KENT

KENT

1. Coleridge: "Perhaps [the] nearest to perfect goodness in all Shakespeare's characters."

2. Historicist perspective : Kent is "the stereotype of the proud and rugged man of Kent" (Cohen)

   • Modern audience- difficult to understand/ may ignore this context
   • Elizabethan audience- More aware of this stereotype and so the question of Kent's credibility would not have been raised

3. Marxist view: Lear exploits Kent by not listening to his counsel and banishing him as a result

   • Kent himself is unconcerned by this stripping of status
     • 'So may it come thy master, whom thy lov'st'
     • Kent is motivated by his love for Lear
       • Only concern when being placed in the stocks is for the disrespect against his master
         • 'You shall do small respect...against...my master'

4. Comparison to Cordelia

   • Cordelia is saintly and remains composed, obediently returns to France with her husband
     • Arguably in order to mirror the 17th century ideals for women as since she belongs to her husband now she must follow him
   • Kent passionately rebels
     • As shown by his retorts in Act One, Scene One
       • 'What wouldst thou do, old man?'
         • First person to acknowledge the growing age of Lear, but not maliciously
           • Breaks through the regality of court that Sam Mendes presented in his production of King Lear as a farce and appeals rather to Lear's fatherly instincts
             • Mendes also adds the Fool to the first scene in order to provide a moral conscience
     • Stands up to Oswald
       • Represents the orderly state that Lear used to govern - his physical altercation with Oswald reinforces the battle being waged to restore the natural order
       • Modern audience supports him as he stands up for justice in a more satisfying way than Cordelia
       • Contemporary audience supports him as he is balancing out the natural order and provided a catharsis after such the continual progression of evil
         • His role is necessary in ensuring the elements of the tragic genre unfold

5. Comparison with the Fool

   • Provides wise insight, arguably acts as Lear's alter ego and advises him - but suddenly vanishes when no longer needed
   • Kent stays by Lear's side till the very end and even desires to follow him to death
     • '...to bid my king and master aye good night'
       • Feels his own impending death which also signifies the approach of Lear's death
       • King James articulated that he believes in total devotion to the monarchy - Kent definitely fulfils that role