place the supernatural and unnatural are linked is in act I, scene 1, when Lear disowns Cordelia. He equates the force of the sun and other planets (orbs) with his will in rejecting his daughter. In the next scene, the idea of negative energy and social discord is associated with unusual, misplaced phenomena. Beginning in line 100, Gloucester comments on ominous portents or omens, explicitly mentioning how things are going wrong, including treason and rifts between parent and child.

These late eclipses in the sun and moon

portend no good to us: though the wisdom of nature can

reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged

by the sequent effects.

His observations are born out as Lear’s mental deterioration accompanies the breakup of the kingdom and the related rivalry, then violent war, between Goneril and Regan. The culmination of his descent into madness occurs in act 3 scene 2, when he is wandering the heath in a thunderstorm, after his daughters have shut him out. In line 70, he apparently recognizes his decline, stating, “My wits begin to turn.”

A parallel story of feigned madness is that of “Poor Tom,” the disguise of Edgar, who has fled his brother’s unjust treatment. The two plots come together when Lear and Tom meet in act 3, scene 4, and Tom’s apparent ravings make sense to Lear.

In King Lear, paradoxically, madness is the road to wisdom and insight. Lear does not understand life clearly until he goes mad after he is thrown out onto the heath by his cruel elder daughters during a storm.

Early in the play, Lear divided his kingdom between his two eldest daughters, mistaking their flattering words of undying love and devotion towards him for truth. He finds out too late that all they want is his kingdom. As soon as he becomes a problem for them, they do not hesitate to throw the elderly man and his Fool out to face the elements.

Lear's mind snaps, and "madness" becomes an apt description of his state, for intense anger at his daughters' betrayal is what causes his mind to snap. However, at this point he sees with complete clarity who these daughters are, looking at their acts rather than their words. He realizes, too, that Cordelia, the daughter he rejected for not flattering him, is the one who truly loves him, and he sends her his ring to show his solidarity as she lands on the shores of England with an army to help him take back his kingdom.

Lear, an elderly man with inadequate clothing faced with fierce weather (though its effects are blunted by his rage) realizes, too, that he never did enough for the poor of his kingdom when he had a chance, because he was too removed from their plight. Now, feeling what poverty is like, he regrets his prior disregard.

Finally, in his madness, Lear recognizes his human frailty. He might be a king, but stripped of his power, he is a human like anyone else, a "forked" creature vulnerable to the elements, such as storms, weak, and in need of kind companionship and shelter. The sense of invincibility he had as king is replaced with a more accurate assessment of his human limitations.