King Lear

A short scene entirely about competition between sisters over a man — with a death sentence folded in at the end. Regan questions Oswald about Albany's movements and Goneril's letter to Edmund. She cannot intercept the letter — Oswald won't allow it — but she can work around it. She begins by noting it was a mistake to let Gloucester live after blinding him. "Where he arrives he moves all hearts against us." Edmund, she claims, has gone to dispatch him — both to end his misery and to assess the strength of the French forces. Then she gets to the real point. She knows Goneril does not love Albany. She saw the "strange oeillades and most speaking looks" Goneril gave Edmund during her last visit. She knows Oswald is in Goneril's confidence. And so she delivers her message plainly: Cornwall is dead. She has spoken with Edmund. He is "more convenient" for her hand than for Goneril's. She asks Oswald to carry this back to his mistress and to advise her to "call her wisdom to her." It is a territorial warning delivered through a servant. Goneril is being told to stand down. As Oswald prepares to leave, Regan adds one final instruction: if he happens to encounter the blind Gloucester on the road, there is advancement waiting for whoever kills him. "Preferment falls on him that cuts him off." Oswald says he would very much like to meet him. The scene is brief and cold. Cornwall has been dead for less than a day. Regan is already negotiating her next arrangement.