King Lear: Themes

King Lear: Themes

1. Power

   • Megalomania
     • Goneril and Regan
       • Resort to cruelty to gain power
       • Power complex
         • Split over trying to seduce Edmund
         • Goneril- Domineering over Albany
       • Head on approach
     • Edmund
       • Power over fate and social convention
       • Will use any means neccesary to gain power
       • Works behind the scenes
   • Cause of Lear's downfall
     • Badly managed splitting of power leads to unrest
     • Lear aggravates the sisters by clinging onto power and titles despite abdicating the throne
   • Seductive/Persuasive power
     • Goneril and Regan
       • Flattery to Lear
       • Seducing Edmund
     • Edmund
       • Fools Glouchester
       • Seduces the sisters
       • Charisma
   • Power of fate
     • Was Lears madness the result of fate or his actions?
     • Though Lear redeems himself and the day is saved, it is too late for both him and Cordelia
     • Edmund attempts to defy the fate of a bastard and a villain

2. Madness

   • Wisdom in madness
     • The fool
       • Lack of sanity allows him to speak the plain truth
       • Guides both Lear and the audience through Lear's descent
       • Intelligent despite being called a fool
       • His madness allows him to disregard social norms and see the situation clearly and without bias
       • Is he real?
     • Lear gains wisdom as he descends into madness
   • Genuine, wretched madness
     • Lear
       • May have already started to become mad at love test
       • Becomes truly mad after being thrown out by Goneril and Regan
         • Genuinly confused and hurt
         • Cannot understand their cruelty towards their own father
       • Gains wisdom
         • Begins to realise his faults and redeem himself
       • Can sense that he is losing his sanity
       • Regresses to a childlike state
         • Unable to deal with his reality
       • Loses all sense of pride and grandeur
         • Becomes more aware of others
         • Is able to beg Cordelia for forgiveness
   • Madness as a disguise/Desparation
     • Edgar
       • Not actually mad
       • Allows him to be closer to Lear
       • Reduces himself to the lowest of the low
   • Megalomania
     • Edmund
       • Becomes more and more obsessed with power as the play goes on
         • His morals become blurrier
       • Goes from subtle and cunning to obvious and rash
     • Goneril and Regan
       • Act cruelly towards their father in order to gain power
       • Become paranoid and cold
       • Power struggle
       • Actions totally unexpected of women

3. Blindness and sight

   • Sight
   • Metaphorical blindness
     • Social
       • Lear is unaware of suffering in his kingdom
       • Lear fails to see the political unrest that his decisions will cause
       • Glouchester does not see the inapropriateness of his comments
     • Personal
       • Lear and Glouchester do not see their own faults
       • Both act rashly and refuse to consider alternatives
       • Take everything on a personal, face value level
       • Stubborn
     • Interpersonal
       • Blind to others feelings
       • Lear cannot see the meaning behind Cordelias words
   • Literal blindness