In the extremely brief fifth scene, Cordelia relates that she has heard news about her father. Lear has gone completely mad and is running wildly through the countryside. Cordelia is naturally quite worried about him and sends her soldiers to search for her father and bring him to her.
A doctor assures Cordelia that rest and some simple medicinal herbs will restore Lear and relieve his anguish.
When a messenger informs Cordelia about the approaching armies of Cornwall and Albany, the French queen responds with the following:
O dear father,
It is thy business that I go about. (24-25)
The line is an allusion to the New Testament. Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of St. Luke, explained that he was on a mission from God: “I must go about my father’s business” (Luke 2:49). Cordelia, being most virtuous and Christ-like, explains that her actions are not the result of ambition or any other selfish reason. Rather, she is acting out of love (line 29). Her love for her father and her wish to see that he is treated properly and respectfully have impelled her to come to France with an army and oppose her unkind sisters.
Oswald, Goneril’s servant, speaks with Regan at the castle of Gloucester. Oswald informs Regan that Albany and his army are already on the way toward Dover, but Oswald also tells her that he must deliver a letter from Goneril to Edmund. Regan explains that Edmund has left on urgent matters regarding the upcoming battle. Regan also notes that it was a mistake to let the Earl of Gloucester live. His blindness will cause people to sympathize with him and take sides against Regan and the forces of Cornwall. Regan fears that many English people will join the forces of France that have come to attack England.
When Oswald states that he must hurry after Edmund and deliver his letter, the curious Regan wonders what could be in Goneril’s letter and why Oswald is insistent on delivering it personally. The jealous Regan asks Oswald to unseal the letter and let her read it. Oswald refuses, and so Regan tells him that she already knows that Goneril is attracted to Edmund. However, Regan also adds that she has already made an arrangement with Edmund regarding marriage and that the married Goneril is acting foolishly in her attempts to pursue him.
As Oswald starts to leave, Regan also informs him that he will receive a reward if he kills “that blind traitor,” the Earl of Gloucester.
Edgar, as Gloucester had asked, leads his father to the cliffs of Dover. Gloucester intends to kill himself by jumping off of an extremely high cliff onto the rocks below. Edgar pretends to lead his father to such a cliff because he plans to trick his father into seeing reason. Gloucester is so full of self-anger and regret and remorse that Edgar realizes that words alone may not convince his father to accept his present circumstances.
The reader should note that Edgar no longer speaks as mad Tom. However, because of
Gloucester’s emotional state, he believes that Edgar is still the poor beggar that he had seen before. Edgar tells his father that they have arrived on top of a high cliff (which is not true). He positions Gloucester in a spot and tells him that he is just one foot away from the edge and that the fisherman far below are so small that they look like mice.
Gloucester’s final words before his jump include a blessing on Edgar even though Gloucester is not even certain that Edgar is still alive. Gloucester then jumps. Although he just falls directly onto the ground next to him, Gloucester faints because he is so overcome with anguish and the pain from his torture.
Even though Gloucester did not have a large fall, Edgar worries that he may still be dead:
And yet I know not how conceit may rob
The treasury of life, when life itself
Yields to the theft. (42-44)
The word conceit (similar to the modern word concept) indicates imagination or the power of the mind. The second part of this quote implies that life willingly gives itself up (yields) – or specifically that Gloucester willingly gives up his life – to the concept or idea that steals it. Shakespeare uses personification for Conceit, which is a thief. The playwright is implying, though, that the power of the mind is so great that it can even will oneself to death.
Gloucester, however, is not dead. He has simply fainted. When he revives, Edgar, now pretending to be a fisherman, tells Gloucester that he saw him fall hundreds of feet to the ground below. But, instead of being cracked and broken like an egg that has fallen on the floor, Gloucester is completely unhurt. Edgar tells him that a miracle had saved him. At first Gloucester feels frustrated that his suicide attempt had failed. He felt that death was his only recourse to stop any further violent emotions. Gloucester wanted his misery (through his own death) to “beguile the tyrant’s rage, and frustrate his proud will” (63-64). The word beguile here means to cheat. Gloucester (who is a tyrant when he is overcome by his emotions) believes that the only way to stop his wrath (or rage) and pride is by taking his own life. Both wrath and pride are among the Seven Deadly Sins, and these sins were actually powerful negative emotions that caused people to act in immoral and sinful ways. Gloucester, then, sees himself as a terrible sinner who deserves death.
Edgar, though, still pretending to be a stranger, tells Gloucester that earlier, when he looked up at the top of the cliff, he saw Gloucester standing next to a monstrous fiend or devil and not next to a poor beggar. Edgar tells Gloucester that the gods had saved him from this fiend. Gloucester believes this tale and henceforth pledges to bear or tolerate his afflictions and torments and no longer seek to take his own life.