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If we assume that Lear's insanity starts on the heath, he is at first in an uncontrollable rage but suffers no delusions. The delusions start when he meets poor Tom (he imagines him to be a Greek philosopher), and continue as he imagines himself presiding over a court to try Goneril. By the time he meets Gloucester near Dover, the delusions have become much worse, and his thought processes are muddled, although he does have moments of lucidity. The rage seems to have died down but does flare up occasionally ("Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill").

After he is treated by the physicians, "the great rage is kill'd in him" but he is still having trouble grasping reality, he is "far wide". Soon he is restored to sanity until the death of Cordelia again pushes him over the edge.

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15y ago

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