Gloucester Flashcards
Gloucester introduced as a father not understanding his children
Calls Edmund (illegitimate) his ‘whoreson’ and says he has ‘so often blushed to acknowledge him’ whilst Edmund stands beside him.
Oblivious to Edmund’s resentment of his father
Gloucester’s entrance after Lear has banished Kent quote
XXX
Flourish (trumpets - stage direction)
Importance ??
About Edgar (after illegitimate Edmund tricks Gloucester)
Abhorred villain! Unnatural…
Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain
(Gloucester when he thinks Edgar has written to Edmund asking for help to get rid of him)
Mirrors what Lear said to Cordelia (both angry when they are betrayed by their children who are obliged to obey them)
Idea of children obeying parents
Repetition of villain - irony, Edmund is true villain but Gloucester is blind to this
Gloucester to Edmund
Loyal and…
Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means to make thee capable
(Loyal and true son I will find some way to make you my heir)
Peripetaia - illegitimacy reversal of roles
‘Natural’ - play on natural, natural order destroyed
Irony - Edmund is literally not natural (illegitimate) but also he is plotting against Gloucester
Blindness - emphasises Gloucester’s blindness
Deception
Deception and truth are interchangeable
Deception is rewarded
Control over ones fate
AO3
Edmunds Machiavellian character reminiscent of court politics
Illegitimacy of bastard son (what could u say about this other than that he is illegitimate and now he’s finally getting what he wants?)
Sinful behaviour - religion ?
Male primogeniture (how would u actually include about this in a sentence?)
Transformation from baseness
Self interest
Capitalism
Gloucester - I like not this…
Edmund - most…
I like not this unnatural dealing
Most savage and unnatural!
I would not see…
I would not see thy cruel nails pluck out his poor old eyes, nor thy fierce sister in his anointed flesh stick boating fangs
O cruel!…
O cruel! O you gods!
All dark..
All dark and comfortless
The bond…
The bond cracked twixt son and father
(Part of G’s speech about how everything is predetermined)
Bond of love
Familial bond and dynamic
Great chain of being
Bond cracked because deception has taken a hold. Link to court politics deception and flattery similarly take a hold.
Gloucester is shocked at the events in court when Lear was deceived by his two daughters and banished Cordelia. Ironically he is making the same mistake, believing Edmund whilst exiling his loyal son Edgar.
Links to Cordelia I love you according to my bond quote
Gloucester and Lear similar: solipsism because one slight to him (threat of Edgar) means he suddenly feels entitled to control Edmund’s future and exile him. Reflective of his temperate manner and the fact his emotions cloud his vision
Hyperbolic
Gloucester eclipses
He believes in the prophetic nature of the stars and thus relies upon human life as predestined by cosmic forces, which represents the feudalist belief in a rigid social order that is determined.
