As the scene 1 begins, a fierce thunderstorm attacked the heath. Kent disguised as Caius, met the Gentleman, who informed him that King still struggled in the inclement night, and King Lear was accompanied by a fool, who made jokes to appease King’s anger. Kent also told the gentleman that there was a turmoil between Albany and Cornwall. Kent asked the gentlemen if he could go to Dover to deliver the message about King Lear’s misery to King Lear’s youngest daughter, Cordelia. Kent gave away the purse to encourage the gentlemen to help him, and he also gave out the letter and a ring, so Cordelia could know that the letter came from Kent. Then, Kent left and continued to search for King Lear. As the scene 2 ends, the scene is switched to another place, which is the health in the middle of a thunderstorm. King Lear stodged in the strong storm, blaming the weather and complaining about the two ungrateful children, who chunk him into the wild. The fool asked King Lear to beg her two daughters to take in him, but he refused. Earl of Kent found King Lear, and suggested him to find a nearby shelter and finally, found a hovel for King Lear. King Lear kept complaining about the storm and asking the storm to become stronger enough so that it could blow away everyone’s misdemeanor. Earl of Kent intended to go back and petitioned the two daughters for a shelter for King Lear even though the two daughters didn’t even reply to him when he made the same request last time. The fool predicted that Britain would be in a chaos in the future without being in the charge of King Lear.
I find Scene 1 and Scene 2 of Act3 appealing to me because of the application of pathetic fallacy, which functions like a mirror to reflect and enhance the details of some events and make them more impressing. The first event associated with the storm is the unethical misdemeanors of King Lear’s two elder daughters, Goneril and Regan. They abandoned, betrayed and victimized their father for the money, power, and status, and left him in a dangerous and harsh condition. The chaos over health caused by storm also implies the chaos between the younger generations and older generations where the humanity corrupts due to appetency towards the money, power, and status. The storm is also symbolically associated with the state of mind of King Lear. The fierce thunderstorm represents the anger and despair of King Lear due to the betrayal of his daughters. The chaos of the storm also mirrors the political chaos of Britain without being in the charge of King Lear. French spies disseminated the rumors about the conflicts between the Albany and Cornwall because French is afraid of the alignment of Albany and Cornwall, and the fool also predicted that the future of Britain will be in chaos. All of these events convey the political chaos of Britain, and the thunderstorm uses its natural power to make this chaos more intense to audiences.