King Lear quotes Flashcards
“How sharper than a…
…serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”
- Lear about Goneril
- metaphor
“Kite” and…
…“vulture”
- Lear often refers to his daughters with animalistic imagery. Vultures and kites are both birds of prey
“Truth’s a dog…
…must to kennel”
- The Fool
- metaphor satirises Lear’s lack of awareness and principles
“nothing will come…
…of nothing”
- Lear
- repetition of “nothing” throughout the play establishes the centrality of nihilism
“which of you doth…
…love us most”
- Lear, using the royal register at the beginning of the play
- self-glorifying question
moral obligations “dread to speak when…
…power to flattery bows”
- Kent
- personification, perhaps intended as a subtle moral teaching for King James I
“See better…
…Lear”
- Kent undermines the king’s authority with the blunt imperative phrase and informal address
“She herself is…
…a dowry”
- France about Cordelia
- metaphor implies that Cordelia’s altruistic nature is worth more than her financial status
“nothing my lord, I love…
…your majesty according to my bond”
- Cordelia does not offer a false display of excessive affection like her sisters.
- she conforms to 17th century expectations of women, who were meant to devote love to their father, husband and God
“dry up her organs…
…of increase”
- Lear about Goneril
- visceral verb and objectifying description of her womb
“suspend thy…
…purpose”
- Lear about Goneril
reduces every woman’s worth to a biological function
“Sir, I love you more than words…
…can wield the matter”
- Goneril to Lear
flattery and the alliteration implies her tone is smooth and charming
“she names my very deed of love…
only she falls too short”
- Regan
- belittling phrase “too short” highlights the competitiveness that Lear inaugurated
“Know that we have divided…
…our kingdom in three”
- Lear, use of the royal register
King James I was a unionist, 17th century audience would have immediately anticipated conflict
“why brand they us with base?…
…With baseness, bastardy? Base, base?”
plosive alliteration and repetition - he is spiteful
Edmund repeatedly calls his brother…
“legitimate”
- encapsulates everything that makes Edgar perfect and him inferior, but when it’s reduced to a single word the concept is absurd
Edmund questions why he should “stand in…
…the plague of custom”
metaphor aligns primogeniture and customs around wedlock with disease
“The hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so long…
that it had it head bit off by it young”
- The Fool, metaphor
filial ingratitude
“the younger rises when…
…the old doth fall”
Shakespeare notes on common anxiety around the youth overthrowing their elders in the 17th century
“we shall express our…
…darker purpose”
- Lear
adjective enforces the recurring theme of blindness
foreshadows the upcoming events
“my cue is…
…villainous melancholy’”
- Edmund
paradox of hurt mistreatment and vengeful desire
“thou, Nature…
…art my goddess”
- he devotes his loyalties to nature instead of man
Edmund describes he conception as a “lusty…
stealth of nature”
- aligning his existence with nature implies he is pure and authentic
- seductive
“Who is it that can…
…tell me who I am?”
- loss of the royal register
- questioning his identity
“thou wouldst make a good…
…Fool”
- The Fool to Lear
paradoxical task of distracting Lear from his suffering and encouraging him to take responsibilty
“it is his hand my lord…
but I hope his heart is not in the contents”
- false display of concern, highlights his machiavellian nature
Edmund sings when he hears Edgar coming…
- “fa, sol, la, mi”
often referred to as the diabolus in musica, due to the foreboding atmosphere it evokes
“‘tis the infirmity of his age, yet he hath ever…
…but slenderly known himself”
- Regan comments on his old age and lack of self-awareness
Goneril describes Lear’s imperfections as amplified by “choleric..
…years”
- the theory of the four humours
- an excess of choler resulted in irrational behaviour and increased anger
“old fools are…
…babes again”
- Goneril about Lear
The Seven Ages of Man
“O sir, you…
…are old”
- Regan to Lear
- patronising
Goneril asks “What need you five and twenty? Ten? or Five?” and Regan adds…
…“what need one?”
they collectively undermine his authority
“[Regan plucks…
…his beard.]”
- stage direction
highlights Regan’s lack of respect for someone superior in in age, sex and social satus.
“dear father, it is thy…
…business I go about”
- Cordelia to Lear
Despite the way Lear mistreated her, she is still loyal to him
- she appears Christ-like, as these lines allude to a biblical passage
“like flies to wanton boys we are to the…
…gods: they use us for their sport”
Gloucester
simile, implies men are pawns used for entertainment and discarded - nihilistic
“I stumbled when…
…I saw”
- Gloucester
highlights how when he had sight he could not see the truth
“thou shouldst not have been old…
…till thou hadst been wise”
- the Fool notes that usually age and experience brings wisdom, but Lear remained ignorant under the protection of his wealth and status
“O let me not…
…be mad”
- the audience pity him
Lear argues that without luxuries “man’s life is…
…cheap as beast’s”
contradicts Lear’s later line “unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal”
“I am a man more…
…sinned against than sinning”
- Lear is a tragic hero, he admits he is flawed but asserts his treatment is unjust
- however it could also be argued he is victimising himself
“I have ta’en too…
…little care of this”
- The regretful realisation shows Lear discovered a newfound awareness for the poor within his country
“have his daughters brought…
…him to this pass?”
- Lear’s question aligns Edgar’s pretence of madness with his own true state
- he assumes every beggar’s condition is due to filial ingratitude, specifically women, as feminists would note
“I am a very foolish…
…fond old man”
- Lear’s anagnorisis is a gradual process but here is takes full effect.
“sir, do you…
…know me?”
- Cordelia asks Lear, a modern audience realises he shows signs of dementia
Edmund considers which sister to marry…
“Both? One? Or neither?”
- series of short questions imply he is amused by the predicament, thus he holds absolute disregard for their feelings
- yet later he says “all three now marry in an instant”, thus he takes neither in life, but both in death.
“some good I mean to do…
…despite of mine own nature”
- some may pity him, he believes evil is in him yet a modern audience cannot blame him for his desire to rebel. We realise he is not evil by nature, but a product of his classist environment.
“Look there…
…look there!”
He dies believing Cordelia might be alive, which evokes catharsis
“the weight of this sad time we must obey”
- Edgar, the final lines of the play
he speaks in rhyme, offers a sense of finality
The audience are encouraged to the consequences of the character’s actions
