Reserve thy state (1.1.152-157)

KENT

Reserve thy state; And, in thy best consideration, check This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment, Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds Reverb no hollowness.

Kent continues, ordering Lear with the imperative “reserve” to keep his position. “Reserve” implies that he should keep it for someone - someone trustworthy, someone with values in line with god. "State" is quite ambiguous: is he talking about the state of Lear's power or the country. This ambiguity shows how Lear's problems and decisions affect not only him, but the whole country. Kent asks him to use his “best consideration” to stop acting so foolishly. He spells what Lear must do out now without metaphors or complicated language as Lear is clearly not grasping what Lear says. The word “check” - which denotes chess, where the king is the most important piece as one automatically loses should their king be killed. Chess - being a game played by courtly people - would be familiar to Lear, so - by using “check” - Kent’s message becomes clearer. Check-mate is a situation in chess where the king cannot be saved, so if Lear is being asked to check his own “hideous rashness”, it his clearly the ruling enemy of Lear. This clearly displays Lear himself (or his rash decisions) to be the villain of his own story as well as its hero. The other villainous characters are only able to act the way they do because of Lear and Lear’s actions lead not only to the death of himself, but all of his daughters, Edmund, and Gloucester, Cornwall, Oswald, and the fool. “Check” also implores Lear to actually acknowledge his rash decisions by examining. It could also recall Gloucester’s description of Edmund as a knave since both reference games. This draws up a comparison between Gloucester which continues throughout the play. He next tells him an obvious truth: “Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least”. This statement echoes Lear before Cordelia reveals her honest: “the last, not least”. By recalling this moment, Kent has Lear confirm himself that she is not least; she does not love him least. Next is a metaphor, the less sound is present, the fewer echoes emerge, the less hollowness is revealed. Hollowness in the literal sense would be a lack of substance, and here it is used to show the lack of love one has. In this case, Cordelia’s silence reinforces her love, whereas it works to display the lack of love Goneril and Regan have; in this way, their speeches work against them, and only one - as foolish as Lear is her - would fall for such lies.