King Lear Lecture 4

Term II : Lecture 4 King Lear - Act 1 Reviewed • Plot • Character • Themes

King Lear: Act 1 Plot The two plots advance in parallel: 1.1 Gloucester and Bastard Son/ Lear and Daughters. Daughters announce plans to contain Father 1.2 Edmund plots against his father and brother 1.3 Goneril into action, tells Oswald to be rude to Lear 1.4 Goneril’s plan works. Confrontation. Lear loses knights. In Act 2, Shakespeare gets the major characters into one place so the two plots overlap.

King Lear: Characters Most now firmly established  Lear: vain “but slenderly” knows himself.  Cordelia: virtuous and principled (perhaps irritatingly so!)  G and R:L the “ugly sisters” cf Cinderella/ Cordelia  Kent: blunt ,loyal (inexplicably so?)  Gloucester: amiable, gullible  Edmund: ingenious, bold, psychologically insightful

King Lear: Characters  Edgar: barely established; too “noble” for his own good  The Fool: no fool the Fool!  Albany: Mr Nice guy among the villains?

King Lear: Themes  The Bond: “According to my bond”.  Father /Child: Lear and daughters/G and sons  Sibling bond: R and G/C’delia; E and E  The Sovereign/Nation bond  The Subject/Sovereign bond: K and L  The Lear/Fool bond: simple affection?  The Spousal bond: G and A

King Lear: Themes  Nature ,in various forms  What it is not!  What it is: orderly arrangement according to custom; that which should not be violated, but which , when violated creates evil.See Lear (cf the Bond).  Edmund and Nature.” Thou Nature…” HIS Nature. Darwinian.

King Lear: Themes  Gloucester and Nature 1.2.110  Lear’s invocation of Nature for Unnatural ends 1.4.280  As we move further into the play, we will see Nature as a unity (disturb one part, disturb all) as in the Great Storm of Act 3