Page 33 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

xxviil KING LEAR
pre-eminence, Kent knows at the outset (as Lear at this
stage does not) that Lear, while king, is also man—and
old, and fallible. Much later, at 4. 7. 59 ff., in the scene
in which he tries to kneel before Cordelia, Lear says—
Pray do not mock mej
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less:
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
After much torture, mental and physical, he has come to
realize (what Kent knew at the start) that he is an 'old
man'. And that his echo of Kent's phrase is significant,
and no accident, is attested by his words 'And, to deal
plainly,': for in 1.1 Kent spoke with a 'plainness' which
displeased his as yet uneducated master. So did Cordelia.
And in 4. 7 Lear speaks words which by their echo
suggest to us.that he now realizes that not only Cordelia,
but also Kent, was right at the outset. 1
V. The Fool

Kent realizes that Lear's behaviour results in a condition
of topsyturvydom at the court. The normal moral order
is inverted. To succeed here one has to be false; if true,
one is ejected. Those who value the normal moral order
*will invariably find the atmosphere of this court dis-
agreeable. The state of inversion is suggested by the
pattern of Kent's words as he says (1. 1. 180)—
Freedom lives hence and banishment is here.
These words bring us to the third of the important
characters who at the start have wisdom where Lear is
foolish. This is the Fool. He first enters in 1.4, and
almost immediately we have him saying: 'Why, this
fellow has banished two on's daughters, and did the
third a blessing against his will.'
1
For the dying Kent see notes at 5. 3, 234, 280.