Summary: Act 4, scene 6
Still disguised, Edgar leads Gloucester toward Dover.
Edgar pretends to take Gloucester to the cliff, telling him that
they are going up steep ground and that they can hear the sea. Finally,
he tells Gloucester that they are at the top of the cliff and that
looking down from the great height gives him vertigo. He waits quietly
nearby as Gloucester prays to the gods to forgive him. Gloucester
can no longer bear his suffering and intends to commit suicide.
He falls to the ground, fainting.
Edgar wakes Gloucester up. He no longer pretends
to be Poor Tom but now acts like an ordinary gentleman, although
he still doesn’t tell Gloucester that he is his son. Edgar says
that he saw him fall all the way from the cliffs of Dover and that
it is a miracle that he is still alive. Clearly, Edgar states, the
gods do not want Gloucester to die just yet. Edgar also informs
Gloucester that he saw the creature who had been with him at the
top of the cliff and that this creature was not a human being but
a devil. Gloucester accepts Edgar’s explanation that the gods have
preserved him and resolves to endure his sufferings patiently.
Lear, wandering across the plain, stumbles upon Edgar
and Gloucester. Crowned with wild flowers, he is clearly mad. He
babbles to Edgar and Gloucester, speaking both irrationally and
with a strange perceptiveness. He recognizes Gloucester, alluding
to Gloucester’s sin and source of shame—his adultery. Lear pardons Gloucester
for this crime, but his thoughts then follow a chain of associations
from adultery to copulation to womankind, culminating in a tirade
against women and sexuality in general. Lear’s disgust carries him
to the point of incoherence, as he deserts iambic pentameter (the
verse form in which his speeches are written) and spits out the
words “Fie, fie, fie! pah! pah!” (4.6.126).
Cordelia’s people enter seeking King Lear. Relieved to
find him at last, they try to take him into custody to bring him
to Cordelia. When Lear runs away, Cordelia’s men follow him.
Oswald comes across Edgar and Gloucester on the plain.
He does not recognize Edgar, but he plans to kill Gloucester and
collect the reward from Regan. Edgar adopts yet another persona,
imitating the dialect of a peasant from the west of England. He
defends Gloucester and kills Oswald with a cudgel. As he dies, Oswald entrusts
Edgar with his letters.
Gloucester is disappointed not to have been killed. Edgar
reads with interest the letter that Oswald carries to Edmund. In
the letter, Goneril urges Edmund to kill Albany if he gets the opportunity,
so that Edmund and Goneril can be together. Edgar is outraged; he decides
to keep the letter and show it to Albany when the time is right.
Meanwhile, he buries Oswald nearby and leads Gloucester off to temporary
safety.
