The first scene of Act IV begins with a short soliloquy by Edgar, who is out in the open countryside. Edgar is being philosophical about his situation, and he sees some advantages to being poor. A poor man may be despised by others, but a rich man is both despised and flattered. People despise the wealthy man because he is wealthy, but they flatter him nonetheless because they are trying to get some of his money for themselves. A second advantage to being poor is that the poor man always has hope (“esperance” at line 4) that his situation will improve, but the wealthy man always lives in fear of losing his position of wealth or power. And hope is certainly a far more comforting emotion than is fear. Edgar concludes that wealthy men of power, when fate brings them a change, can only look forward to “the worst” – that is, they can only look forward to a reversal of fortune and a loss of wealth or power or both. But the poor man at the bottom of fortune’s ladder, when he receives a reversal of destiny, will come to “laughter” (6). He will then laugh at his joy and at his good luck or fortune.
Meanwhile, also out in the countryside, an old servant is leading blind Gloucester away from his home. When Edgar sees his father in such a wretched state, he then comments with a different sort of philosophy:
World, world, O world!
But that thy strange mutations makes us hate thee,
Life would not yield to age. (10-12)
Edgar is asserting that people (“life”) would not want to grow old and die if the world was not constantly bringing forth negative changes (“mutations”) in their circumstances. But suffering in life causes most people to hate living and hate the world.
Gloucester and the old man do not at first see or hear Edgar. Gloucester tries to persuade his old servant to leave him because Gloucester fears that the old man might be punished for helping him. The loyal old servant, though, is reluctant to leave his blind master. Gloucester also laments having mistreated his son Edgar and admits that his actions were a result of his “wrath” (23). Gloucester declares that his only last wish is to touch (because he cannot see) Edgar once again.
When Gloucester does hear Edgar, the old man informs him that they have encountered the poor beggar-man. Gloucester, remembering poor Tom and his wretched condition, also philosophically comments on the state of man. Gloucester, using a double-metaphor, compares the gods’ relationship with mankind to the relationship of careless boys with flies. Just as careless boys unthinkingly swat, hurt, and kill flies, so too do the gods (or fate) carelessly and unthinkingly swat, hurt, and kill men.
Edgar, feeling great sorrow, reluctantly continues to play his role as madman or “fool” (line 39). Gloucester asks Edgar to be his guide to Dover and instructs his old servant to hurry off and bring Tom some suitable clothes.
Gloucester also delivers a famous line regarding his situation:
‘Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.
(47)
In other words, the time or era has really reached a bad or low point when madness or foolishness leads blind or foolish followers. This line, of course, applies not just to Gloucester and Edgar. Cornwall, Goneril, and Regan are also madly leading their followers, most of whom are blind to the cruelty and evil of these leaders.
Gloucester hands over his purse or money bag to Edgar and comments that his misery should bring happiness to the poor beggar. Gloucester then makes a general comment about life (social criticism) and the distribution of wealth (beginning at line 67). Shakespeare, through the character of Gloucester, suggests that every man who has an excess of wealth and who indulges his every whim, should be relieved of that wealth so that every man should “have enough” (71). Shakespeare is criticizing a society where one group of people have so much food that they waste it or throw it away while right outside their very doors there are people starving in the streets.
Gloucester asks poor Tom to lead him to the cliffs of Dover. Gloucester intends to end his life by jumping off of the cliff. Edgar agrees to lead him, but the good son has no intention of letting his father commit suicide.
The second scene takes place at Albany’s castle. Oswald informs Goneril, who has just returned, that her husband is a changed man. Neither Oswald nor Goneril understand why the harsh treatment of Lear and Gloucester bothers Albany. However Albany is an honorable man, and he places that honor above his personal ambitions and any quest for power. But Goneril just sees her husband as a coward.
Goneril tells Edmund, who had accompanied her to northern England, that he should hurry back to Cornwall and inform him to get his army ready. Meanwhile Goneril intends to lead Albany’s own army herself. She explains to Edmund that she must exchange places with her husband: she will take the man’s role in commanding the army while her husband gets to command nothing more than the “distaff” (17). The word distaff actually has two meanings: (1) it is an object that holds unspun wool or flax from which threads are taken to be used in sewing. And, thus, the word also (2) becomes symbolic of a woman’s role and her work in the household.
Goneril also gives Edmund a token of her
affection (like a brooch or a scarf) and kisses him. She would much rather be married to Edmund, who is more like herself in regards to her evil disposition, than to her own husband. After Edmund exits, Goneril speaks in an aside: “My fool usurps my body” (28). She is referring to her husband and the notion that the husband controls the wife. The word fool actually has a double meaning: (1) that Albany is a fool or an idiot and (2) that Goneril would gladly turn Albany into a cuckold by her having an affair with Edmund. A cuckold was often referred to as a fool.
Albany then enters and scolds Goneril in exceptionally strong terms. Albany sees Goneril as a most degenerate, unnatural, and immoral monster. Among other comments, Albany tells Goneril that …
She that herself will sliver and disbranch
From her material sap, perforce must wither
And come to deadly use. (35-37)
Albany is using the metaphor of the tree. If someone cuts off a branch from a tree, that branch will dry, wither, and rot. Symbolically Goneril is the branch, and Lear and Lear’s family is the tree (as in family tree). Albany suggests that Goneril is withered and rotten inside; and he predicts (foreshadowing) that she will end up destroyed just as a dry branch is destroyed (by being burnt up as firewood).
The angry Goneril criticizes her husband as a moralizing fool and as a coward for not getting ready to defend England against the invading army from France. Albany becomes more irritated by Goneril’s wild words and tells her the following:
Proper deformity shows not in the fiend
So horrid as in woman. (61-62)
Deformity or ugliness of features and of behavior is expected from fiends or devils, Albany suggests. But when such ugly and dreadful behavior appears in a woman, the sight is even more dreadful and horrifying and offensive.
The quarrel between Goneril and Albany ends when a messenger appears. The messenger informs them that Cornwall has died from the wound that he had received from the First Servant and that Gloucester had been blinded by Cornwall.
Albany is shocked by the news but sees the death of Cornwall as morally right and as symbolic of divine justice.
For Goneril, the news is both positive and negative. The news is positive because Cornwall was one of two kings in England. With Cornwall dead, Albany becomes the sole king of England. However, the news is also negative because, now that Cornwall is dead, Regan is free to marry someone else; and Goneril fears that Regan will marry Edmund.
The messenger also informs Albany that
Edmund had betrayed his own father. Albany is now aware that Edmund is not to be trusted, and he vows to get revenge for Gloucester against his traitorous son.
The third brief scene primarily moves the plot forward. Kent (still in disguise) arrives in Dover and speaks to a gentleman about what has happened there recently. The gentleman informs Kent that the King of France had to return home on urgent business; but his trusted Marshall is in command of the French army, which has remained in Dover. Cordelia, now Queen of France, is also in Dover.
The gentleman explains how grief and sadness nearly devastated Cordelia when she heard the news about how her two sisters have treated their father. Through the dialogue of the gentleman, Shakespeare once again emphasizes the conflict between Reason and Emotion:
It seemed she was a queen
Over her passion, who, most rebel-like,
Sought to be king o’er her. (12-14)
As noted earlier, this conflict is one that appears in nearly every Shakespeare play. The Church taught that God gave all people the gift of Reason. Metaphorically, Reason is the king over the Emotions. All people can control their emotions (according to the Church); and if they control their emotions, they can avoid sin. If Reason is the king, then the Emotions are the king’s subjects or servants.
When the emotions overpower reason, then metaphorically one can say that the emotions are rebelling against their king. Shakespeare (as well as other Renaissance poets, like Philip Sidney) however believed there were occasions when an emotion became so strong that no amount of reason could control it.
In this passage Shakespeare displays the strength of Cordelia’s character. Although Cordelia’s emotions (signified by the word passion) are intense and powerful and are attempting to rebel against her Reason (or herself), Cordelia (and her Reason) remain Queen over those passions. She controls herself – she controls her emotions – and does not allow them to overcome or defeat her. However, Cordelia does feel intense sorrow in regards to her father and sheds many tears as a result. Yet, despite her tears, Cordelia remains a strong queen.
Through the dialogue of Kent, Shakespeare also comments on the role of fate:
It is the stars,
The stars above us, govern our conditions;
Else one self mate and make could not beget
Such different issues. (31-34)
The reference to the stars is, of course, a reference to astrology and the belief that a person’s destiny is set or established from the time of his birth. The words mate and make refer to spouses (in this case specifically to Lear and his wife) and the word issues refers to children (specifically referring to Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia). Kent is pondering how the children of Lear can be so different – how Cordelia can be so warm and kind and generous while her sisters are so cold and cruel and selfish. No one knows the reason why this is so. It is a mystery, and such mysteries were often explained as being the product of a mysterious, supernatural force, such as fate or God.
Through the gentleman Kent also learns (1) that Lear, who is also now in Dover, refuses to see Cordelia because he feels such intense shame over how he had treated her and (2) that the forces of Albany and Cornwall are now marching toward
Dover. A battle will soon occur.