Kent King Lear

In Act II, scene 4 of Shakespeare’s King Lear the fool offers Kent and King Lear several pieces of advice, and does so with his usual mocking and humorous tone amidst the tension-filled scene. The fool plays a very unique role throughout the play, dishing out advice as much as he does insults, for he is always able to speak his mind as the sole unchecked voice in all of Lear’s kingdom. Moreover, in the case of scene 4, the two most significant things that come out of the fool’s mouth are his warning to Kent to abandon King Lear and his advice to the latter on the matter of raising children. A witness to King Lear’s battle with old age, the fool finds some time to sympathize with the plight of Kent. One of Lear’s most loyal subjects, who was formerly a very well-respected and trusted aide of the kingdom of Britain, the

Meanwhile, Kent has unknowingly has become Lear’s middleman in a brewing civil war between the Duke of Cornwall and the Duke of Burgundy set to completely oust the old king of his remaining power. So on seeing the sight of Kent in stocks, the fool explains the nature of power as well as how to best follow it: “Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill lest it break thy neck with following; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after.”(Shakespeare. pg. 101) Here the fool suggests to Kent that his loyalty to decrepit King Lear is futile, as the king’s mental health and decision-making is in steep decline, and that should he go any further with him it will come at his own detriment. Still, the fool’s lesson places a special emphasis on the merit of loyalty, for while he encourages Kent to entertain the notion of jumping ship, he also tells him to think twice before abandoning his friendship with Lear: “And let the wise man fly. The knave that turns fool that runs away; the