Enter EDGAR: The previous scene ended with Kent going to sleep in the stocks. In the next scene Kent is in the stocks when the scene opens. Therefore in this scene Kent must be in the stocks when Edgar enters and delivers the twenty-one lines that explain that he is going disguise himself as a Bedlam Beggar. Since Kent fell asleep at the end of the previous scene, he must still be asleep, but he is also just not there. If he were there, members of the audience might wonder why Edgar does not see him, and they might also wonder how Kent could sleep through Edgar's speech, and so the scene could create confusion. Therefore Kent is not within sight of Edgar. On a modern stage the lighting could indicate that what we are seeing is Edgar's escape from Gloucester's house sometime during the night which Kent spends in the stocks, but on Shakespeare's stage it would fall upon each of the actors to make it clear that the other one is not present.
