Lear’s gonna crawl

        I’m not certain if I would import all the lines from the Folio, but I would keep the passage “while we / Unburthen’d crawl toward death…May be prevented now.”  It not only identifies characters but also adds to the establishment of Lear as a foolish old man with a one track mind.  In this way the passage adds not only to the scene and to the act, but to the play as a whole.  Without this passage, the work would lack a certain irony and foreshadowing that fits perfectly with the tone set in the very first scene of the play.

        First and foremost, this passage names and identifies Albany and Cornwall in relation to Lear as he says “We have this hour a constant will to publish / Our daughters’ several dowers…”  He introduces his sons-in-law not as a father but rather as a businessman.  This shows Lear’s way of thinking in terms of money and power, and also this self-identification as keeper and distributor of that money and power.  This gives some insight as to why he does the love test, that he is insecure at giving up his power, hence his identity.  Yet the love test not only allows but invites flattery, indicating that he isn’t all that insecure.  This and the “crawl toward death” part (since he clearly never intended to crawl anywhere) makes him look all the more foolish later on in the play when he realizes that his money and power had blinded him from the truth.

        This passage adds to the act when Lear says “Our son of Cornwall, / And you, our no less loving son of Albany…”  By the end of the act, it is clear that Albany is in fact much more loving than Cornwall, who later blinds Lear’s faithful servant, Gloucester.  This and the “Unburthen’d” part are ironic, as Lear not only misjudges his daughters but also their husbands as he is eventually extremely burdened when he finally dies.  Thus the passage adds irony to the play as well as foreshadowing – “that future strife / May be prevented now.”  In a scene where Lear sets out to relieve himself of concerns and prevent war by entrusting halves of his kingdom to his daughters, he actually sets in motion a series of events that lead to war, betrayal and Lear overwhelmed by regret and grief.  And this passage, while still establishing characters and foreshadowing future events, captures that irony from the very beginning.