls upon the gods to forgive him and to help Edgar prosper.

Wounded Cornwall and Regan leave Gloucester with the second and third servants, instructing them to throw him out of his house. The servants discuss among themselves how horrible they find Cornwall and Regan's actions. Resolving to find "the Bedlam", i.e. the disguised Edgar, to lead Gloucester to safety, they first fetch flax and egg whites to help stop the bleeding from Gloucester's face.

Act 4, Scene 1.

Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, stands in the wind, reflecting that it is best to be lowly, because for the "lowest and most dejected thing of fortune" things can only get better. Then, he sees an Old Man leading the blinded Gloucester, who keeps asking him to leave him to die: "I have no way and therefore want no eyes. / I stumbled when I saw". Gloucester laments his misjudgement of Edgar and says how much he wants to meet his son once more: "Might I but live to see thee in my touch/ I'd say I had eyes again". As the Old Man catches sight of Edgar, Edgar notes his foolishness for thinking of himself as 'the lowest' before: "O gods, who is't who can say 'I am at the worst’? / I am worse than e'er I was". 

The Old Man tells Gloucester that they had found Poor Tom. Gloucester notes that the previous night he saw such a mad beggar who "made [him] think man a worm". He has learned, he says, about human lowliness: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods;/ They kill us for their sport". He still does not recognize that the "naked fellow" is his son. Sending the Old Man who was leading him back to fetch some clothing for "Poor Tom" (who is naked), Gloucester offers Poor Tom all the money in his purse to take him to the cliffs at Dover (where he intends to commit suicide).

 

Act 4, Scene 2.

Having travelled from Gloucestere's—now Edmund's—castle, Goneril and Edmund arrive at Goneril's palace. Oswald emerges, reporting that Albany is "changed" and that everything that should upset him pleases him. Goneril, irritated, tells Edmund that he should not meet Albany at this time. She gives Edmund a sign of her favour and kisses him. Edmund exits, swearing that he will remain faithful to her until death. After he has gone, she laments that her "fool" (i.e. her husband) "usurps [her] body". 

Albany enters and denounces Goneril (and Regan) in scathing terms for their mistreatment of their father: "Tigers, not daughters, what have you performed?". Although Goneril tries to shut him up by calling him a coward, he persists, calling her a devil, and says that if Goneril were not a woman he would tear her to pieces. 

However, a servant interrupts them, bursting in with news of Gloucester's blinding and that Cornwall has died of the wound he received from his servant. Albany, who had not known of Gloucester's blinding, cries out that Cornwall's death is proof that the gods exist: "this shows you are above, / you justicers". Goneril, however, is worried that the widowed Regan will now seduce Edmund from her. She hurries off to answer the messenger's letter. 

Left alone with the Messenger, Albany asks whether Edmund is with Gloucester. The Messenger explains that it was Edmund who informed against him. Albany vows that he will thank Gloucester for his love toward Lear and will revenge his lost eyes. He summons the Messenger to give him more information.

Act 4, Scene 3.

In the French war camp, Kent asks a Gentleman about Cordelia's reaction to the letter that he sent in 3.1. The Gentleman reports that she was moved to deep pity for her father and rage against her sisters. Kent states that "the stars above us govern our conditions", because there could be no other explanation for how siblings could be so different from each other. 

Kent then explains that Lear is in the camp and is occasionally sane. However, he adds, Lear refuses to see Cordelia out of shame at "his own unkindness" and at having given her "dear rights to his dog-hearted daughters". Kent asks the Gentleman to come with him to see Lear, explaining that he must remain in the strange disguise he has adopted for some time yet.

 

Act 4, Scene 4.

Cordelia, attended by the Gentleman from 4.3 and a doctor sends out a search party of one hundred soldiers for her father, who, she has heard, is raving "mad as the vexed sea". She then promises the doctor that whoever cures Lear can have everything she owns. The doctor responds that, in order to be cured, the mad king needs rest. 

A messenger enters with news that the British are marching on the French camp. Cordelia responds that she is aware, explaining that the whole purpose of France's war on England is to avenge her father: "No blown ambition doeth our arms incite, / But love, dear love, and our aged father's right".

Act 4, Scene 5.

Back at Gloucester’s former palace, widowed Regan questions Oswald about Goneril and Edmund. She pauses to explain that Edmund himself has gone to kill Gloucester—whose pitiful appearance, blinded and wandering, is turning the people against the British—and to also assess the power of the French army. Then, she resumes pestering Oswald, asking him to open the letter that he is carrying from Goneril to Edmund and let her read it. Oswald refuses, but Regan insists that he take the following news to Goneril: Cornwall is dead, Edmund and Regan have spoken and concluded that it is more convenient for him to marry Regan than her sister. 

Regan concludes by saying that she will show favor to whoever kills "that blind traitor" (41), Gloucester. Oswald responds that if he runs into him en route to Goneril, he will kill Gloucester. Then Oswald rushes off.

Act 4, Scene 6.

Edgar now dressed as a peasant, pretends to lead Gloucester up a steep cliff, while in fact they are going over flat ground. At the "summit" Edgar gives a long speech on "how fearful and dizzy it is to cast one's eyes" (17) over the edge. Taking his bait, Gloucester asks to be led to the cliff and, giving Edgar a purse with a valuable jewel in it, asks him to go away. Edgar does so, and says to himself that he is only playing with Gloucester's despair in this way only in order to cure it. 

Standing at the "edge" of the nonexistent cliff, Gloucester address the "mighty gods": he is renouncing the world "in [their] sights" and that if he could bear their "great opposeless wills" any longer, he would live out his life (44-8). However, since he cannot, he asks them to bless Edgar. Then he "leaps"—falling to the ground in a faint. Edgar now pretends to be a new person who saw Gloucester leapfrom the "cliff," and approaches Gloucester. Although Gloucester asks to be left alone, Edgar refuses: he keeps telling Gloucester that it is a miracle that he has survived his fall and persuades Gloucester that the creature that led him to the edge of the cliff was in fact the devil. "The clearest gods," Edgar tells his father, “Have preserved thee" (90-1). 

Lear enters, raving and mad. Edgar cannot help but exclaim in grief at his appearance: "O, thou side-piercing sight!" (104). Hearing Lear, Gloucester recognizes his voice and calls out to him, asking to kiss the king's hand. Lear, however, continues raving. Cordelia's gentleman and a group of attendants enter. Spotting Lear, they entreat him to come to Cordelia, but he flees. As Cordelia's men pursue Lear, Edgar asks one of the Gentleman for an update. He reports that the battle between the British forces of Edmund, Goneril and Regan and the French force led by Cordelia is imminent.

Gloucester begs the "ever-gentle gods" (241) for forgiveness for his attempted suicide. Edgar approaches him. As he takes Gloucester's hand, however, Oswald appears. Rejoicing to have spotted the "eyeless head" (254) of Gloucester—who Regan bid him to kill in 4.5—he draws his sword. Edgar intercedes, still in the persona of a peasant. Puzzled that a peasant would risk himself for a traitor, Oswald orders Edgar to stand down. They fight; Edgar kills Oswald. As he dies, he asks Edgar to take the money in his purse and bury him, and take the letters therein and deliver them to Edmund, Earl of Gloucester.

Edgar opens Oswald's purse and reads the letter in it—which is from Goneril to Edmund, attempting to persuade him to murder Albany and marry her. Shocked, Edgar resolves to head off and find the "murderous lechers" (304) Edmund and Goneril, and eventually to reveal all to Albany. He approaches Gloucester, who has been privately grieving to himself, and, calling him "father," takes his hand and leads him away.

Act 4, Scene 7.

Back in the French camp, Cordelia thanks Kent for all the service that he has shown her father and asks him to take off his peasant's clothing. However, Kent insists, he must remain in disguise for a short while longer. Cordelia then asks the Doctor how her father is doing. The Doctor replies that he is asleep. Cordelia prays: "O, you kind gods, / Cure this great breach in his abused nature" (16-7). The Doctor says that they will wake him up. Two servants enter, carrying Lear on a chair. The Doctor cues for music to be played. Cordelia kisses her father while commenting on her astonishment at her sisters' cruelty in throwing Lear out into the storm: "Mine enemy's dog,/ Though he had bit me, should have stood that night/ Against my fire" (42-4). 

At the doctor's urging and with music, Lear wakes up, at first unsure whether he is alive or dead. Cordelia asks him to look at her and give her his benediction. He fears he is "not in [his] perfect mind" (72) but believes that the woman in front of him is Cordelia. She assures him that she is and that he is in his own kingdom. Cordelia asks him to take a walk with her. Begging her to "forget and forgive," because he is "old and foolish" (99), he accepts. They exit. 

Kent remains on stage with a Gentleman. They discuss the state of the battle: Edmund is leading the British force. The Gentleman states that there is a rumor that Kent himself is with Edgar in Germany. After he has departed, Kent remarks that the outcome of his ruse, disguising himself, will depend on how the day's battle is fought.

Act 5, Scene 1.

Edmund, leading the British forces with Regan, sends a messenger to Albany to confirm that Albany will send his forces to join theirs. Regan, meanwhile, pesters Edmund about whether or not he has ever slept with Goneril. Edmund tells Regan not to fear, just as Albany and Goneril approach. Goneril remarks to herself that she would rather lose the battle to the French than have Regan come between her and Edmand. Although Albany stresses that he is joining them against their common enemy of the French, not because he approves of their treatment of Lear and Gloucester, he and Goneril join Edmund and Regan. Edmund says he will join Albany shortly at his tent. Regan forces Goneril to walk off with her. 

As the others depart, Edgar, still in disguise as a beggar, approaches Albany. Edgar gives Albany the letter from Goneril to Edmund that he intercepted from Oswald and tells Albany to read it before the battle. Then, Edgar says, if the British side wins, Albany must have a herald sound a trumpet and Edgar will appear again. Edgar exits. Just as Albany is starting to read, Edmund appears and hands him a report describing the strength of the French army. Albany takes it and exits, hurriedly. 

Alone on stage, Edmund explains that he has sworn his love to both Goneril and Regan and muses about which it would be more convenient for him to marry. Resolving to leave that problem for the time being, he further reveals that, if the British are victorious, although Albany wishes to spare Lear and Cordelia, he never will.

Act 5, Scene 2.

Edgar leads Gloucester to the shade of a tree, so that he can rest there during the battle. Then Edgar leaves his father, assuring that if he ever returns again, he will bring him comfort. He exits. After the sound of an alarm signaling a retreat, Edgar appears onstage again. He reports that the French forces have lost and Lear and Cordelia have been taken prisoner. Gloucester says that he would like to die and rot on the spot, but Edgar insists on leading him along.

Act 5, Scene 3.

Edmund orders that the captured Lear and Cordelia be taken away to prison. Cordelia, speaking with Lear, wonders if they should ask to see Goneril and Regan. But Lear, delighted to be with Cordelia again, says no. He says that they will enjoy prison, where they can laugh and sing and tell old stories and mock the courtiers and their petty political gossip. He says that in prison they will live longer than "hordes" of rulers who will come and go on the whims of fortune. They exit. As they go, Edmund calls back a Captain, one of the soldiers accompanying them and hands him a letter, instructing him that if he kills Lear and Cordelia he will gain "noble fortunes" (35). The captain says that he will do it.

 Albany, Goneril, Regan and other soldiers enter to the sound of a flourish from a trumpet. Albany asks to have Lear and Cordelia brought to him so that they can be protected until they can be judged. Edmund explains that he has already sent them off. Albany reminds Edmund that he does not think of him as a brother, yet, but merely as an ally in the war. Regan interjects that she will give him herself and her property—all he requires to become Albany's brother. Goneril interjects that Regan should not get ahead of herself, and the two descend into squabbling, which Regan cuts off only because she feels sick to her stomach. In brief, she tells Edmund that he can take her soldiers, prisoners, and inheritance; she here makes him her "lord and master" (92). 

Albany cuts all off when he announces that he is placing Edmund, as well as Regan, under arrest for capital treason. Albany calls for his men to let the trumpet sound and throws down his glove: if no one appears to fight with Edmund, in order to avenge his treasons, Albany vows that he himself will do so. As this is going on, off to one side, Regan grows increasingly sick. Goneril remarks to herself that Regan had better be sick—Goneril herself has poisoned her out of jealousy over Edmund. Denying that he is a traitor, Edmund accepts the challenge, throwing down his glove, as Regan is helped to exit. 

A herald reads a declaration calling for any man who would like to declare that Edmund is a traitor to come forth. He sounds the trumpet three times. On the third sounding, Edgar enters, armed (with his face covered). He refuses to identify himself: he has lost his name, he says, because of treason. Yet, he says, he is noble and will fight to prove Edmund a traitor. Edmund accepts. They fight. Edmund is wounded. When Edmund falls, Goneril becomes hysterical, cursing Edmund because he was not obligated by the laws of war to accept a challenge from an unknown assailant. Albany cuts her off, brandishing the letter that she wrote to Edmund, plotting against his life. Goneril shuts him up, reminding him that political power is hers, not his. She exits. Noting that she seems hysterical, Albany sends a soldier after her.

Encouraging the fallen Edmund to "exchange charity" (200) with him, Edgar then identifies himself, concluding that "the gods are just, and of our pleasant vices/ Make instruments to plague us" (204-5), observing that Gloucester was punished for his adultery with Edmund's mother by the loss of his eyes. Edmund agrees: "the wheel is come full circle" (209). Edgar then explains everything that happened. He finishes by describing how he revealed himself to his father only right before leaving to fight Edmund. Gloucester, unable to bear his mixture of joy and grief, died on the spot. Edgar adds that Kent came upon them, as Gloucester was dying, and revealed himself as having served Lear in disguise, all this time. 

As Edgar is wrapping up his story, a Gentleman runs in, crying for help, with a bloody knife. He exclaims that he has just taken it from the heart of Goneril—who, after confessing to having poisoned Regan, committed suicide. Edmund confesses that he had pledged to wed both, and that now all three will be united in death. Albany orders the Gentleman to bring in the bodies. As he speeds off to do so, Kent arrives asking to see Lear. Reminded, Albany asks Edmund where Lear and Cordelia can be found. Edmund, saying he would like to do some good before he dies, orders them to send someone quickly to the king and his daughter—for he has written instructions for his Captain to kill them (earlier in 5.3). Edmund gives the messenger-soldier his sword, as a sign of the authenticity of the message. He explains that he instructed his soldier to hang her, and make it look like suicide, as Albany orders that he be carried off. 

At this moment, Lear enters with Cordelia's body in his arms, crying: "Howl, howl, howl […] she's gone forever" (309-11). Although, he explains, half-mad, he killed the man who hanged her, he did so too late to save her. Then, seeing Kent, he asks, confused, who he is, noting that his "eyes are not o' th' best" (337). Kent identifies himself and explains that he has been serving Lear, in disguise as his servant Caius, all this time. Kent also reports to Lear that his two other daughters have committed suicide, but Lear does not seem to understand. Albany quiet Kent, pointing out that it is no use to attempt to explain such things to Lear now. 

A messenger enters, reporting that Edmund is dead. Albany brushes off this "trifle" (359), then declares that, for the duration of Lear's life, they will return absolute power to him and all will be rewarded or revenged upon, according to their behaviour. Lear, however, descends into raving with grief over Cordelia: "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat has life, / And thou no breath at all?" he asks. "Thou'lt come no more, / Never, never, never, never never". He faints with grief; as he does, Kent prays that Lear's heart break, finally releasing him. Lear dies. 

Albany orders that the corpses on stage be carried away, so that all can begin their general mourning. He then tells Kent and Edgar that they will rule over and rebuild Britain. Kent, however, says that he, too, must soon commit suicide in order to rejoin his master. Edgar announces that they all must learn the lessons of these sad times, "to speak what we feel, not what we ought to say." He concludes: "The oldest have borne most. We that are young shall never see so much nor live so long".