One last thing... I asked David about the fact of whether this play expressed the possibility that through suffering Lear and Gloucester acquired wisdom and insight? Was this a hopeful play? David answered: of course that is the nature of all tragedy... wisdom and insight is gained, but only after it is too late... only after the last moment of hope is gone... so the wisdom and insight is (in Aristotle's terms) something that we the audience carry into our lives... rather than something the characters on stage benefit from... (this last thought is what I have added). I am wondering aloud whether this also applies to the death of someone like Ivan Illych... whose last moment IS a moment of insight... and in that moment he is, as it were saved, despite the failure of his life as a whole.....
over and out.