King Lear with Nature

King Lear evidently has a close relationship with nature; he screams to the vicious storm in Act III, challenging the storm clouds as Deities. As said by a gentleman, Lear is "contending with the elements" in Act III scene i, in rage addressing nature. He also laments his grievances against his daughters to the storm, personifying it in the process.

It is apparent that Lear initially resents nature for making it possible that his daughters are ungrateful: "Crack Nature's molds, all germens spill at once, That make ingrateful man!" He challenged and despises nature. However, his emotions shift as he tells Nature that he is weak and despised, and that he does not heap his unkindness on it; in this light, Nature seems to become a sort of therapist for Lear. It seems all the more a "therapist" when Lear, in a brief monologue in Act III scene iv, "This tempest will not give me leave to ponder on things would hurt me more." Lear admits he is preoccupied by the raging storm so much so that he is distracted by what troubles him most, therefore the storm-- and nature-- benefits his wits.

Lear's perceptions of nature lean in two separate directions, depending upon the state of his senility at different points in time. When most furious and senile, Lear does not fear the wrath and cold of the storm-- he stands hatless in the pouring rain, and once with Edgar, tears at his clothes despite the pervasive cold mentioned previously. When his wits are about him, such as when he is lead by Kent to the hovel, Lear seems to recognize the perniciousness of the brutal storm. He comments on the chill and even dives into a speech about how unfortunate people are forgotten and beaten by the storm while others carry on about there lives. His recognition and humility by the storm comes only infrequently, however, and in general, the senile old man neither fears nor reveres the storm, and in effect, Nature. He instead treats Nature as a venue to which he can emote and bemoan his life.