The lunatics of King Lear—pretended and actual—are forever in closer contact with reality than the seemingly sane. This is evident in the Fool, whose job is to veil the harsh truth in the garb of nonsense riddles and bawdy songs. The same is true of Edgar, who capers naked in his shocking disguise as Poor Tom, and Lear himself. The play’s madmen, either implicitly or explicitly, reveal one of the play’s central truths: Every human is, at root, a frail and fallible mortal.

Lear’s madness is especially poignant and meaningful. Lear feels madness creep up on him throughout the play. In private conversation with the Fool, Lear expresses his fear of this ultimate loss of control: “O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!/Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!” (1.5.43-44). But within his madness, Lear finds release. His ravings in the storm unleash deep rage, but they also bring him closer to others. Fully in touch with his own helplessness, Lear finds empathy for the Fool, Edgar, and all poor people wandering through the storm. Lear’s madness also allows him to empathize with the blinded

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