I'll tell thee thou dost evil (1.1.165-169)

ALBANY CORNWALL

Dear sir, forbear.

KENT

Do: Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy gift; Or, whilst I can vent clamour from my throat, I'll tell thee thou dost evil.

Albany and Cornwall jump into the conversation, asking Kent to “forbear” before it’s too late. The similarity between Albany and Cornwall here serves to create a shared position between them so that later it is a greater surprise that Albany is really a good character compared to his wife, Regan, and Cornwall. At the same time - after seeing the play - the fact that both characters show concern for Kent strikes a strange contrast between the two as Albany is likely truly concerned and therefore being honest, whereas Cornwall is not. The audience is put in the selfsame position as Lear - not being able to recognise liars from honest, faithful men without prior knowledge of the play. Kent, however, ignores even their warning and tells Lear - with the metaphor: “Do: kill thy physician” - that he is getting rid of his source of healing by banishing Kent and by extension Cordelia. He also speaks of Lear’s daughters by calling them “thy foul disease”. The semantic field of disease is continued throughout the play to describe Goneril and Regan, but Lear only starts to call them by such words when they behave cruelly towards him, and he is exposed to the truth of their lacking love for Lear. Kent’s use of this semantic field shows that he knows the sisters for what they are. He orders Lear with the imperative “revoke” to not give them the “gift” and if he does not then he will continue to make clear to Lear that “he’ll tell thee thou dost evil.”; this terse command carries with it a harsh consonance of “t” that makes it seem almost as if Kent is spitting the words out. It’s a brutal truth that Lear is abandoning god with these actions and thus committing evil acts. Kent says that as long as he can “vent” he will keep saying this. The verb “vent” suggests wind as it is quite literally the French word for wind, aligning Kent with not only nature but Cordelia and god as well. When Lear is later turned out into the elements by Goneril and Regan, it’s Kent and Cordelia who receive him in a strange way through their associations to nature. “Clamour” is paired with “vent”, and could perhaps suggest the wind will be loud and vehement, further associating the later harsh weather with Kent.