Madness/old Age Flashcards
“With what poor judgment he hath now cast her off”
-Lears hamartia of poor judgment/ rashness may come from old age of dementia
-dementia makes people rash and aggressive
“Are you our daughter?”
-question shows the start of Lears confusion
-could suggest that r and G betrayal is what worsens Lears madness
“I’d have thee beaten for being old before thy time”
- Lears journey from ego to grace represents his journey from life to death: one we must all take (mycrocosym)
-the fool represents the guiding spirit, embodies Elegba from African religions who guided people to death. The fool is the truth teller
-there is an inevitability that Lear will lose power and die and the fool must lead him there
“Oh let me not be mad not mad. I would not be mad!”
-repetition created pathos as lead begs to not be mad
-model “would” shows how he doesn’t have control of his madness
-foreshadows his madness
“O sir, you are old, you should be ruled and led”
- Regans comment may come from genuine concern for her father or she could be manipulating him into giving up on his power
“Contending with the fretful elements”
-pathetic fallacy of Lears madness in his mind
- Lear is described as being one with the elements showing his spiralling madness Prehaps catalysed by his daughters bad treatment
“Whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman”….” A king, a king!”
-Lear identifies himself as a madman
-could either be saying he was mad to give away his power or alluding to his mental state
-repetition empathises this
“As mad as the vexed sea…all the idle weeds that grow in our sustaining corn”
- simile for Lears kind as a “vexed sea” reflects his mental state
-metaphor of weeds in corn could refernce Lears madness growing and infiltrating his mind
“When we are born, we cry that we are coming to this great stage of fools”
- although Lear has lost his mental stability, he hasn’t lost his intelligence
-in a way he has become like the fool as he speaks of wisdom
“Look, look a mouse!”
-exclamatory sentence shows how Lear has completely lost his mind.
-the fool was his stabiliser and could possibly symbolise Lears stability and rashness and now with out him, he has completely gone mad
“I am old and foolish”
- through Lears loss of mentality he as come from ego to grace and can now see himself truthfully
-this created pathos through the simple, short sentence and as he succumbs to an old man
“I am old now.”
-this marks the end of Lears journey from ego to grace and life to death
- he fully succumbs to being old and accepts his journey
