ACT FOUR
THE SUBPLOT THICKENS
Gloucester’s physical blindness symbolises the metaphorical blindness that grips both Gloucester and the play’s other father figure, Lear. The parallels between the two men are clear: both have loyal children and disloyal children, both are blind to the truth, and both end up banishing the loyal children and making the wicked one(s) their heir(s). Only when Gloucester has lost the use of his eyes and Lear has gone mad does each realise his tremendous error.
Gloucester is now being lead by Edgar in the form of poor Tom to a cliff from which he plans to jump, however Edgar instead leads him to a small ledge and causes him to fall off this, then convinces him that he has been found alive at the bottom of the cliff and this is a miracle. Shakespeare has also used dramatic irony here as the audience know that he is in fact being lead by his son Edgar, however Edgar has chosen not to reveal himself and therefore Gloucester is unaware of this. Edgar and his father both want to be with each other but his father doesn’t know that his precious son is right there beside him.
KEY QUOTES
‘I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw.’ A4S1L19
This is coming from Gloucestor after his eyes have been removed, and he says that he doesn’t want his eyes anyway due to the fact that even when he could see, he was blind to the truth of what was going on between Edgar and Edmund. He is realising his flaws in his pride and now in choosing to lead himself with other senses he is trying to correct this.
‘And worse I may be yet. The worst is not So long as we can say, “This is the worst.”’ A4S1L28
This line is said by Edgar to as he feels he is in a bad situation, however he is telling us that as long as he had the ability to speak and say that this was the worst then he was still alive and therefore it couldn’t have been the worst after all.
’Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.’ A4S1L46
This quote refers to the current scenario of Poor Tom leading Gloucester, however this also shows in society the ways in which often the leaders (such as the Kings) and people of authority actually don’t know what’s going on. The idea of the ‘time’s plague’ refers to the bad things all going on around them and shows that it must be a time of crisis.
‘Tigers, not daughters, what have you performed?’ A4S2L40
This is Albany referring to the horrible things that the daughters were doing in the way they were treating their father, and how instead they were like tigers hunting the weakest prey. Albany is a good man and doesn’t agree what his wife Goneril and her sister Regan are doing to their father.
‘Humanity must perforce prey on itself, Like monsters of the deep.’ A4S2L48
This is also said by Albany in the same soliloquy as the quote above. This is him wondering of the ways in which humanity is destroying itself and how humans attack each other when really we should be joining together for the idea of the greater good and gain of the race. Monsters in the deep is a metaphor to how when in the deep the monsters know nothing except other monsters and must attack them to survive.
‘In nothing am I changed But in my garments.’ A4S6L8
Edgar says this to Gloucester when Gloucester questions his change in speaking patterns when he is about to ‘jump off the cliff’. In Edgar stating that nothing has changed except his clothes he is referring back to the idea that ‘the tailor makes the man’. He is also showing that he is still Gloucester’s son, Edgar – as nothing has changed except what he wears. This means he is the same true Edgar and the clothes do not make the man.
‘When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found ‘em, there I smell ‘em out.’ A4S6L100
This is a reference to Lear’s lack of sight and how it was when he was out in the wind and rain that he realised he is not immune to the elements. It was at this time when instead of using his eyes which hasn’t been working, he instead uses his other senses which he can rely on. He could not use anger or intimidate the thunder to make it stop.
‘O, matter and impertinency mixed! Reason in madness!’ A4S6L173
Edgar says this in response to Lear stating that with glass eyes he would see what others wouldn’t as no one seems to be using their eyes to actually see the madness of their current situation. This quote emphasises the madness of the situation going on around them. It is also significant that Lear is the one who is stating the reason.
‘… I am bound Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead.’ A4S7L47
Already a wheel quote has been talked about as the turning point of the play, how those at the top must fall and those at the bottom will rise. Lear says this to Cordelia when Lear is being seen by the doctor. This is Lear saying that his fate is set, and the reference of molten lead is indicating the idea that he may end up in the eternal furnace of hell. The fact the wheel is already spinning means he cannot stop it from rolling.
KING LEAR’S POSITION
In Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero the hero must go through the agnorosis phase which is the phase of realisation of their own faults or mistakes which have brought their doom upon them. This is important to the plot as in order for the audience to empathise with the character they must learn from their mistake, making the audience now want them to be forgiven as they have realised their own wrongs. The audience wants them to have a chance to make it right, although often they die before that is possible.
A4S6L85: ‘Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of toasted cheese will do it. There’s my gauntlet; I’ll prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills.’
Lear’s speech in the above quote is very stilted and distracted, going off on many tangents about different topics. He is also talking in verse rather than prose showing that he is very lowered in status and also still slightly crazy. He no longer speaks like a King.
Quotes showing Lear’s agnorosis (All from scene 6):
‘They told me I was everything. Tis a lie – I am not ague-proof.’
‘Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.’
‘Through tattered clothes small vices do appear.’
‘When we are born we cry that we are come to this stage of great fools.’
THE WINDOW OF HOPE
Because Lear has been reconnected with Cordelia, and Gloucestor has been reconnected with Edgar, the audience believes for the first time in the play that everything could be alright. Cordelia forgiving Lear for banishing her and his mistakes also makes the audience feel that Lear should be forgiven – especially as she has already suffered enough punishment for his actions. Edgar saves Gloucestor from suicide, and we start to think that they will be able to go off and be together in new lives. This window of hope allows the audience a moment of breathing time, thinking that finally the suffering is over. This forgiveness and hope for it to be better allows an even higher level of catharsis when it goes bad again. The audience need this window of hope in order to feel the true intensity of the climax, and higher pity for the characters after having a glimpse of what their lives could have become.
SYMBOLIC REFERENCES
The ceasing of the storm also begins to hint at the ceasing of the storm in Lear’s mind as he slowly starts to become sane again. Lear is having his moment of realisation, as well as having been reunited with Cordelia has he has begun to have his moments of realisation that it is his own fault (on Aristotle’s definition of needs of a tragic hero). This area of the tragedy is also the falling action, as the storm begins to die out the extreme action section of the play begins to tie up as it comes toward the ending in which all the loose ends need to be tied.
In this Act Lear also wears a weed flower crown. This crown made of weeds is symbolic as his value as a King. Weeds are in the way and the garden grows best when they are removed. As a King Lear now holds no power and is simply a title, meaning there is no point his presence being there and essentially ‘taking up space’ in his kingdom (garden) as he can no longer demand the respect a king should deserve.
‘Through tattered clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; Arm it in rags, a pygmy’s straw does pierce it.’ -Lear, A3S6L64
This quote resembles the theme of justice and injustice in society which has been ongoing throughout the whole play. It shows that those with money, beautiful, or those in positions of power are able to get away with sins that the normal or mundane would not. Lear had always been doing whatever he desired as a King, and now through the tatters in his clothes his sins and flaws that lead to his demise were starting to show. The play does not give true justice to the one’s who truly deserve it, which is what creates this idea of tragic heroes. This can be linked to Lear’s mock trial earlier in the play of his daughters when he was locked out in the storm.
The idea that the devil creature that haunts poor Tom and now Gloucester being seen metaphorically as Edmund shows the way Edmund is seen in the play. Edmund was the bastard child that will forever stop Gloucester from being able to forget about his mistake of adultery, and also Edgar for taking his place as the oldest child. Edmund’s evil and plotting is in fact able to represent the devil of temptation, as well as being there to punish the actions of Gloucester, and in doing so inflicting pain on Edgar who he cares about.
Quotes in this scene referring to eyes:
‘A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears. See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief.’ A4S6L150
‘Get thee glass eyes And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see things thou dost not.’ A4S6L171
‘Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.’ A4S1L55
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