King Lear

heeeeeeeeeeeey eng litty ppl lol i need help with King Lear. i have my exam soon and im revising my arse off, but just wondering are there any specific themes/acts/quotes/things in general that really stick out of the play that you would mention in an exam?

thanks a lot!!!!

:tsr:

Reply 1

alro

blindness! vanity. is cordelia a crap character or what!

Reply 2

Tyler Durden

alro

is cordelia a crap character or what!

I have gone of literature temporarily (since my Cambridge rejection :frown:

) but I'd like to hear why you think she's a crap character.

Reply 3

Tyler Durden

posh_git

I'd look at themes of:

Blindness (metaphorical and physical).
Greatness and Littleness
Good and Evil

amongst others.

Reply 4

Waldo

a few thoughts:

existential questions. it is shakeys most overtly philosophical play (with the possible exception of Hamlet). - what is it to be 'the thing itself'? is the world a 'stage of fools'? can 'nothing come of nothing? is Gloucester's attempted suicide a Christian parable, an absurdist one, or a purely comic scene?

nature of wisdom

fool/lear relationship - 'lear's shadow'

duties/obligations of fathers/offspring (cf Hamlet)

parallels of main plot and subplot

divine justice/providence (or absence thereof)

question of what is 'natural' - wishes of the 'goddess nature'

antimonism: edmund - villain or antihero?

does Lear achieve a degree of self-comprehension, or even at the end 'but slenderly know himself'

symbolic significance of the storm + thunder (cf the tempest)

Reply 5

posh_git

omg lol thanks everyone....but back to your point Waldo how can Gloucester's attempted suicide be seen as a Christian Parable? Is it to do with the whole idea of the devil and the wings of the angel etc etc?

Keep the points coming :smile:

heh heh cheers ppl.

Reply 6

silence

it could be seen as one, but i wonder whether shakespeare intended it to be one. the whole christian thing's been relatively prevalent in modern productions of king lear, with many a director wishing to portray edgar in a jesus-like manner sometimes...

i think age/folly are pretty important themes and the way in which they combine with - and catalyse even further - any madness in the character. i find the storm more calming and soothing, somewhat as a relief (cf V. What The Thunder Said) than frightening, however.

Reply 7

Waldo

calming and soothing??! What production was this? :P
The Eliot comparsion may have something in it as far as the purging effect of the storm is concerned , though I suspect comparisons with Biblical flood imagery may be more fruitful. Might also want to check out Joyce's "cold mad feary father"/sea/liffey amalgam.