"Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind.
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind."
This seems to mean that children are only kind to their fathers when they are rich and have materialistic things to give, but when they don't have their riches anymore their children tend to neglect them. Here the Fools seems to be hinting to the King that his daughters, Regan and Goneril do not want him anymore because he has given all his riches to them and they are no longer in need of him. This was another hint to Lear that him giving away his kingdom to his daughters was not the smartest decision he made, but Lear did not seem to realise what he was saying. The Fool's last two lines- lines 8 and 9- contradict and question what King Lear will receive in the coming year, whether it be a lot of money or pain.
Later on in the scene, the Fool's second speech to kent shows the audience/reader that the fool was trying to show Kent that serving the King will get him no where because the King is miserable and poor now, so he should, " Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following." He further states that he only wants idiots to follow his advice because it is the advice of a fool. The last 8 lines seem to be a foreshadow of what is going to happen when the storm comes, which is that some will leave the King alone in the storm and the fool will stay in the storm but the wise will run away.
Lastly, the fools final speech to King Lear was telling him to continue talking to his heart like the cockney- housewife- did to the eels in her pie, for it will not change or help anything that he is suffering right now so he can continue talking to it like a fool, but nothing will change. This thus shows the audience that the King just continues to get more foolish and miserable as the plot unravels.
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