The storm continues, and Lear continues to descend into madness while paradoxically gaining insight into the nature of the world. Discuss this paradox.
Edgar’s presentation of himself as Tom o’Bedlam is something more than a disguise. What function does Tom serve in the play? Note that Lear refers to Tom as a philosopher. Is that a case of mistaken identity, or something else? Consider Tom alongside the Fool. How are they similar? How are they different? The Fool disappears from the play well before it ends. Any idea why?
Gloucester’s treatment at the hands of Edmund, Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall is remarkably cruel. In performance, it always elicits a shudder and gasps from the audience. But it is also an example of how Shakespeare values the double plot in play construction. By putting characters in parallel situations, Shakespeare can explore themes in a deeper way through similarity and contrast. For example, in Hamlet three characters (Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet himself) desire revenge for a father who was killed, and the contrast between how they go about achieving that goal is key to understanding the play. How does Gloucester play into the double-plot structure? What other uses of the double-plot structure can you find in the play?
How is class an issue in this play? Shakespeare lived in an era in which bettering one’s position in society was just beginning to become a realistic idea; to apply the idea of class struggle that developed in the 19th century to Elizabethan or Jacobean England would be wildly anachronistic. Yet Shakespeare does seem to possess an acute awareness about the relationships between various classes (royalty, nobility, yeomanry, freemen, servants, serfs). Discuss any passage that reveals this awareness.