Pursued by his father’s men, Edgar flees into the wilderness disguised as the mad beggar Poor Tom. Edmund plays on his father’s short temper and his brother’s trusting nature to trick Gloucester into believing that Edgar plans to kill Gloucester. Unbeknownst to him, his illegitimate son Edmund plots to betray his legitimate son Edgar and inherit his father’s title himself. Meanwhile, Lear’s old friend, the Earl of Gloucester, has his own family troubles.
The King of France nevertheless marries Cordelia on the strength of her own merits, and Cordelia reluctantly departs, leaving her father in the care of her sisters. Outraged at her resistance, Lear curses and disowns her, ignoring the protests of his loyal advisor Kent, whom he exiles for his resistance. Cordelia, however, refuses to make a dishonest, toadying display of her love for her father as her sisters have. He saves the best land for his favorite daughter, Cordelia. Lear’s elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, praise their father obsequiously, and he rewards each of them-along with their husbands, Albany and Cornwall-with a third of the kingdom. But before he tells them which portion of land they will receive, Lear demands that they answer one little question: which of them loves him the most? He will divide his kingdom between his three daughters, leaving them and their husbands to rule jointly. Lear, the aging king of an ancient pre-Christian England, decides to retire. Please note that citations in the Summary section refer to line number rather than page number, so this guide can be used with different editions of the play. This guide refers to the 1999 Pelican Shakespeare edition.
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