King Lear. By William Shakespeare. Images and motifs. Parents and children Appearance vs. reality

Transcription

1 King Lear By William Shakespeare Themes Seeing and blindness Parents and children Appearance vs. reality Loyalty Power Madness Natural vs. unnatural Hierarchy/ law of primogeniture Fate vs. free will Redemption Images and motifs clothing (including disguises) eyes animals letters bondage storm tragic waste Act I Scene 1 1. What dramatic purpose does the opening meeting between Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund serve? What do we learn about Lear s plans and Gloucester s attitude towards his sons? (We meet Edgar later.) 2. Examine the language with which Gloucester refers to Edmund. What emotions might Edmund be feeling as is father jokes with Kent about Edmund s illegitimacy? 3. Does Gloucester love Edmund? Defend your answer with textual references. 4. Why does Lear s plan to divide his kingdom appear sensible? On the other hand, how is it foolish? Do kings retire? 5. If you do not know what the law of primogeniture is, be sure to look it up. It explains why Edmund, the illegitimate son, hates his legitimate but younger brother. 6. Before he divides his kingdom between his three daughters, Lear asks each to declare publicly how much she loves him. Examine the language of each daughter s response and evaluate their reasons for responding the way they do. 1

2 7. Note all references to eyes here and throughout the play. What might these multiple references suggest? 8. How does Cordelia s response affect Lear? What does his reaction tell you about the kind of man he appears to be at this point in the play? The kind of woman Cordelia is? Examine closely and comment on his speeches Let it be so... and Peace, Kent!/Come not between the dragon and his wrath Compare Kent s objection to Lear s treatment of Cordelia to Cordelia s response to Lear. How are Cordelia and Kent alike? 10. How does Lear respond to Kent? Examine the language closely. What do we learn about Lear as a result? 11. At this point, Gloucester shows in France and Burgandy, contenders for Cordelia s hand in marriage. Compare and contrast the responses of both when Lear informs them that they must accept Cordelia without a dowry or any political alliances with Lear s kingdom. 12. Examine the language with which Cordelia takes her leave of her father and her sisters once France has accepted her. 13. At the end of the scene, Goneril and Regan talk about what they have just witnessed. How do they feel about Cordelia? Their father? How well have they read their father and sister? Are they simply jealous? Opportunistic? Realistic? Cite textual evidence to support your argument. Scene 2 1. The scene opens with a soliloquy by Edmund. Examine his language. How does he feel about his father and brother? Does he have a point? At what point does Shakespeare undercut any incipient sympathy the audience might feel for Edmund? 2. Edmund forges a so-called letter from his legitimate brother, Edgar, which relates a plan to kill Gloucester and split the inheritance with Edmund if he will help. Why is Gloucester so easily convinced? What does Edmund s plan to provide auricular assurance tell you about Edmund? 2

3 3. A subplot is emerging. What is it? How do you know? 4. Compare and contrast Gloucester s These late eclipses of the sun and moon portend no good to us... and Edmund s This is the excellent foppery of the world... What does Edmund think of his father s philosophy? How does he plan to use it against Edgar? Note Edmund s mention of Tom o Bedlam right before Edgar s entrance (it becomes important later on). 5. The scene ends with Edmund s warning of an offense Edgar committed which has made Gloucester angry. Evaluate Edmund as a manipulator at this point in the play. What has he counseled Edgar to do? Why does Edmund succeed so easily? Scene 3 1. Lear has begun his stay with Goneril. Is he by himself? How is he behaving? Is Goneril justified in being angry? 2. Note the language with which Goneril criticizes her father. 3. In his mind, has Lear really retired? Explain. 4. What are Goneril s orders to Oswald regarding her father? Evaluate her tactics. In what ways does she remind you of Edmund? Scene 4 1. In this scene, there are many references to eyes. Note and comment on them. 2. Kent returns to court in disguise. How does he convince Lear to take him on? Why does Kent return at all? What does this tell you about Kent and Lear? Why doesn t Lear see through the disguise? 3. The Knight reports Oswald s insubordination. Right before his entrance, Lear accosts Oswald and asks him,...who am I, sir? and hits him when he answers back, My lady s father. What does this tell you about Lear? 4. The fool has been missing for two days, depressed ever since Cordelia was banished. He appears for the first time after Kent trips Oswald and sends him 3

4 away. Comment on the fool s speeches. What truth is he couching in his rhymes? Why does Lear keep him by his side? What is the fool s function? 5. Goneril enters and delivers a stern lecture to Lear about his insolent retinue. Again, Lear wants to know, Doth any here know me? And Who is it that can tell me who I am? What does he mean? What is the fool s answer and what dramatic effect does it have? 6. Goneril sets up a situation (to reduce the number of his attendant knights) that will cause Lear to leave in an angry huff. How does her behavior parallel that of Edmund? 7. Before Lear leaves, he curses Goneril. Examine closely the language he uses from Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend... to his exit. Do you think he will regret having said this? Why or why not? 8. Albany is Goneril s husband. Does he have any clue about what is going on? How does Goneril view their relationship? How do you know? Scene 5 1. As Lear sets out for Regan s castle, he sends Kent ahead with letters while Lear and the fool follow behind. Comment on the wordplay between the fool and Lear. How does the fool get away with voicing the truth while Cordelia and Kent have been banished for the same thing? What is the difference? 2. Whom does Lear mean when he says, I did her wrong? Why is he having misgivings at this point? 3. Lear still refers to himself as so kind a father! at the end of Act I. What does this tell us? (Recall the references to sight up to this point.) 4. What foreshadowing is evident in O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!/ Keep me in temper: I would not be mad! What would make Lear go mad? (Note: the Elizabethans would also have understood mad to mean angry. In what sense is Lear using it here?) 4

5 Act II Scene 1 1. At the beginning of the scene, Curan tells Edmund that the Duke of Cornwall and Regan will be arriving that evening. (He also reports that there are rumors of impending conflict between Albany and Cornwall.) Thus, all the action in Act II takes place at Gloucester s castle. How does Edmund use Cornwall s arrival and the rumors of a larger conflict to further his plot against Edgar? 2. How does Edmund provide Gloucester with the auricular assurance promised earlier? Why is it so easy to turn Gloucester against Edgar? 3. Cornwall and Regan arrive at the very moment Gloucester has elevated Edmund, his natural boy, to the status of legitimate heir. We also learn that Edgar is Lear s godson and that in fact, Lear named him (this could explain Gloucester s loyalty to and sympathy for Lear). Regan immediately links Edgar to Lear s riotous knights. Why? Why did Regan and Cornwall leave their castle for a surprise visit to Gloucester? 4. What is ironic about Cornwall s adoption of Edmund at the end of the scene? What is happening to family relationships in general in this play? How are the two plots starting to come together? Scene 2 1. Oswald and Kent encounter each other at Gloucester s castle; each is waiting for an answer from Regan to carry back to their masters. Why do they get into a shouting match? Examine their diction and imagery, especially Kent s. What is the effect? 2. What is Cornwall s function in this scene? Compare his intervention to Albany s appearance in the fray in Act I, scene 4. How does Cornwall interpret Kent s bluntness? 5

6 3. Why is Cornwall s order to put Kent in the stocks such an insult to Lear as well as Gloucester? What is Regan s reaction to the decision? What does this tell us about her? What is Gloucester s reaction? 4. Note the bondage motif initiated here. Later, bondage will extend to Gloucester, Lear and Cordelia. Also note that Kent has a letter from Cordelia (the plot thickens!). At the end of the scene, Kent makes a reference to fortune s wheel. Be reminded of this when Lear uses his wheel of fire image. Finally, note that Kent is able to sleep even under very uncomfortable circumstances. What does a character s ability to sleep mean in Shakespeare s plays? Scene 3 1. In this brief scene, consisting of one soliloquy, Edgar transforms himself into mad Tom o Bedlam. Examine his language closely. What else does he put on besides rags? 2. Why does he take on this particular disguise? How is he like/unlike Kent? Scene 4 1. Why does Lear have such a hard time believing that his servant (Kent) was put into the stocks by Lear s daughter, Regan, and her husband, Cornwall? How is this disbelief consistent with his character? 2. Note the motif of letters. Both Oswald and Kent had been sent ahead with letters to Regan. Who got to her first? With what result? Recall Edmund s use of a letter. Comment on the role of letters so far in the play. 3. How does Regan s behavior toward her father parallel that of Goneril in Act I, sc. 4? How does Lear rationalize Regan and Cornwall s refusal to see him? What does this suggest about his mental state? 4. Examine the dialogue between Lear and Regan, especially the diction and imagery Lear uses to describe Goneril s treatment of him. What does this exchange reveal? (Recall his treatment of Cordelia.) 6

7 5. At the very moment that Lear demands to know who put his man (Kent) in the stocks), Goneril arrives. Cornwall tells Lear that it was his order to stock Lear s servant. Why did Shakespeare have these events occur at the same time? How was it a good directorial decision? What kind of climax is reached here? 6. The following exchange between Lear, Goneril and Regan is one of the most dramatic and thematically important in the play. Earlier, Kent noted that Lear had arrived with less than his usual entourage (train). Gradually, Lear will be stripped of everything he has. How is this process accelerated in this exchange? 7. Why are the knights so important to Lear s sense of self? Evaluate his reasoning, diction and imagery in his speech beginning O, reason not the need: Note that a storm or tempest is brewing on the barren heath. How does the weather mirror the action in the human realm? 9. In terms of pure evil, it may be difficult to tell Reagan and Goneril apart, but these are not identical twins. How would you distinguish between the sisters? If one is worse than the other, how can you tell? Be on the lookout for further differentiation as the subplots become further entwined. Act III Scene 1 1. What new information about what is happening in the kingdom (and outside it) does scene 1 provide? What do these details suggest about loyalty? 2. Elizabethans believed that disturbances in the affairs of man sent reverberations through the Great Chain of Being. The universe was sentient. How do the elements of nature reflect the emotional turmoil Lear is experiencing? Refer to the Gentleman s report about Lear s behavior. 3. Lear and the fool have become separated from Kent. What is significant about this? 7

8 Scene 2 1. Examine closely Lear s apostrophe (direct address) to the storm (his first two speeches). Why does Lear alternately pray to and rage against the storm? How does his language reflect the storm itself? 2. How does Lear s language reflect a view of himself? Compare his language and attitude toward nature to Edmund s soliloquy to Nature. (Act I sc. 2) 3. Examine Lear s speech beginning Let the great gods,/ That keep this dreadful pother o er our heads,... and make a list of all the crimes that Lear makes of the crimes in society. (By thou wretch he means all men or everyman.) Does Lear count himself among the sinners? 4. Kent calls attention to the storm and that they ought to seek shelter in the nearby hovel. Up to this point, Lear has been too self-absorbed to even notice the physical danger he is in. Comment on Lear s response in My wits begin to turn... How does this speech contrast with the previous one? 5. At the end of the scene, the fool speaks a prophecy in riddling verse. What do you think it means? Scene 3 1. What has happened to Gloucester s authority in his own household? What does Gloucester confide to Edmund? How can Edmund make use of this information? 2. Note the reference to unnatural in this scene. Who uses it and with what effect? 3. How do letters again become important? 4. How are the two plots merging even further? Scene 4 1. What is Lear s immediate reaction to Edgar, disguised as poor Tom? As the mad beggar, how does Edgar explain his fall from a serving-man to his present state? 8

9 Examine the language closely. How does his admission relate to Gloucester and Lear? Why does Lear begin to tear off his clothes? 2. Gloucester has caught up with Lear to take everyone in his party to a proper shelter. How does Gloucester react to Lear s mental condition? To poor Tom? 3. In his disguise, what does Edgar learn about his father and recent events? 4. Why does Lear refer to poor Tom as a noble philosopher? What affinity does he feel for him? Scene 5 1. What is the nature of the letter in this scene? 2. How has Edmund become the Earl of Gloucester by the end of this scene? In what sense has Cornwall taken Gloucester s place? What is unnatural or illegitimate about this? Scene 6 1. In the farmhouse, Lear stages a mock trial with poor Tom as the judge and the fool at Tom s side. What is fitting about this? Ironic? How has the fool changed since the beginning of the play? 2. What is the substance of the trial? Has Lear learned anything yet about his own responsibility for his fate? Examine the language closely. 3. Find and comment on the clothing imagery in this scene. How do the references to clothing (or the lack of it) enhance important themes? 4. Comment on the character of Gloucester in this scene. How does Gloucester identify himself with Lear s suffering? 5. How does this changed Gloucester compare to the Gloucester who banished the good son, Edgar? 9

10 Scene 7 1. Gloucester leaves the farmhouse to return to his castle. Compare this justice scene with the previous scene. Who are the judges? Who is the criminal on trial? 2. Comment on blinding scene. How is it thematically appropriate? 3. Comment on Gloucester s recognition. How does this scene parallel the last scene in Act II? Is this a partial or a complete recognition? Explain. 4. Read and study the poem Eyes by Czeslaw Milosz ( and compare its treatment of the theme of seeing and blindness to the same theme in King Lear. 5. Why does the servant defend Gloucester? Act IV Scene 1 1. Examine Edgar s opening speech. What has suffering taught him? Note that he addresses the storm as Lear did and as Edmund addressed Nature with what differences? 2. Has blindness changed Gloucester? Has suffering taught him anything yet? How does his view of suffering contrast with that of his son, Edgar? 3. What parallels do we see in the subplot as the mad Tom takes on the task of leading the blind Gloucester to Dover? What does Gloucester intend to do at Dover? 4. Compare Gloucester s speech beginning Here, take this purse... to Lear s Reason not the need speech. Does Gloucester still believe in fate? 10

11 Scene 2 1. Goneril questions Oswald in the presence of Edmund about how her husband Albany has reacted to recent events. How does Albany s goodness appear bad to Goneril and Edmund? 2. What does Goneril find so attractive in Edmund? Why does Shakespeare inject a love interest here? 3. Examine Albany s speeches. What is the effect of the imagery he uses to characterize the behavior of Goneril and Regan? 4. Note references to seeing and appearance vs. reality in the exchange between Albany and Goneril. 5. How does Cornwall s death complicate matters? 6. Note that Edmund is now referred to as Gloucester. Why is Edmund ultimately responsible for Gloucester s blinding? 7. Why does Albany throw his allegiance behind Gloucester and Lear? Scene 3 1. What is the purpose of this scene? (compare to Act I, scene 1) 2. What kind of imagery is associated with Cordelia? (Examine the Gentleman s speeches) 3. According to Kent, why does Lear refuse to see Cordelia? Scene 4 1. What is Lear s mental and physical condition, as observed by Cordelia and the doctor? Why can t Lear sleep? 2. The British powers view France s entry into the kingdom as a threat. How does Cordelia explain her presence? 11

12 Scene 5 1. Where has Edmund gone and for what reason? 2. Letters again become important in this scene. Explain. 3. How is Regan manipulating the situation to her advantage? Scene 6 1. Edgar abandons the mad act. Why? Note references to clothing and sight. 2. Why does Edgar use such an elaborate method of saving Gloucester from suicide? 3. Find and explain the effect of references to seeing, blindness and animal imagery in this scene. 4. Why is it appropriate that Lear and Gloucester meet in this scene? Has either man experienced true recognition yet? Why or why not? 5. How does Oswald s death further the plot? What is revealed in the letter he carries? Scene 7 1. What do Lear s long sleep and his fresh clothes indicate about his mental state? 2. What form does Lear s final recognition take? 3. What is happening in the kingdom at this point? Act V Scene 1 1. Intrigue characterizes this scene. In what kind of predicament does Edmund find himself? How does he plan to resolve it? 2. Edgar appears in disguise with a letter for Albany. What are his instructions? 12

13 Scene 2 1. What has happened to Lear and Cordelia at this point? 2. What does Edgar mean by ripeness is all? Ripe for what? Scene 3 1. What is fitting about the way Regan dies? 2. In his confrontation with Edmund, how does the disguised Edgar remind you of the disguised Kent in his conflict with Oswald earlier in the play? 3. How does Goneril meet her end? Why is fitting about the way she dies? 4. How does Gloucester die? Are there any parallels with Lear s reunion with Cordelia? 5. How does Edmund redeem himself to some extent in this scene? 6. Why does Shakespeare kill off Cordelia? 7. Is the suffering that Lear endures deserved or is he... a man more sinn d against than sinning? 8. How would Aristotle evaluate this play as a tragedy? Does Lear resemble any of the other tragic heroes you may have studied? EXPLICATION OF PAIRS OF PASSAGES: Directions: Choose one of the following pairs of speeches. Compare and contrast the speeches according to subject, speaker, imagery, diction, detail, tone and theme. A. (Edmund) Thou, nature, art my goddess... (Act I, scene 2) AND (Lear) Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! (Act I, scene 4) B. (Gloucester) These late eclipses of the sun and moon portend no good to us... (Act I, scene 2) AND (Edmund) This is the excellent foppery of the world... (Act I, scene 2) 13

14 C. (Lear) Peace, Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath... (Act I, scene 1) AND (Lear) I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:... (Act II, scene 4) D. (Lear) O, reason not the need:... (Act II, scene 4) AND (Lear) Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies... (Act III, scene 4) E. (Albany) Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile... (Act IV, scene 2) AND (Goneril) Milk-livered man!..... (Act IV, scene 2) F. (Lear) Ay, every inch a king... (Act IV scene 6) AND (Edmund) Thou, nature, art my goddess... (Act I, scene 2) G. (all Lear, succeeding speeches) What, art mad?... And the creature run from the cur?... If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.... (all Act IV, scene 6) 14