KING LEAR Film - Act 4, Scenes 1, 2

 Stream on Amazon Prime Episode 10      

ACT FOUR

 4.1

Gloucester has endured torture and disfigurement, yet like Lear, he achieves belated clarity through his suffering.  His mental anguish thus far eclipses the considerable physical pain he is in.  As Gloucester is cast into exile from his own home and left with no life, no future, no possibilities, his condition ironically mirrors Edgar’s own flight from Gloucester’s persecution.  Yet rather than desperately seeking survival, the only driving force that compels Gloucester onward is his crippling guilt.  His only wish is that he might have the chance to touch Edgar again and seek his forgiveness, yet he knows that to be hopeless.   He is overcome by the futility of his existence and is eager to end his own life and put an end to this total despair.

Gloucester realizes that he has wasted his life and his sudden insight has come too late.  Yet Gloucester also proved his loyalty and courage in aiding Lear despite the consequences he knew he might face; despite his abject state, we see that Gloucester has in fact changed. Previously, believing in Edgar’s betrayal despite little evidence, Gloucester turned quickly toward thoughts of revenge and became fixated on bringing his patricidal heir to justice.  Now, however, Gloucester expresses no desire to seek revenge on Edmund, even when the evidence against him is irrefutable. Instead, Gloucester thinks only of Edgar and how he has wronged him.  Any anger he feels is directed only towards himself for being so foolish.

The Tenant is concerned and incredulous throughout his exchange with Gloucester.  Just as Gloucester led the fugitive Lear in spite of the great danger to himself, the Tenant now does the same for the man he has likewise served his entire life.  He is anxious and urgent, fearful for his own life if he is caught aiding a traitor, but nevertheless determined to uphold his duty.  This man’s loyalty is a reminder of the old generation that has been cast out of power.  Gloucester orders the Tenant away, only to realize that he no longer has the authority to give orders, nor the desire to see them carried out.  The life Gloucester had known is spent and only the siren song of death remains.

Having witnessed in Lear true madness and even greater suffering than he has endured himself, Edgar is growing in the realization that no good will come from feeling sorry for himself.  Yet once again, when Edgar thinks he cannot witness anything worse he is proven sorely wrong. Nothing he observed during the storm, horrific as it was, can prepares him for the wholly and inexorably devastating discovery of what has befallen his father.

Edgar is puzzled to overhear that his father has finally learned the truth, but quickly surmises that Gloucester is now a fugitive for harboring Lear in defiance of Cornwall.  Edgar desperately wants to go to his father and embrace him.  He wants to shed the disguise and grant his father the relief of forgiveness that Gloucester believes impossible.  He wants to allow both of them the comfort of reunion, yet he cannot.  Preserving Gloucester’s safety has to remain his priority.  They are both still fugitives, and Edgar knows he needs to focus on taking them away from danger as quickly as possible.

Edgar is still in shock himself and fears that Gloucester, in his substantially weaker state, no longer has the strength to survive the additional distress of the truth.  Despite his own restlessness, Edgar must force himself to remain silent and struggles through his own internal conflict to maintain the guise of Poor Tom.  As Gloucester asks Tom to lead him, Edgar’s realization that his father intends to end his own life is utterly devastating.  Even in heartbreak, Edgar forces himself to keep speaking, though the words barely come, as he realizes maintaining this disguise may be the only way to save his father from himself.  Though he has been exiled a relatively short time, Edgar’s fortitude has been pushed to the very limits and he discovers in himself strength, patience, and courage he had no idea he possessed. 

4.2

Between departing Gloucester’s and returning to the home she shares with Albany, Goneril and has embarked on an affair with Edmund.  As she and Edmund enter the castle, Goneril is playful, satisfied, and invigorated having just had sex with the man of her dreams.  Goneril exhibits a previously unseen sensuousness that enhances her already energetic nature.  Even as she can barely contain her lust for Edmund, everything that Goneril does is contextualized by her drive and ambition.  Now that she has a man who fulfills her— and is more like her in his ruthlessness and determination than she knows—she is even more anxious to be free of Albany.  She initially plans to have the two meet in order to kindle Edmund’s jealous and incite him to take action and kill her husband, but Oswald’s report of Albany’s changed behavior upends that plan.  Still, emboldened by her time with Edmund, Goneril confronts Albany with more open cruelty and naked disdain than she ever has before.  Not only is she trapped in a marriage with someone she disdains, but Albany’s reluctance to fight when war is on the horizon puts the entire country at risk, and jeopardizes everything Goneril dreams of and has worked so hard to achieve.

When Oswald enters, he is so disoriented by the change he has witnessed in Albany that he ends up responding to the outburst as if it were still happening, rather than reporting on it.  The transformation in Albany’s behavior is palpable.  Albany is a man of dignity, integrity, propriety, and—usually—meekness.  He may not defend Lear outright when Goneril first throws him out, but he has always held a great deal of respect for Lear and continues to defend him now.   Albany is affronted by the way Goneril and Regan have treated their father, and appalled to discover Cornwall’s cruelty.

Indeed, Albany’s assertiveness with Goneril astonishes her.   Albany’s good-natured naïveté is apparent as even as he overcomes some of the timidity Goneril so detests, he discovers for the first time his wife’s contempt for him, which she no longer makes effort to disguise . Albany has genuine love for Goneril, but that affection is corrupted when he discovers what kind of person she really is.  His indignation threatens to engulf him, but there is sincere confusion and amazement at these revelations that acts as a form of restraint.  He remains resolute and autonomous from Goneril, as the two scold one another, hurl insults, and unleash their mutual loathing.  When the Messenger enters to bring word of the blinding, Albany becomes absorbed in horror and vows to seek justice.  He leaves Goneril behind without a second thought and seeks to abate his confusion elsewhere