Context (AO3) Flashcards
Patriarchal Monarchy
-the man serves as both the figure head of his country and his family
-implicitly criticism on James I who wrote about himself as the Divine monarch (Divine Right of Kings)
-was an absolutist approach illustrating the King’s desire and commandment of absolute obedience and devotion
-desire created unrest in England which resulted in the English Civil War + execution of James I
Lear’s division of the Kingdom
-character of Lear, for his own hubristic self-gratification, requires the pointless affirmation of the love of his 3 daughters (despite already deciding on the division of the kingdom)
-the idea of a ‘scattered kingdom’ acts as a social comment playing in favour of James I
-the play highlights the catastrophic consequence of a divided country which emphasises the positivity in James’ intention to unify the country
Elizabeth I
-first female monarch in England
-authority was questioned
Hierarchical Society
-Elizabethan society was a highly hierarchical society where respect should be paid to the wealthy, parent as well as the elderly
-Shakespeare uses this to express the fragility of Elizabethan society as the elderly parental figures in the play (Lear and Gloucester) are treated the worst
Edmund’s illegitimacy
-bastard or illegitimate characters were commonly presented as ‘evil’
-exemplified as Shakespeare portrays Edmund as the main Machiavellian character (man who has a complete lack of remorse + uses evil for profit)
Jacobean Religious Belief
-16th century was a time of religious scepticism due to the Protestant Catholic divide that came under the divine of Henry VIII
Sir Brian Annesley (early story of Lear)
-Goneril + Oswald plan to deal severely with Lear and the knights as she complains that they grew ‘riotous’
-reflected in the case of Sir Brian Annesley and his 2 daughters to plotted against their elderly, fallible father, and the youngest daughter Cordell who defended him
-Cordell, strived to resist the influence of his other 2 daughters
Fool & King James I
-Shakespeare subverted traditional roles instead of reinforcing them
-e.g the Fool embodies the well-known relationship between King James and his Fool (Archie Armstrong)
-Shakespeare’s ‘Fool’ is ironically wiser than the King himself so may also act as a social comment on King James
Gloucester Subplot: Sir Phillip Arcadia
-Gloucester sub-plot inspired by Sir Philip Sindey’s Arcadia
-reflects the betrayal of Lear and his daughters which was a case commonly known as Sir Brian Annesley
Female Criticism: virgin
-the criticism of females in society in that their jealously and capricious natures manipulated their own sensibilities G+R’s obsession with Edmund if placed at stark contrast to the relations of Elizabeth I
-Elizabeth I was commonly referred to as the ‘virgin queen’ as she died bearing no successor and only had relationships for political gain
Samuel Harsnett
-wrote a pamphlet about those who feigned madness to gain money/sympathy
-Shakespeare used the pamphlet to create Poor Tom as Edgar’s disguise (references to Hartnett as ‘foul fiend’)
-Samuel Harsnett’s ‘A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures’ 1603 pamphlet about people who feigned madness for sympathy
Tate’s Version of the Play (1681)
-Tate in 1681 re-wrote his own version of Shakespeare’s King Lear in which Gloucester + Lear are restored to power and left alive
-seen to be a response to a play which it too tragically awful to be ‘palatable’ and therefore pleasurable
-arguably does not adhere to Aristotle’s theory of catharsis in tragedy, which is argued to essentially provide a controversial and discomforting pleasure
Carol Rutter: Effeminisation of Lear
-talks of the effeminisation of Lear in terms of curses ‘Hystericapassio’, suffocation feeling to rise from the womb e.g hysteria
-sense of uprising of an illness commonly related to women + almost taken on a maternal+paternal role in bringing daughters up
Mock Trial
-included in the Quarto in 1608
-powerful part of the performance and depicted the desperate futility of the man, inspired, and almost directly informed the modernistic ‘theatre of the absurd’ pioneered by Samuel Beckett
-not included in the Folio revision in 1623 as it was arguably less relevant and appreciated by Jacobean audiences
The Old Testament story of Job
-remains steadfast despite losing everything
-Bradley argues that there could be a parallel between Job and Lear
-deviate as Job got everything back and doesn’t with him dying in relative ecstasy thinking Cordelia is alive
Gregory Doran Edition
-Edmund is much angrier in Doran’s version + Cordelia is much more confident
-Fool interrupts G to show the unfair behaviour and disrespect
-knights are mocking of G (although makes us more sympathetic to her because of the threat that they pose)
-in storm scene, Dorian stops the sounds allowing the words and language to do the job of shaping an atmosphere
