his child; therefore, it does not owe Lear anything. Lear perceives that he gave Goneril and Regan nearly everything he possessed, and his daughters would not even treat him like a person (Oates). Says Joyce Oates in her essay, Is This The Promised End?. There is a difference between foolishness and insanity. Foolishness is when Lear turned his kingdom over to his deceitful daughters. Insanity is hallucinating, and being unable to function safely and normally. Lear meets this definition in the last scene, when he imagines Cordelia is still alive. Being torn apart with so much emotion was not normal for Lear. He was a strong king but did not show emotion often. He was insane. Lear strips himself of his title and comes to terms with the fact that he is no longer king. After he recognizes this he shows more respect to the men with him. Until that point, Lear was almost obsessed with retaining the title of king. When he abdicates his title on his own he becomes a different Lear. He says to the fool, Come on, my boy. How dost my boy? Art cold? before they enter the hovel. This is the first instance in the storm that Lear notices that other people are suffering in the storm as well (Friedlander). In Act 4, Scene 6, Lear is shoutingThey flatteredMe like a dog and told me I had the white hairs in my Beard ere the black ones were there. (Act 4, Scene 6, 16-18) Lear could not see that his daughters were flattering him with lies in the beginning of the play. Lear says he was like a dog to his daughters, and in some ways that is true. A pet is often kept until the owner loses interest in it. These women have the only thing that had interested them in Lear, his kingdom, and now they had not other reason to take care of him. He is also angry at how his two daughters told him he was wise, although he was not yet. He sees that he was not wise in giving them the kingdom. Lear knows this now because he can see the truth. Looking back on the events that...
