Summary

Summary English Literature A level - Critics for King Lear - AO5

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Module
King lear

Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)

This resource includes key interpretations from prominent critics, such as Stuart’s observation that Lear prefers flattery over truth, and Kermode’s insight into Lear's quest for genuine love beyond formal expressions. Delve into Holbrook's analysis of Lear's arrogance and descent into madn...

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Critics - King Lear

LEAR - STUART
“Lear would rather have flattery than the truth”
- FRANK KERMODE
“the love he seeks is not the sort that can be offered in formal or subservient
expressions”
- HAL HOLBROOK - “boisterous, demanding, arrogant. He expects absolute
obedience”.
He is “not a man of conscious intellect”
“Lear slips into madness…a direct result of Lear’s refusal to face the awful truth that
has exploded in his mind”
“the paranoia of age is stalking him”
“He has clung steadfastly to the conviction that he is a loving father, despite all
evidence of the contrary”
- ARNOLD KETTLE
“It is through his madness […] that Lear comes to a new outlook on life”
- RUTTER - says that ‘’Women curse. They curse because they cannot act. ‘’
Lear, in cursing, aligns himself with the traditionally marginalised voices of women
who curse due to their inability to act.

THE FOOL - GOLDSMITH – the Fool is “Lear’s alter ego, his externalised conscience”
- VIDEBAEK – the Fools jesting “shows deep compassion and understanding of the
human condition”
- WOODS - "The Fool is a fractured mirror of Lear himself"

KENT - ARNOLD KETTLE – Kent has an “ultimate failure to cope with the situation – he is
unable to hole Lear within the bounds of sanity.”

GLOUCESTER - FOAKES - (Gloucester is) a victim of physical cruelty (paralleling Lear who is) a
victim of psychological cruelty

EDMUND - J. DOVER WILSON- To Edmund (and also to Goneril, Regan and Cornwall) 'Nature'
is a force encouraging the individual to think only of the fulfilment of his own
desires.’’- Edmund's ambition and resentment at his bastardy
- ARNOLD KETTLE – Edmund “is intelligent, active and ruthless. His immediate
personal motive is simple” he wants power.

EDGAR - WOODS - Edgar's disguise is a form of madness

CORDELIA - BRANDES - Cordelia is 'the living emblem of womanly dignity'

GONERIL AND - THORNDIKE calls them “inhuman sisters”
- HUDSON calls them “personifications of ingratitude”
REGAN
- RUTTER - Act 2 Scene 4 Lear's daughters are not silent, they speak their mind and
exert an authoritative role conveying masculine role/energy. Whereas Lear himself is
made to seem womanish by his tears and cursing and emotional turmoil. Rutter
suggests that over time crying and cursing were behaviours attributed to women as
they had no real power.
RUTTER - argues that ’Lear knows his tears make a woman of him’ - Lear
acknowledges that his tears, a sign of impotent rage, are associated with femininity.
- RUTTER - says that ‘’‘’Lear's elder daughters neither weep nor curse. They do not
need to. For, from the opening scene when they are authorised to "Speak"
- J. DOVER WILSON- 'Nature' is a force encouraging the individual to think only of
the fulfilment of his own desires.’’

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