King Lear Group

Topic: To what extent do the forces for good become more prominent in Act V of "King Lear"? Discuss.

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1

coolmodee

Refer to Edgar, ALbany and Cordelia. Quote in support of your viewpoint.

2

bocateacher322

In Act V Kent enters and asks where Lear is. Albany recalls with horror that Lear and Cordelia are still imprisoned and demands from Edmund their whereabouts. Edmund repents his crimes and determines to do good before his death. He tells the others that he had ordered that Cordelia be hanged and sends a messenger to try to intervene. In the last scene, when the audience expects some kind of justice to be doled out, the good characters—Gloucester, Cordelia, Lear—die as well, and their bodies litter the stage alongside the corpses of the wicked.  Albany’s suggestion that the good and the evil both ultimately get what they deserve does not seem to hold true. In the end the audience is left with only a terrifying uncertainty: the good and the evil alike die, and joy and pain both lead to madness or death.

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