Quote 4
GLOUCESTER
Sir, this young fellow's mother could [conceive],
whereupon
she grew round-wombed, and had indeed,
sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband
for her bed. Do you smell a fault?
KENT
I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it
being so proper. (1.1.13-18)
This is an awfully strange way to open the play, don't you think? Just a few lines into King Lear, Gloucester begins to crack dirty jokes about the mother of his illegitimate child, Edmund. When he asks Kent if he "smell[s] a fault," he's referring to his son, who is standing right there. Gloucester's use of the term "fault" means a couple of things: 1) a sin—Edmund was conceived out of wedlock and, as we soon see, Edmund also turns out to be wicked ; 2) female genitals-Gloucester's implying that Edmund "smells" like his mother's vagina.
So, why are we talking about this crude joke? Well, it turns out that, in King Lear, Edmund is frequently associated with the female body. At 5.3 (see passage above), Edgar associates Edmund with the "dark and vicious place" where Edmund was begot. This also echo's a statement Lear makes when he's angry at his daughters – below women's "waist[s]," "there's hell, there's darkness, there's the sulphurous pit (4.6.123-130).
In other words, the female body is associated "sin" and "hell."
Quote 5
GLOUCESTER
Go to; say you nothing. There is division
betwixt the dukes, and a worse matter than that. I
have received a letter this night; 'tis dangerous to
be spoken; I have locked the letter in my closet.
These injuries the king now bears will be revenged
home; there's part of a power already footed. We
must incline to the king. I will look him, and privily
relieve him. Go you and maintain talk with the
Duke, that my charity be not of him perceived. If he
ask for me. I am ill, and gone to bed. If I die for it, as
no less is threatened me, the king my old master
must be relieved. (3.3.8-19)
Gloucester knows that he will get in trouble for helping Lear. So, why does he do it? Is he being loyal to the king or, is he worried about saving his own hide? (He knows that an army has landed in Dover to aid Lear and thinks the king will be "revenged.")