King Lear A04 Flashcards
When was Nahum Tate’s version of ‘King Lear’ show on stage?
From 1681 to 1838
When did Shakespeare write King Lear?
1605-6
James I had been King for two years.
Edmund as a ‘natural’ son
‘natural’ was another term for a bastard. It also meant fool.
Primogeniture
First born son will inherit the family estate
Example of primogeniture in literature after Shakespeare’s time
The Princess and the Pea- 1863
Modern day primogeniture
Only in 2012 was a legislation proposed to allow a first born daughter to inherit the British throne if she has a younger brother
Division of England and Scotland, James I and King Lear’s division
King James I, who attended one of the first performances of Lear, was trying to unite England and Scotland under his rule when he was crowned King of England in 1603, so the very idea of the division of Britain would have been troubling to people in this time
‘Nothing can come of nothing’
A variation on the famous phrase “ex nihilo nihil fit” – that’s Latin for “from nothing, nothing comes,” which is an ancient Greek philosophical and scientific expression. It’s the opposite of the biblical notion that God created the world out of nothing (Genesis 1.1)
‘late eclipses of the sun and moon’
Astrology.
These are a bad omen. Shakespeare may have had in mind the actual eclipses that were seen in London in October and September of 1605 (about a year before the play’s first recorded performance).
King James and his knights
King James I was notorious for creating hundreds of knights during times of peace, which was quite the scandal.
Bedlam
By the time Shakespeare wrote King Lear, Bedlam (a.k.a. Bethlehem Hospital) was an asylum notorious for its appalling conditions and brutal treatment of its patients, some of whom were given licenses to beg outside the hospital
The Plague
Continued for many years throughout Europe. Closest major outbreak in England was in 1603 when the plague killed 38,000 Londoners.
Overall killed around 200 million people in Europe.
Suicide
In the 16th and 17th century suicide was the most horrific crime someone could commit, offending the King, God and nature.
Goneril’s suicide disrespect’s her father and reinforces she is a ‘thankless child’.
Evidence for declining popularity of aristocracy
Lawrence Stone’s ‘The crisis of the Aristocracy 1558-1641’ (1965) shows major internal changes due to external pressures, political and economic.
Social disorder
Normal during Shakespeare’s time to think that social disorder began with malice in families, originally with the strife between Cain and Abel. (Selden)
