King Lear (AO3)

Question 1

What type of “novel” is King Lear?

Answer 1

King Lear is a Tragedy play which contains Aristotelian principles.

Question 2

What is a Tragedy drama?

Answer 2

A type of drama that focuses on suffering of humans due to a given hamartia, leading to the downfall of the tragic hero.

Question 3

What are the typical themes found in Tragedy dramas?

(7 listed)

Answer 3

• Hamartia / Fatal flaws
• Tragic hero that falls from nobility
• External forces (Fate, spirits etc)
• Good vs Evil
• Fortune
• Revenge
• Supernatural elements

Question 4

What are the key scenes in King Lear?

(10 Key scenes)

Answer 4

• The Love Test (A1 S1)
• Edmund’s Speech (A1 S2)
• Lear is rejected by his daughters (A2 S2)
• Edgar disguises (A3 S4)
• Gloucester has his eyes gouged out (A3 S5)
• Gloucester is found by Edgar and meet with Lear (A4 S5)
• Lear and Cordelia reconcile (A4 S6)
• Edmund’s true nature revealed (A5 S1)
• Edmund, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia and Lear all die (A5 S3)
• The kingdom is divded once again at the end of the novel.

Question 5

What is a Folio?

Answer 5

• Folio - One or more full sheets of paper, with four pages of text on each sheet.
• 12 inches wide and 19 inches high.
• The first folio (1623) - 900 pages of 36 Shakespeare plays.

Question 6

What is a Quarto?

Answer 6

• Quarto - One or more full sheets of paper, with eight pages of text on each sheet.
• 9.5 inches wide and 12 inches high (smaller than a Folio)
• Plays containing errors were often in Quarto form as they were unofficial versions.

Question 7

What is a Machiavellian villain?

Answer 7

• A character that follows principles created by Machiavelli.
• Identified by their manipulation of people through duplicity and cunning abilities which leads to the downfall of many, usually including themselves.

Question 8

What are three examples of Machiavellian villains in Shakespeare?

Answer 8

• Iago in Othello - turns Othello against Desdemona
• Edmund in King Lear - Manipulates everyone for power
• Claudius in Hamlet - Kills the king and attempts to decieve the subjects including Hamlet.

Question 9

What is the context of Shakespeare not printing his scripts?

Answer 9

• Shakespeare and other authors at the time did not write their plays to be published, but only to perform as it would give access to other groups.
• Publishers often bought copies of the play from actors who had memorized the lines.

Question 10

How does Christianity present in King Lear?

Answer 10

• King Lear occurs in the pre-christian era.
• There is a focus on Pagan gods rather than just “God” like christianity.
• Cordelia and Edgar could be considered ‘christ-like’ as they both save other characters: Gloucester and Lear.

Question 11

What is the wheel of fire?

Answer 11

A form of Medieval symbolism that represents hell (endless cycle of suffering)

Question 12

What is Rota Fortunae?

Answer 12

The wheel of fortune, which belongs to the goddess Fortuna, which is spun randomly resulting in changing of fortunes for those on it.

Question 13

When was King Lear written?

Answer 13

• Around 1605
• Between Othello and Macbeth
• At the time of the King James I reign.

Question 14

How can King Lear be linked to patriarchal monarchy?

Answer 14

• It acts as a possible criticism of King James I, as his actions led to the English Civil war and his eventual execution.

Question 15

What is the Divine Right of Kings?

Answer 15

A doctrine that asserts that monarchs derive their authority directly from God and therefore meaning that the individual cannot be held accountable by any earthly authority.

Question 16

What is the concept of Body Politic?

Answer 16

A state, society, or church is described as if it were a biological body, and the soverign is usually portrayed as the head.

Question 16

What is The Great Chain of Being?

Answer 16

A medieval christian idea that God created a hierarchy:
1. God/Angels
2. Kings/Queens
3. Nobles/Aristocrats
4. Common people
5. Animals/Plants
6. Minerals/Objects

Question 17

What is “The return of the prodigal Son”?

Answer 17

• A painting by Rembrandt created between 1661-1669.
• Biblical parable
• Depicts a son who returns to his father after falling into poverty.
• The father welcomes back the son, but the older brother rejects him and stands beside him in judgement.

Question 18

What are the links between Tragedy plays and King Lear?

Answer 18

• Violence often committed off stage / facing away from the audience, such as Oedipus Rex & Gloucester’s blinding.

Question 19

How can medicine relate to king lear?

Answer 19

Shakespeare was living through great change on the views of sickness. In 1518 the royal college of physicians was founded

Paracelsus - dissected bodies and went against religious figures

Question 20

What is the humerism theory?

Answer 20

The ancient Greeks suggested there were four humours (areas) in t the body that needed to be balanced to be healthy:
- Chloeric, sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic

Question 21

How does mental health relate to king Lear?

Answer 21

Modern critics look to diagnose lear with Dementia or Alzheimer’s - “I fear I am not my perfect mind” but in older times he would have been diagnosed as chloeric

Question 22

What is “The Anatomy of Melancholy” by Robert burton? (1621)

Answer 22

He claimed melancholy was an “inbred malady” in everyone

“Hysterica passio” - it was believed womb moved around the body which causes hysteria and is usually associated to women.

Question 23

What are the Abraham men?

Answer 23

Men who claimed to be lunatics to be allowed out of restraint during the Tudor / Stuart period.

Question 24

What is Bedlam?

Answer 24

A psychiatric hospital which was a “grim” institution during Shakespeare’s time which was run down and relied on funding.

As there was no public funding, sponsors visited and the hospitals played up to the acting of patients and sponsors visited it like going to the theatre.