Flashcards
Shakespeare AO3
Cards in this deck (11)
- 1ARISTOTLE'S view on 'Tragedy'"suffering beyond human understanding"
-The use of suffering shows the character's true personalities
-Chaos and disorder (AO4: Civil War happening at the time of writing)
-5-part Dramatic Structure: Intro --> Complication --> Climax --> Understanding -->Resolution (E.G. Lear = Splits kingdom --> Daughters --> Madness on heath --> Shows humanity to a 'stranger' (Poor Tom) --> Kneels to Cordelia for forgiveness
Keywords:
Catharsis - The release of emotions, purification of mind and body E.g. Lear's moment upon the heath "blow winds and crack my cheeks"
Hamartia: A mistake made by the tragic hero (Lear) E.g. His initial decision to divide the kingdom
Hubris: The tragic flaw in a character's personality E.g. Lear's arrogance, temper, lack of logic // Gloucester's mistake in trusting Edmund - gullibility, immediately believes him without questioning how/why - 2KATHLEEN MCLUSKIE Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism in 'King Lear'1. "fathers are owed particular duties by their daughters"
2. "...any movement within [family relations] is portrayed as a destructive reversal of rightful order"
3. "...appalled by chaos when those primal links are broken"
IDEAS:
- Society implodes when the woman is in control
-When women do not obey there is chaos - 3COPPELIA KAHN Absent Mother in 'King Lear'1. "the only source of love, power and authority is the father; an awesome, demanding presence"
2. "there is no part in the ritual for the bride's mother; rather the bride's father hands her directly to her husband" - Trad. wedding, father 'gives away' daughter, daughter takes on husband's name - new identity, sense of belonging - (Ownership/possession idea?)
IDEAS:
-'sport': Description of Edmund's conception, only mother referenced and she is nameless
-Shakespeare deliberately pushed the mother aside? Do the daughters share the same mother?
-Lear has created the world that has rejected him - longs to be cared for but his daughters turn on him - 4ARNOLD KETTLE"...in the first three acts of the play is a world in which the old decadent and the new unprincipled and both are (as the treatment of Cordelia shows) inhuman"
IDEA:
-Suggests that the sisters are part of a larger movement of 'new people' who challenge the existing hierarchy - links to Edmund, Oswald etc - 5PENGUIN CRITICAL STUDIES 'King Lear'"...human beings are entirely responsible for their actions, and if these lead to disaster, the tragedy is absolute"
- 6DOLLIMORE"King Lear is ultimately a play about power, prophecy and inheritance"
- 7JENNIFER LIM"Much of the plays action is driven by fathers trying to confirm that their children do indeed love them"
- 8MARXIST READING- Goneril & Regan = power hungry, constantly striving for more, desire to improve (not necessarily frowned upon by a modern audience), will go to any lengths to get what they want (audiences would feel negatively towards them)
-Lear in storm = "expose thyself to feel what wretches feel"
^^ idea that everyone was born equal, people should have empathy for those in different social positions to ourselves - 9PERFORMANCE CRITICISM: TREVOR NUNN'S VERSION1. Edmund is portrayed as an attractive figure compared to his brother
-Ironic: Edgar is good
-Being attracted to the evil character suggests that all humans are flawed but can still be appreciated by someone
-Edmund's conception described as 'sport': natural drive/belief in 'survival of the fittest', attractive characteristic - 10PERFORMANCE CRITICISM: ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, MANCHESTER APRIL 20161. Cordelia dressed in white = connotations of innocence, purity, heaven (angel?)
2. Lear physically lays his crown down on map of kingdom - hands his authority over, removal of status
3. Cordelia lays on the ground crying, looking up at Lear = physical positioning reflects the position of power/authority/dominance/superiority (Patriarchal/Parental hierarchy)
4. Cordelia and Lear bound in chains = symbolic, united as one, bound to each other however ideas of constraint/restriction, never to be free etc
5. Lear brings Cordelia's body in his arms back on stage post-death = mirrors the 'Pieta', Jesus' mother holding him post-death in her arms (Ideas of youth = Cordelia/Jesus) - Shakespeare writing in a Christian period
6. Lear kisses Cordelia on her forehead at the beginning of play - foreshadowing events to follow? the ending? - 11KENNETH MUIR"The new Lear is born in the scene in which he is reunited with Cordelia"
-Realisation, understanding, morally aware
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- A-Level English A2 Flashcards on Shakespeare AO3, created by Hannah Saks on 14/06/2016.
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- Hannah Saks
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