KENT: Where’s the King?
GENTLEMAN: Contending with the fretful elements;
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea
Or swell the curlèd waters ‘bove the main,
That things might change or cease; tears his white hair,
Which the impetuous blasts with eyeless rage
Catch in their fury and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man to outscorn
The to-and-fro conflicting wind and rain.
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinchèd wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs
And bids what will take all.
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1. A gentleman tells Kent that Lear is contending with a horrific storm that is coming on. Nature is disrupted and so is Lear’s nature. Instead of seeking shelter he runs bare-headed through the wind and rain crying out for the world to end, while all animals take cover. Trying to "outscorn" the hostile elements, he bids them to drown the earth so that things might change or stop for him. As he clearly descends into madness, the physical storm becomes a metaphor for Lear’s inner emotional turmoil.