Act 1 Scene 4 Flashcards
What quote shows the knights showing their loyalty to Lear about Goneril
My duty cannot be silenced when I think your highness wronged
Significance of “my duty cannot be silenced when I think your highness wronged”
Something within Lear that allows his servants to be so loyal,thereby showing audience potential previous great leadership of Lear
Quote showing loss of identity from Lear when he speaks to Oswald for the first time and Oswald’s response
Who am I sir?
My lady’s father
Significance of who am I sir?
My lady’s father
1-Identity through kinship,His value,authority and sense of identity now comes from his own daughters
2-Fragility of established order-In Lear the established identities and social roles are disintegrated,even as Lear clings to his authority,his authority has diminished and will only be further disintegrated
3-Burden of paternal responsibility-As familial bonds unravel Lear fails to keep his identity even as a father
Quote showing characterisation of fool
A pestilent gall to me
Significance of “a pestilent gall to me”
Fool is a poison produced by the body,it’s both useful in helping Lear to see the truth however through the fool showing Lear the truth he will ‘poison’ him leading to Lear’s mental turnmoil and eventual downfall
Quote showing Lear as a catalyst for the change in the chain of being,destroying the natural order of things
Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away
What quote links Lear to a famous shepardess
That such a king should play bo-peep
Significance of “that such a king should play bo-peep”
Link to disruption of natural order as shepardess is lowly role not fit for a king
Link to Lear being a child as bo-peep is a nursery rhyme
Significance of metaphor of cuckoo to describe Lear
Cuckoo’s place their children in other birds nests so they look after them.Lear doesn’t know his own daughters
Significance of Goneril asking Lear to “disquantity your train”
Show of natural hierarchy being lost and severing of family bonds
Loss of power in Lear both physically and metaphorically as Knights are not only a sign of his power,they also show physical power
Orders Lear to do this in the third person,impersonal
Quote showing Lear recognising his mistake on Cordelia early and what act and scene is it from
O most small fault,
How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show (Act 1 Scene 4)
Quote showing Lear getting angry at his own eyes for crying
Beweep this cause again,I’ll pluck ye out
Significance of “beweep this cause again,I’ll pluck ye out”
Foreshadows later blinding of Gloucester and shows his own blindness
Metaphor of self dismemberment shows him physically dismantling his own identity
Quote showing Lear viewing his daughter Regan as animalistic
She’ll flay thy wolfish visage
Other dramatic methods from act 1 scene 4
-Immense hyperbolic speech from Goneril
-Physical hitting of Oswald from Lear showing childlike attributes and loss of identity in reducing himself to this
-Kent speaks in prose to disguise himself
-Albany fails to say anything of substance and tries to end scene with rhyming couplets but Goneril takes over showing an unexpected power complex
