Regan once more tells Lear to return to
Goneril’s castle, but Lear refuses to stay with her since she dismissed half of his retinue. Lear still thinks that Regan will allow him to keep the full one hundred followers in her castle (lines 225-26). But Regan tells him that she is not able to provide for so many followers. Lear is astonished. And his astonishment becomes even greater when Regan argues that so many men under two different masters are difficult and even impossible to control. Then, as an even greater shock to Lear, Regan asserts that she will only allow Lear to stay with her if he limits his retinue to twenty-five followers.
Feeling utterly defeated, Lear thinks that fifty followers at Goneril’s castle is better than having only twenty-five at Regan’s (line 254). So, Lear tells Goneril that he will return to her. But then Goneril asks her father what need he has of even ten followers, or five for that matter. And Regan adds that he does not even need one follower. Both sisters, then, refuse to allow their father to have any followers.
This scene microcosmically represents the fall of Lear. The number of his followers dwindles from 100 to 50, from 50 to 25, from 25 to 10, then 5, then one, and then finally none. His power and his position of respect have likewise dwindled and become nothing. And as his power decreases, his emotions and rage and madness increase.
In a speech Lear argues that man needs more than the barest essentials in life. An animal, a beast, has the barest essentials; but man is nothing but a beast if he does not have more. Lear wants to retain his full retinue so that he feels like he is more than an animal. He metaphorically compares the situation to a lady and her clothing (beginning at line 262). If a lady were to wear only essential clothing, she would only need plain and simple undecorated clothing instead of fine silks and satins and furs decorated with gems and gold ornaments. Goneril and Regan, as princesses and wives of Dukes, would, of course, be wearing such fine clothing. Lear still wants to feel important and regal. Without his retinue, he becomes nothing.
Both Goneril and Regan remain unmoved by Lear’s passionate request. So, Lear’s anger rises, and he vows revenge against his daughters (line 274). Lear is a broken man, and he wants to weep because of his wretched state. But he refuses to cry. He is still a man inside, and he still has a sense of honor within him.
The emotions, though, wreak havoc with his mind. He tells his Fool …
O fool, I shall go mad! (281)
Yet even this line has a secondary meaning. Lear is also talking to himself. He is the fool to whom he is referring. Lear has been madly foolish, and now he is going foolishly mad.
After this line, the stage directions call for “storm and tempest.” The literal storm outside is symbolic of the storm going on in Lear’s own mind. Lear’s mind is now chaos. Lear is now mad. And, like a madman, he rushes out into the wilderness to face both storms without shelter or protection.
Cornwall, Goneril, and Regan coldly watch as the old and weak Lear trudges off into the storm and wilderness. And they just as coldly comment that they will refuse to shelter Lear if he even tries to bring but one follower with him. Goneril and Regan have absolutely no concern at all about the welfare of their father. And Regan viciously remarks that Lear himself will be responsible for any “injuries” that he may receive while he is outside in the tempest.
The second act ends with the cold daughters seeking the warmth and comfort of the castle while poor old Lear rushes out into the cold, bleak, and stormy countryside.