Fourth Paragraph Flashcards
The reconciliation scene
Although focussing in the tenderness and intimacy of Lear and Cordelia in mutual forgiveness, subtly provides us with the understanding that the two are still not yet completely close. Shakespeare’s use of language shows subtle distinctions between the use of ‘thou’ and ‘you’
Horseman suggests
That ‘thou’ usually has ‘tones of either affection toward inmates, or if well-disposed superiority towards social inferiors, or of enmity toward strangers if the speaker’s own rank’
During this tender
Scene, Cordelia addresses her father as ‘thou’ only while he is sleeping but when He wakes, she relates to him formally as ‘your majesty’, which, in a scene that once brought them together suggests a certain distance between them - perhaps to remind us that she is now Queen of France, invading his country
Cordelia’s task in
Invading England is to restore Lear to his ‘right’, and the trailer he becomes, the more reverently she addresses him. Addressing him only as King, not as father: ‘how does my royal lord?’
This may
Be because of her previous connection with Lear was based not on a personal or intimate connection but an official one, in the public domain. So, to cope with her grief, she wishes to see him as King, as he has always been to her
