Kent: device/character/hope

• Kent


  Loyalty personified
• Kent: '"thou dost evil" in banishing Cordelia'
• Kent's unfailing allegiance to his master

  Establishes him as the protector of the divine right of Kings
• Kent's actions


  • Assault on Oswald
  • Defiance of Cornwall and Regan
• Kent


  • Balanced and sound disposition when facing misfortune
  • Able to make light of his misery even in the stocks
• Kent in the stocks

  Represents Lear's disempowerment and the ineffectual nature of Kent's loyalty
• Kent's loyalty may be seen as misguided rather than a symbol of hopeful defiance
• Kent's unfailing loyalty


  Evidence of his exploitation as he supports a social hierarchy irrespective of whether it is worthy of such allegiance
• Kent's "plain speaking"


  More harmful to Lear than commendable
• Kent's death suggests the absence of courage, integrity, loyalty and honesty in the play
• Lear's partial recognition of Kent

  Emphasises the tragic ineffectual nature of Kent's loyalty
• Kent: '"Is this the promised end?"'
• Kent acts as the audience's chronicler and mouthpiece, mirroring their disappointment