In the midst of Lear’s madness, in Act 3, Scene 6, he stages a mock “trial” of his daughters, in which he behaves as an imaginary judge holding Regan and Goneril accountable for their crimes:
Lear: Arraign her first; 'Tis Goneril. I here take my oath before his honorable assembly, kicked the poor king her father.
Fool: Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?
Lear: She cannot deny it.
Fool: Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
Lear: And here's another whose warped looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire, corruption in the place!
False justices, why hast thou let her 'scape?
This sequences functions as a parody of the "love trial" enacted in the very opening of the play. Whereas in the original trial, Lear was persuaded by the declarations of love and affection put on by Goneril and Regan, this time—now that the daughters are only imaginary—Lear is able to see through their words. By parodying the actual conduct of a court of justice, the mad king makes a crazed attempt to right the wrongs of the original "trial" and his daughters' duplicitous behavior. Where the original scene in the first act is a family meeting with the implications of a trial—as can be seen in the banishment of Kent and Cordelia—this scene renders it more explicit.
