Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here (1.1.183-192)

KENT

Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. To CORDELIA The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, That justly think'st, and hast most rightly said! To REGAN and GONERIL And your large speeches may your deeds approve, That good effects may spring from words of love. Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu; He'll shape his old course in a country new. Exit

At Lear’s final decision to banish him, Kent says his farewells to each of the main parties 1 at a time. Offering them each a sentence involving a rhyming couplet. Kent’s line to Lear: The isocolon in “Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here” shows not only the situation for Kent but also for all of England; this foreshadows the suffering for all in England. Be they good or bad, everyone, who comes to England, even Cordelia dies in England, despite the fact that she’s only there for a short period. The personification of “freedom” makes the notion of its possibility more palpable. His speech switches from Lear to Cordelia. Kent calls on gods now to give Cordelia shelter for her honest speech and just thoughts. Importantly, Kent does not ask for a specific god - just god in general. Therefore - unlike Lear - Kent is still aligned with Christianity. Notice that someone does give her “shelter”: France. Since France does what the gods ought, he makes a perfect holy king. It is also interesting to note that Cordelia receives shelter for her honesty without begging anything, whereas Lear is removed from shelter because of his inability to detect liars, despite his constant pleading to the gods during the sentencing of Kent. He ends his farewell to Cordelia - moving on to Goneril and Regan, telling them that he hopes that their “deeds” match their extensive “large speeches”, and “that good effects may spring from words of love”. Kent now bids everyone farewell. Notice that he uses the French “adieu” instead of an English version of goodbye. This foreshadows that freedom lies in France and that Cordelia - who Kent has prayed for in a sense - will go to liberty with France. Kent’s final line before departure involves his plan for the future: to shape the corrupt England “in a country new”. This assures us that he will return and that when he does, he shall try to fix the country. With the stage direction “Exit”, there comes a feeling of finality: Kent isn’t coming back for a while.