By: Gabby Finn, Taylor Hudson,
Dylan Parker, Kayce Russell, Shealee
Houchens, Tyler McCown
• Understanding the foolish reality you’ve
created can make one go mad.
• “Fool: Thou shouldst not have been old till
thou hadst been wise.
• Lear: O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet
heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be
mad!”
(Fool, Lear, Act I, v, 38-39)
• Due to Lear’s rash decisions of banishing
Cordelia and Kent from the kingdom, the fool
mocks Lear, stating that he might be old but
he is not very wise. The fool is warning Lear
to wise up before it becomes too late. Lear
then begs himself to remain sane and in good
mental health, even though he is already
deteriorating.
• Right before Lear has his daughters tell him
how much they love him and before Cordelia
and Kent are banished.
• “Lear. O reason… I have full cause of
weeping, but this heart Shall break into a
hundred thousand flaws Or ere I’ll weep. O
Fool, I shall go mad!”
(Lear, Act II, vi, 65)
• Due to his daughters rejecting, Lear finds
himself in a disheartening and depressing
state, one that he warns will drive him mad if
it is allowed to fester. He cries to his fool of
his madness, of whom had already
forewarned Lear that this would happen
through riddles and humor.
• “Kent. Sir, I do know you,… Of how unnatural
and bemadding sorrow The King hath cause
to plain. I am a gentleman of blood and
breeding…”
(Kent, Act III, I, 68)
• Kent describes the sorrow the King is
experiencing at the current moment, and
how it is grasping hold of Lear’s life. The
madness of Lear is clear to everyone involved
with him, and the ones that care about him
are short to know what to do about it.
• “Gloucester. ‘Tis the times’ plague, when
madmen lead the blind. Do as I bid thee, or
rather do thy pleasure; Above the rest, be
gone.”
(Gloucester, Act IV, I, 97)
• Gloucester comments on how troubling the
times are, as the blind follow the mad. This
quote is perhaps a commentary on
leadership as a whole in the kingdom, and
perhaps further.
Act 4, Scene 6
• This is when Lear comes out of
the field dressed in flowers.
• Edgar: “…taught me to shift Into a madman’s
rags, t’ assume a semblance That very dogs
disdained...”
(Edgar, Act V, iii, 139)
• Edgar describes the troubles of his disguises,
and how he had to disguise as a madman to
get by. He mocks those that sent him off,
saying he had to disguise as the very ones
who cast him away: madmen.
Citations
• Personn, Johan. 2010. Photograph. Donmar,
London.
• Schajer, David. 2006. Photograph. Donmar,
London.