Lear is now cognizant of the fact that he is senile and at the mercy of his daughter’s goodwill. He is humbled by his newfound incompetence. Essentially, he’s realizing that he made a mistake by banishing Cordelia. His narcissism is offset by the realization that he put himself in the position to lose everything he ever cared about. 

Lear has his back against the wall in this scenario because he is both trying to grasp onto his previous power, while also not trying to further anger his daughters to avoid punishment.  To top that, he is completely enraged at this situation and is having trouble maintaining his cool.  

***good insight here about Lear's mental state. Remember to code the literary terms in the manner I modeled for you on the assignment page. The fact that Lear kneels here in turn elevates Regan (inter-textual connection: when Gloucester calls Edmund his "loyal and natural boy," he too exercises poor judgement of character in elevating the wrong child). The motif of the reversal of natural order in play here? Who about the motif of filial obligations? In terms of characterization and the sight vs. insight motif, has Lear learned yet to look beneath the surface level to judge people by the content of their character?

(P) The implication in this phrase is that Gloucester trusts his illegitimate son more so than Edgar. Edmund has tricked his father so he can gain future power, and will probably continue to scheme until he can have absolute power. He will face opposition from the others in the story that are also hoping to gain power, such as Goneril.

( R ) - This selection of the passage reveals a great deal about human nature. Edmund has lied his way into the spotlight, while ruining the life of Edgar. All of this has been done to benefit himself, to earn land, and be a big part of the kingdom. This reveals that humans, not all, but a majority, are selfish, and will put the lives of themselves ahead of others, even if it means ruining the life of another to benefit yourself.

*****I gave you a pretty short quotation here, but you've gotten a good bit out of it. I'll bet you can work in the motifs of vision (sight vs. insight) and the reversal of natural order....

(L) Lear asks, “You expect me to cry?”, and then he responds with, “Well, I won’t.” This is an example of a hypophora, as he immediately answers his own question. This adds a dimension to his anger because it highlights how his opinion is already set in stone. He doesn’t even give Regan or Goneril a chance to respond: this limits their ability to resolve his anger. 

(P) After declaring that he doesn’t know what he is going to do to get back at his daughter's, and looking at his current situation, it seems that King Lear will end up not doing anything at all. He doesn’t have nearly enough power to have any sort major impact on Reagan or Goneril’s position, and he himself does not have the resources to attack either one of them to harm them physically. So I predict that he will not do anything to either of his daughters.

(T) These lines also hint at Lear’s fall into madness. Lear seems to almost be aware of his sanity beginning to slip away, but in true narcissist fashion, tries to credit this to other people’s supposed wrongdoings. He is desperate, and reeling from his fall from power.