Act III.
The King of France may well invade England. Kent sends a messenger to Cordelia to keep her aware of King Lear's plight... Lear braves the elements against a storm, no doubt symbolic of his tortured soul...
Gloucester lets slip to his traitorous son Edmund that the army of France is poised to invade, guaranteeing Gloucester's own future suffering. We learn more of a potential conflict between Regan and Goneril, centering on their husbands...
Lear is brought out of the elements. Lear explains that nature's physical torment of him distracted him from the pain his daughters have given him.
Edgar, Gloucester's legitimate son, makes his appearance, disguised as "poor Tom." Cornwall, Regan's husband and Edmund speak. After implicating his father Gloucester as a traitor against Cornwall, Edmund is rewarded for betraying his father Gloucester by receiving his father's title as the new Earl of Gloucester.
Cornwall tells Edmund to seek out his father saying "he may be ready for our apprehension" or punishment.
Lear and company find solace and safety in a farmhouse. Lear, showing signs of madness,
holds a mock trial to punish his daughters addressing two joint stools as if they were Regan and Goneril.
Kent leads Lear to Dover where he will be safe...
Gloucester is captured and tortured first having his beard ripped away and later being made blind. Unable to bear Cornwall's brutality any longer, a servant wounds Cornwall...
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King Lear - Mock Trial - Act III, vi - Analyzing Text Through Performance