Every so often I might pause the telling of this story to reflect. My thoughts now are dwelt on the phrase spoken by King Lear: “Nothing will come of nothing”.
It is spoken in anger to his daughter Cordelia because she has refused to be sycophantic like her two sisters.
If I have understood it correctly this is a portent from Lear unaware that he is forecasting his own demise. As a piece of theatre, the playwright is warning us that we are about to see a tragedy unfold.
But undeniably the universal truth expressed here is that Lear wished to feel loved or wanted, yet tragically he was unable to see Cordelia did love him.
The play was later rewritten with a happy ending by Nahum Tate.
When I discovered Nahum Tate had rewritten the play with this happy ending and that Tate had also unwittingly influenced Handel’s work for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos that the Chandos pub is named for (as per its original pub sign picturing that very Duke) I was gradually drawn into this mystery.