In Northrop Frye's essay on King Lear, he gives a wonderful description of Shakespeare's handling of time, first in general and then specifically in the play. I'll give you the passage in its entirety:

"Many critics of Shakespeare have noticed that there often seems to be two time clocks in the action of his plays, the events in the foreground summarizing slower and bigger events in the background that by themselves would take longer to work out. It's a little like looking at the scenery from the window of a car or a train, with the weeds at the side of the road rushing by and the horizon turning slowly. In the foreground action the scene on the heath seems to take place in the same night that begins with Regan and Cornwall shutting Lear out. In the background we pick up hints that Albany and Cornwall are at loggerheads, but are forced to compose their differences and unite against a threatened invasion from France, partly encouraged by Cordelia, although in the foreground action nothing has yet happened to Lear that would justify such an invasion."

Amazing. And I mean both Shakespeare's technical virtuosity and Frye's description of it. Tomorrow, I'll discuss the critic commonly given credit for identifying this "double time" effect.