King Lear Translation

Two lords, Gloucester and Kent, are at King Lear's palace in Britain, talking about Lear's plan to divide the kingdom.The men speculate as to why King Lear has decided to give the same amount of te...

Edmund, Gloucester's illegitimate son, is miffed. He complains about the way society treats younger brothers and "illegitimate" children. He's just as smart, attractive, and talented as his brother...

Things are not going well at Goneril's castle. She's taken first shift as her dad's assisted care provider, and it turns out Lear's a lousy houseguest. It seems Lear smacked one of Goneril's servan...

Kent, the loyal advisor Lear exiled back in Scene 1, enters Goneril's castle disguised as a down-and-out peasant, "Caius." He speaks in a strange accent so no one recognizes his voice.Kent lives to...

Lear tells Kent (disguised as Caius) to deliver a letter to Regan informing her that he's about to show up at her place. Yep, that makes two letters that are en route to Regan.

Back at Edmund's place, Edmund gets news from a courtier named Curan. He learns that Regan and her husband, Cornwall, will be paying an unexpected visit to his father (Gloucester) and decides to fa...

The disguised Kent (Lear's messenger), and the steward, Oswald (Goneril's messenger), both show up at Gloucester's house at the same time. Kent, still angry at Oswald for insulting Lear, picks a fi...

Meanwhile, Fortune has not been kind to Edgar, who has survived the manhunt by hiding in a tree.Desperate to escape, he decides to disguise himself as "Poor Tom," an inmate of Bedlam hosp...

Lear and his entourage arrived at Regan's to find her and Cornwall gone. As they wander around the town, Lear finds Kent (whom Lear still thinks is Caius) in the stocks. Lear asks him if he's been...

Kent, still disguised as Caius, meets up with the Gentleman, who informs him that the King is still running about in a night so dreadful that even lions and bears have taken to their dens.

This scene opens with an iconic image: Lear, a white-haired man, stands on a heath in the middle of a thunderstorm yelling at the sky. It's the image used on many a book cover.

Back at Gloucester's castle, Gloucester unloads his heart to his evil-genius son, Edmund.He's upset about how inhumanely Lear's own daughters deal with the old King, and even more upset that they'v...

Back on the heath, Kent is still trying to get Lear out of the storm and into that cave, but Lear is resistant.

Meanwhile, back at Gloucester's castle, Edmund's evil plan is progressing nicely. Cue the evil smirk and hand-rubbing gesture.He has told Cornwall about his father's forbidden allegiance to Le...

We're back with that rebel Gloucester, who's led Lear, the disguised Kent, the disguised Edgar, and the Fool to a little building outside of his castle to get them all out of the storm.

Now that everyone has seen the letter Edmund handed over to Cornwall—the one indicating that Gloucester was helping Lear against Cornwall and Albany—they're talking about how Gloucester should...

Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, lurks outside in the cold. He comforts himself with the knowledge that, since he's hit rock bottom, at least things can't get any worse. Then, of course, Edg...

Goneril and Edmund arrive at Goneril's castle, but before Goneril can invite Edmund in for a nightcap, Oswald comes out and says that Albany (Goneril's husband) is inside the castle and he's d...

Kent, still in disguise, meets again with the Gentleman that he sent to Cordelia, but this time near the French camp at Dover. He wants all the details about how Cordelia reacted to his letter...

We learn from Cordelia that Lear has run off from his caretakers and was last spotted in a wheat field, covered over with all sorts of plants. Cordelia sends a century (literally, a hundred soldier...

At Gloucester's castle, Oswald has arrived to deliver Goneril's letter to Edmund. Regan tries to wheedle information out of him and learns that Albany's troops are on the move, seemingly at Go...

Edgar has thought of a sneaky way to deal with Gloucester's plan to commit suicide by jumping off the cliffs of Dover. He tells blind Gloucester that they are hiking up the cliffs of Dover, when th...

Cordelia enters, talking with Kent. She tells him it's time for him to take off his "Caius" disguise, but Kent says he's not ready to become himself again—he's got a plan and he doesn't want Cord...

At the British battle camp near Dover, Edmund and Regan are engaged in what seems to be a heated conversation. Regan keeps asking Edmund if he's done "it" with Goneril. Edmund swears on his honor t...

Edgar still hasn't told his father who he really is. But he has decided to fight in the battle on the side of Lear and Cordelia. He stashes Gloucester beside a tree and tells him to hang out until...

Edmund, who has succeeded in capturing Lear and Cordelia, orders his guards to take them away until he figures out what he's going to do with them.