Shakespeare Context: AO4

Shakespeare Context: AO4

1. "Devine right of Kings" - James I on throne, "Great chain of Beings"

   • Loyalty to monarchy - Believed that God allowed him to be King - felt as though he owed him - needed to look after his people in exchange for their respect/support
     • E.g. King Lear = Cordelia comes back for Lear, Edgar comes back for Gloucester - family loyalty, respectful to hierarchy

2. Royal hierarchy: 'our' = inclusive pronouns (Lear)

3. New Ruler: James I England, James VI Scotland

   • James united kingdoms: PARALLELS = Lear divided kingdom
     • CONTRAST: James I = Successful, Lear = Unsuccessful
   • -James I = Powerful, -Lear = Enormous sense of own power/status (E.g. Imperatives "Speak" to support this idea)

4. Expectations of Daughter

   • Jackobean audiences would often be shocked/disgusted at Cordelia's lack of respect for Lear
     • Elizabeth (James I daughter) wrote a letter to her father:
       • "most precious object"
       • "your majesty" (Repetition = continued awareness of power balance/position/status )
       • "best and most amiable Father"
       • "honour him"
       • "...very obedient daughter and servant"
       • -Hyperbolic, -Over-emotive, -Exaggerated, -Patriarchal Power/Hierarchy -Respect/Loyalty to her father as King -Reminiscent of Goneril & Regan in love test -Expectations of daughter in patriarchal framework -Goneril & Regan = 'expected' role whereas Cordelia = 'unexpected' role - shocking

5. Tragedy

   • Tragic Hero: Nobility, shows other characters' own nobility towards Lear (E.g. Kent, Fool, Cordelia = all loyal)
   • Structural feature of most tragedies = The shift from order --> disorder --> order
   • Represents full horrors of life: Older generation, younger generation - The young defeating/overpowering the old?
   • AO3: Aristotle
   • Tragic Hero
     • Often of a high status and/or moral worth
     • Neither good or bad - mix of both
     • Evokes audience's pity/fear: Pity = he is not a complete bad man, Fear = audience's can recognise similar possibilities of error in themselves

6. 'King Lear' was first performed in 1606

7. Jackobean England = Superstitious

   • Belief in witches, spells, fate: something beyond human belief
   • King Lear: Edmund believes humans are to blame, not the stars

8. King Lear: "The British powers are marching hitherward" - Anxiety raised within Jackobean audience due to the rise of war between France and England

9. Christianity - believed in heaven/hell 'the devil': "the prince of darkness is a gentleman"

10. Violence in Theatre: Acts of violence would be hidden/concealed from audience - happens offstage, results of the violence brought back onstage

11. Elizabethan England - said that madness and hysteria originated from the womb of a woman due to their 'uncontrollable emotions'

12. Character of 'The Fool': in 17th & 18th Century the Fool and Cordelia were played by the same actor

    • Regarded as pets/mascots
    • Purpose - to amuse/criticise their masters & guests

13. Pieta Painting: Lear brings Cordelia's body on stage in his arms - mirrors how Jesus' mother holds him in her arms post-death

    • Idea of youth (Cordelia, Jesus)
    • Shakespeare writing in a Christian period

14. Naham Tate rewrote ending to keep Cordelia alive