King Lear - character

King Lear - character

1. "which of you shall we saydoth love us the most?"

   • hubris - fatal flaw from the start
     • he calculates arithmatically the love of his daughters
       • "Thy fifthy yet doth double five and twenty and thou art twice her love"
         • Cordelia is the vaourite daughter
           • At the beginning he banishes her, but then he returns to her
             • He learns from his mistakes
   • he tests his daughters' love
     • He's blind to the truth
       • He doesn't realize Cordelia is the daughter who loves him the most

2. Hamartia - he learns from his mistakes

   • He gets mad with Gonerill, Regan, Cornwll and Albany
     • Lear's insanity as learning process
       • Through his madness he becomes more sensible to other people
       • He realizes how unfair is the world
       • Appearence vs reality
         • Everyone sooner or later will die
         • He becomes much more self-critical
           • "Let me wipe it first, it smells of mortality"
             • He is not a God, his fate is to die
             • Foreshadows his death
           • "A poor old man as full of grief as age, wretched in both"
       • He considers topics he paid little attention to
         • suffering of those close to him
         • wrteched condition of the poor
         • justice system
         • true necessity
     • He lost his patience
       • Lear's character changes
         • He can't run his reign anymore
         • He needs people to take care of him
         • He's aggressive and unpredictable
       • Connection with the storm, which reresents his rage
         • "This tempest in my mind"
           • He's crazy
         • He speaks with the storm
           • He has lost touch with the natral world and his relation to it.
         • Hovel vs palace
           • Hovel= representation of his downfall
             • Foreshadows death = grave
           • animal reference
           • nature imagery
     • He tries to hide his feelings
       • Lack of ambition, given up

3. Similar to Gloucester

   • He is blinded too, but for diffrent reason
   • "We came crying hither"
   • "Oh are you there with me?"
     • They were both powerfull
       • Then they had downfall

4. Lear's rebirth

   • He is helped by Cordelia - paradox with the beginning of the play when he rejects her
     • He realized he has been manipulated by others
     • His reconcilation with Cordelia hows the best of Lear
       • He has accepted his powerless and diminished status
       • His language reflects his progress
         • He uses the first personinstead of the royal "we"
       • He's only Cordelia's father
         • he wants to revenge her death by killing the "slave" responsible for hanging her
   • "Reason in madness"
     • Now that he is mad is reasonable
       • Link to catharsis
   • "Of this child-changed father"
     • In his madness Lear is like a child
       • He has regressed to childhood
         • tage directions "Enter Lear asleep in a chair carried by servants "
     • He has recognized his mistakes
       • He has lost everything
         • Link to the quote "I gave you all"
   • Physical and metaphorical awakening

5. DETERIORATING OF LEAR = DETERIORATING OF KINGDOM

   • Edmond betrays Gloucester
   • A servant kills Cornwall
   • Albany helps Lear
   • Gonnerill kisses Edmond - adultery
   • subplot

6. Lear deserves punishment

   • He would remain a king, but without the "cares and business" of ruling
   • His desire to rely on Cordelia's "kind nursery"
   • He is blind and irresponsible as father and ruler
   • But he inspires loyalty, as we can see with Kent/Caius
     • and he has a tolerant side, as we can see wih the Fool's critics
     • The audience sympathises with him when Gonerill and Regan become more repugnant and don't accept him in their house.
       • "dog-hearted daughters"