King Lear: Act 3, scene 6 Summary & Analysis

Inside the house to which he has shown them, Kent thanks Gloucester, and then reports that Lear has gone entirely mad. Gloucester exits as Lear, the Fool, and Edgar enter, raving together. Lear has Edgar and the Fool sit down, announcing that they are the jury for an imaginary trial of the "she-foxes" (24) Goneril and Regan, which he persists carrying out as Kent entreats him to rest and Edgar remarks that he is finding it difficult to restrain his tears.

In the middle of the trial of Regan, Gloucester returns. Told once again by Kent that Lear's "wits are gone" (92), Gloucester tells Kent that he has overheard a plot against Lear's life. Gloucester then says he has arranged for Lear to be secretly transported to Dover in a litter. He asks Kent to help him get Lear on the litter. All exit except Edgar, who remains on stage. Briefly stepping out of the character of Poor Tom, Edgar expresses his deep pity for Lear, saying that he feels so badly for Lear that he can hardly feel his own pain. Yet he also remarks on the similarity between the two of them: "he childed as I fathered" (120). Then he exits as well.