Study Questions

1. How is Edgar dressed in this scene?

2. Where is Gloucester standing when Edgar tells him he is at the edge of the cliff?

3. Who does Gloucester think has saved him when he supposedly jumped off the cliff?

4. What does Edgar call Gloucester after he has jumped?

5. How does Gloucester say that he can see without eyes?

6. What is the “great stage of fools”?

7. Who is Oswald’s “proclaimed prize”?

8. Who kills Oswald to protect Gloucester?

9. What are Goneril and Edmund plotting against Albany?

10. What is the Gentleman’s news to Edgar about the war with France?

Answers

1. Edgar is dressed as a peasant in this scene.

2. Gloucester is standing on flat ground far from the roaring sea.

3. Gloucester thinks that the gods have saved his life.

4. Edgar calls Gloucester father for the first time since his escape from Gloucester’s castle when he fled for his life.

5. Gloucester says that he sees “feelingly.”

6. The “great stage of fools” is the world that all of us come to when we are born.

7. Oswald sees the blind Gloucester as a prize since Regan has put a price on his head.

8. Edgar kills Oswald to protect Gloucester from being killed.

9. Goneril and Edmund are plotting Albany’s death.

10. The Gentleman tells Edgar that Albany’s army will arrive to fight the French.