LorinSchumacher

At the end of Act III:

Corn. I have receiv'd a hurt. Follow me, lady.
Turn out that eyeless villain. Throw this slave
Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace.
Untimely comes this hurt. Give me your arm.

While "I have receiv'd a hurt" is a bit understated, he mentions his bleeding (something people in the back row might not have noticed... especially if they didn't use fake blood on stage), and he first tries to exit on his own -- perhaps to prove to the onlookers that he's not seriously hurt -- but he can't make it offstage without Regan's help. All together, that hints that he's in trouble.

Yeah I did pick up that he was hurt, but it does frustrate me that it was never made explicit until the messenger comes to tell Goneril and the others. For some reason I really didn't like this play as much as I usually like Shakespeare. I might change my mind after we discuss it more in class (because usually that happens when I don't enjoy a work) but, in general I just don't think this play was put together as well as his plays normally are. The characters just seem to drop dead randomly. Cordelia and King Lear were to be assassinated, but when someone was sent to the prison to save them, somehow I guess Cordelia was already assassinated because King Lear comes out holding her dead corps. Except how did he get out of prison? And, if Cordelia was indeed already assassinated, how did Lear avoid the same fate? And then he just drops dead while lamenting his dead daughter. I don't know, maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read it or something, but overall the play just didn't do what Shakespeare normally does for me.