Act 2 Sc 4 Flashcards
‘Dogs and bears by the neck, monkeys by the lions and men by the legs’ Fool (2,4)
Fools asks the philosophical question: what is a man? - what’s the difference between man and animal, the fool does this by comparing kent to animals here as he is in the stocks by his feet.
‘Having more man than wit about me, drew’ Kent (2,4)
An idea of masculinity is showed as a focus through characters such as Kent and Lear (the older generation) whereas the younger generation (oswald goneril regan edmund) carry features of witt and quick thinking seem to have more female narratives/ feminine ‘characteristics’ for example Kents description of oswald as physically pathetic and unable to run without becoming really sweaty (‘stewed’).
‘Fathers that wear rags do make their children blind, but fathers that bear bags, shall see their children kind, fortune, that arrant whore, Ne’er turns the key to the poor’ Fool (2,4)
cynicism of a society where loyalty is only made through materialist things. Fool also brings up problem of the poor and how parents who show their love through material things like money (such as lear) will not be loved by their children when this money stops
’o how this mother swells up towards my heart! Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow’ Lear (2,4)
hyster = latin word for uterus, historically hysteria was associated with only women - shows Lear struggling with his identity and his masculinity. ‘Mother ‘ was a renaissance term for a woman’s illness surrounding suffocation. Also an idea of his physical suffering through the word mother - sympathy for Lear as an old man who is clearly struggling. He is both physically and psychologically. He is talking here to a part of himself, his own sorrow, shows his tragic isolation, he’s struggling with himself and the sense of pity that is generated.
When a great wheel runs down a hill lest it break thy neck by following it’ Fool
asking Kent why he follows Lear when he is clearly failing at this moment of time. Again reference to wheel of fortune. (link act2 sc2 kent)
“not i’the stocks, fool” Fool To Kent
Kent as fool and disruption of hierarchy
allow not nature more than nature needs Mans life is cheap as beast’s” lear
hierarchy of needs (maslow’s hierarchy of needs) human needs vs animal needs (question of man vs animal?) sympathy for lear here as we see him being treated like an animal.
Kent being in the stocks, dressed as a servant etc.
through the disruption of hierarchy we see the villains disrupt this old way of thinking and the women seem to take control in many ways, and this strong masculinity is not portrayed in the same way as with the older characters. It appears to be a conflict between strength and masculinity with the old VS intelligence and quick thinking with the new.
Is this introduction of female influence empowering to women or damaging?
Is Shakespeare suggesting that women should stay subservient, as suggested through characters such as Kent and Lear who see power as a masculine trait, because when the women in this play do speak they are villainous?
