Disguises Can Be Tragic Too

(Edmund, 1.3.162-8)

And so, fearing for his life and trusting in his brother's advice, Edgar flies. What disguise does he choose? To be as anonymous as possible, Edgar decides to become a beggar. A poor madman who society would cast aside, but who can essentially be present without being seen.

Speaking of freedom. In the case of both Edgar and Kent, as a madman and knight respectively, disguise ultimately permits them to see King Lear at his most vulnerable. When Lear is shut out of his daughters' homes and sent into the wild, he loses his mind. Taking refuge in a hovel, which happens to be where Tom (Edgar) is hiding, the king is left vulnerable to the elements and to himself. His behavior is painful to those who love him. Watching Lear, Edgar notes: "My tears begin to take his part so much,/ They'll mar my counterfeiting" (3.6.55-6).

And it is important for Edgar to maintain that counterfeiting, for it is not only Lear's misery he witnesses while disguised, but also that of his father. After Gloucester defends Lear against Regan, he is literally blinded and cast out into the wild, much like Lear was. By this point of the play, Gloucester knows the truth behind Edmund's treachery and Edgar's innocence and he cannot bear it: "I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;/ I stumbled when I saw" (4.1.19-20). Through Edgar's disguise and Gloucester's new perspective, the two are reunited.

Lear and Kent also share a reunion when the latter explains that he was actually the knight, Caius, in disguise: "No, my good lord; I am the very man--/... That, from your first of difference and decay,/ Have followed your sad steps" (5.3.385-8). Their reunion however is brief, as tragedy demands it. Lear dies upon learning of Cordelia's death.

Shakespeare used disguise in such wonderful ways, finding that a good disguise could afford a character the sort of freedom their former selves would deny. King Harry in "Henry V" could never hear the soldiers speaking so candidly about his actions, had he not disguised himself as a common man. Viola, all alone in this world, would not have survived had she not become Cesario.

But "King Lear" being a tragedy, disguise also ties into tragic situations and circumstances. As was the

Go To Page: 1 2 3