The+Gloucester+Subplot

The main purpose of the Gloucester subplot is to mirror the fatal flaws of Lear's character. Just as Lear is blind to his children's true nature so it the Earl of Gloucester. Both men are rash in their decisions and decide on actions which ultimately destroy their family altogether. Key ideas which are paralleled in this subplot are the ideas of blindness, betrayal, madness and deception.

 The subplot contains a similar story to that of the main plot - a credulous patriarch succumbs to the wiles of his ambitious children/child and banishes a moral child. Mark Van Doren, in //Shakespeare //, writes, ‘The two catastrophes look alike; Gloucester banishes his one good son Edgar as Lear banishes his one good daughter Cordelia, and both of them suffer and die through a mistaken trust in their remaining offspring, who show themselves to be kites of the same detested feather by mingling in adulterous flight across rainbeaten England.’ The catastrophes in both plots are caused by deception. Goneril and Regan use ‘oily speech’ and with Cordelia’s refusal to take part in the love test they prompt their father into dispersing the whole kingdom to them and banishing the righteous daughter. Edmund deceives his father with a false letter and a cut arm. The **significance** of deception in the two plots is that it initiates the tragic action, whose consequences for all characters are transformative (particularly the two patriarchs). Goneril and Regan are easily able to dupe their father and take advantage of the injury to his feelings for Cordelia. They move to evict him from their care and eventually both of them set about to gain Edmund as their husband. The tragedy in the subplot is caused by a combination of the credulity of Gloucester and Edgar and the cruel deceptiveness of Edmund, who plays on his father’s and brother’s gullibility. Edmund has been away for nine years and sets in motion the plot to gain the land he cannot inherit legally. Edmund captures dramatic/theatrical attention because of his attractive villainy. He is expert in his Machiavellian cunning, and his father and brother are easy prey to it. Once Edmund has set up his brother and father, he is then free to set about gaining the crown of England. He gains the title Earl of Gloucester once he has successfully persuaded Cornwall of the treasonous activity of his father. His momentum towards kingship is relentless. He becomes commander of the British forces against France, weighs up which of the women he will marry, is subject to treason himself in wanting to kill Albany (with Goneril) and killed in a duel with Edgar. Gloucester undergoes the trauma associated with blindness, but like Lear gains insight through his suffering. Deceptiveness can also be explored through the disguises of Kent and Edgar, who use their false appearances to support the king and their father, thus initiating dramatic sequences where the self-servers of the main plot have their counterpoint in selfless, supportive behaviour. The **significance** of their deceptiveness is that the play seems to work with two groups of characters enacting a good/evil dualism. The evil doers are self-serving with a total lack of compassion. The good characters have concern for others and need to go into hiding and disguise in order to survive.
 * __Deception__**