Act 1 Scene 1 Flashcards
(20 cards)
where is the play set?
It is set in Lear’s court
What do we learn about Edmund
We learn that Edmund has been ‘out nine years, and away he/ shall again.’ We also learn that Gloucester has another legitimate son however he values them both equally.
Edmund characterisation
His silence is significant. It is symbolic of his position as the bastard son who has no ‘voice’, rights or position in society. Shakespeare keeps Edmunds true character concealed at this point, so that his open soliloquy in the next scene is exciting.
First lines…
a mood of uncertainty is established in the first six lines of the play, which are typical of elizabethan and jacobean drama, where characters set the scene and introduce key themes and ideas. We learn that property issues and inheritance are at stake in king lear. example of this : Macbeth by Shakespeare, The play opens with the witches speaking in cryptic riddles and paradoxes, creating an eerie, uncertain atmosphere right from the start.
Context about inheritance
Inheritance issues were a matter of national concern in Shakespeare’s audience in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Elizabeth I was unmarried and childless.
Gloucester took for granted
Gloucester takes his rule over Edmund for granted, shown by the brief and brutal lines he speaks about Edmund’s past - his making. He isn’t embarrassed by his illegitimate offspring yet his lax morals questions the idea of family relationship.
Lear’s entrance, love test comparison
Lear’s entrance is power. But, we question his use of his power. His love test is foolish and egotistical and is similar to those in fairytales such as Cap O’rushes where a king asks his daughters how much they love him. One says “as much as salt,” and he misinterprets it as an insult, banishes her, then later realises her love was the truest.
Cordelia’s moral
She stands up for genuine feeling and the correct order in family life, when she says that some of her love should go to her husband when she marries. When Lear rejects her for this, he is the one who violates the natural order, placing pride over love. This creates a tragic chain reaction: Cordelia is banished, Goneril and Regan gain power, and Lear spirals into madness.
Cordelia’s strength and integrity
her strength of character and integrity is shown when she scorns Cornwall ,’fortunes are his love I will not be his wife.” She also parts frostily rom her sisters, telling them that she knows they are cunning and false. “I know what you are” I would prefer him to a better place.”
Another interpretation of Cordelia
There is a troubling irony in the fact that it is Cordelia who rebels against Lear first. Cordelia is Lear’s most loyal daughter yet she is the first one to oppose him however this a rebellion of integrity not pride. However the inversion of natural order doesn’t go unnoticed as Lear would have expected his oldest daughter to challenge him yet it was Cordelia.
Do we feel sympathy for Lear?
It is possible to feel sympathy for the king in spite of his rash behaviour. He clearly loved his youngest daughter a great deal, dividing the kingdom so that she would get the opulent share. Hoping he could rely on her nursery as he crawls towards death, his language here suggests the vulnerability of a baby. Reflects the wheel of life
Can we trust Goneril and Regan
Goneril and Regan justify their wicked intentions when they decide to ‘hit together’, supposedly out of fear that Lear might banish them too, since he ‘loved her most’ and still cast Cordelia out.
Goneril’s land compared to Regan
“No less in space, validity and pleasure.”
Shakespeare uses formal, legal language and a triplet to make love seem like property that can be divided equally. The metaphor shows Lear’s misunderstanding of love as something measurable. There is irony because love cannot be controlled like a contract.
Historical comparison
“Barbarous Scythian” Barbarous suggests she is cruel, savage and uncivilised, Scythian were eurasian tribe figthers from Russia - suggesting her alien nature to Lear.
Lear giving her a chance
“mend your speech a little, lest you mar your fortunes.”
Bow and arrow
This bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.”
Metaphor comparing tension in a bow to emotional or physical strain; imagery of readiness and conflict.
Suggests that a critical moment or confrontation is imminent, reflecting rising tension and impending violence in the play
Arrow through heart
“Let it fall through the fork rather invade through the region of my heart.”
Metaphor and vivid imagery showing physical pain as a symbol of emotional suffering.
Highlights Kent’s preference for physical pain over emotional betrayal, emphasizing themes of loyalty and the deep wounds caused by family conflict.
Kill the physician/doctor metaphor
“Do it kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow upon the foul disease.”
In Shakespeare’s day ‘thou’ was the pronoun used to address close friends and children, ‘you’ was the polite respectful term. Kent is being disrespectful when he addresses Lear as ‘thy’ which is the possessive form of ‘thou’. In this metaphor kent is the doctor who is trying to help and he’s trying to kill the doctor and rewards the disease instead of trying to kill it and instead of rewarding the people who are actually trying to help.
what do Goneril and Regan do and significance of it at the end?
Shakespeare often uses blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) for noble, formal, or public speech, and prose for more casual, intimate, or scheming conversations. When Goneril and Regan switch from verse to prose after Lear exits, it signals a drop in formality and a shift to their true intentions.
oxymoron
The oxymoron “plighted cunning” contrasts false sincerity with deceit, and the personification of time suggests truth will be revealed. It shows Cordelia’s wisdom and foreshadows the exposure of Goneril and Regan’s lies.
