King Lear: 2 Flashcards
Family relationships
-presented through various allegories and motifs
-Division of kingdom heavily synonymous with destruction of familial relationships which are copious throughout the play
Gloucester and family
Disrespects Edmund as resents him as a “whoreson” conception “good sport”
-Prose, reserved for the lower class, Shakespeare confirms the unsavoury nature of bawdy interaction provoking criticism from character as an unappreciative father
This is significant, as a Jacobean audience would famously “hear a play” and therefore sustain the ability to differentiate between verse and prose
Edmund and family 1
Edmund and desire of superiority within family dynamics challenged social convention as maternal (nurture) is replaced by father (authoritative/riches)
-Edmunds soliloquy “plague of custom” - questions hierarchy
Edmund and family 2
Jacobean society, ‘the great chain of being’, illegitimate child born out of wedlock would have no rights to claim inheritance in a system known as primogeniture
-semantic satiation when Edmund repeats ‘legitimate’, or more appropriately the plosive reiteration of ‘base’ to convey his disgust, serves to render this concept meaningless
-The abundance of rhetorical questions of “Why bastard? wherefore base?” within this passage, combined with the soliloquy form- which establishes a connection between Edmund and the audience- is particularly effective in implementing a provocative quality
-This ultimately invites the audience to question the validity of such societal constructs based on familial hierarchy
Edmund and family 3
Edmund’s use of deceit throughout the plot, such as “(pocketing the letter)”, despite Shakespeare’s minimal use of stage directions, draws particular focus upon the Machiavellian politics from which Shakespeare was inspired. Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ justified the use of of deception for financial and authoritarian gain.
Shakespeare and woman
John Knox issued a pamphlet attacking female rulers arguing that giving ‘weak’ and ‘feeble’ women was a ‘subversion of good order, off all equity and justice’. However, Shakespeare’s presentation of the sisters voids this assumption that women are inherently weak
Goneril and Regan 1
recurring source of deception to Lear, by virtue of their obsequious qualities.
When Lear requests their admissions of love, Goneril’s hyperbolic assertion of ‘Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty’ appears cumulative and excessive, corroborating Edmund’s use of language to enact his deceit
Goneril and Regan 2
Among the sycophantic utterances of Gonril and Regan is language indicative of materialism and superficiality, creating a distinction between the ‘true’ words of Cordelia and the language used by her sisters- such as ‘prize’ and ‘worth’
Goneril and Regan 3
Deuteriation that accompanies such deceit
Goneril is depicted with recurring lines of animalistic imagery, as the Fool recalls an anecdote of a sparrow who “had it head bit off by it young”, which foreshadows Goneril’s deceptive betrayal, exacerbated by the destruction of the parent-child relationship.
Goneril 4
uses zoomorphism in order to analogise Goneril to “A fox when one has caught her/ And such a daughter”. The ‘fox’ carries connotations of slyness and deceit, frequently appearing within folklore as a symbol of trickery. The feminine rhyming couplets within this assertion mocks Lear’s metaphorical short-sightedness, as it creates a lyrical tone which trivialises the violent “slaughter” of Goneril subsequently suggested by the Fool, but alternatively indicates Lear’s perceived simplistic naivety.
Cordelia 1
Cordelia’s character is also not exempt from this progressive depiction, resisting Lear’s patriarchal demands for expressions of love within the opening scene. Expressing that she loves Lear “According to [her] bond” and that she will say “nothing”.
Cordelia 2
use of ‘nothing’ behave as a source of foreshadowing for Lear’s mental and physical deterioration, but also represents a symbol of nihilism, which pessimistically reflects the superficial paternal relationship Lear shares with Goneril and Regan, which is effectively substanceless.
Cordelia 3
. In response to Cordelia, Lear “disclaims [his] paternal care” by the “mysteries of Hecate”.
-Hecate, typically represented as a three headed Goddess in Greek mythology may simply represent the three sisters as an aversive entity. Alternatively, through associations of witchcraft and the moon- which is frequently employed to depict the menstrual cycle- this Pagan reference to deity Hecate may represent a development in the liberation of women and their sexuality
Cordelia 4
Chaos - substantiated when Lear states that he will spend his retirement “crawl[ing] toward death”, which is heavily indicative of his adaptation of a child-like role- juxtaposing the seizing of maternal authority by his daughters.
