CHAOS AND ORDER

CHAOS AND ORDER

1. ELEMENTAL CHAOS

   • The Storm
     • "Love not such nights as these. The wrathful skies Gallow the very wanderers of the dark And make them keep their caves. Snce I was man, Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain I never Remember to have heard. Man’s nature cannot carry Th' affliction nor the fear." (Act 3, Scene 2)
       • The storm Kent's describes has very severe elements, unlike any other storm.
         • The storm is a possible biblical illusion
     • The storm is a pathetic fallacy of Lear's mind after the fight with Regan and Goneril in Act 2.
       • "The tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there—filial ingratitude." (Act 3, Scene 4)
         • All Lear can focus on is the betrayal of his daughters, this being the "tempest in his mind."
     • Foreshadowing for the impending madness.

2. CHAOS IN RELATIONSHIPS

   • Gloucester and His Sons
     • Edmund
       • Is an illegitimate son, born out of wedlock.
       • Plots against his brother, Edgar in order to inherit Gloucester's land.
         • "Well then, Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate." (Act1, Scene 2)
           • Edmund concludes that the love Gloucester has for his legitimate son, Edgar, is the same that he has for his illegitimate son, Edmund, so why should Edmund not inherit land?
     • Edgar
       • Legitimate son, is next inline to inherit his father's land.
       • His father turns against him after Edmund sets him up, leaving him to disguise himself as "Poor Tom."
       • Even through his father's betrayal Edgar still cares for him and assists him when he goes blind.
     • If Edmund was also Gloucester's legitimate son, would things have changed for him?
   • Lear and His Daughters
     • Goneril and Regan
       • Betray Lear and falsely profess their love as a means to gain land.
         • Once power is gained both sisters belittle Lear and take full control.
           • "What need you five and twenty, ten, or five To follow in a house where twice so many Have a command to tend you?" (Act 2, Scene 4)
             • They are trying to suppress Lear's army to gain more power over him and the kingdom, as they know that his knights will protect him.
       • Eventually the sisters turn on each other, resulting in a vicious cycle of betrayal.
     • Cordelia
       • From whom we do exist and cease to be— Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity, and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me Hold thee from this for ever. (Act 1, Scene 1)
         • Lear's blatant anger to Cordelia's honesty of her love for her father being, "according to [her] bond, no more nor less," results in the King banishing her from his kingdom, showing Lear's rashness.
           • However despite Lear's rashness, Cordelia assembles an army to gain back her father's land from her sisters.
             • Cordelia and Lear's reunion brings back a kind of order to the kingdom, but Cordelia's death is the ultimate sacrifice
     • If Cordelia had flattered her father the way he wanted her to, would Goneril and Regan have plotted against her instead?

3. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CHAOS

   • Lear
     • In Act 1, both Goneril and Regan comment on Lear's mental state.
       • "Tis the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself." (Act 1, Scene 1)
         • Regan talks of Lear's aging, but makes a comment about how he has never truly been all there.
       • Goneril and Regan use false flattery to betray Lear, pushing his descent in to madness.
     • " "Is man no more than this?" (Act 3, Scene 4)
       • When Lear meets Poor Tom, the lack of clothes confuses the King, he questions if man is really that vulnerable and proceeds to take off his own clothes
   • Edgar
     • Disguises himself as "Poor Tom," a naked beggar.
       • "Away! The foul fiend follows me! Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind."
         • We first meet Poor Tom, aka a disguised Edgar, during the storm, he exclaims that the Devil is after him reflecting on his mental state. (Act 3, Scene 4)

4. NATURAL ORDER

   • The bond between father and child is tainted as Edmund, Goneril, and Regan betray their family in order to gain personally.
     • The eldest son, at this time Edgar, is innately required to inherit his father's land but Edmund's scheme prevents this from occurring.
     • Goneril and Regan's blatant disregard for Lear's wellbeing shows that his land and status is all that mattered in the end.
       • "O sir, to wilful men, The injuries that they themselves procure Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors." (Act 3, Scene 4)
         • When Lear runs off into the storm, instead of being concerned, Regan proceeds to lock the doors and let him face the consequences.
   • There is an underlying role reversal between Lear and his Fool, as the Fool gives Lear advise in a way that the King will not take offence.
     • "That lord that counseled thee To give away thy land, Come place him here by me. Do thou for him stand. The sweet and bitter fool Will presently appear— The one in motley here, The other found out there." (Act 1, Scene 4)
       • The Fool criticizes Lear's actions, in the process calling him a fool, but the way he presents it let's Lear see his mistake in a new light.