King Lear Act 4 Scene 7 Individual Oral Commentary and Analysis

King Lear Commentary- Act 4 Scene 7, lines 44-84.

In the scene in this extract, Lear is finally able to reunite with Cordelia and express his newfound humility and beg repentance.
In the extract itself, when Cordelia addresses Lear as “royal lord, it is clear that she refers to Lear with the respect that he deserves as a king, as well with the reverence that she holds for her father. In contrast to Goneril’s and Regan’s formal “my lord”, it is evident that they do not display the same love and respect that Cordelia has for Lear. Lear’s reply to her shows an urge to seek death, just as Gloucester did at the cliffs of Dover, when he raises the image of being taken “out o’the grave”. In the same line of thinking, he refers to Cordelia as a “soul in bliss”, mirroring the angelic imagery used in Act 4 Scene 3 where Cordelia’s tears were likened to “pearls that dropped from diamonds”. This essentially enhances Cordelia’s innocence and goodness in the play, evoking a certain sense of purity in these words. Lear also brings in the effective image of a “wheel of fire”, which is an indirect allusion to the sun. In this case, the sun may be seen to represent evil, firstly, due to the symbolic representation of the sun as Cornwall’s influence in Act 2 Scene 2, where Kent states to Cornwall that he feels that his “influence [is] like a wreath of radiant fire on flickering Phoebus’ front”, comparing the rise of Cornwall’s, and by extension evil’s, power with the dominance of the sun. It is quite clear at this point that the ascendancy of the fortunes of evil characters within the play is at hand, especially when the war between Cordelia and Goneril’s forces results in the capture of Lear and Cordelia. Additionally, the sun could be seen as a figure of worship in the Elizabethan era. This could allude to Lear’s previous invocation of pagan gods in Act 1 Scene 4, where Lear proclaims “Hear, nature, hear, dear goddess, hear” in denouncing Goneril and cursing her to bear a child with deformities. In this case, it almost seems that the pagan gods which Lear refers to are punishing him even as he speaks, causing him to suffer on his own “wheel of fire”.
Additionally, Lear’s tears which “scald like molten lead” allude to Lear’s suffering and internal torment which he has brought upon himself, starting in Act One where Lear created strife by dividing his kingdom among the three sisters. The image of scalding like molten lead is effective use of metaphorical imagery, and it can be compared to Lear’s wish for Goneril and Regan to burn in hell, seen in Act 3 Scene 5, where he wishes them to “have a thousand with red burning spits come hizzing upon them”. This image of vengeance and righting wrongs may be juxtaposed against Lear’s wrongful actions towards Cordelia, also showing Lear for the weak and fragile man which he is now, stripped of his kingship. His referral to Cordelia as a spirit is also significant, because it shows that Lear seems to think he is dead, expressing subtly a wish to die, just as Gloucester had a wish to die while on the cliffs of Dover beforehand. Just like Gloucester at the cliffs of Dover, Lear faces this scene, also referred to as a scene of reconciliation between him and Cordelia, stoically, admitting his wrongdoings. Lear’s repeated questions of “Where have I been?” “Where am I?” and “Fair daylight?” are almost rhetorical, also symbolizing a return towards the restoration which Lear so desperately requires, rest which Gloucester admits “might have balmed [his] broken sinews”. Lear’s admission of his being “mightily abused” is also significant, because there is a pun on the word “abused”, which could mean both “deceived” or “maltreated”, both of which could apply just as well to Lear. This clever play on words evokes sympathy from the audience because we are able to see just how much Lear has suffered. The pinprick which Lear administers to himself is also symbolic as Lear attempts to orientate himself and elucidate his surroundings, because the pinprick may represent a minor fraction of the troubles which Lear had to go through, and as such, since Lear is able to feel the pinprick, it heralds the awakening of his senses and his return to sanity. Consequently, when he laments “Would I were assured of my condition”, we as the audience are able to see that the condition, both of his body, as well as his mental state, are recovering, or have recovered to some extent due to the rest that he has undergone. The next image in the extract is, perhaps, the most touching image, where Cordelia actually kneels in front of Lear, begging his forgiveness and pleading with him not to kneel. Kneeling here is significant because it acts as a sign of submission to authority, as well as being touching and provoking our sympathy for Lear, because it shows both Cordelia’s respect and reverence to Lear, the king, as well as her love for Lear as a daughter to a father. Symbolic as an act of reconciliation, kneeling, here, is also Lear’s first true act of submission, and may be considered ironic, as Lear is essentially a king! We can compare this to Lear’s mockery of kneeling in front of Regan as he begs her to take him and his men in, after Goneril has reduced his train to half. Here, at this point in the extract, kneeling also shows Lear’s self-awareness of his current state, evoking, again, sympathy from the audience. This leads up to Lear’s admission, that he is “a very foolish fond old man”, and further on admitting that she has “some cause” to hate him. Within Lear’s admission, it can be seen that the alliteration of the letter “f” is reminiscent of the word “fool”, and it may signal Lear’s true role throughout the play, that of being the fool and making decisions which harm both himself as well as Cordelia. Lear also expresses an intent to “deal plainly”, or speak the truth bluntly, which draws again a parallel between him and Kent, which may be seen in Kent’s conversation to Cornwall in Act 2 Scene 2 where he tells Cornwall that “Sir, tis my occupation to be plain”.
Lear’s subsequent monologue shows that he is still confused, when he exclaims that he is “mainly ignorant” and that “all the skill [he has] remembers not [his] garments”, finally showing certain signs of age catching up with him. His admission to identifying and being reconciled with Cordelia moves Cordelia so emotionally, that she can only “I am, I am” when he is finally questioned by Lear on whether she is Cordelia. Lear then continues by being willing to subject himself to further abuse for Cordelia, by stating that if Cordelia had “poison for [him, he would] drink it”, almost as if he was begging for forgiveness from her. Cordelia reply that she has “no cause, no cause” to hate him seals their reconciliation. Love and forgiveness, embodied in Lear’s best daughter, join with humility and repentance, and, for a brief time, happiness prevails. Towards the end of the extract, Lear also repeats that he is “Old and foolish”, alluding again to his previous admission that he was a “very foolish, fond old man”, which evokes sympathy for him from the audience. On that bittersweet note, the extract ends as the old and foolish Lear, weak and infirm, is finally reconciled with Cordelia. But the forces that Lear’s initial error unleashed—Goneril, Regan, and Edmund, with all their ambition and appetite for destruction—remain at large. We thus turn from happy reconciliation to conflict, as Cordelia leads her troops against the evil that her father’s folly has set loose in Britain.