How Does Shakespeare Present Lear In Act Iii?

“Lear enters Act 3 the least introspective of Shakespeare’s protagonists but leaves it a man who, immersed in the cauldron of internal and external turmoil, develops, or at least discovers his soul.”

How does Shakespeare present Lear in Act III?

Charles Hallett goes to great lengths to depict Shakespeare’s Lear as an impulsive king stripped of his supremacy and plunged reluctantly into a spiritual journey from which he emerges a new, righteous man. Whilst the interpretation is biblical in a sense, the concept of redemption a clear aspect of the plays’ plotline, I believe that Hallett is mostly drawing on the moralizing virtues of the tale. Seeing as King Lear is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, the elements introduced by Shakespeare, such as the sub plot between Edgar, Edmond and Gloucester and the stripping storm in the third act speak volumes about Shakespeare’s intentions. I believe Lear’s journey to enlightenment throughout the storm is presented through his adjustment in language and dialogue, the storm working as the perfect backdrop as it reflects the dramatic shifts in the supposed Great Chain of Being as Lear rejects his supremacy to discover insight.

To be introspective is to examine your own conscious thoughts and feelings thus the ability to be introspective can be marred or prevented by an overwhelming sense of superiority and egotism. Considering the paganistic imagery throughout the play “by the mysteries of Hecate and the night” it can be deduced that the play is set in a pre-Christian time period resulting in the adoption of the hierarchal belief system that is the great chain of being. The great chain of being decrees the divine right of kings, as kings are within the highest possible division of the chain that can be obtained my a human. Therefore the king speaks for God (or the gods) and thus to go against the king is to go against the Gods. Lear most obviously believes in his divine right as he labels those who appose him as “unnatural”. Even when pleaded with to “see clearly” Lear refuses to consider his transgressions and rectify his impulsiveness. His use of blank verse “come not between a dragon and its wrath.// I loved her most, and thought to set my rest// On her kind nursery…” exemplifies his stubborn sovereignty, even towards his own daughter. However, by the third act Shakespeare’s Lear is suffering from a loss of identity. As being king has previously defined him he questions his identity when it is no longer his title, “Does anyone here know me…Who is it that can tell me who I am?” The interrogative question contrasts with the declarative statements Lear makes earlier in the play, such as “give me the map there”. Lear goes on to say, “does Lear walk thus?” the use of the third person suggesting Lear’s disconnection from himself or his past self. We find that Lear does not know he is and thus lacks the ability to examine himself.

With Lear’s selfhood in question, stripped of his authority and left to face the storm at the beginning of act three, he declares himself “a poor, weak and despised old man”. This declaration is the foothold to Lear’s development towards self-awareness. Lear suffers through inner (psychological) turmoil throughout the storm, the interrogative “is man no more than this?” expressing his vulnerability when facing his own mortality. The storm symbolically strips Lear both physically and of his social identity. In the midst of the storm Lear reflects on his inner turmoil “When the mind’s free,// The body’s delicate. The tempest in my mind// Doth from my senses take all feeling else// Save what beats there—filial ingratitude.” The storm is personified as a tempest forcing him to confront himself and see himself clearly. Yet, still rejecting the truth Lear persists and decides to “shun” these revelations.

Lear however soon realizes the error of his ways after witnessing the homeless (“poor naked wretches”) suffer through the storm. The exclamatory “Oh, I have taken too little care of this!” reflects his realization as his own inadequacy as a king dawns on him. Lear then undergoes a literal and physical stripping “off, off you lendings! Come unbutton here,” exposing him to the external turmoil of the storm. As he “Expose[s] thyself to feel what wretches feel,” Lear expresses compassion and empathy for those he has wronged, while also stripping himself of his social identity and becoming a wretch himself. This act leads him to accept his change in position within the grand chain of being, asking Edgar (as Tom Bedlam) for “his company” and addressing him as a “Noble philosopher”. It is in this moment of nakedness and exposure that Lear finds clarity.

Jan Kott suggests, “Before morality commences, everyone must be naked. Naked like a worm.” In Lear’s case within his character development this could be true, his moment of clarity in accepting Edgar as his teacher resulting in the immediate implementation of prose “You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred…” The sudden switch between language and form mirrors the sudden realization and Lear’s chastisement, resulting in his newly discovered humility epitomized in his simple lexis versus the grand blank verse he previously sported. Kott’s “process of degradation” has in fact given Lear a new outlook on his position in the grand chain of being thanks to the discovery of his soul.

In conclusion, Shakespeare presents Lear as a positive result of self-evaluation. Although he was forced to do so, Lear eventually confronted his inner demons and through mental and physical exposure to turmoil managed to overcome such demons and in the process “discover his soul.” He starts of as a shadow of a man he once thought he was and becomes his own man independent of a forced societal identity. His eventual transformation is even foreshadowed by his place outside in the wilderness during act three, as the also storm functioned to separate characters into binary groups of good (Edgar, The Fool, Cordelia) and bad (Gonerill, Regan and Edmond). Lear in act three is presented as an exemplary case of self-redemption and rediscovery as his transformation from a king “consumed with righteous indignation” to a man who discovers his soul.