King Lear Flashcards
Analysis of: “In three our Kingdom, and ‘tis our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths, while we unburdened crawl toward our death.”
Metaphor/foreshadowing “crawling to our death” - regressing, losing contact, he is an overburdened animal, self pitying
Act 1 quote: Our daughter’s…
Irony, foreshadowing, parallels to future acts…
“Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife may be prevented now.”
Act 1 quote: “Which of you shall…”
Shows Lear’s character to value appearance, flattery, performance of a ‘love test’.
“Which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge.”
Analysis of:
Goneril: “Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter. Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty… A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.”
- Hyperbolic language shows the value of appearance over authenticity
- Eyesight motif (use multiple examples if using) - introduces the key theme that people in this play are blind to morals/truth/reality
- Formal language shows that her speech is artificial and insincere
Act 1 quote: How, how, Cordelia?
Inauthentic love, importance of appearance, strong characterisation of Lear.
“How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little, Lest you may mar your fortunes”.
Eyesight motif: Out of my sight…
Moral blindness
“Out of my sight!” (to which Kent replies), “See better, Lear.”
Results of the love test (Goneril and Regan): ‘Tis the infirmity…
Doubting his leading, showing that they are just playing the game, Machiavellian qualities.
“Tis the infirmity of his age. yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.”
Quote: Nothing will…
“Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.”
What is the running theme of Act 1 Sc. 1&2? How does this set the tone for the rest of the play?
- The theme is misjudgment: of children, of own beliefs, characters of people.
- This sets the tone by implying there is strong moral blindness throughout the play.
What are key Machiavellian qualities of a person?
(memorise these adjectives to use in essay)
Cunning, ambitious, unscrupulous, scheming, duplicitous.
What are the key qualities of Humanism?
(Edgar, Cordelia - use these adjectives in essay)
Humane, compassionate, democratic, fair.
Analysis of quote: Edmund
“This is the excellent foppery of the world, that,
when we are sick in fortune,–often the surfeit
of our own behavior,–we make guilty of our
disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as
if we were villains by necessity; fools by
heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and
treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards,
liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of
planetary influence; and all that we are evil in,
by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish
disposition to the charge of a star.”
Edmund’s monologue and heavenly references shows his defiance of the Great Chain of Being/set natural order, and shows his Machiavellian qualities.
- shows his renaissance thinking
Edmund quote and analysis: “Let me, if not by birth…”
“Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit. all with me’s meet that I can fashion fit.”
- analysis: Rhyming couplets shows his cunning and duplicitous plan is working and he will do anything it takes to achieve his plan.
- Evil men are not born but made, through his past trauma, justifying that because he has no real position as an illegitimate, his advancement in society may only be through his own wit and force.
Quote and analysis: The fool
“Thou shouldst not have…”
“Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hast been wise.”
- The imperative tone of the fool conveys that someone that is old will not always be wise. This is a direct reference to King Lear and his loss of sanity.
*Remember: The Fool is the voice of reason, logic, and irony in the play.
ANALYSIS:
1. “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!”
2. “Rage, blow! … Spit, fire! … Spout, rain!”
Pathetic fallacy: Lear’s emotions are reflected in the uncontrollable weather and shows that he is slowing becoming unpredictable himself (spiraling into madness, losing self identity)
Personification: Lear personifying the elements and commanding it to portray the same anguish that he is experiencing shows his loss of power and identity.
Imperative: Loss of control
