King Lear

ACT 1: Scene 1: Present in scene: Everyone except Fool and Edgar Overview: Conversation between Kent and Glos about Edmund. Lear wants to divide up the kingdom and asks which of his daughters loves him the most. Cordelia won't bow to flattery and is banished, along with Kent. Cordelia is then agreed to be married to France and she leaves. Gon and Regan plot against Lear. Scene 2:  Present:  Overview: Scene 3:          

CONTROL    Lear loses control of his kingdom and his identity with it. No longer wants control over his kingdom. "Tis our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths, while we unburthened crawl towards death" He is presented as a controlling father, by asking his daughters to say who loves him most. "Which of you shall we say doth say love us most?" Goneril and Regan take control over Lear and the remains of his Kingship. They are manipulative in their speeches and threads of irony run throughout. "Sir I love you more than word can wield the matter. Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty" Regan's speech also is highly flattering and is a sign of the allegiance that forms between the two sisters during the play. "I am made of that self-same metal as my sister, and prize me at her worth". Only Cordelia is unwilling to play Lear's game and win control over her third of the kingdom saying "I am sure my love's more ponderous than my tongue" "I cannot heave my heart into my mouth" Kent, the Fool and Cordelia try to control Lear’s madness. Kent is instantly aware of Lear's rashness and attempts to make Lear change his mind. "Thou youngest daughter does not love thee least" "See better Lear, and let me still remain the true blank of thine eye". The Fool mocks Lear's shocking behaviour, calling him a fool, as "all thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with" Edmund controls his situation, first by manipulating Glos, then Edmund Goneril and Regan order the torture of Glos, two women taking control Edmund orders the death of Lear and Cord, taking control

Discuss Shakespeare’s treatment of the issue of control in King Lear:   Shakespeare’s treatment of the issue of control in King Lear is varied and full of depth. He uses control whether control is free or rigid. Control is stressed as important in King Lear and Shakespeare presents to the audience what happens when natural order and control is dismissed.   Loss of control is prevalent from the very first scene of King Lear and acts as a catalyst for the play’s events. Lear gives up control of the kingdom and in return loses control over his mind. "Tis our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them onto younger strengths, so that we unburdened crawl towards death" The verb 'fast' shows Lear's sense of urgency. The verb 'shake' hints at the disrupted nature of the love test and also shows how the kingdom is also shaken by Lear's "darker purpose". "Younger strengths" shows the audience that Lear is aware of his age. The verb 'crawl' is often associated with babies and this replicates how Lear's mind becomes child-like as he loses control over his kingdom and also his mind. Andrew Hadfield said that “King Lear must be read in terms of the danger of a monarch cutting himself off from the people he rules, and so destroying what he has so carefully built up.” Divine Right of Kings/ James 1/ Division of the Kingdom.   Shakespeare’s treatment of the issue of control is also evident in Lear’s control over weeping. In Act 2, Scene 2, Lear responds to his mistreatment by Goneril and Regan. "Touch me with noble anger and let not women’s weapons, water drops, stain my man’s cheeks!" There is a stark contrast between the gentle verb 'touch' and the harshness of 'anger'. 'Noble' implies that Lear still wants to remain a man of strength who desires to control his emotions. 'Women's weapon's' implies that when women show emotion, it is a personal attack upon Lear. This also foreshadows the final act of the play when Lear eventually succumbs to tears over the death of Cordelia. Critically, feminists would view this quote as highly misogynistic as it implies that women crying is a sign of weakness, rather than strength. Some feminist critics would argue that the play has this tone throughout and is especially prevalent in Lear, who is often disgusted by tears and outbursts of human emotion.   Shakespeare’s treatment of the issue of control is also played out through the Gods within the play. Gloucester feels as if the Gods have all control and says in Act 4 Scene 1 that "As flies to wanton boys we are to the Gods. They kill us for their sport" This simile clearly outlines Gloucester's view on control and fate. He believes we are all controlled by the Gods who views as a flies killed for fun by destructive children. This is almost ironic within the context of King Lear as it is not the Gods who abuse Gloucester and Lear but their destructive child/children respectively. The noun 'sport' also is repeated again by Gloucester, yet with a very different meaning to "There was good sport at his making" whereupon he sounds like a 'wanton boy' himself. King Lear is set in a pre-Christian Britain, where various characters call upon the Gods. Finally, Shakespeare’s illustrates the issue of control through the control women have over men.  Goneril especially is seen as very powerful over men throughout the play. We see this through her interactions with Albany, Oswald, Edmund and Lear. In Act 4 Scene 2, she verbally attacks Albany for commenting on Goneril and Regan’s treatment of Lear, whom Albany describes as “Tigers not daughters”. Goneril responds by calling him a "Milk-livered man that bear'st a cheek for blows and a head for wrongs" This line mirrors Goneril's remark about Albany's "milky gentleness" in Act 1, Scene 4 . Milk livered or lily livered calling someone a coward and this subverts the typical view that women are cowards, instead of men. 'Cheek for blows' may also suggest physical...

THE STORM ACT 3, SCENE 4 In this extract King Lear is left out in a raging storm. The outside world is a metaphor for Lear’s mental state, which he starting to come to terms with.Lear personifies the storm; “thou think’s ’tis much that this contentious storm invades us to the skin”.  Lear talks about his mental state “When the mind’s free, the body’s delicate. The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else save what beats there" By saying his mind is free, Lear knows that he is losing control over his own thoughts. He describes his mind as a ‘tempest’ which is fitting with the chaos within Lear himself and the actions within the play. “From my senses take all feeling else save what beats there” could allude to Lear’s heart which is what is keeping him alive at this point in the play. He is unable feel anything as he is too concerned about his change in mental state. As he grows madder, he experiences a deep anagnorisis and is forced to acknowledge the world he has shunned for years.   “But I will punish home: no I will weep no more.” This shows his aversion to the stereo-typical feminine act of weeping and how.  “Pour on; I will endure” This highlights the theme of endurance and how Lear is unbothered by the storm and will endure the cruel nature of his daughters. “Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all" This echoes the elliptical sentence “I gave you all!” in Act 2, Scene 2.   Lear puts others before himself in this extract. “In, boy; go first. You houseless poverty” This shows Lear’s empathy, using the familial noun of ‘boy’, showing Lear’s caring nature towards the Fool. This alludes to the caring Lear Cordelia knew before his mental decline. It also demonstrates Lear’s anagnorisis about the poor which he continues with “poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are". The stage direction that Lear “kneels” makes this speech almost like a prayer but to the homeless instead of the Gods. It also marks a stage in humility, from the moment he kneels in mockery to Regan to begging for forgiveness from Cordelia. For once, Lear thinks about others, which is probably due to the fact he too is just like them. There is consonance in the lines “bide the pelting of this pitiless storm” and “how shall your houseless heads” and this creates a bold, accusatory tone to the speech.   Lear then realises he neglected the needs of the poor during his rule. “O, I have taken too little care of this. Take physic, pomp, expose thyself to what wretches feel, that thou mayst shake the superflux to them and show the heavens more just”. “Take physic pomp” shows that Lear wishes to purge from his own desires and the harshness of “expose thyself” suggests that Lear must reveal his true, innermost self to the world and endure the worst, a prevalent theme throughout King Lear. “Shake the superflux to them” shows Lear’s desire to distribute wealth evenly and fairly to those who need it most. This mirrors his earlier line of “shake all cares and business from our age conferring them on to younger strengths”.

A thematic overview of Shakespeare's King Lear.

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