Upon the Heath There Are No Stars
Analysis of King Lear IV.vi. 142-184
Prof. Kusch
Rutgers College
Out On the Heath There Are No Stars
When Gloucester and Edgar meet Lear on the heath in Act IV Scene VI, Lear is has fallen to doom as a wandering has-been. Gloucester meets Lear in a state of emptiness as well. Unlike Gloucester, who is willing to give up living at this point, Lear is filled with the rage and courageousness of spirit to find meaning in his dimming life. It is at this point in the play that Lear comes to realize his true sense of mortality and the faults he has been guilty of. Lear combines these two roles of a king and a man of fault into a third role of a teacher of his own right.
Lear speaks wisdom to Gloucester, but not as a king lecturing. Rather, Lear humbles himself to Gloucester, explaining to him that they are both on the same level. This is symbolic of the setting on the heath. Both men are reduced to the barest of human form, without any possessions on the low land. Lear says, ?O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse?? Lear is declaring his barren state, admitting to his recent inability to see with wisdom and clarity which has caused him to lose all his worth. However, it is when men are run down that they begin to feel and see things from a different perspective. And so Lear explains that one does not need eyes to ?see how this world goes.? It is possible to learn things through other senses, although men with sight are not accompanied to resort to such measures. In their blessed state of sight is their inability to experience being stripped to the most primal senses, as Lear stands now apparently loosing his sanity.
Lear?s apparent madness is another way of encountering the world. We can find wisdom in the disguise of madness elsewhere in the play. For example, Lear finds wit and sense in Poor Tom at the time when he has retired from his kingship. Lear would not have viewed Poor Tom as such a ?good Athenian? at a time when he was shrouded by his authority. Men with authority can become withdrawn from common society. They therefore become compassionless; desensitized to the ills and misfortunes that the common man endures. Men with money will not conceive of the life with out it. A wise man, however, will take life in from all perspectives. As Lear says, ?change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?? In other words, as a man changes his perspective, the roles he thought permanents within life begin to lose their rigidity. Similarly, as Lear changes his perspective from a king to that of a powerless mortal, so does his role within the play. For instance, out in the storm we see Lear express his first instance of compassion for others. The emotional bond between Lear and the fool is magnified when Lear asks, ??my boy: how dost, my boy? art cold?? Lear is no longer disconnected from his feeling by his authority when he must care for his own fragility.
Lear says that we all have our faults, weather they can be disguised or not. Until now, Lear has used his position of authority to cover his own faults. It is not until this point that Lear realizes his poor deeds. In his position of authority, Lear has put himself above all, but now he knows that he has just as many faults as those he has punished. He asks the question, ?Why dost thou lash that whore?? ?Thou hotly lust to use her in that kind.? In other words, his lack of insight into his own mortality has made him unable to serve judiciously as king. A king that rules his people through force alone can not rule with compassion and reason. Lear can now see through ?the great image of authority- a dog?s obeyed in office.? He understands out on the heath that there is no nobility in a king who rules through power alone. It is in this respect that his compassion for his daughters became cold and bare.
A noble king will identify with his people and not separate himself through his authority and wealth. Lear sees this, saying, ?Through tattered clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all.? He goes on to say that for a king such as himself not even ?the strong lance of justice? can harm him. With abused power comes the ability to make untruths and to ignore truths. However, take the same king who abuses his power and ?arm [him] in rags,? and he will be susceptible to ?a pygmy?s straw.? Indeed, now that Lear is on his own, figuratively naked upon the heath battering the storm, he can see how fragile the human body truly is.
Lear likens his previous state of delusion in which he put himself above his own humanity to himself having a pair of false eyes in which he pretended to ?see things [he did] not.? Lear tells Gloucester to take off his boots so he has nothing between him and the earth and he can see and know things for what they truly are. Lear is in a sense grounding himself at this moment to his nakedness of spirit and understanding. Edgar agrees that there is good sense in what Lear is saying; there is ?reason in [his] madness.? Lear replies to Gloucester, ?If thou will weep my fortunes, take my eyes.? The theme of sight and insight is very apparent here. Lear understands at this point that his monetary fortunes are worthless in comparison to love from his daughters. Lear has come to insightful realizations before, such as in Act I, Scene V, but it is not until now that he acts on the insight he has discovered and puts it into plain words. In Act I, the fool say?s to Lear, ??what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into.? Lear replies by way of inward epiphany, ?I did her wrong,? but does not attempt to reconcile his mistakes at that time. It is the fool?s analysis of man?s use of sight to interpret what is not literally under his nose that leads to Lear?s moment of inward clarity in which he admits to the mistakes he has made with his daughter Cordelia. On the heath it is Lear who is outwardly proclaiming the reasons behind his downfall and warning others not to follow in the same path. He tells Gloucester, ?I will preach to thee. Mark,? and speaks of the illusive nature in which we a born into this world. It is through the wisdom of the so called fool that Lear now preaches to Gloucester.
There are other parts in the play where Lear can attribute his moments of clarity to the wisdom of others disguised as so called fools or mad men, such as Poor Tom. For instance, in Act III, Scene IV, Poor Tom says ?keep thy word justly?swear not thy sweet heart on proud array.? In Poor Tom?s apparent string of mad babbling, he has hit the mark on the theme of compassion and authority within the play. Lear would have done right to follow Poor Tom?s advice in so much as not becoming involved with his own kingship and false pride to the extent that his heart had become cold to his daughter?s love. Lear can now identify with Poor Tom and his wisdom, saying, ?I will keep still with my Philosopher.? One reason why Lear has not come to the full impact of his own lack of insight until now is because he could hide behind ?the great stage of fools? that he had authority over. Now he is out alone on the heath with only a few men who might be named fools and mad men, but are actually intelligent and analytical.
Upon this end ?a troop of horse? can be seen in all its fury, and is worthless to ?shoe [the] horse with felt.? This line brings us back to the theme of clarity and disguise. Now that Lear has been stripped of his authoritarian robe and is essentially naked out on the heath, he can see ?these son-in-laws? and general swindlers of this world for what they are. He can also see what his good servant Kent tried to make him see back in Act I, Scene I, when he says, ?The youngest daughter does not love thee least; nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound reverbs no hollowness.? Goneral and Regan are disguising themselves when they give their false pretences of love for the soul purpose of material gain. It is only Cordelia who will not play into this play of hideous disguises for selfish purposes. It is also her who loves Lear the most, and Lear can see this clearly now. It is only after Lear is stripped of everything beyond the essential human spirit that he is able to recognize love in the purest form, unladed with shallow purposes and empty oaths. Unfortunately, what Lear has been taught through suffering comes too late, and he that has ruled solely by a heavy hand now dies with hands empty.
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