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A Level English Literature Edexcel King Lear Literary Critics Notes Bundle
In order to support the AO5 criteria, these are a compilation of notes made on several literary critics of King Lear.
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KING LEAR - LIT CRIT BUNDLERenaissance Views of Madness: King Lear (Adrian Ingham)
● Shakespeare’s medical model alone is insufficient to ‘diagnose’ King Lear
● De Propriatibus Rerum = 13th century monk Batholomaeus Anglicus - focuses on the
model of the four humours - an imbalance of black bile would usually lead to melancholy
and in extreme cases it could lead to madness.
● Instead, Lear is choleric by nature - his madness is caused by an excess of that humour.
● In Bartholomaeus’s model - the excess of choler is called the “frenesie” and caused by
red choler
● Cure = bleeding the patient, shaving the head and applying vinegar and ointment to the
head, creating a calm environment for the patient + simple diet.
● Timothy Bright calls all madness melancholy but distinguishes 2 different types = natural
melancholy + unnatural melancholy
● Natural melancholy (resembles Barth. model) = can cause "stormes of outrageous love,
hatred, hope or feare, wherewith bodies so passionate are here and there, tossed with
disquiet..." - can only be attributed to physical imbalances.
● Unnatural melancholy - occurs in situations where it is much more likely to go mad -
torment or stress-induced situations.
● It makes sense for him to go mad because of mental stress and guilt (unnatural
melancholy).
● "Here no medicine, no purgation, no cordiall, no tryacle or balme are able to assure the
afflicted soule and trembling heart, now panting under the terrors of God" - not even rest
could have helped Lear.
● Cordelia’s forgiveness is what releases him of depression.
● When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down And ask of thee forgiveness. So we'll
live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor
rogues Talk of court news... (5.3.10-14) - he presents a different disposition - a humble
speech - a reaction to losing his ‘war’ and going to prison
● The above can be contrasted with Lear’s reaction to Kent’s advice at the beginning of
the play: Hear me, recreant, On thine allegiance, hear me! That thou hast sought to
make us break our vow -- Which we durst never yet -- and with strained pride To come
betwixt our sentence and our power -- Which nor our nature nor our place can bear...
(1.1.166-71)
● Earlier speech is concerned with power and title - later one is humanity and friendship
● The Fool's statement that "truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped
out"foreshadows the pain that Lear will have to pass through before attaining
enlightenment.
● This vision of madness is characteristic of Shakespeare’s era.
● By the 18th century - it was viewed as nothing more than degradation and shame.
● Lear dies because he learns how to love, "His death is a release from suffering, but also
a testimony to what he has become" (Byrd 8).
, ● Lear is a fusion of not only Bright and his predecessors, but also of Renaissance
feelings towards madness.
Diagnosing Lear (Anthony Daniels)
● Lear’s case can be likened to the conditions of those in an asylum
● In turn, dementia to manic depressive psychosis have been offered in response to Lear’s
case.
● The medicalisation of Lear’s behaviour deprives it of moral significance
● Gloucester blames eclipses and planetary influences for human suffering in the same
way we blame social circumstances.
● The scene of Edmund’s soliloquy = he uses an incorrect explanation of human conduct
to his advantage (pretends to believe in astrology in front of Edgar)
● “Edmund’s resentment takes the evil form of granting himself permission to behave any
way he likes…”
● As a psychological result of moral judgements being made against him - believes it is
reasonable to inflict justice upon others.
● He makes a “wrongful conclusion from his own experience”
● “The unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.” (Goneril) =
people become more like themselves during their old age - Lear had not known himself
before then, nor did he know his daughters - emphasises his ignorance.
● “I fear I am not in my perfect mind…” - a fluctuating level of consciousness - would
implicate diagnosis - however Daniels enforces that it should not be looked at as a
medical condition.
● Lear’s explicit need for affection and flattery from his daughters can reflect our society’s
explicit expression of emotion - Daniels says we favour the “spoken rather than the
unspoken,”.
● Through Cordelia’s response to Lear’s need for affection - she emphasises the idea that
emotions are and should be “susceptible to discipline and proper proportion”. - she
answers the way she does because that is how she truly feels.
● In turn, her speech teaches to not “stimulate strengths of emotion we do not...feel.”
● King Lear = “words do not always mean what they say, and that judgement is
necessary.”
King Lear and Chaos - Lit Crit - What does Storozynsky argue about the role of Nature in
King Lear?
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