N<\/span>ote #1: Act 1, scene 2 of King Lear<\/em>, which initiates Edmund\u2019s plots against father Gloucester and brother Edgar, is structured chiastically:<\/p>\n A. Edmund\u2019s first soliloquy.<\/p>\n B. Edmund with Gloucester, accusing Edgar.<\/p>\n C. Edmund\u2019s second soliloquy.<\/p>\n B\u2019. Edmund with Edgar, sowing suspicion that Gloucester is suspicious of Edgar.<\/p>\n A\u2019. Edmund\u2019s third soliloquy.<\/p>\n The structure beautifully reinforces the substance. Edmund is present throughout, the single continuity of the scene. Edmund surrounds the scene, just as his plot encircles Gloucester and Edgar like a tightening noose. At the same time, Edmund stands in the middle of the scene, dividing his father from his brother. He besieges them in order to sow suspicions that will lead to a breach.<\/p>\n Note #2: The end of Act 4 has the sense of an ending. After the mayhem of Act 3 (Lear going mad on the heath, the brutal blinding of Gloucester), Act 4 begins to mend the world. Just when he thinks he\u2019s hit bottom, Edgar discovers his father wandering blindly toward Dover to throw himself from the cliff. Edgar is able to save him, and to restore himself to his father\u2019s favor. In the last scene of Act 4, Lear and Cordelia are reunited and reconciled, sealed by Cordelia\u2019s lovely gift of forgiveness (\u201cYou have some cause to hate me,\u201d says Lear; \u201cNo cause, no cause,\u201d Cordelia replies). <\/p>\n