Lear Flashcards
Lear allowing new establishment to take over
cannibalistic nature of meritocratic new order
Does not give primogeniture to eldest + male = usurping natural order
Mary Tudor as G+R || Cord. as Elizabeth I
‘digest the third’
‘we unburdened crawl towards death’
Lear banishing Cordelia
Doesn’t allow Cord. to explain herself - feels better about banishment this way and can avoid having metaphorical sight and seeing she is right
‘avoid my sight’
Lear at division of lands
plosive and monosyllabic word highlight Divine Right of Kings which JI believed in BUT assc. with absolutist monarchy and thus catholicism - warning to James?
‘speak’
Lear when Kent tries to intervene
Compares himself to a dragon - mythical beast which shows old order is already a myth
Also knows deep down he has no right to be angry - mythical anger
‘come not between the dragon and his wrath’
Lear reacting to Cordelia’s refusal to profess her love to him
This has 3 forms - maiden, mother and crone (Cord. is maiden whilst G+R are mother and crone - Lear’s mother)
Goddess of witchcraft from ancient Greece = Shakesbae criticising JI’s belief in witchcraft as archaic
Splitting not sanctioned by christian Gods so uses ancient Gods
‘Hecate’
Lear when addressing everyone at the land split
Calls Cornwall and Albany this which is dangerous bc men own woman and their possessions and women take name = dangerous to succession
‘sons’
Lear knows his actions are wrong - duality between public and private spheres reflected in duality between plot and subplot and Lear is in public sphere = social unrest
‘darker purpose’
Lear when Goneril tells him to get rid of his men
Lear thinks he can control and dictate his will to nature bc she’s a woman - just like Edmund, has nature as his goddess but Edm. does bc he’s not legitimate through God…
‘hear nature, hear… into her womb convey sterility’
‘a wretch whom nature is ashamed almost t’acknowledge’
Lear in the tempest
Lear attempts to gain control over nature but his unnatural acts forbid this
If Strom is rep. of Lear’s inner turmoil, then Lear is analogous to a woman
‘bids the wind blow’
Lear in the tempest
Lear destroys himself bc he cannot adapt to new machiavellian order
‘hair’ is on a separate line and that line is not continued - usually rhyming couplets contains moral overtones, but incomplete nature of it presents immorality of Lear’s hate (blame) towards others
‘that things might change or cease; tears his white hair’
Lear when Goneril tells him to get rid of his men
archaic syntax presents lear seeing according to old chivalric order and his inability to adapt to new order bc of value he places on emotion
‘old fond eyes beweep this cause again, I’ll pluck ye out’
Lear when Regan denies him accommodation
Alliteration of ‘w’ shows how machiavellian new order is securely in place
highlights female duplicity as he even cites them as reason for new order
‘let not women’s weapons, water-drops, stain my man’s cheeks!’
Lear in the tempest
Lear has lost his metaphorical sight of what’s right and wrong thus is unfounded in his anger
Lack of metaphorical sight of new order as well, parallels its fall - everything will fall - nihilism
‘blasts with eyeless rage in their fury and make nothing of’
Lear is infantilised by Goneril and Regan as they become like his mothers
Lear becomes more desperate and returns to nothing, relinquishing power to new order
‘this night in which the cub-drawn bear would crouch… bids what will take all’
Lear in the tempest
Tries to destroy nature too bc she’s a woman and this is only way he can prevent subversion to patriarchal hierarchy bc he is weaker than G+R
Face puffing on maps = mirrors Lear breaking kingdom up - attempting to blame nature
Machiavellian order rep by wind (female) and the depth of their spirituality and faith and shallow self serving nature bc face cracks - nothing below
‘blow winds, and crack your cheeks!’
Lear in the tempest
Blames women for his lapse in thought in splitting his kingdom and subverting the natural order - women as a disease
‘you sulphurous and thought executing fires’
Lear in the tempest
Trying to maintain patriarchal dominance that’s already gone and say that power of women only singes his crown, and doesn’t break it like fool suggests
‘singe my white head’
Lear in the tempest
Antithesis of fire and rain - they neutralise and result in nothing = nihilistic and suggests powerlessness of Lear and reversion to his natural state
Anger and bitterness of plosive + sibilant sounds AND words w m than one syllable v. monosyllabic sounds presents instability of Lear’s emotions - like a woman
‘rumble thy bellyful! Spit fire, spout rain!’
Lear in the tempest
Lear realises the error of his ways as his mind breaks from the boundaries of the old order and into insanity (sublime roots)
Shared line with Kent portrays Lear’s dependence on him to uphold the old order but Lear sent him away
‘my wits begin to turn’
Lear in the tempest
Tells fool to go in first = anagnoresis (realisation) of his wrongs and of the sufferings of the lower classes
‘go first, you houseless poverty’
Trial scene
Parody of justice and mockery of justice system bc madmen direct trial - presents how justice is done better here than in proper courts
Ineffectual nature of the legal system - old order trying new order but justice is not done
‘Arraign her first, ‘tis Goneril… kicked the poor king, her father’
‘[to Edgar] Thou robed man of justice, take thy place.
[to the fool] And thou his yoke-fellow of equity, bench by his side’
Trial scene
Trey = betray = Goneril
Blanch = to make pale with fear = Regan
Sweetheart = Cordelia
Misogynistic - compares woman to dogs - either aggressive like G+R or eternally loyal and submissive to their owner = polarisation
‘Trey, Blanch and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me’
Trial scene
Regan’s heart is cold and therefore she cannot feel emotion - polarisation - allusions to infertility
Hardness of heart in Christianity is a punishment for the wicked - presents new order as sinful and faithless - Shakesbae suggesting JI’s Catholic sympathies will lead to a Catholic takeover - Gunpowder Plot 1605
‘Let them anatomise Regan; see what breeds about her heart’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
‘Coining’ can also mean ‘counterfeiting’ - perhaps ‘they’ = the Gods - counterfeiting regards goods of inferior value - perhaps G+R? Still professing supreme power as king?
Edgar’s reply confirms this and presents Lear as still partially blind
‘no they cannot touch me for coining. I am the king himself’
‘O thou side-piercing sight!’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Gloucester and Goneril make the same mistakes - Glouc has Edmund illegitimately and it leads to betrayal and disaster and Goneril later pursues Edmund sexually
Thus Lear is insane here (seen through prose) but remarkably insightful - like the fool
‘Ha! Goneril with a white beard?’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Lear pardons Glouc bc he recognises Lear as king - Goneril doesn’t so is not forgiven
Also ‘man’s’ - alludes to fact that female infidelity is worse than male infidelity bc of expectations of chastity and succession - echoes God’s language and thus natural order
‘I pardon man’s life. What was thy cause? Adultery? Thou shalt not die - die for adultery? No!’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Irony - G+R are the real animalistic ones through their usurpation of power
Links to the fool’s earlier words - ‘to keep one’s eyes on either side’s nose that what a man cannot smell out he may spy into’ - shows that Lear had no metaphorical sense - he was like a child - reflects machiavellian belief that old men should give their lands to their sons and be their wards
When Lear realised he had no power over nature and as king he realised their machiavellian nature and their deception
Lear realises he is just a man now - he renounced his position as God’s representative
‘they flattered me like a dog’
‘when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found ‘em, there I smelt ‘em out.’
‘They are not men of their words: they told me I was everything; ‘tis a lie, I am not ague-proof’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Lecherous = more sinful version of lust
‘gilded’ = gold coloured - fly metaphor for G+R and if it’s gold coloured it shows the difference between appearance and reality of machiavellian order - looks noble but is lecherous in nature
In Lears sight - he saw it before but was metaphorical blind
‘the small gilded fly does lecher in my sight’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
G+R are partially beast - appearance and reality differ - beast-like sexuality but the guise of chastity - presents illegitimate power through appearance bc they attempt to control husbands to whom kingdom belongs
‘down from the waist they are centaurs, though women all above’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Ambiguity like the fool (‘that’s a wise man and a fool’) - who is Lear talking about? Gluon or himself?
Himself - his fall from being God’s representative to just a man
‘let me wipe it first, it smells of mortality’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
‘Blind Cupid’ = reference to brothel - reiterates Glouc’s sinfulness of lust that produced Edmund
Suggests that lust is a lapse in metaphorical judgement (cupid is blind) bc goes against natural order
Cupid is the God of erotic love, attraction and affection - presents both Lear and Glouc’s metaphorical blindness as coming from their lust and affection - both sinful
‘do thy worst, blind Cupid, I’ll not love’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Lucidity is clear through Lear’s madness - mirroring the fool
Glouc and Lear now have metaphorical sight - hindered by their other senses that clouded this (fool - ‘she’s as like this as a crab’s like an apple’) but now Glouc is blind and Lear has no sense - mad
‘no eyes in your head… Yet you see how this world goes’
Lear when Gloucester and the ‘Fisherman’ find him
Egalitarian quality - everyone is a fool in the world/everyone’s acting - difference between appearance and reality - this is the new order and babies cry to be born to such a world that doesn’t uphold God’s divine order
Beneath it all are we just animalistic? Or simply nothing?
Mirrors the fool - ‘they will not let me have all the fool to myself, they’ll be snatching’ - irony - competition of who’s the biggest fool
‘when we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools’
Lear when he wakes up to Cordelia
Lead - toxic metal is connected to death and transformation - represents impurities in oneself and burning of it reps cleansing of impurities - anagnorisis
Lear being on a wheel and lead burning from his tears suggests he has had his anagnorisis and realises his errors and the necessity of his dying - symbolised by fire
‘I am bound upon a wheel of fire that mine own tears do scald like molten lead’
Lear when he and Cordelia are imprisoned by Edmund
Presents Lear and Cordelia as birds in a cage - it’s unnatural for them to be trapped so new order (unnaturalness) is the cage
Recognition of their natural state as animals under appearance
Together he and Cordelia are symbol of hope so must be contained
‘sing like birds i’th cage’
Lear when he and Cordelia are imprisoned by Edmund
Lear and Cordelia are sent to report on corruption on Earth as they uphold God’s natural order now
Alludes to theme of disguise - appearance v reality
Presents need for old order to adopt elements of the new order in order to survive - Lear realises this too late - has already been taken adv. of
Links to JI who accepted sycophantic behaviour as loyalty like Lear - needs to adopt parts of new order to combat this
‘God’s spies’
Lear when he and Cordelia are imprisoned by Edmund
Links to JI’s fickle nature - favoured one faction at one point then another with no continuity or stability (like women - moon) = allowed factions to become more machiavellian by vying for power
‘walled prison packs and sects of great ones that ebb and flow with the moon’
