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RV 294 (Rh) added, to a selfish pursuit of his own pleasure. His sufferings, again, like Lear’s, purify and enlighten him: he dies a better and wiser man than he showed himself at first. They even learn the same lesson, and Gloster’s repetition (noticed and blamed by Johnson) of the thought in a famous speech of Lear’s is surely intentional. And, finally, Gloster dies almost as Lear dies. Edgar reveals himself to him and asks his blessing (as Cordelia asks Lear’s):

So far, the resemblance of the two stories, and also of the ways in which their painful effect is modified, is curiously close. And in character too Gloster is, like his master, affectionate, credulous