His exclamation in the supposed trial-scene of his
daughters, 'See the little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and
Sweetheart, see they bark at me,' his issuing his orders, 'Let them
anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart,' and his
reflection when he sees the misery of Edgar, 'Nothing but his unkind
daughters could have brought him to this,' are in a style of pathos,
where the extremest resources of the imagination are called in to
lay open the deepest movements of the heart, which was peculiar to
Shakespeare. In the same style and spirit is his interrupting the
Fool who asks, 'whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman', by
answering 'A king, a king!'
The indirect part that Gloster takes in these scenes where his
generosity leads him to relieve Lear and resent the cruelty of his
daughters, at the very time that he is himself instigated to seek
the life of his son, and suffering under the sting of his supposed
ingratitude, is a striking accompaniment to the situation of Lear.
Indeed, the manner in which the threads of the story are woven
together is almost as wonderful in the way of art as the carrying on
the tide of passion, still varying and unimpaired, is on the score
of nature. Among the remarkable instances of this kind are Edgar's
meeting with his old blind father; the deception he practises upon
him when he pretends to lead him to the top of Dover-cliff--'Come
on, sir, here's the place,' to prevent his ending his life and
miseries together; his encounter with the perfidious Steward whom he
kills, and his finding the letter from Gonerill to his brother upon
him which leads to the final catastrophe, and brings the wheel of
Justice 'full circle home' to the guilty parties.
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