King Lear quotes Flashcards

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1
Q

“How sharper than a…

A

…serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”
- Lear about Goneril
- metaphor

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2
Q

“Kite” and…

A

…“vulture”
- Lear often refers to his daughters with animalistic imagery. Vultures and kites are both birds of prey

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3
Q

“Truth’s a dog…

A

…must to kennel”
- The Fool
- metaphor satirises Lear’s lack of awareness and principles

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4
Q

“nothing will come…

A

…of nothing”
- Lear
- repetition of “nothing” throughout the play establishes the centrality of nihilism

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5
Q

“which of you doth…

A

…love us most”
- Lear, using the royal register at the beginning of the play
- self-glorifying question

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6
Q

moral obligations “dread to speak when…

A

…power to flattery bows”
- Kent
- personification, perhaps intended as a subtle moral teaching for King James I

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7
Q

“See better…

A

…Lear”
- Kent undermines the king’s authority with the blunt imperative phrase and informal address

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8
Q

“She herself is…

A

…a dowry”
- France about Cordelia
- metaphor implies that Cordelia’s altruistic nature is worth more than her financial status

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9
Q

“nothing my lord, I love…

A

…your majesty according to my bond”
- Cordelia does not offer a false display of excessive affection like her sisters.
- she conforms to 17th century expectations of women, who were meant to devote love to their father, husband and God

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10
Q

“dry up her organs…

A

…of increase”
- Lear about Goneril
- visceral verb and objectifying description of her womb

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11
Q

“suspend thy…

A

…purpose”
- Lear about Goneril
reduces every woman’s worth to a biological function

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12
Q

“Sir, I love you more than words…

A

…can wield the matter”
- Goneril to Lear
flattery and the alliteration implies her tone is smooth and charming

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13
Q

“she names my very deed of love…

A

only she falls too short”
- Regan
- belittling phrase “too short” highlights the competitiveness that Lear inaugurated

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14
Q

“Know that we have divided…

A

…our kingdom in three”
- Lear, use of the royal register
King James I was a unionist, 17th century audience would have immediately anticipated conflict

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15
Q

“why brand they us with base?…

A

…With baseness, bastardy? Base, base?”
plosive alliteration and repetition - he is spiteful

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16
Q

Edmund repeatedly calls his brother…

A

“legitimate”
- encapsulates everything that makes Edgar perfect and him inferior, but when it’s reduced to a single word the concept is absurd

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17
Q

Edmund questions why he should “stand in…

A

…the plague of custom”
metaphor aligns primogeniture and customs around wedlock with disease

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18
Q

“The hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so long…

A

that it had it head bit off by it young”
- The Fool, metaphor
filial ingratitude

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19
Q

“the younger rises when…

A

…the old doth fall”
Shakespeare notes on common anxiety around the youth overthrowing their elders in the 17th century

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20
Q

“we shall express our…

A

…darker purpose”
- Lear
adjective enforces the recurring theme of blindness
foreshadows the upcoming events

21
Q

“my cue is…

A

…villainous melancholy’”
- Edmund
paradox of hurt mistreatment and vengeful desire

22
Q

“thou, Nature…

A

…art my goddess”
- he devotes his loyalties to nature instead of man

23
Q

Edmund describes he conception as a “lusty…

A

stealth of nature”
- aligning his existence with nature implies he is pure and authentic
- seductive

24
Q

“Who is it that can…

A

…tell me who I am?”
- loss of the royal register
- questioning his identity

25
Q

“thou wouldst make a good…

A

…Fool”
- The Fool to Lear
paradoxical task of distracting Lear from his suffering and encouraging him to take responsibilty

26
Q

“it is his hand my lord…

A

but I hope his heart is not in the contents”
- false display of concern, highlights his machiavellian nature

27
Q

Edmund sings when he hears Edgar coming…

A
  • “fa, sol, la, mi”
    often referred to as the diabolus in musica, due to the foreboding atmosphere it evokes
28
Q

“‘tis the infirmity of his age, yet he hath ever…

A

…but slenderly known himself”
- Regan comments on his old age and lack of self-awareness

29
Q

Goneril describes Lear’s imperfections as amplified by “choleric..

A

…years”
- the theory of the four humours
- an excess of choler resulted in irrational behaviour and increased anger

30
Q

“old fools are…

A

…babes again”
- Goneril about Lear
The Seven Ages of Man

31
Q

“O sir, you…

A

…are old”
- Regan to Lear
- patronising

32
Q

Goneril asks “What need you five and twenty? Ten? or Five?” and Regan adds…

A

…“what need one?”
they collectively undermine his authority

33
Q

“[Regan plucks…

A

…his beard.]”
- stage direction
highlights Regan’s lack of respect for someone superior in in age, sex and social satus.

34
Q

“dear father, it is thy…

A

…business I go about”
- Cordelia to Lear
Despite the way Lear mistreated her, she is still loyal to him
- she appears Christ-like, as these lines allude to a biblical passage

35
Q

“like flies to wanton boys we are to the…

A

…gods: they use us for their sport”
Gloucester
simile, implies men are pawns used for entertainment and discarded - nihilistic

36
Q

“I stumbled when…

A

…I saw”
- Gloucester
highlights how when he had sight he could not see the truth

37
Q

“thou shouldst not have been old…

A

…till thou hadst been wise”
- the Fool notes that usually age and experience brings wisdom, but Lear remained ignorant under the protection of his wealth and status

38
Q

“O let me not…

A

…be mad”
- the audience pity him

39
Q

Lear argues that without luxuries “man’s life is…

A

…cheap as beast’s”
contradicts Lear’s later line “unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal”

40
Q

“I am a man more…

A

…sinned against than sinning”
- Lear is a tragic hero, he admits he is flawed but asserts his treatment is unjust
- however it could also be argued he is victimising himself

41
Q

“I have ta’en too…

A

…little care of this”
- The regretful realisation shows Lear discovered a newfound awareness for the poor within his country

42
Q

“have his daughters brought…

A

…him to this pass?”
- Lear’s question aligns Edgar’s pretence of madness with his own true state
- he assumes every beggar’s condition is due to filial ingratitude, specifically women, as feminists would note

43
Q

“I am a very foolish…

A

…fond old man”
- Lear’s anagnorisis is a gradual process but here is takes full effect.

44
Q

“sir, do you…

A

…know me?”
- Cordelia asks Lear, a modern audience realises he shows signs of dementia

45
Q

Edmund considers which sister to marry…

A

“Both? One? Or neither?”
- series of short questions imply he is amused by the predicament, thus he holds absolute disregard for their feelings
- yet later he says “all three now marry in an instant”, thus he takes neither in life, but both in death.

46
Q

“some good I mean to do…

A

…despite of mine own nature”
- some may pity him, he believes evil is in him yet a modern audience cannot blame him for his desire to rebel. We realise he is not evil by nature, but a product of his classist environment.

47
Q

“Look there…

A

…look there!”
He dies believing Cordelia might be alive, which evokes catharsis

48
Q

“the weight of this sad time we must obey”

A
  • Edgar, the final lines of the play
    he speaks in rhyme, offers a sense of finality
    The audience are encouraged to the consequences of the character’s actions