“I thought the King had more affected the DoA than Cornwall”
- Kent to EoG
- Opening line
- FORESHADOWING: by not preferring one over the other, by choosing to divide the kingdom equally, CW seems inevitable
“It did always seem so to us: but now, in the Division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most”
- EoG to Kent
- always thought lear preferred albany but now lear is dividing the kingdom, EoG can NO LONGER tell who’s in favour
- Even KL’s closest advisers do not know what he is planning- KL= pol brash?
“is not this your son, my lord?”
- Kent to EoG about Edmund
- Edmund may be G’s son but his actions show a lack of loyalty and filial love
- the Q establishes the theme of APPEARANCE VS REALITY
- creates sympathy for Edmund- needed to diffuse the concentrated anger in his soliloquy
“His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge… i am brazed to it”
-Stephen Orgel of Stanford Uni:
illegitimacy= commonplace in WS’s England- no contraception- persecuted de jure but no stigma was attached to bastardy itself
-even h8 had a bastard son: Fitzwilliam- bestowed with titles but could never be king
“son by order of law”
“no dearer in my account”
- EoG c. Edgar
“there was good sport at his making, and the WHORESON must be acknowledged”
- EoG c. Edmund
“No, my lord”
- Edmund in response to G’s Q c. whether he knows Kent
- notice the formality after being verbally assaulted by G
- parallel between the two plots: notice how kids use “my lord” and “sir” when impotent, yet strip away these formalities when their dads become WEAK
“he hath been out 9 years, and away he shall again”
- EoG c. Edmund
- hardly knows him lol
What introduces Lear and co?
A “sennet”- a trumpet blast
Who is to “exeunt” after KL enters?
EoG and Edmund
“meantime we shall express our darker purpose”
- “darker”: implies purpose previously concealed. also ominous
- foreshadows the dark consequences of dividing the land between 3 daughters- the holy trinity of G, R and C will be broken`
“tis our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age”
- KL intends to enjoy easy retirement by conferring all of his kingly responsibilities to daughters and their men
- however, still expects to be venerated as would have been with his power
- fails to recognise that his power lent him respect; not the other way around
- grave error= upsets natural order
“Conferring them on younger strengths”
(“cares and business”
- v unusual behaviour- most rule until death
- notable exception- HRE C5 in 1554
- the Holinshed version merely had Lear divide kingdom AFTER death- C5 still fresh in head to make it plausible to audience?
- A03: after kingdom united by J1 in 1603, critics suggest that the dividing of the kingdom was to show what would have happened if no unity- support for j1?
“while we unburthened crawl towards death”
- KL= accustomed to his words having a more real effect than people of less powerful pol positions might have- as king his words come true just by speaking them
- however it’s the very EFFICACY (d. effectiveness) of his speech that makes way for his kids’ deception
- in his display of verbal, paternal, and pol power, he surrenders all 3
- he infantilizes himself- “crawl” to death
“our”
- royal form of my
- underlying way of lear saying he owns what the kingdom has as a whole
“that future strife may be prevented now”
- shows his wits are declining- be splitting country he guarantees civil war- yields personal and general disaster
- first line of play suggests not always his position as he “affected” the moral DoA to the corrupt DoC
- If gave it all to DoA he would have secured peace in his realm lol
“Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love”
- Lear c. Burgundy and France
- creating further division
“we will divest us both of rule, interest of territory, cares of state!
- KL
- KL effectively passing his powers onto his kids, even though he is still alive
- a disruption of the natural order
- power of king= divine
- he must thus rule until death
- that’s why his passing of kingship is a damnable sin- must atone for it for rest of life
“which of you shall we say doth love us most?”
- “shall” not “who loves me the most”- all about appearances
“Sir, i love you more than words can wield the matter”
- Goneril
- begins by employing APORIA
- with that she creates an open space, a gap between words and the reality they claim to represent which she can fill however she pleases
define aporia
a rhetorical device in which the speaker talks about not being able to express something
“dearer than eyesight, space and liberty; beyond what can be valued, rich or rare”
- G
- uses excessive hyperbole, and lacks truth
- sight, space and freedom= very properties that allow us to understand our world and realise what it is we love/hate
- w/o such abilities, G not able to know/love lear
- claims to love him “beyond what can be valued” but love gains meaning and importance from the value we bestow it in the context of our relationships + experiences in the world
- to place love beyond value is then to place it outside of the context f our daily lives and render it void of any real consequence
- the v grandeur of her claims makes them meaningless
- in her manipulative representation, she not only exempts her words from any obligation to the truth but also frees herself from obligation of living up to those words
- IP: highlights the insincerity of her speech. the control of the rhythm coincides with her control over her words
- compare to later in scene when her and R are talking c. dad- they use blunt language when talking shit about him
why does C use asides?
to make her seem a pariah to her sisters?
“(aside) What shall Cordelia do?”
HAROLD BLOOM:
“Her legit concern is what JK would have called the holiness of her heart’s affections”
