King Lear Folder | Quizlet
STUDY FOCUS: KEY ISSUES TO EXPLORE
- Shifting sympathies, we feel for the characters throughout the play
- Justice or injustice of each character’s eventual fate
- Nature of Lear’s tragedy
- The subplot of Gloucester and his sons and HOW that gives dramatic
support to the story of Lear and his daughters’
- Role of the fool
- SYMBOLISM of blindness and sight
- Relevance of the Gods
- Conflicting views of nature held by the characters
- Significance of the word ‘NOTHING’
COLLECTION OF AO5:
German poet Goethe remarked “Every old man is a King Lear” - beneath the
extreme events of the story we will find life experiences common to
everyone
R.A.Foakes in his book ‘Hamlet Versus Lear’ 1993 – argues that we are likely
to perceive Lear to be the greatest tragedy of Shakespeare as it relates to
the pessimism and anxiety that great world events have made common over
the last century – DIVIDED NATION AND CORRUPT POWER
AO5 – ACT 1, SCENE 1 – Frank Kermode argues that as Lear has already
decided how to divide the kingdom the love test is simply for Lear to enjoy
his daughters elaborate praise – therefore Cordelia’s substitution of plainness
feels to him like a calculated insult - “The rage of the King confirms that he
cannot be temperate in the absence of ceremony; the love he seeks is the
sort that can be offered in formal and subservient expressions and he
therefore rejects the love of Cordelia and Kent” - Shakespeare’s Language
2000
Northrop Frye has pointed out that anyone unfamiliar with the story would be
likely to feel sympathy toward Goneril and Reagan whilst judging Lear and
Gloucester to be selfish and old fools – HIGHLIGHTS THE SHOCKING
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY
Act 3, Scene 1: for Polish theatre director, Jan Kott, King Lear represented a
bleakness that foreshadows the modern theatre of the absurd: “of the twelve
major characters one half are just and good, the other – unjust and bad. It is
a division just as consistent and abstract as in a morality play. But this is a
morality play in which everyone will be destroyed: noble characters long with
base ones, the persecutors with the persecuted, the torturers with the
,tortured. Vivisection will go on until the stage is empty” (Shakespeare Our
Contemporary, 1967).
Act 3, Scene 4: Some critics have argued that Poor Tom’s speeches contain
critical comments about the legitimacy of the witchcraft trials that were held
in England during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Tom’s ‘madness’ and
history of evildoing as a servant are a sham, while the real criminals, Goneril
and Regan, cause devastation.
COLLECTION OF CONTEXT:
Many have found the ending of the play too tragic – Between 1681-1838
‘King Lear’ was replaced by the Nahum Tate rewrite of the play wherein
Cordelia married Edgar at the end of the play and Lear, Kent and Gloucester
awaited happy retirement together.
ACT 2, SCENE 1 – Edmund is machiavellian like other Shakespeareant villains
– shakespeare's contemporaries misunderstood the works of the influential
Florentine writer, Niccolo Machiavelli, believing he proposed that rulers
should behave in immoral and corrupt ways. Edmund’s Mahiavellian
practices include deception, betrayal and sexual misconduct.
ACT 2, SCENE 4 – Rich householders and European rulers had employed fools
as entertainers for many generations – there were female as well as male
fools – fools worse distinctive dress and were multi-talented individuals; they
sang, danced, performed acrobatics and told jokes and riddles. Some, like
Lear’s fool, were expected to be wittily critical of their masters and guests,
though if they went too far they risked a whipping.
ACT 3, SCENE 1: A widespread notion dating back to medieval times, that
there was a correspondence between how nature was ordered on Earth and
in the heavens – at times of crisis, significant events in the world of
individuals (microcosm) might be mirrored in the natural world (macrocosm)
- for example the death of Duncan in Macbeth leads to a storm, an
earthquake and unnatural behaviour by animals – IN THE SAME WAY – Lear's
division of his kingdom is mirrored in an immense breakdown of the weather
– we see it also in the simultaneous breakdown of his family, Gloucester’s
family and his own mind.
ACT 3, SCENE 3: Edmund’s final line in the scene “the younger rises when
the old doth fall” stresses intergenerational rivalry as a key motiavtor of the
play – in early modern England, the older generation held power and
authority over the young – SOME members of the audience would probably
, have sympathised with Edmund’s desire to get power for himself – if not
necessarily with the methods he employs.
ACT 3, SCENE 4: Edgar’s tales about the ‘foul fiend’ biting his back and
tormenting him reflect Renaissance religious beliefs. People thought of the
devil as a palpable presence, who walked about the world trying to tempt
them into evil doing. The devil was also held responsible for ailments in
people and animals such as cataracts in the eye
ACT 3, SCENE 4: ‘Flibberdigibbet’ is the name of a dancing devil. The names
of many of the demons that appear in Act 2 ad some of the other language
that Edgar uses as Poor Tom were taken by Shakespeare from the book ‘A
declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures by Samuel Harsnet, which
appeared in 1603. In this book Harsnet, who was chaplain to the Bishop of
London, wrote scathingly about fraudulent exorcisms carried out by Catholic
priests. Edgar’s language as Poor Tom reflects the language used by the
victims of these exorcisms in Harsnet’s book.
King Lear Characters:
- Some characters are based on familiar dramatic types from
Renaissance drama – RESEARCH THIS FURTHER
- Shakespeare is not primarily concerned with motives but is more
interested in the effects of the characters’ decisions and how events
shape their characters – ALSO due to their function within specific
scenes characters may act inconsistently – Edgar with Gloucester in
Act Four
KING LEAR: complex tragic hero
He is from noble birth yet BROUGHT DOWN due to circumstances –
ARGUABLY he undergoes an emotional development throughout the
play as he is ‘brought back down to earth’ as the expression goes
In the beginning of the play – HE IS PREOCCUPIED BY APPEARANCES –
he demands respect and adoration – emphasised by the love test in
Act One, Scene One – the embarrassment of Cordelia’s appropriate
response to his questions leads to a dramatic overreaction – His
appearances are dismantled throughout the play as his daughters'
strip from him his dignity – in taking his men and eventually throwing
him out to the storm
However, he does appear more tolerable in Act Two as his better
qualities are revealed such as his inspiration for loyalty and his
