Quotations Flashcards
Lear: Love test (scene 1)
‘Which of you shall we say doth love us most?’
-provides insight into Lear’s character (vanity and insecurity)
-values flattery
-exaggerations of the daughters foreshadow future deception
-sets up the chaos of the play
Cordelia: love test (scene 1)
‘I cannot heave My heart into my mouth’
-values honesty
-contrasts her sisters
-not willing to compromise her principles
-failure to articulate suggests she can’t find the words unlike G
-metaphorical block on her love
Lear threatening Goneril (scene 4)
‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child’
-vivid metaphor
-idea of betrayal and pain from family
-biblical imagery (aligns Goneril’s betrayal with the treachery of Eden’s serpent)
-sibilance ‘sharper’ + ‘serpent’
-biblical allusion to the Great fall (betrayal of Lear = treachery + deception)
-personal nature of suffering
-turning point
Lear: nothing (scene 1)
‘Nothing will come of nothing: speak again’
-motif of nothing
-imperatives
-feels that he is owned flattery
-sets in motion his tragic downfall
Fool: truthfulness (scene 4)
‘Dost thou call me fool, boy?’
‘all thy other titles thou hast given away that thou wast born with’
-juxtaposition between honesty and flattery
-perceptive
-criticises hierarchical strucutre of society
Lear in storm
‘Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!’
-desire to chaos and destruction
-metaphor for Lear’s inner turmoil being a reflection of wider society
-moment where he needs to confront his actions
-Imperatives: still demanding and feeling the need to be in control
-mirrors the even greater chaos that will unfold
Lear: sinning
‘I am a man more sinned against that sinning’
-self reflection
-moment where he recognises his own flaws
-tragic irony
-victim mentality
Fool: Irony
‘This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen’
-imagery of foolishness and madness
-natural world is at fault (blames the natural)
-imagery of madness
Edgar: compassion
‘When we our betters see bearing our woes, we scarcely think our miseries our foes’
-moment of insight from Edgar into human nature
-empathetic
-feels less along in misery that he did in the world
-Edgar: disguised as ‘Poor Tom’
-shared suffering
-when people of higher status are suffering, we tend to feel less isolated in our own problems
Gloucester: vulnerability
‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport’
-similie
-expresses the idea that man’s are insignificant and vulnerable to the whims of the universe
-imagery of the gods
-‘They kill us for their sport’: gods (or fate) are indifferent to human suffering and are cruel
-nihilistic moment of despair
-insignificance of humanity + emphasises the fragility of human life
Lear: madness
‘Come, let’s away to prison. We two alone will sing like bird i’th’ cage’
‘So we’ll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies’
-expresses desire to accept fate
-newfound freedom with his power
-symbolises a journey from arrogance to wisdom (metaphorical)
Lear: old
‘I am a very foolish fond old man…I fear I am not in my perfect mind’
-come full circle moment
-moment where Lear accepts his fate
-no longer insecure
Lear: Cordelia’s death
‘Howl Howl Howl Howl!’
-animal imagery
-through the strength of emotion Lear loses the ability to talk
-powerful moment of the death of Cordelia
-expressive, visceral expression of his overwhelming grief
