A mind lost and a mind changed

“What is madness but nobility of soul . At odds with Circumstance?”
-Theodore Roethke.

Theodore Roethke, being that he is The Messiah, has inadvertently seized the central message of Act 4, Scene VI. It is at this point where Lear has supposedly lost his senile mind, mumbling things that are completely irrelevant to the situation. Yet, I found myself enthralled in every word he said. His words were entirely comprehensible,(in that I was able to understand them due to the language, and able to understand the points he was making and the reasons behind those points) reasonable. They were simply misplaced. It was not the content of his mind that was askew, it was simply not in accord with the circumstances.
This act changed my mind about “King Lear”. In previous posts, I expressed a mild distaste for his diction and declared myself detached from the plot line because of it. (I give myself 25 alliteration points.)I am still ambivalent to the play itself, but I enjoyed this segment so much that it made the entire play worthwhile.
A few of my favorite lines:

* What was thy cause?

Adultery? Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? No. The
 
wren goes to 't, and the small gilded fly does lecher in my
 
sight. Let copulation thrive...

That one is brilliant for the last line, which essentially means “Long live sex!” He feels that it should be embraced, and people should look to nature to see that their own conceptions of sex are artificial. In nature, there is no shame around instinct. I see a critique of the societal assumption that an intrinsic human behavior is disgusting or ignominious.

*Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand.

Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back.
 
Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind
 
For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.

Lear is speaking of sinners punishing sinners. He notes that policemen may whip whores, but it does not redeem them for the fact that they use them to satisfy their own lust. Going along with sin and retribution, another of my favorite quotes from the same monologue:

*Through tattered clothes great vices do appear;
 
Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.

This statement struck me in particular because it is so true. Lear is stating,( from what I can interpret, contemptuously) that money can buy one out of guilt. The poor are punished more severely for their sins, because they are powerless. Money drives everything, and if one has enough of it he/she can bribe people into silence.

Methinks I like Shakespeare more now.