Act 4, Scene 5: Oswald carries a message back to Regan from Goneril and Regan finds out that she has also sent a message to Edmund. Regan, now that her husband is dead, decides that she should marry Edmund. Thinking that her sister also has affection for him and not for her husband, she wants to win him before Goneril can get him. She sends a note back to her sister and sends someone out to find Edmund.
Act 4, Scene 6: Gloucester wants Edgar to take him to a cliff so he can commit suicide. Edgar, not wanting his father to die, tricks him into thinking they are at the cliff. Gloucester throws himself on the ground, and Edgar revives him saying that he fell off the cliff and still lived, so the gods must want it that way. They begin walking and Lear runs into them spouting gibberish. Some of his sayings have reason to them, but others are pure madness. Men enter and try to take the king to his daughter, but he refuses to go. They hear an army in the distance, and Edgar takes Gloucester's hand so he can lead him to safety. Oswald enters baring a sword and Edgar steps between him and Gloucester. To protect his father he ends up killing the messenger, who on his death says to deliver his letters to Edmund. Edgar reads the letter in which Goneril plots with Edmund to kill her husband. Edgar, wanting to help in the fighting, takes his father to a safe place where someone can watch over him.
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