King Lear Act Five – “Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither: ripeness is all.”

King Lear Act Five – “Men must endure
 their going hence, even as their coming hither: ripeness is all.”

Certainly all ripens in the final act of this play. Regan shows herself not to be a shy girl (not to say that we ever mistook her for a wallflower). On the eve of battle, she asks Edmund if he loves her sister Goneril or has already slept with her and Edmund denies both so then Regan begins to say that she is jealous of her sister and tells Edmund to stay away from Goneril. Serendipitously, Goneril and Albany arrive with their army to join the assault. Albany says that he has heard that Lear has joined with the French forces and that although he has some sympathy for Lear and some doubts about the right of their campaign that he will join with Edmund, Regan, and Goneril to fight against the French and Lear. Regan and Goneril start to almost openly fight over Edmund as the they and Edmund exit.

Albany is about to leave for his tent, when a man looking like a peasant (Edgar in disguise) hands him the letter he got from Oswald which Goneril wrote to Edmund. The letter tells of Goneril’s intention to kill Albany (her own husband). Before he leaves, Edgar tells Albany to read the letter but Albany will tragically not open this letter until after the battle and more tragic events unfold. Edgar also tells Albany that if he is victorious in the battle then when he sounds a trumpet, Edgar will arrive and be his champion for a cause that may arise from claims made in letter. Edgar exits and Edmund enters to tell Albany that all is ready for the battle. Albany leaves and Edmund talks to the audience about having sworn his love to both Regan and Goneril and about how he has plans for Lear and Cordelia of his own:

“To both these sisters have I sworn my love;

Each jealous of the other, as the stung

Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?

Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoy'd,

If both remain alive: to take the widow

Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril;

And hardly shall I carry out my side,

Her husband being alive. Now then we'll use

His countenance for the battle; which being done,

Let her who would be rid of him devise

His speedy taking off. As for the mercy

Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,

The battle done, and they within our power,

Shall never see his pardon; for my state

Stands on me to defend, not to debate.”

The battle ends as quickly as it begins and Edgar, who has pretended again to be a peasant and tried to keep his father out of harms way, reports that Lear and Cordelia have been captured and he and Gloucester fly to another safe spot just as Edmund brings his prisoners Lear and Cordelia. Cordelia thinks that she will be able to confront her sisters even though Lear doesn’t want them to and looks forward to being locked like birds in a cage because he knows he will get to stay with Cordelia. Edmund sends them off but gives a guard a note with very specific instructions which we imagine are tragic.

When Albany first re-enters with Goneril and Regan, he initially praise Edmund for his conduct in battle and asks him to hand over Lear and Cordelia. Claiming Lear and Cordelia have been sent somewhere safe, Edmund is chastised by Albany for acting above his station but Regan says that Albany should treat Edmund better since when she marries Edmund then Albany and Edmund will be brothers. Goneril then butts in and tells Regan that Edmund will never marry her and just then Regan seems to fall mysteriously sick. Albany, by now having read the letter, interrupts the cat fight and charges Edmund with treason and sounds the trumpet. Meanwhile, Regan grows progressively sicker.

At the third blast of the trumpet, Edgar enters in full armor to accuse Edmund of treason and face him in single combat. They fight (event though Edmund at this point does not know that he is fighting his own brother) and Edgar defeats Edmund. Albany tells Edgar to not kill Edmund since Albany has many answers he wants out of Edmund. When Goneril tries to help Edmund, Albany takes out the letter and accuses her of treachery and plotting to kill him. Goneril hurriedly exits. Then Edgar removes his helmet and reveals himself. The tale of his masquerade as Mad Tom and his saving of Gloucester (his own father) is revealed. Edgar also says that when he finally revealed himself to his own father, Gloucester, just before this fight with Edmund, that his father's "flaw'd heart" was "too weak the conflict to support" of "joy and grief" that he died as his heart "burst smilingly".

Then a gentleman rushes in carrying a bloody knife and announces that Goneril and Regan are dead. Goneril has committed suicide and Regan was poisoned by Goneril and the poison finally took its course. As the bodies of the two sisters are brought out, Kent about Lear's whereabouts. Edmund reveals his evil acts and reveals that he had ordered Cordelia be hanged. Edmund is taken off. A messenger is sent to try prevent tragedy but alas...

Lear enters, the lifeless Cordelia in his arms and insanity and grief weigh much heavier on him than the dead Cordelia's body:

“Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so

That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives. “

Lear barely recognizes Kent as he kneels before him and attempts to help. A messenger enters and Edmund's death is announced. Lear thinks that he sees Cordelia breath (and in Victorian times this is when some directors had Cordelia come back to life). But false hope takes away the last breath of Lear and he dies.

The play ends with Albany (changed by all he has witnessed) giving Edgar and Kent their power and titles back and inviting them to power share with him the ruling of the kingdom. Edgar accepts but Kent refuses stating that he is close to death himself and has "...a journey, sir, shortly to go; My master calls me. I must not say no." Albany then speaks to the few that remain in rhyming couplets and a funeral march is led away.

“The weight of this sad time we must obey;

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

The oldest hath borne most: we that are young

Shall never see so much, nor live so long.”