The Nightmare Charm in King Lear

Abstract

In Act II scene iv of Shakespeare’s King Lear (1605) there occurs a jingle which can be recognised as a version of a charm against the nightmare current in late medieval and Tudor times. Before discussing it in detail, it is as well to explain its context within the play, which is rather complex. In Lear there are two tightly interwoven plots, one concerning the king and his daughters, and the other dealing with the Duke of Gloucester and his two sons, the virtuous Edgar and the villainous Edmund. By a series of vicious lies, Edmund causes such mistrust between his father and Edgar that the latter flees from home, convinced that his beloved father wants to have him murdered. He then disguises himself as a mad half-naked beggar, Poor Tom, and hides in a hovel on the heath, where Lear and his Fool accidentally find him. They do not recognise him, and indeed the transformation in his appearance and mode of speech is so complete that, from the point of view of a theatre audience, the identity of Edgar is rapidly obliterated by the powerful persona of the sinister madman Tom. The shock of the encounter terrifies the Fool, and tips Lear himself, whose mind is already cracking, into complete madness.