Theme:Blindness/ deception/ appearances and reality Flashcards
Topic sentences
Regan and Goneril pursue an artful manipulation of Lear.
Shakespeare echoes the insincerity of Goneril and Regan through Edmunds plotting against his father.
Shakespeare emphasises a link between virtuosity and veracity through the characters of Edgar and Cordelia who regard their elders with respect and duty.
Both King Lear and Gloucester experience anagnorisis, illustrating a critical attitude towards those in power’s failure to regard those/ things they cannot see.
Regan and Goneril pursue an artful manipulation of Lear.
“Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; dearer than eyesight space and liberty” Insincere, manipulative, sycophantic, duplicitous, vapid hyperbolic, comparative, tri-colon, abstract nouns, sycophantic, dramatic irony- the audience is able to recognise the duplicitous nature of Regan and Goneril
“Those pelican daughters”
Allusion, zoomorphism, plosives
Shakespeare echoes the insincerity of Goneril and Regan through Edmunds plotting against his father.
“That which my father loses no less than all… the younger rises when the old doth fall”
Ruthless, ambitious, vengeful, resentful
Rhyming couplet, metaphor (rising whilst father falls), motif- wheel of fortune, antithesis
“Most savage and unnatural”
Dramatic irony, superlative, villainous syndetic pair
Shakespeare emphasises a link between virtuosity and veracity through the characters of Edgar and Cordelia who regard their elders with respect and duty.
“Oh dear father it is thy business I go about”
Allusion, respectful vocative
Not motivated by ambition, selfless, angelic, christ-like, virtuous, dignified, moral
“Was this a face to be opposed against the warring winds? To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder, in the most terrible …cross-lightning?… mine enemy’s dog”
Epiplexis, idiom, analog,
“The weight of this sad time we must obey, speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most; we that are young.”
Carpe diem message Wisdomous, regal
Both King Lear and Gloucester experience anagnorisis, illustrating a critical attitude towards those in power’s failure to regard those/ things they cannot see.
“I have no way and therefore want no eyes, I stumbled when I saw”
Motif- eyesight, sibilance, anagnorisis, metaphorically blind previously.
“Come on, my boy. How dost my boy? Art cold?”
Epiplexis, possessive pronoun “My boy”
“O, I have ta’en too little care of this. Take physic, pomp, expose thyself to feel what wretches feel”
Apostrophe, “Pomp”- personifying magnificent display of any kind, but with special reference to himself, and perhaps to regal costume stage tradition suggests he wore
“They flattered me like a dog and told me I had white hairs in my beard”
Motif- beard, anagnorisis, simile- refers to Regan and Goneril who easily manipulated him.
Regan and Goneril pursue an artful manipulation of Lear.
Context
Queen Elizabeth famously made a speech in which she compared herself to a pelican, they believed pelicans would wound themselves to feed their young.
- Brian Annesley- whose daughters had tried to declare him insane in order to gain his property
- William Allen- whose daughters tried to swindle their own father and gain his money by improper means.
Shakespeare echoes the insincerity of Goneril and Regan through Edmunds plotting against his father.
Context
Honour you mother and father.
The new man-Ambitious, ruthless, individualistic, self-interested, felt no obligation to old feudal customs.Law was adhered to- Eldest son inherits money and property.
1605- Guyfawkes and fellow conspirators aimed to kill the king and blow up the houses of parliament, therefore the audience would have been familiar with the idea of plotting against the king.
Shakespeare emphasises a link between virtuosity and veracity through the characters of Edgar and Cordelia who regard their elders with respect and duty.
Context
Echoes christ, reinforces the idea of a saintly character. She has come to fight for her fathers rights.
.The lack of morality by many characters in the play and the terrible consequences of this, indirectly promotes christian values since we are shown the disastrous reality of a world without christianity. The 10 commandments were the foundation for morality, honour thy mother and father.
Both King Lear and Gloucester experience anagnorisis, illustrating a critical attitude towards those in power’s failure to regard those/ things they cannot see.
Context
Both King Lear and Gloucester experience anagnorisis, illustrating a critical attitude towards those in power’s failure to regard those/ things they cannot see.
The tragic errors that King Lear and Gloucester make in misjudging their children constitute a form of figurative blindness—a lack of insight into the true characters of those around them. Reminding the audience of this fact, the language of the play resounds with references to eyes and seeing from the very beginning.
