Edgar

Question 1

Edgar’s soliloquy: his description as he disguises as ‘poor tom’
(Act 2 scene 3)

Answer 1

“Whiles I may ‘scape, I will preserve myself; and am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape… my face I’ll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.”

“Poor Tom! That’s something yet; Edgar I nothing am.

Question 2

Edg- describes image of (…) madman who injures himself with (…) and (…) Christ’s suffering

Answer 2

“Bedlam beggar”
“Pins” and “nails”

Question 3

Edg- exposed to the elements,
Repeated phrase

Answer 3

“Tom’s a-cold”

Question 4

Edg- irony for Lear

Answer 4

“Obey thy parents; keep thy word justly”

Question 5

Edg- Animal imagery emphasises survival instinct

Answer 5

“Fox in stealth, wolf in greediness”

Question 6

Edg- aside during mock trial; shows his pity + empathy for Lear

Answer 6

“My tears begin to take his part”

Question 7

Edg- through Edg SS presents idea that mental suffering is greatest- but suffering is easier to bear when shared by others (positive catharsis in response to shared suffering)
- links with an Aristotelian/Greek tragedy- catharsis

Answer 7

“The mind much sufferance doth o’erskip, When grief grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship”

Question 8

Edg- SS ability to have the audience experience great rises and falls (extreme catharsis). - Edg’s soliloquy shows he hops the wheel of fortune will turn in his favour

Answer 8

“The worst returns to laughter”

Question 9

Edg- picks up the wisdom in Lears ramblings

Answer 9

“Reason in madness”

Question 10

Edg- ss structure of revaluations; Edg will appear…

Answer 10

“when time shall serve”

Question 11

Edg- given the task of ruling…

Answer 11

“The gored state”

Question 12

Edg- to Edg, the most honest remaining character? Are given the last lines of the play: ambivalent ending: SS leaves it to the audience to conclude- many views (either optimistic or pessimistic) are possible.
(Reversal of the love test flattery…)

Answer 12

“The weight of this sad time we must obey; Speak what we feel, not what we aught to say.”

Question 13

Edg- muted hope for the future? Edg seems to imply the young will not suffer like the old did,

Answer 13

“We that are young shall never see so much nor live so long”

Question 14

Edg- “Give me thy arm: Poor Tom shall lead thee.”

Question 15

Edg- “[aside] I cannot daub it further. And yet I must. Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.”

Question 16

Edg- “[aside] Why do I trifle thus with his despair is done to cure it.”

“Thy life’s a miracle. Speak again.” - like the start of the play when Lear told Cordelia to speak again, as “nothing would come of nothing.”

Question 17

Edg- “I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;”

“My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.”

Question 18

Edg- “Met I my father with his bleeding rings,… became his guide, Led him, begg’d fir him, sav’d him from despair;”

“Never- O fault!- reveal’d myself unto him, until some half-hour past… but his flaw’s heart, Alack, too weak the conflict to support!… burst smilingly.”

Question 19

Edg’s rhyming couplet- the final lines of the play:

Answer 19

“… the oldest hath borne most: we that are young shall never see so much, nor live so long.”