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As the play opens and Lear still sits upon the throne of England, he displays erratic behavior. When his "favorite" daughter refuses to shower him with the shameless sycophantic blather lavished upon him by her siblings, he immediately disowns her and banishes a favored courtier who dared to defend the distressed damsel. Lear's insistence upon a gargantuan entourage meant his banishment from both daughters’ households, and he wandered out into the howling winds with no one but his pitiful court fool. But this transformation from regality to raggedness was sure to upset someone of Lear's stature - and the subsequent mental destabilization allowed his empty mind to be filled with new meaning.
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