ACT THREE
THE STORM
Lear hopes that the storm will hurt the world due to the unfair way that the world is hurting him right now. His hatred of the world and no longer being a part of it makes him want it all to be destroyed as a form of revenge. It would also mean that the kingdom he had given to his daughters would then be ruined.
‘Who is there, besides foul weather?’ A3S1L1
‘Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, Or swell the curled waters ‘bove the main,’ A3S1L7
‘Since I was man, Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never remember to have heard.’
‘The tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there.’ By this Lear meant that he wanted to stop feeling the cold and pain and hunger of being in the night, however if that wasn’t going to happen then he wanted to at least be saved to live through the storm and find some protection.
LEAR’S DIALOGUE
In this Act Lear’s speech starts as verse and deteriorates to prose. At the start he is still slightly sane however as the storm gets stronger his insanity and the storm in his brain grows. His word choice also goes from proper and eloquent to shorter more common words. His speech also starts jumping around a lot and going off on confused tangents. In this act he also conjures up an imaginary trial of his daughters in order to attempt to try and find some justice and order within himself. It is in this act that we see Lear change as he begins to go insane.
SOME OF LEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS
‘Here I stand your slave, A poor infirm, weak and despised old man.’
‘No, I will be the pattern of patience; I will say nothing.’
‘I am a man more sinned against than sinning.’
‘The tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there.’
‘O, that way madness lies; let me shun that!’
‘Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are, that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm… O, I have ta’en too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel…’
‘Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool and the cat no perfume…’
‘Is there any cause in nature that make these hard hearts?’
THE GREEK ALLUSIONS
Shakespeare had an education most likely originating at Stratford grammar school, where Latin and classics would have been compulsory studies. Shakespeare has many Greek allusions throughout all of his works, which shows that he most likely pursued this field with reading and studying a variety of Greek legends. These may have been used in his plays to create affect, as well as allude to stories or concepts that many people already knew. This also creates extra affect as it shows patterns of behaviour that have often been around for a long time – many of the Greek legends have morals which the detail of these could show Shakespeare trying to give similar messages.
‘Nothing will come from nothing’ is a play on the ‘from nothing, nothing comes’, which was an argument made by philosopher Paramedes. This contradicts that God originally created everything from nothing.
Edgar adopting the persona of Tom O’Bedlam, a figure from a (English? Scottish?) ballad, similar to Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. Moreover, when playing the role of the madman, he speaks of the Childe Roland:
“Childe Rowland to the dark tower came
His song was still “Fie fo and fum
I smell the blood of a British man”.
‘Come to great confusion:
Then comes the time, who lives to see’t,
That going shall be used with feet.
This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time.’
The fool makes a reference to Merlin.
THE SYMBOLISM OF CLOTHING
‘Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare forked animal as thou art. Off, off you lendings! Come, unbotton here.’
The clothing symbolism in this act progresses as Lear had begun to take off his clothes in the storm. This idea of nakedness emphasises Lear’s insanity and him being stripped down of his King’s identity. He is also with poor Tom who wears only rags, and Poor Tom and Lear a beggar are now being reduced to the same status. As a tragic hero this resembles Lear’s falling from grace.
THE COURT SCENE
The theme of justice in the play is an important aspect of the idea we get in the society Lear is living in. People are able to kill and throw people out and banished due to anger without ever having to go through a real trial or have a legitimate reason to be punished, while those such as Edmund don’t seem to be punished at all. In the scene in the farmhouse Lear tries to give justice to his daughters by putting them on an imaginary trial. This is due to his lack of order in his own life, and wanting them to pay righteously for what they have done to him.
The injustice of the play is developed when Cornwall states ‘Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of justice, yet our power Shall do a court’sy to our wrath, which men May blame but not control.’ Here Cornwall is talking about how men do not have power to apply justice as it needs to be and instead this is up to the fate of the angels and God to punish where they see fit. It is also claiming that sometimes the wrath does not fall on the people it should.
THE TENSION BUILDS
The three main types of irony are verbal, situational and dramatic. Shakespeare often uses different forms of irony in order to build tension and develop imagery within his writing. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in this act as many characters come together (Edgar and Lear) in the shack in which Lear is taking shelter during the storm. While we know who Edgar is, Lear assumes that Edgar is truly poor Tom, a simple beggar. Edmund also gets Cornwall involved on the hunt for Edgar, and while we know that this isn’t true, if Cornwall finds Edgar he will also kill him.
At the end of Act 3 Shakespeare also uses an example of situational irony. Gloucester, who has been blind to the going on’s of Edmund, becomes literally blind as his eyes are gouged out. This is the first real act of violence in the script which also shows how insane the world is becoming, and the lengths to which people are willing to go in order to achieve what they want. This hostility also shows the ways people are realising they have to be out for themselves in order to survive the current time.
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