Act Scene Notes Flashcards
When we are introduced to Albany and Cornwall in the beginning of Act 1, we don’t hear who they are
Married to
Link to women/independence of men from bonds?
Why is Gloucesters adultery made more sinister, especially due to its positioning as soon as the play commences?
It was only a short time after the birth of Edgar
What did Tolstoy say about Gloucester’s first words? When?
1906: “The coarseness of these words of Gloucester is so out of place in the mouth of a person intended to represent a noble character”— own assumptions about how noble characters ought to speak
What does Gloucester reveal to Kent in the opening scene, that some critics believe is the reason for his subsequent behaviour?
Tells Kent he will send him away again-
“second banishment”—
Coleridge 1907 believed Edmund outraged by the light way G had spoken of his mother
Illegitimacy rages were RISING during Shakespeare’s lifetime. How were notions of illegitimacy complex?
Officially, English Common Law: illegitimates could not inherit
Civil Law: they could inherit
Edmund is a ‘filius nullius’ (‘nothing son’ BUT effectively legitimised when Gloucester later banishes Edgar
Richer families, illegitimacy not an insurmountable hurdle
Which character in Othello does Cordelia echo?
Desdemona: perceives a “divided duty”
Many fathers more reasonable than Lear feel a pang when they realise they are no longer first in their daughters affections
BUT Lear v far
What does France say of Cordelia?
She “is herself a dowry”
Arguably Shakespeare condemns division, but Lear is over 80 and has no male heir: natural to settle succession.
How do the virtuous characters deal with the reality of lears abdication?
They never accept it
Regard him as king throughout— maybe this shows their opinion on the schemes inauthenticity— the ambivalence of Lears role after the abdication is one of the pivotal points of the tragedy
In the first scene, when does the shift from prose to verse occur?
The entrance of Lear it shifts to prose
Ritual, ceremony
What does gonerill compain of in relation to her father in scene 1?
“how full of changes his age is”
Most directors make use of a prop (map) to show visually his most recent plan
The idea of a love test is doubtless a symbol of Lear’s VANITY. How does is also contain a element of cruelty?
What literary tradition does this dramatise?
He has already decided that the “third more opulent” should go to Cordelia (whom he loves most)
Gonerill and Regan know where they stand in fathers affections
A FABLE: kind of parable with obvious moral attached— Lear makes catastrophic error of judgement; no tragedy without the flaw
What is a hamartia?
Weakness or deficiency in character’s nature that brings about his downfall & eventual death.
‘to err’
Broad spectrum
Some critics talk about how Lear and Cordelia are similar like she’s his daughter obviously etc
Find those notes
Learn some more
It’s good
What is Cordelia’s tragic flaw that relates to Lear’s S1?
She could had been tactful, have humoured her father, not understated her genuine love
BUT not natural to her; she will not lie.
Kent (DIRECTS our RESPONSES throughout play) sees truth : “Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least”
How, in scene one, is it revealed that the sisters are materialistic?
The imagery they use to describe their “love” for their father
Goneril’s stress on words of valuation: “dearer”, “rich”, “rare” is echoed by Regan.
Shakespeare’s cleverly introduces the words “true” and “sense” into Regan’s vocab; true is ironic but Regan is a creature of appetite that will be governed by her base SENSES as play develops.
As with the introduction of the word “nothing” in scene one, which theme does Gonerill introduce?
The idea of sight: “dearer than eyesight”
Cordelia has fewer lines than
Almost any other important character in all of Shakespeare
Why give Cordelia asides?
We are left in no doubt of her motives
Cordelia- how does she define her love in a way that would satisfy a reasonable father?
According to my bond, no more nor less
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”
Tolstoy
Argues that Cordelia refuses to quantify her love “on purpose to irritate her father”
Some psychological motivation beyond the need for honesty?
Lear’s fury is caused by bitter disappointment—
He had hoped to set his “rest / On her kind nursery”
- suggests a ‘second childhood’; premonition of what happen in later acts
Lear gives up power and is utterly dependent on his favoured daughters and the gratitude of their husbands.
Who is the only one of the four with decent instincts? What happens?
Albany
Dominated by Gonerill
The love and honour of Kent shows that LEAR was NOT ALWAYS so foolish as he now appears.
Kent as a model of plain speaking honesty.
Calls king “mad”, guilty of “folly”, “hideous rashness”, “evil”
Farewell speech commends Cordelia to gods and reminds Gonerill and Regan of their promises.
It is in RHYMED COUPLETS: formality rings the importance of their choric function.
How are the reactions of the rivals to Cordelia’s love carefully delineated?
Burgundy: wealth > love
France: love increased by her outcast state.
Frances words have additional resonance because of their echoes of St. Paul
Dismisses rival with one adjective “waterish”
Twice gives the impartial observers view of lears actions as “strange”
Rhymed verse, like Kent, is choric.
So is Cordelia’s
Which three character’s rhyming speech implies a choric function in Act 1?
- Cordelia; “stood I within his grace / I would prefer him to a better place”
- Kent
- France
In Act 1 scene 1, who emerges as the dominant sister?
Gonerill ; Regan merely agrees
Regan proposed to “further think of it”
Whereas
Gonerill is determined to act “i’ the heat”
Lack of filial affection prepares us for horrors to follow
Already plotting to overturn the conditions of Lear’s abdication. (Chilling.)
Which line from Cordelia, in Act 1, is reminiscent of which proverb?
“Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides, /
Who covert faults, at last with shame derides”
That truth is the daughter of time;
Here linked with a verse from the Old Testament (PROVERBS 28:13):
“He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper”
The chapter was appointed to be read on St. Stephen’s Day, the day on which King Lear was performed before James I in 1606
What reinforces Edmunds skills at deception?
Both his brother and his father agree to his Machiavellian suggestions easily
Can be comic on stage
“if not by birth”
“have lands by wit”
“Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law/
My services are bound”
Very different from “Nature” Lear later addresses as “dear goddess”
What does Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature argue with regards to nature?
John Danby
1949
The virtuous characters look on nature as kindly, the evil characters regard nature as a mere justification for their unscrupulous impulses
Arguable, though: analyse the outcomes the dramatist constructs for the characters— whatever the character’s interpretation of it, nature merely exists;
Does not chose to save those who believe it to e beneficent, nor does it choose to punish those who see it as a conduit of asbo
Generally Shakespeare’s evil characters who deride the influence of the stars:
Julius Caesar- Cassius, in temptation of the nobler Brutus, tells him that the fault “is not in our stars, but in ourselves”
Defend Danby
With relation to the thrillingly shocking notion of Edmund boasting of his bastardy, which source does Shakespeare closely follow?
What he read it Ortensio Lando’s Paradossi (1543):
“The Bastard is more worthy to be esteemed than he that is lawfully born or legitimate”
Most editors acknowledged he uses Lando, but a few acknowledge Lando was a humorist and that the tract was a series of parodies and amusing paradoxes
Which quote by Edmund displays his philosophy that the ends justify the means, that he is determined to rise and his ambition will subordinate all?
“All with me’s meet that I can fashion fit”
When was The Prince published?
what does it argue?
1532;
all means may be utilised for the establishment and preservation of authority
The worst acts of the ruler are justified by the wickedness and treachery of the governed
condemned by Pope Clement VIII
Which quip of Gloucester’s echoes ‘Nothing will come of nothing’?
‘If it be nothing I shall not need spectacles’ (SIGHT IMAGERY)
How does Shakespeare drive home the dominant nature of Edmund’s character in Act 1 Scene 2?
drum-like alliterative repetitions of ‘d’ sounds: ‘death’, ‘dearth’, ‘dissolutions’, ‘divisions’, ‘diffidences’, ‘dissipation’
The view that sons should manage the revenue of their aged fathers echoes what happens in the main plot .
Place the idea in context?
Not everyone in audience would have thought that to give more power and authority to young people went against nature.
Montaigne, Essays, 1580:
‘It is mere injustice to see an old, crazed, sinew-shrunken and nigh dead father… to enjoy so many goods as would suffice for the preferment and entertainment of many children,’
and in the meanwhile, for want of means, to suffer that to lose their best days and years… a father overburdened with years… ought willingly to distribute… amongst those, to whom by natural decree they belong’
What is Montaigne’s philosophy, which Shakespeare makes great use of?
Montaigne questions the place of man in the cosmos, claiming that we do not have good reason to consider ourselves superior to animals and thus arguing against traditional concepts like the Chain of Being.
Mixture of wise scepticism and humanism.
The prediction quotes by Gloucester was common for the era, but it is also similar to the prophecy of…
the end of the world in the Bible (Mark 13):
‘the brother shall deliver the brother to death, and the father the son, and the children shall rise against their parents, and shall cause them to die…
the sun shall wax dark, and the moon shall not give her light’
What does Gonerill write to Regan asking with reference to Lear being annoying at the beginning in Scene 3?
he will receive the same sort of treatment (Oswald being disrespectful) at her house: both sisters ‘hold’ the ‘very course’
A reading of Gonerill’s behaviour in Act 1 Scene 3 is that…
she will find every opportunity of quarreling with Lear in order to drive him to Regan, who will continue to humiliate him: planning, ensuring will is done.
DOESN’T want to KILL, just extricate from the uncomfortable agreement by which they would each have an unwelcome guest and his hundred companions to feed etc
What term is used to describe someone 80-89
octogenarian: strange he is out hunting! hint as to Lear’s wild nature, intrigued to see if he will continue to behave erratically on his next appearance
In Act 1 Scene 3, how do we understand Edmund and the sisters to be different?
Edmund selects his mode of behavior as an aspect of his free will
G and R gravitate slowly into depravity (that arguably becomes far sicker than Edmunds)
