<P> Oswald appears, still looking for Edmund . On Regan's orders, he tries to kill Gloucester but is killed by Edgar . In Oswald's pocket, Edgar finds Goneril's letter, in which she encourages Edmund to kill her husband and take her as his wife . Kent and Cordelia take charge of Lear, whose madness quickly passes . Regan, Goneril, Albany, and Edmund meet with their forces . Albany insists that they fight the French invaders but not harm Lear or Cordelia . The two sisters lust for Edmund, who has made promises to both . He considers the dilemma and plots the deaths of Albany, Lear, and Cordelia . Edgar gives Goneril's letter to Albany . The armies meet in battle, the British defeat the French, and Lear and Cordelia are captured . Edmund sends Lear and Cordelia off with secret - joint orders from him (representing Regan and her forces) and Goneril (representing the forces of her estranged husband, Albany) for the execution of Cordelia . </P> <P> The victorious British leaders meet, and the recently widowed Regan now declares she will marry Edmund . But Albany exposes the intrigues of Edmund and Goneril and proclaims Edmund a traitor . Regan falls ill, having been poisoned by Goneril, and is escorted offstage, where she dies . Edmund defies Albany, who calls for a trial by combat . Edgar appears masked and in armour, and challenges Edmund to a duel . No one knows who he is . Edgar wounds Edmund fatally, though he does not die immediately . Albany confronts Goneril with the letter which was intended to be his death warrant; she flees in shame and rage . Edgar reveals himself, and reports that Gloucester died offstage from the shock and joy of learning that Edgar is alive, after Edgar revealed himself to his father . </P> <P> Offstage, Goneril, her plans thwarted, commits suicide . The dying Edmund decides, though he admits it is against his own character, to try to save Lear and Cordelia; however, his confession comes too late . Soon after, Albany sends men to countermand Edmund's orders, Lear enters bearing Cordelia's corpse in his arms, having survived by killing the executioner . Kent appears and Lear now recognises him . Albany urges Lear to resume his throne, but as with Gloucester, the trials Lear has been through have finally overwhelmed him, and he dies . Albany then asks Kent and Edgar to take charge of the throne . Kent declines, explaining that his master is calling him on a journey and he must follow . Finally, Albany (in the Quarto version) or Edgar (in the Folio version) implies that he will now become king . </P> <P> Shakespeare's play is based on various accounts of the semi-legendary Brythonic figure Leir of Britain, whose name has been linked by some scholars to the Brythonic god Lir / Llŷr, though in actuality the names are not etymologically related . Shakespeare's most important source is probably the second edition of The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1587 . Holinshed himself found the story in the earlier Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which was written in the 12th century . Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, published 1590, also contains a character named Cordelia, who also dies from hanging, as in King Lear . </P>

Who is alive at the end of king lear