A nobleman of the same rank as Gloucester, banished by Lear in the first scene when he attempts to intercede with the king on Cordelia's behalf. Kent spends most of the play disguised as Caius, a disguise he takes on so that he can continue to serve Lear even after being thrown out of his kingdom.
Kent Quotes in King Lear
The King Lear quotes below are all either spoken by Kent or refer to Kent. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Simon & Schuster edition of King Lear published in 2004.
Get the entire King Lear LitChart as a printable PDF.
Kent Character Timeline in King Lear
The timeline below shows where the character Kent appears in King Lear. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, scene 1
Kent and Gloucester are in King Lear's court, discussing Lear's plan to give up his power...
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Act 1, scene 2
...disorder in the skies that predicts all the chaos that has happened with Lear, Cordelia, Kent, and now him: "these late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to...
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Act 1, scene 4
Kent returns in the disguise of Caius, a commoner, to offer his services to Lear. Lear...
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Act 1, scene 5
Lear explains what happened with Goneril to Kent (who is still disguised as Cauis), and then sends Kent to deliver a letter to...
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Act 2, scene 2
Outside Gloucester's castle, Kent and Oswald run into each other, waiting for responses to the letters that they brought...
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Act 2, scene 4
...and not to have been informed of her departure, Lear grows infuriated when he sees Kent in the stocks, demanding to know who put him there. Kent explains that Regan and...
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Act 3, scene 1
Kent, out looking for Lear, runs into a Gentleman. The Gentleman describes seeing Lear out in...
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Act 3, scene 2
...stand your slave/ A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man" (21-2), Lear raves. When Kent arrives on the scene, directing Lear to a hovel that he has found, Lear finally...
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Act 3, scene 4
Lear, Kent and the Fool arrive at the hovel. Lear still insists that the "tempest in his...
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Act 3, scene 6
Inside the house to which he has shown them, Kent thanks Gloucester, and then reports that Lear has gone entirely mad. Gloucester exits as Lear,...
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Act 4, scene 3
In the French war camp, Kent asks a Gentleman about Cordelia's reaction to the letter that he sent in 3.1. The...
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Act 4, scene 7
Back in the French camp, Cordelia thanks Kent for all the service that he has shown her father and asks him to take...
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Act 5, scene 3
...to bear his mixture of joy and grief, died on the spot. Edgar adds that Kent came upon them, as Gloucester was dying, and revealed himself as having served Lear in...
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