“We must do something,” Goneril’s fear blurts out, “and in the heat!” She and Regan have made the mistake of thinking about what might happen instead of defying their circumstances for too many decades, and now their father’s unpredictable moods have ended in two banishments which his pride will not allow him to revoke.

They can neither turn back the clock nor stop its relentless march forward, but they can agree to meet the changes as they come, arm in arm, and even then its gears grind them up without mercy.