King Lear--3 (We have seen the best of our time)

This first act is packed with stuff that I think is really interesting. Scene two features Gloucester ruminating on all the crazy stuff that just happened at the court. Then, he is too easily fooled by Edmund, his bastard son, into thinking that Edgar, his "legitimate" son, is trying to take over. I want to skip on to scene four, because it has a lot to do with me, but these two characters, Edmund and Edgar, are really important, so I want at least to mention them. There's not much to say yet about Edgar. First Edmund easily tricks Gloucester about Edgar, then he easily tricks Edgar into acting in an incriminating way. So, not much strength for Edgar, but he grows. Edmund gives an interesting but ultimately unilluminating speech about nature being his goddess and about how bastardy shouldn't be considered base. It's a good speech and is illustrative of Edmund's character, but it does not hold the clue to why he is evil.

But enough. That scene ends with Edgar fleeing, Gloucester determined to punish him for a letter he never wrote. What I really want to talk about is unemployment. Yes, this is the soul-crushing reality in which I continue to live, but also it remains a key element in Lear. Kent was fired and banished as an adviser in scene one. In scene four, he's back in disguise, determined to get his old job back. Consider the following job interview:

KING LEAR

Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready.
Exit an Attendant
How now! what art thou?
KENT
A man, sir.
KING LEAR
What dost thou profess? what wouldst thou with us?
KENT
I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve
him truly that will put me in trust: to love him
that is honest; to converse with him that is wise,
and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I
cannot choose; and to eat no fish.
KING LEAR
What art thou?
KENT
A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king.
KING LEAR
If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a
king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst thou?
KENT
Service.
KING LEAR
Who wouldst thou serve?
KENT
You.
KING LEAR
Dost thou know me, fellow?
KENT
No, sir; but you have that in your countenance
which I would fain call master.
KING LEAR
What's that?
KENT
Authority.
KING LEAR
What services canst thou do?
KENT
I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious
tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message
bluntly: that which ordinary men are fit for, I am
qualified in; and the best of me is diligence.
KING LEAR
How old art thou?
KENT
Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing, nor
so old to dote on her for any thing: I have years
on my back forty eight.
KING LEAR
Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no
worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet.

Lear asks questions not too much unlike what some employers ask, but Kent gives the answers that I wish we could all give. Imagine if he'd answered: I'm a detail-oriented self-starter with personal ambition but a commitment to a team environment. These buzz-words! These cliches! They are gut-wrenching, soul-sucking. Of course, it's highly unlikely that I will come across a potential employer whom I will want to serve on the basis of their apparent authority.