King Lear Quotes Flashcards
Gloucester’s opinion on Edmund in the opening scene?
‘I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to’t’
‘There was good sport in his making’
Scene 1 reference to Lear’s ill health?
‘While we unburdened crawl toward death’
RSC - Lear is on a higher position on his throne with an empty hollow underneath him
The task Lear gives to his daughters?
‘Which of you shall we say doth love us most’
Sets competition then is surprised when there is a loser
How much Goneril loves Lear?
‘Sir, I do love you more than word can wield the matter’
Somewhat rehearsed and hyperbolic - reference to formal title reflects lack of parental love
Cordelia’s aside reflecting her distain for the competition?
‘What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.’
The aside establishes complicity and creates a personal relationship.
Cordelia’s response to her father?
‘Nothing, my lord’
Lear’s response to Cordelia?
‘Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.’
How does Lear view Cordelia after he response to the love test?
‘So young and so untender?’
‘Here I disclaim all my parental care’
Lear characterises himself as a dragon?
‘Come not between the dragon as his wrath’
How does Kent react to Lear in the first scene?
‘Be Kent unmannerly when Lear is mad. What woudst thou do, old man?’
Does Lear think that Cordelia should have been born?
‘Better thou hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.’
What does Edgar say in the fake letter?
‘You should enjoy half his revenue’
How does Gloucester react to Edgar’s supposed betrayal?
‘Unnatural, detested, brutish villain - worse than brutish!’ - dramatic irony
How does Edmund think that the world views him?
‘Why brand they us with base? With baseness, bastardy? Base, base?’
What does Edmund want from his brother?
‘Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.’
What does Edmund want the gods to do?
‘Now gods, stand up for bastards!’
What is an early parallel between Lear and Gloucester?
‘The King falls from bias of nature - there’s father against child’
‘the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father’
Edmund views Gloucester as stupid after he believes the letter?
‘This is the excellent foppery of the world’
Goneril views her father as a child after he moves in with her?
‘Old fools are babes again’
Lear wants to see his fool?
‘Where’s my fool? Ho, I think the world’s asleep’
Lear feels sorry for himself at Goneril’s house?
‘I have perceived a most faint neglect of late’
Why does the Fool think Lear is a fool?
‘All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with’
Freudian way that the fool sees Lear as a child?
‘thou mad’st thy daughters thy mothers’
Lear is mean to Goneril?
‘Into her womb convey sterility’
‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child’