http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/poor-tom Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 21 Apr 2026 05:01:34 -0400 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 05:01:34 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/20/allows-itself-to-anything-poor-tom-familiarizing-and-enacting-chaos-in-king-lear By Leslie S. Lee - In Act 1, scene 2, Edmund responds to Edgar’s entrance with the following: “Pat he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy. My cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o’Bedlam. –O, these eclipses do portend these divisions. Fa, sol, la, mi.” (134-137) Edmund’s introduction of the Tom o’Bedlam character is preceded by his disparagement of astrological superstitions, which he then performs for Edmund as if in the voice of Tom o’Bedlam. Thus these lines create an association between the Tom o’Bedlam figure and a belief in astrological... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:13 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/20/allows-itself-to-anything-poor-tom-familiarizing-and-enacting-chaos-in-king-lear