Act 4 Summary Flashcards
Act 4, Scene 1
-‘Poor Tom’ Edgar finds blind father being led out his house by an old man
-Edgar is super shocked
-Edgar hears Gloucester tell old man ‘I have no way and therefore want no eyes I stumbled when I saw’ (moment he confesses he was unfair to Edgar)
-Gloucester asks the ‘naked fellow’ aka ‘Poor Tom’ aka Edgar aka loyal son to lead him to the cliffs at Dover
-old man is doubtful
Act 4, Scene 2
-G arrives home with Edmund (Oswald tells her Albany is being odd and smiled at news of French invasion)
-G send Edmund back to Cornwall but kisses him and says ‘To thee a woman’s services are due’
-Albany says sisters’ treatment of Lear makes them ‘Tigers, not daughters’
-G calls hubby ‘Milk-livered man’ and ‘a moral fool’ + they argue till messenger pulls up
-C-Dog is dead
-Albany super shocked what C-Dog did to Gloucester AND that it was Edmund who betrayed father
-G is worried R will make moves of Edmund (she’s a widow)
-solo Albany declares ‘Gloucester, I like To thank thee for the love thou showed’st the king And to revenge thine eyes’
Act 4, Scene 3
-Kent talks to a gentleman in Dover about letters he sent to Cordelia
-gentleman tells him that Cordelia was emotional reading the letters so that her ‘tears and smiles’ were like ‘Sunshine and rain at once’
-Kent tells the gentlemen that Lear is nearby but that ‘burning shame Detains him from Cordelia’
Act 4, Scene 4
-Cordelia is concerns about father who has been seen ‘As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud’ + wearing a crown of ‘furrow weeds’
-Cordelia sends people to find him
-a messenger comes to her saying ‘The British powers are marching hitherward’
-Cordelia gets ready for battle
Act 4, Scene 5
-R talks about impending battle with Oswald who has brought messages from G
-tries to get him to reveal what’s in the messages between G+Edmund
-Oswald though is a loyal man saying ‘My last charged my duty in this business’
-R gives him message to take to Edmund and tells him that if he meets ‘that blind traitor’ (Gloucester) ‘Preferment falls on him that cuts him off’
Act 4, Scene 6
-Edgar has led blinded father to Dover (as ‘Poor Tom’) + though Gloucester observes ‘voice is altered’
-Gloucester wants to die BUT Edgar tricks him they are at the top of the cliff
-Gloucester falls forward thinking he’s jumping off a cliff
-Edgar now switches up character and pretends to be a passer by on the beach checking on Gloucester declaring ‘Thy life’s a miracle’
-Gloucester agrees not to die anymore
-Lear finds them but he is acting odd + ranting about daughters
-Gloucester recognises Lear’s voice
-Lear comments on Gloucester’s lack of eyes and tells him ‘a man may see how this world goes with no eyes Look with thine ears’
-Lear runs away after admitting he knows Gloucester
-3 gentlemen chase him and take him to Cordelia
-Edgar learns that the opposing army are ‘Near and on speedy foot’
-Edgar begins to take Gloucester to shelter
-Oswald appears ready to kill Gloucester
-Edgar defends Gloucester and kills Oswald who dies believing Edgar is a ‘bold peasant’
-Oswald gives Edgar purse and tells him to ‘bury my body And give the letter which thou find’st about me To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester’
-Edgar reads aloud letter from G to Edmund
-G asks Edmund to take once of the ‘many opportunities’ he will have to kill Albany in battle (so Edmund and G can marry)
Act 4, Scene 7
-Cordelia asks Kent ‘how shall I live and work To match why goodness?’
-Kent asks Cordelia not to reveal his identity until he is ready
-Doctor tells Cordelia the king ‘sleeps still’ and if they can wake him
-Lear is brought to Cordelia and she kisses him (‘these white flakes’)
-Lear wakes up confused but then appears more calm and rational: calls himself ‘a very foolish fond old man’
-recognises Cordelia and tells her ‘your sisters Have, as I do remember, done me wrong: You have some cause, they have not’
-Doctor tries to comfort Cordelia saying ‘Be comforted, good madam: the great rage, You see, is killed in him’
