Page 42 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

I N T R O D U C T I O N xxxvu
harmony that has been produced in the world of men is
reflected in the world of the physical elements. The
turmoil in the mind of Lear himself is reflected in the
world of the physical elements. And the storm too is
Lear's tutor.
Lear's journey towards enlightenment begins before
the storm. But it is not until his sufferings have reached
a climax in the storm, when he is driven insane, that we
feel really confident that he is ultimately going to reach
the spiritual goal. This is a great central paradox, rightly
stressed by Professor Heilman. At the start Lear was,
literally speaking, sane; but his folly was great enough
to be spoken of by Kent as 'madness'—'Be Kent un-
(
mannerly when Lear is mad' i. I. 144-5). But when
he goes completely mad in the storm he is certainly on
the way to true wisdom; he can speak 'reason in mad-
ness'. ' Reason in Madness' is the title of one of Professor
Heilman's most important chapters. But perhaps the
phrase should be slightly modified.
It is an amazing moment when Lear, in his madness,
expresses his lately acquired awareness of the humanity
common to himself and to the lowest of the low. At
3.4.106-9; hailing 'poor Tom' as 'the thing itself he
continues:
Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare,
forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come,
unbutton here!

And he begins to tear offhis clothes, an action that symbo-
lizes part of his new-found wisdom. But there is another
way of looking at it. 'Prithee, nuncle, be contented,'
says the Fool; "tis a naughty night to swim in!'—words
which must surely raise a nervous titter in the theatre.
There is an element of grotesque comedy about it—a
point well made by Professor Wilson Knight. 1 If Lear's

See The Wheel of fire (1930)51937 reprint, pp. 175 ff.