What Does Lear Want?

          In the beginning of the1608 Quarto of King Lear, Lear announces that while Gloucester is taking care of the lords of France and Burgundy, he wants to take the time to “express our darker purposes.” However, in the 1623 Folio Lear pronounces that he wants to “express our darker purpose.” The conflated text also chooses to use the singular noun and explains the meaning of “darker purpose” as “secret plan.” While this seemingly minor difference in detail may seem insignificant, it actually changes the meaning of Lear’s words and the way the reader understands the character of Lear in quite a noteworthy manner. It not only raises the question of how many “purposes,” or motives he has for making his daughters declare their love, but it also which purpose is the dominant one.

         If the 1608 Quarto edition is to be taken as the “correct” one, then the reader is led to believe Lear has more than one “darker purpose” in mind. This would be a foreshadowing that Lear does not simply want to have a nice showing of love from his daughters in order to be able to divide up his land. Instead, the reader would be forced to think about what “purposes” are actually at play at this point in the story. Lear clearly needs a boost of self-confidence, so he makes his daughters tell him how amazing of a father and a king he is. However, other “plans” might include: to make sure that his daughters are still loyal to him before he hands over his lands, to selfishly prove to his kingdom that he has full control over the affections of his daughters, or even to prove to himself that he could have complete power over his daughters. If the word “purposes” is chosen, then any or more of these “plans” could be the reason, and the reader would be made to question Lear’s personality, motives and plans right from the beginning of the play.

         However, if the second choice is to be made, and Lear announces that he has one “darker purpose,” the question of which “purpose” he is talking about becomes relevant. Is the reader to believe that Lear is simply talking about his “secret plan” to divide up his kingdom? Or is he implying that while it might seem that this is his reason to bring everyone into conference, he actually just wants to exert control over his daughters? The adjective “secret” certainly lends itself to the latter. It cannot be that he has more than one “purpose” as in the Quarto, but it certainly is not clear which one he means.

         The same reasoning could be used in both variations to come up with the same “purposes” for Lear’s actions. However, in the Quarto, the reader can analyze Lear’s plans and add them all to his character. In the Folio, on the other hand, it is important to choose one “plan” that appears most relevant to the personality of Lear