The bow is bent and drawn (1.1.142-146)

KENT

Royal Lear, Whom I have ever honour'd as my king, Loved as my father, as my master follow'd, As my great patron thought on in my prayers,--

KING LEAR

The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.

Kent ignores Lear’s warning and starts to speak by addressing Lear directly with “Royal Lear”. He prepares to state how he views Lear in such a way that he is almost what could be considered Lear’s ideal daughter: he “honour’d” Lear ”as [his] king; he “loved” Lear “as [his] father”; “follow’d” as his “master”; prayed for him. The isocolon here builds these clauses up making the first seem least important showing that royalty is far less important to Kent than a divine relationship. Kent perhaps notices Lear’s tendency to trust flattery and therefore gives it to him before making his true point. However, Kent does not go to the extremes like Regan or Goneril and instead keeps his flattery in the realm of non-fiction. Maybe this is what causes Lear not to be enthralled, but - if Kent were to copy Goneril and Regan in extremity - his point would be weakened. Kent’s flattery bears more similarity to Cordelia who speaks of all Kent says with the exception of prayer. Why does Kent speak of praying when Cordelia does not? Perhaps Kent is more aware of Lear going against God than Cordelia and hence mentions prayer to get his mind on the subject, or perhaps it could mark a greater difference in their positions despite the pair using more familiar pronouns than Lear uses with Cordelia. Lear interrupts Kent yet again - mentioning that his anger will unleash itself upon Kent if he does not stop, using the metaphor of wrath being a bow. Considering the metaphor, we can assume the descriptions of the bow to also accurately describe Lear’s mental state. “Bent” suggests that he lacks rationale but also suggests that he is taking a different path to the one going forward; this could be the path to heaven, so his route is bent in the other direction. “Drawn” in this case suggests attacking, so Lear could be seen as short-tempered and violent in his old age. It’s important to remember that Lear is threatening to kill his most loyal man here: he clearly has lost his ability to make good decisions. Once again we can link this back to Scythians - who were bowmen. This also makes Lear’s mental state look bad as it suggests barbaric behaviour, and that - since Scythians were particularly harsh with their enemies - Kent’s life and livelihood are at great risk.