King Lear

King Lear

1. Themes

   • Nothing
     • Quotes
       • 'nothing comes from nothing
       • 'Is man no more than this?'
       • 'Lear's shadow'
       • 'I gave you all'
       • 'Nothing'
       • 'If it be nothing I shall not need spectacles'
       • 'Can you make no use of nothing, nuncle?'
         • 'Nothing can be made out of nothing'
     • Critics
       • Charles Lamb: "To see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the stage with a walking stick, turned out of doors by his daughters in a rainy night, had nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting.
     • The word 'nothing' or 'nought' occurs 34 times in the play
     • Lear is progressively brought to nothing.
       • kingdom, knights, dignity, sanity, clothes, his last loving daughter, finally; life itself.
     • All
       • Goneril, Regan, Cornwall and Edmund have 'everything.'
         • They ignore their duties, greed, and self interest rule the play.
       • 'They told me I was everything'
   • Nature
     • Quotes
       • 'Thou nature art my goddess'
       • 'by the sacred radience of the sun'
       • 'Here I disclaim all parental care'
       • 'Who in the lust stealth of nature'
       • 'I grow, I prosper; Now, gods, stand up for bastards!'