Act 4 - Key Moments

Act 4 - Key Moments

1. Scene 1

   • 1. Edgar, still disguised as Poor Tom, meets his blinded father
   • 2. Gloucester, intent on self-harm by throwing himself from the cliffs at Dover, wants Edgar to lead him there.

2. Scene 2

   • 1. Oswald reveals that Albany is a changed man and cannot accept that Lear and Cordelia are the enemy, that Gloucester is a traitor and that Edmund is loyal and honest.
   • 2. Goneril expresses her ardent love for Edmund.
   • 3. Albany Condemns Goneril as a barbarous, degenerate woman, and Regan as no better.
   • 4. Cornwall's death is revealed, causing Goneril to worry that Regan, now a widow, might want to marry Edmund.
   • 5. Albany expresses a determination to avenge Gloucester's blinding

3. Scene 3

   • 1. We learn of Cordelia's grief when she read about her father's sufferings.
   • 2. Kent describes the shame that prevents Lear from wanting to reunite with Cordelia

4. Scene 4

   • 1. Lear, as mad as the vexed sea, and crowned like a festival king with weeds is wandering through the countryside, singing aloud - Cordelia orders a search for him.
   • 2. It is hoped that sleep and natural remedies will cure Lear's troubled mind.

5. Scene 5

   • 1. Regan, distracted with jealousy wants to know what Goneril has written in a letter to Edmund
   • 2. Oswald, loyal steward to Goneril, will not let Regan open the letter.
   • 3. Regan wants Goneril to know she cannot have Edmund.
   • 4. Regan asks Oswald to kill Gloucester if he meets him.

6. Act 6

   • 1. Edgar is able to persuade Gloutester that, in attempting to take his own life, he has fallen a great height, but has his life preserved by the great gods.
   • 2. Lear launches a series of condemnations of corruptions rampant in human society, with special emphasis on female depravity and the power of money to corrupt the administration of justice
   • 3. Lear runs away from a group trying to apprehend him on Cordelia's behalf.
   • 4. Oswald, attempting to carry out Regan's order to kill Gloucester, is slain by Edgar, who finds an incriminating letter from Goneril to Edmund on Oswald's body.

7. Act 7

   • 1. Cordelia is reunited with Kent
   • 2. Lear has been restored to sanity, and Cordelia and Lear are reconciled.