Lear's Journey - Short Story

Lear's journey towards madness is parallel by another journey -towards wisdom and understanding of his faults. Lear's newly gained knowledge stems from two unlike sources. One is the Fool, who through his songs and jokes gives the king many words of advice. Lear's other mentor is Edgar when he appears before Lear as Poor Tom. Tom, like the Fool, gives Lear advice and knowledge. As a result of his interaction with Poor Tom and the Fool, Lear manages to gain knowledge and display wisdom - often at times when he is at his worst.

It is through Poor Tom and the Fool that Lear gains his wisdom.

The fool is Lear's first mentor and last friend (beside Kent) on Lear's journey to madness and death. The Fool's wisdom is evident through his jokes and antics: he often incorporates the sad truths of life into his songs and comical stories. One of the Fool's first lessons to Lear is addressed to Kent as a song, where the Fool warns people against being pretentious and boisterous when he sings "have more than thou showest, / speak less than thou knowest.

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.." (I, iv, 114-115). Ironically Lear implements this first advice only in the last stage of the play when he and Cordelia are being led away to prison. Here Lear is modest and quiet. He realizes that he is not a king anymore and accepts his destiny when he says to Cordelia "Come, let's away to prison/... so we'll live/ And pray and sing... In a walled prison" (V, iii, 8, 11-12, 18).

Another lesson that the Fool teaches the king is presented in the Fool's general behavior and actions. One of the only times it is expressed in words is when the Fool answers Kent's question "Who's there?" by saying "... here's grace and a cod-piece" (III, ii, 40).

The Fool shows his love towards the king by calling the king grace and himself a "cod-piece" - something worthless. Lear takes much less time to learn this lesson and shows his love and respect towards the Fool when he asks him "How dost, my boy? Art cold?" (III, ii, 68). Lear gets another chance to express generosity and love towards the Fool when he urges him to enter the shelter before him: "In, boy, go first" (III, iv, 26). Lear realizes that in order to be respected and human he must return love and express his feelings. Possibly the most important thing the Fool tries to tell Lear throughout the first part of the play is the most obvious one - Lear's foolishness. The Fool tells Lear that "Thou shouldst not have been old before thou hadst/ been wise" (I, v, 39-40). Lear takes a long time to realize that but finally does, saying that he was told he "... had white hairs/ in my beard ere the black ones were there" (IV, vi, 98-99). Lear finally admits his foolishness and realizes he fell for flattery. The Fool's role in educating Lear is the difficult task of successfully shaping a king into a higher from - a man.

A slightly less influential but not less exotic mentor is Poor Tom when he appears before Lear during the storm. His preachings are at times very similar to the Fool's, and at times very different. One of the similar ideas spoken by Poor Tom is on the theme of pride. When he lists the factors that led to his downfall he tells Lear he was "proud in heart and mind" (III, iv, 82). Lear gets over his own pride later in the play when he wakes up in the company of Cordelia: he is unassuming and humble. This is most evident when he says to Cordelia "I am a very foolish fond old man... I fear I am not in my perfect mind" (IV, vii, 60, 63) - Lear is no longer too proud to say that he was very foolish and has gone out of his mind.

Another piece of advice that is given by Poor Tom is expressed when he says that he was "light of ear" (III, iv, 89) - in other words he believed he was too quick to judge. Lear takes this advice to heart and when he meets Cordelia he is not presumptuous and avoids making conclusions. But Lear is most affected by Poor Tom's attitude towards women - Poor Tom tells Lear that women were his downfall and the cause behind his madness. He specifically tells Lear not to "Let... the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray the poor heart to women: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets..." (III, iv, 91-93). Lear practically echoes these words when he talks about women: "Down from the waist they are centaurs... beneath is all the fiend's:/ There is hell, there is darkness, there is a sulphrous pit..." (IV, vi, 125, 128-129). He implies that women are a root of evil and should be feared. Although Lear expresses this idea of Poor Tom most clearly it is as important as the other ones.

Poor Tom and the Fool act as Lear's "spiritual guides" on his journey towards madness and wisdom. The two journeys are interlaced in such a way that Lear sometimes expressed the deepest pieces of wisdom at his worst times. Poor Tom gives Lear advice and tells him what he must beware. The Fool presents Lear with pieces of truth in his songs and stories. Together these two ragged prophets help Lear come closer to understanding himself and some of the people around him, ultimately turning him into a wise man.