Critics Views Flashcards
How did Samuel Johnson regard Cordelia’s death?
He was so shocked by Cordelia’s death that he “knew not whether he endured to read the last scenes of the play again”
How did Samuel Johnson view Nahum Tate’s Cordelia?
She always “retired with victory and felicity”
What was Joesph Addison’s take on poetic justice?
“King Lear is reformed to the chimerical notion of poetic justice that hath lost it’s beauty”
Whose view conflicts with that of Joseph Addison?
C.J. Sisson
How did Charles Lamb and August Schlegel view the ending of the tragedy?
Lear has to die in a tragic ending, and not in peacefulness and happiness, as there would be no significance in his story
What was S.T. Coleridge’s critical analysis of Act 3, Scene 4?
The madness of Lear, the “feigned madness” of Edgar, the “babbling” of the Fool and the “desperate fidelity” of Kent all “convulse” in the storm
What did Edward Dowded have to say about Shakespeare’s original play?
Shakespeare “seared to represent the most solemn mysteries of life without offering an explanation for them”
What events of King Lear support Dowded’s view of unexplained mysteries of life?
Cordelia dies an undeserved death
Lear dies after redemption
Who’s critical viewpoint can contrast that of Edward Dowded?
Charles Lamb
August Schlegel
What was G. Wilson Knight’s opinion on Lear’s misjudgement?
Lear “trains his ind to think that he can’t be wrong and then finds that he is always wrong”
What is Lear’s “purgatory” in the view of G. Wilson Knight?
“To be a purgatory of the mind”
What view did Enid Welsford take on the Fool?
Offering his coxcomb sets a problem, the Fool asking:
“What am I? What is madness?”
“It is a central question which revolves itself into a question about the universe”
What did Northrop Fryre explore?
The link between nothingness and identity in King Lear
What was Northrop Fryre’s perspective?
“What is the identity of a king who is no longer king?”
- Lear questions his identity early in the play, The Fool saying that his identity is “Lear’s shadow”
- Is Lear’s identity fractured due to no kingship and no power?
What is a comparison that is made by feminist critics?
Lear’s attitude towards his daughters and Gloucester’s attitude towards his sons
In what quote shows male disgust in female sexuality?
“Into her womb convey sterility”
What is Kathleen McLuskie’s feminist view of King Lear?
There is a connection between insubordination and anarchy, that suggests explicit misogyny
What is Martha Burns perspective of Regan and Gonerill?
“Women are just as obsessed with power as men, and when they are, they are seen as evil and not formidable. R + G are formidable”
How can Martha Burns’ ideas apply to the comparison between Gloucester and Lear’s families?
Both R + G get their need for power from their father, who gives his away but still expects his entitlements. This is the reason that they are “formidable”
How is Lear interpreted through a Marxist lens?
He is a feudal lord only interested in self-power. He exploits relationships and neglects them, which is seen in his love test for the biggest share of the kingdom, which can be regarded the same as shares in a business economically
How does Davide Walsh interpret Lear’s peripeteia?
“Family tragedy turns into something else when discovering a greater tragedy than his own, which is seen when he is stripped of all his privilege”
What is effect of the transformations of Gloucester, Lear and Edgar?
The play destroys ideologies that support unequal distribution of wealth and power
How does Paul. W. Kahn interpret Edmond?
“Edmond begins from a cause we cannot identify as unjust, though he rejects the fate the fate that law had dealt in him”
What is primogeniture?
The right of the eldest legitimate son to inherit title and land from their father
What is a marxist view of primogeniture?
That it is fair, they disagree with Edmond.
This would make a pro-marxist more supportive of Edmond
