Kent enters with Lear and the Fool. He tries to persuade Lear to go into the hut, but Lear says that the storm is nothing compared to the torment of his mind and he is too distraught by his daughters’ ingratitude to care about taking shelter. He tells the Fool to go into the hut, which he does. Lear regrets that, as a king, he never took the plight of the homeless and the poor into account.
A voice (Edgar’s) from inside the hut shouts some nonsense and the Fool rushes out, crying that there is a spirit inside. Kent comforts him and asks what the problem is. The Fool tells him that a creature calling itself Poor Tom is inside. Edgar, disguised as a madman, comes out. Lear asks him if he has gone mad because he gave everything to his two daughters and is now reduced to this state. Lear notices Edgar’s nakedness and asks if that is all man is at the end of the day: a lowly creature such as this. He tears off his own clothes, despite the Fool’s protestations.
Gloucester enters and is unimpressed to see the King with what he thinks is a mad beggar. He doesn’t realise that ‘Poor Tom’ is his son Edgar. Gloucester sympathises with Lear’s predicament, saying that they both have vile children who hate them. He tells Lear that he has found a place where he can shelter and have some food. The storm rages on and Lear finally agrees to go inside, but only if he can bring Poor Tom with him. He has taken a fancy to him and calls him a noble philosopher. Soothingly, Gloucester leads them away with him.
