Regan Unfinished

He hath ever but slenderly known himself

• Act One Scene One

• Blindness, Arrogance, Hamartia, Fatal flaw

• Regan identifies Lear’s fatal flaw: he lacks self-knowledge

‘the most precious of sense possesses’ 1.1 74

You should be ruled and led By some discretion that discerns your state Better than you yourself

• Act Two Scene Two

• Betrayal

• Regan tries to tell Lear that Lear does not see himself clearly.

• This develops an important question: whether elderly men should continue to wield power, or pass it on to the next generation.

‘our power shall do a curtsey to our wrath’ 3.7 25-6

‘what have you done, tigers not daughers, what have you performed?’ (from Albany) 4.2 40