Quotes Flashcards
2 critics quotes to support nature and madness in the storm
Mellor: ‘nature’s revenge is absolute’
Michael Ignatieff: ‘the Heath is both a real place and a place in the mind.’
Quotation linking to nature, presenting an immense power and facist interpretation
‘Thought executing fires’
‘Thought executing fires’ analyse it
Immense power in nature and a personal connection
- fascist interp: transformation of destruction when removed from an autocratic, dictatorial reign
Example of Lear’s mistreatment of Goneril? Including critic quote and AO4
‘Into her womb convey sterility’ Goneril removes his purpose as King so he retaliated by removing her feminine purpose as a mother
- inappropriate response to her instructing him to reduce his following
AO3: contextualise Gonerils position as a woman in society - running the home and a kindgdom - potential sympathy for Goneril from a feminist perspective –> appreciate the more realistic position of women
Kate McCluskie: ‘we must accept that fathers are owed particular duties by their daughters and be appalled by the chaos which ensues when these primal links are broken
AO2 and AO3 quotes for Lear’s rejection of Cordelia
‘Come not between the dragon and his wrath’
Terry Eagleton: ‘Cordelia blends largesse and limitation in her first appearance in the play.’
Quotes from Cornwall and Reagan in the blinding of Gloucester
Cornwall, ‘Blind him, I say’
Reagan, ‘Hard, hard! Oh filthy traitor’
The inevitability of violence quote and two critics quotes
‘The wheel has come full circle’
Barbara Everett, ‘his madness marks the end of the wilful, egotistical monarch.’
York Notes, ‘Bradley’s view is a positive one in that evil is overcome and replaced by order, unity and goodness.’
Act 5:3, Lear’s reconciliation with Cordelia, what quote supports that:
‘gods’ = pagan nature of the play - framing Catholicism through a Christian lense
> Lear upon Cordelia’s return, ‘my’, parental affection, possession
> Explaining how the gods chose to honour sacrifices - religion isn’t a one way system (reciprocated)
> short lived reward, Bradley: ‘For him, Lear was a great, superior figure, whose suffering is heart-rending.’
‘upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia
The gods themselves throw incense’
Critics quite describing the religious interpretation of Cordelia, from York Notes
‘Some see Cordelia as a Christ-like figure, who redeems Lear (thus his suffering has not been in vain.)’
‘As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;
They play us for their sport’ Gloucester act 3
Explain the point
> the idea that the gods don’t care - defeatist attitude suggesting malevolence of gods - religion is all a game
contextually in approx 1604 = revolutionary statement to a contemporaneous audience - potential interp for Shakespeare maintaining the Paganism of the original play, Leir
• Wilson Knight: ‘mankind is, as it were, deliberately or comically toutured by the gods’
• S.L. Goldberg: ‘There is no supernatural justice, only human justice.’ (You can argue the whole play is an example of supernatural justice after abdication from divine right
What is Wilson Knights quotation about the gods?
‘Mankind is, as it were, deliberatley or comically tortured by the gods.’
Two quotes to support,’I am a man, more sinned against than sinning.’ (One links to a production)
Simon Russell Beale playing Lear in the Sam Mendes production, ‘his insanity is often harrowing to watch’ vs. ‘movingly captures Lear’s terrified intimations of madness.’
Humanist interp, Kenneth Muir: ‘It follows that human beings are entirely responsible for their actions, and that, if these lead to disaster, the tragedy is absolute.’
What’s Kenneth Muir’s point about a humanist interp of ‘I am a man, more sinned against than sinning.’
‘It follows that human beings are entirely responsible for their actions, and that, if these lead to disaster, the tragedy is absolute.’
Explain the point about Goneril in Act 1
Goneril, ‘Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter.’
> exaggeration, blank verse, Iambic pentameter (typical of Shakespearean drama) - poetic
> Façade - Lear fails to see through the pretence = egotistical
> Conflicting views of Goneril as a character - shown through feminist interpretation and stage reviews:
• Frances Barber as Goneril in the Sam Mendez production
- Nicholas de Jongh, ‘luridly wicked and pantomimic’ (links back to structure of verse)
- Paul Taylor, ‘one step up from Cruella de Vil, standard on stage villainy.’
Lear’s fatal flaw point
Lear -> Cordelia, ‘nothing will come of nothing. Speak again’
> Lear’s fatal flaw = egotistical/loved himself - possible interpretation: Cordelia is his favourite and he is blind to all others establishing sight as a theme
> Catalytic moment when Lear’s self-indulgent plan begins to face consequences
• CJ Sissons, ‘Lear gives his crown… And with it he abdicated also from his power to dispense justice, and becomes subject to justice for the first time.’
• Jonathan Dollimore (Traditionalist, structuralist and slightly Marxist argument): ‘King Lear is a study of what happens when there is a catastrophic redistribution of power.)
CJ Sissions said about Lear’s abdication…?
‘Lear gives his crown… And with it he abdicated also from his power to dispense justice, and becomes subject to justice for the first time.’
Who said, ‘Lear gives his crown… And with it he abdicated also from his power to dispense justice, and becomes subject to justice for the first time.’ ?
CJ Sissons
The two quotes that describe Kents contradictory advice about the gods- one to Lear in act 1, the other to Gloucester in act 3
Lear, ‘Now by Apollo’
Kent, ‘Now by Apollo King, thou swear’st thy gods in vain.’
To Gloucester, ‘the gods reward your kindness.’
Explain the point about the gods using Kents contradictory advice quotes and support it with a CJ Sissons quote, then also link it to an structural point.
Lear, ‘Now by Apollo’
Kent, ‘Now by Apollo King, thou swear’st thy gods in vain.’
2 interps:
1. They won’t help him (after abdication)
2. He is asking too much of them
> significance of Lear calling on Apollo (egotistical)
Contrasts Kents advice to Glivester when disguised, ‘the gods reward your kindness.’ - suggesting an optimistic belief- could it be part of the façade?
- CJ Sissons, ‘there is an ultimate doubt concerning justice, that, even in the heavens there is no certainty and security.’
> significantly at these two points in the play Gloucester and Lear are both about to suffer their great misfortunes - Lear loses his kingdom and Gloucester his eyes; neither in a sense can know or see.
• WR Elton, ‘the irony is that their hard earned gift of feeling only makes them
suffer more.’
