Act 4 Sc 4

Question 1

Crowned with rank.. Cuckoo flowers…” cordelia (4,4)

Answer 1

Flowers in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama: madness, often associated with madness, so when we see Lear come in crowned in flowers we see a real madness, a foreshadowing of this here.

Question 2

‘He that helps him take all my outward worth’ cordelia (4,4)

Answer 2

She does not value money/wealth in relation to Lear’s health, her love for her father is pure and contrasts the transactional view of love that Lear has - seen in act 1, sense of irony.

Question 3

‘Nature is repose’ ‘many simple operatives’ doctor (4,4)

Answer 3

lear has gone off the rails due to filial ingratitude from goneril and regan, yet cordelia - loyal loving daughter- has returned and when she asks the doctor whether there’s a cure, he tells her that eh can be healed through simple medicine and rest - giving us great hope making the ending so much more tragic.

Question 4

Cordelia being a balance

Answer 4

-Begins with cordelia, doctor and soldiers - balance again, someone who kills and someone who heals
- Cordelia is balancing the two apparent opposites: she is leading the French army in order to rescue her father, she is a leader at the same time as being subservient and being a loyal dutiful daughter and trying to help her father.

Question 5

“Exit officer’ SD

Answer 5

Cordelia gives an order and she is immediately obeyed, a sense of authority from cordelia - just like we saw in lear in act 1