An analysis of the Climax Scene of Shakespeare's renowned tragedy, King Lear.

1. CLIMAX SCENE OF KING LEAR
-Namra Muneer

2. CHARACTERS: CLIMAX SCENE
• King Lear : The protagonist, king, and father of Goneril and Regan.
• Kent :A servant and companion to King Lear.
• Fool : A companion and fool in the court of King Lear.
• Gloucester : A nobleman helping Lear.
• Edgar(disguised as Poor Tom) : The legitimate son of Gloucester.
• Edmund : the illegitimate son of Gloucester.
• Goneril : daughter of King Lear.
• Regan : daughter of King Lear.
• Cornwall : Regan's husband.

3. Tone
• Bitter
• Hopeless
Mood
• The ongoing storm
reflects the mood of
the protagonist, King
Lear's inner turmoil
and rage.
Setting
• The desolate heath
• Gloucester’s castle

4. CLIMAX
The climax is that particular point in a drama at which the conflict hits the
highest point. It is a structural part of the plot, and at times, referred to as
"crisis". It is a decisive moment or a turning point in a storyline at which the
rising action turns around into falling action. Here, in the play, the crisis
occurs when Edmund reveals to Cornwall that Gloucester has tried to help
Lear, which is forbidden, and also about their plan and letter. This resulted
in torture for Gloucester, eventually, causing Cornwall to gouge his eyes out.
Moreover, when he asks Edmund for help, Gloucester comes to know that
he has been betrayed by his son and mourns over the fact that he should
have trusted his other son, Edgar, whom he had banished. Then Goneril,
Regan and Cornwall leaves Gloucester to " smell his way to Dover.“

5. THEMES
• Power: The theme of power is quite prominent in this act. It is shown that power
exceeds all boundaries of age, gender, love and family. The pulling of Gloucester's
beard by Regan shows that she did not care about the dignity of the elderly as she is the
duchess. Edmund betrayed Gloucester just to become the earl and attain power. Goneril
and Regan's foul and treacherous behaviour towards their father, King Lear also
happened because they wanted the whole kingdom and get rid of Lear so that they
become the supreme authority.
• Betrayal: King Lear's daughters betrayed him that left him wandering in the storm
with his fool and servant that seems to make him mad. The other example of Betrayal is
set by Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester. He betrayed his father and told
Cornwall that his father has been trying to help Lear, which led to the torture of
Gloucester during which Cornwall gouged his eyes out. Not only this, we find that
Edmund had once betrayed his brother and the legitimate son of Gloucester, Edgar,
telling his father that he might harm him that led to the banishment of Edgar.

6. GENRE : TRAGEDY
• The Greek philosopher Aristotle defined tragedy as "the imitation of an
action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself," in
the medium of poetic language and in matter of dramatic rather than of
narrative presentation, "involving incidents arousing pity and fear,
wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions."
• In this act, the catharsis of emotions is achieved by King Lear's pathetic
condition and insanity due to his daughters' betrayal and when he is seen
shouting at the storm "to blow the earth into the sea" and later venting the
anger he had for Goneril and Regan. Moreover, Edmund, the illegitimate son
of Gloucester, betrayed him and Gloucester was tortured severely by Regan
and Cornwall. To intensify the torture, Cornwall gouges out the eyes of
Gloucester leaving him to "smell his way to Dover."

7. MOTIFS
One of the recurring ideas in the climax scene has been Madness.
Madness: In this part of the play, we find King Lear being drawn to insanity. In the very
beginning, we find him having strange conversations with the raging storm telling it to
do whatever it wants because the storm owes him " no subscription," that is, obedience,
as he never called it his child or given his kingdom to it, indirectly referring to his
disobedient and treacherous daughters.
Moreover, when Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, meets King Lear and narrates that how
the devil chased him over years, Lear repeatedly asked that "Didst thou give all to thy
two daughters," or did his daughters made him crazy like this, we feel the wound given
by his daughters had a deep impact causing King Lear to become mad. Also,
Edgar(disguised as Poor Tom) talked crazy about the devil and the prophecy as if he
was hallucinating. We can clearly say that the motif of madness has been all around in
the act, and the invisible trial of Goneril and Regan contributes to it.

8. THANK YOU.