Chapter 1: The Division of the Kingdom
* Lear, King of Britain, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.
* He asks each daughter to profess her love for him, promising the largest share to the one who loves him most.
* Goneril and Regan flatter Lear with exaggerated declarations, while Cordelia refuses to participate in the pretense.
* Lear, enraged, disowns Cordelia and banishes her.
Example:
King Lear: "Now, our joy, Although our last and least; to whose young love The vines of France and milk of Burgundy Strive to be interess'd, what can you say to draw A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak."
Cordelia: "Nothing, my lord."
Chapter 2: The Rejection of Cordelia
* Goneril and Regan immediately begin to mistreat their father.
* They reduce his retinue and disrespect him at every turn.
* Lear, furious, banishes Goneril and then Regan, but they refuse to leave.
* In a fit of rage, Lear curses his daughters and storms out into the wilderness.
Example:
Goneril: "Not only like your daughters or your sisters, Since we have found out the wind of your purpose, And put their duties on your tenderness.
You have not given the half we have to tend, And half our love, with our half of care."
Lear: "Out of my sight!"
Chapter 3: The Reunion of Lear and Cordelia
* In the wilderness, Lear encounters the Earl of Gloucester, who has been blinded by his illegitimate son, Edmund.
* Lear and Gloucester bond over their shared suffering.
* Meanwhile, Cordelia, having heard of her father's plight, raises an army in France to come to his aid.
* Lear and Cordelia reunite, and Lear finally realizes the true value of love.
Example:
Cordelia: "O my dear father, Restoration hang Thy medicine on my lips, and let this kiss Repair those violent harms that my two sisters Have in thy reverence made!"
Lear: "Pray, do not mock me:
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more or less;
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind."
Chapter 4: The Battle of Britain
* Cordelia's army clashes with the forces of Goneril, Regan, and Edmund.
* In the ensuing battle, Edmund kills his brother, Edgar, and then turns on his half-sisters.
* Edmund is defeated by Edgar and Lear, but before he dies, he tells Lear that Goneril and Regan have poisoned each other and themselves.
Example:
Albany: "Receive him then a hundred; and a thousand, With twenty thousand money besides the gift That late you made him, to fill up this measure."
Edmund: "To go out pawn immediately for honor."
Chapter 5: The Death of Lear
* Lear, heartbroken by his daughters' deaths and the realization of his own folly, cradles Cordelia's lifeless body.
* Edgar and Albany mourn the passing of Lear and Cordelia.
* The kingdom is left in a state of disarray, with no clear heir to the throne.
Example:
Lear: "Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones: Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever! I know when one is dead, and when one lives; She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Why, then she lives."
