LEAR: critics, themes + quotes

Question 1

Lear
we ….. not…. but……..
we…….in……….
- C. L

Answer 1

We see not Lear, but we are Lear, - we are in his mind.
- Charles Lamb

Question 2

youth/age- Lear
in Lear……itself is ………….
it’s n……. i……… ……. increased by…………. of…………………….

Answer 2

in Lear old age itself is a character, - it’s natural imperfections being increased by life-long habits of receiving prompt obedience

Question 3

nature- Lear
Lear becomes…………..and………p….r…… of …………………….
- S. T. C.

Answer 3

Lear becomes the open and ample play-room of nature’s passions
- Samual Taylor Coleridge

Question 4

sight/ wisdom/ ignorance- Lear
this play…………… be………….. The……………… of…………….
- A. C. B.

Answer 4

this play should be called The Redemption of King Lear
- A. C. Bradley

Question 5

pride- Lear
the…….man is………………. to…………..love of………..
he…………on………………….….is loved
- S. F.

Answer 5

the doomed man is not willing to renounce the love of women; he insists on hearing how much he is loved
- Sigmund Freud

Question 6

pride/ wisdom/ ignorance- Lear
it is ………… of………..but what…………………which…………………
- W. H.

Answer 6

it is Lear’s ignorance of everything but what he wants or likes which causes the tragedy
- William Hazlitt

Question 7

key influences

Answer 7

politics
social change
justice
religion
madness
death and disease

Question 8

politics
when Lear attacks Regan’s elegance, some onlookers might detect a subtle warning to a king who annually spent four times as much as Queen Elizabeth on clothing:

Answer 8

If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm
(Act 2 Scene 4, lines 261-3)

Question 9

justice: divine
when Lear finds himself powerless against his daughters’ determination he calls for divine support:

Answer 9

O heavens!
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if you yourselves are old,
Make it your cause; send down and take my part.
(Act 2 Scene 4, lines 182-4)

Question 10

analysis of quote

Answer 10

Lear’s acceptance of divine justice is grudging
conditional use of ‘if’ implies gods may not respond

Question 11

justice (irony)
at the end of the play Albany regards justice as having a clear scheme of returns from which:
BUT…. (next card)

Answer 11

All friends shall taste
The wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings.
(Act 5 Scene 3, lines 276-8)

Question 12

justice (irony) cont…
entry of Lear with Cordelia dead in his arms, cruelly demonstrates there is no simple scheme of rewards or punishments, earthly or divinely:

Answer 12

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have a life,
And thou no breath at all?
(Act 5 Scene 3, lines 280-1)

Question 13

justice cont…
Gloucester’s bleak view of the human predicament seems to be confirmed by the previous quote:

Answer 13

As flies to wanton boys are we to th’gods;
They kill us for their sport.
(Act 4 Scene 1, lines 36-7)

Question 14

death and disease
in his anger at his daughters, Lear calls for foul air from the swamps to surround Goneril:

Answer 14

Infect her beauty,
You fen-sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun
To fall and blister.
(Act 2 Scene 4, lines 158-60)