Lear's purgatorial torment, complete with imagined instruments of torture, has so thoroughly cleansed his spirit that he can finally experience, at the very end of his life, the regenerative love of his angelic Cordelia. Through tragic irony, this sweet and long-awaited moment of heavenly reconciliation is followed immediately by the cruel deaths of both Lear and Cordelia. Shakespeare has been careful, however, to counterbalance defeat on the physical level with victory on the psychological and spiritual realms. Lear dies, but only after he has gained wisdom through suffering and heavenly compassion through the redemptive grace of Cordelia. Our journey as spectators has been productive, just as this old man's progress through the play has been.
Most people go through life without ever truly knowing themselves or being assured of eternal bliss.
As a result of following in Lear's footsteps, we may have moved a little closer to each of these distant goals.