Lear Flashcards
Why is Lear disliked in act 1 scene 1
Watching his disastrous actions of Act 1 Scene 1 we feel he deserves punishment for his folly.He displays many traits meant to alienate the audience,Quick anger,arrogance and blindness.His ‘darker purpose’ would alarm the Jacobean audience who would remember the taxing question of the succession had loomed large in the reign of Elizabeth 1.In summary he is both a tyrannical patriarch and demanding child at the start of the play
How do we begin to sympathise with Lear in act 2
In act 2 his better qualities are revealed,in his interactions with Kent and the Fool he shows that he inspires loyalty and has a tolerant side to his nature.It becomes clear he is trying to remain calm even when wronged.We begin to share his outrage as Goneril and Regan become more and more repugnant.We feel his desperation along with his egotism in his interactions with them and his rages begin to becomes signs of impotence,not authority
What are some quotes in act 1 that allow us to start to sympathise with Lear
“My duty cannot be silent when I think your highness wronged”
“I have perceived a most faint neglect of late which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity”
“I did her wrong”
How is Lear’s insanity seen as a learning process
Lear needs to suffer in order to improve his understanding of himself and the society he lives in.After his insanity he considers a number of topics he paid little attention to
How is Lear also shown as forever being self-obsessed and vengeful
His philosophical enquiries on the heath are punctuated by thoughts of punishing Goneril and Regan
What shows the best aspects of Lear
His reconciliation with Cordelia and humbling himself,recognising his mistakes and accepting her superiority.We can now forgive him
By the end of the play what is Lear’s identity
He appears to have moved beyond himself and accepted his powerlessness and diminished status.Now mainly focusing on himself as Cordelia’s father
How does Lear’s language reflect his feelings that he is now primarily Cordelia’s father
The royal ‘we’ is gone and Cordelia is reclaimed lovingly as “my Cordelia”.He clings to his “best object” and revenges her death
What does Lear focus on in all of his speeches of V.3
He focuses on Cordelia and the overwhelming grief he feels at her death
How is Lear redeemed from his earlier egotism
His love and Defense of Cordelia
How is Lear’s judgement seen as restored by the end of the play
He has clearly seen the value of true emotion and his viewing of Cordelia’s death as an injustice
How does the audience see Lear’s suffering as in vain
He suffers throughout the play,to then only gain wisdom when it’s too late.Creating a bleak few final moments in the play
