1.1 “We shall express our ____ purpose”
Lear-darker. The use of the word ‘dark’ refers to the motif of sight and has connotations of sinister purpose and foreshadows the consequences of his actions.
1.1 “give me the ___/tell me my daughters”
Lear-map
1.1 “Which of you shall we say doth love us most”
Lear-The language ‘shall we say’ implies competition between the sisters. This establishes the tone and foreshadows the future events between the two, highlighting Lear’s ego. His need for a fulfilled ego causes competition between his daughters and leads to his downfall.
1.1 “Sir I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than _____, space and liberty”
Goneril- eyesight. Goneril is the first to respond to Lear’s love test. She uses verbal irony to say that she loves him more than words can express. Gloucester’s blinding is also foreshadowed by Goneril’s declaration of her love using her eyesight.
1.1 “Let us ____ together”
Goneril-hit. ‘Us’ shows unity between Goneril and Regan and foreshadows their joint plan to destroy Lear, emphasised through the violent verb ‘hit’
1.1 “If for I want that ____ and oily art”
Cordelia-glib. Cordelia prefers to show rather than describe her feelings. Offers us a refreshing distraction from the consumerist and power hungry nature of her sisters
1.1 “You have begot me, _____ me, loved me”
Cordelia-bred. The tripartite list of ‘begot, bred and loved’ shows that Cordelia recognises qualities that are worth praise.
1.1 “and the ____ must be acknowledged”
Gloucester-whoreson. Gloucester is immediately defined by his adulteress behaviour. He is depicted as a jolly character, making jokes about his bastard son. However, Edmund is stood beside him, so the jokes are cruel.
1.1 “he hath ever but ________ known himself”
Regan-slenderly. Introduces Lear’s hamartia, he does not see himself clearly, and does not understand the true nature of relationships.
1.1 “though this knave came something ______ to the world before he was sent for”
Gloucester- saucily. Gloucester makes a lewd and cruel joke to Kent about his bastard son Edmund arriving saucily into the world. This foreshadows the family conflict to come as Gloucester is punished by the resentful Edmund.
1.3 “old fools are _____ again”
Goneril-babes. Goneril’s contempt for her father is evident in this. She views Lear’s old age and declining mental state as a return to childishness, which she uses to justify her cruel treatment. This portrays Goneril to be unmaternal and subverting the feminine expectation, she is using a comparison to a child in a negative light, reaffirming her cruel and malicious instinct.
1.1 “I love your majesty/according to my ____, no more nor less”
Cordelia-bond. Cordelia loves her father as much as any child loves their parent but does not feel that she can flatter her father by making him feel as though there is no room in her heart for any other love.
1.2 “O villain, villain, unnatural, detested _____, villain”
Gloucester- brutish. Illustrates gullibility, rashness and impulsivity of Gloucester as he believed Edmund’s outrageous story about Edgar
1.2 “My cue is _____ melancholy/these eclipses do portent these divisions”
Edmund- villainous. Villainous melancholy are contradictory ideas, creating a paradox. By talking about eclipses he is mocking Gloucester, showing his power and confidence. Villainous also shows that Edmund is truly evil, as he is aware his actions will cause harm.
1.2 “Why brand they us/ With base? With baseness? Bastardy? Base, base”
Edmund. Plosive alliteration creates a tone of anger and bitterness as the ‘plague of custom’. ‘Brand’ implies the pain caused by his social alienation. This leads us to question the law of primogeniture, as Edmund undermines the concepts.
1.2 “Now Gods stand up for ________”
Edmund- bastards. Simple present tense declaratives implies a confidence. The active verbs imply an immediacy, an energy and urgency to Edmund’s plotting. This is reinforced by the lineation which emphasises ‘Now’
1.2 “Some Villain hath done me _____”
Edgar-wrong. Edgar protests as Edmund sabotages him. He is oblivious to his brother’s deception
1.5 “Lear’s _____”
shadow- the fool summarises the situation, Lear is a shadow of his former self
1.4 “the hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, that its head bit off by its ______”
Fool-young. The animal imagery is symbolic of the treatment of Lear by Goneril and Regan. Makes the audience question how they turned into animals. The fool suggests that Lear is a good person.
1.2 “Thou nature, ____________. To thy law my services are bound”
Edmund-art my goddess. Edmund’s wicked nature and moral nihilism are evident in the first words he speaks in the play. The only laws he gives allegiance to are the laws of nature, and he is exempt from societal constructs.
1.2 “He cannot be such a ______”
Gloucester- monster. Gloucester is saying this outraged about Edgar. He allows himself to be deceived by his duplicitous bastard son Edmund.
1.5 “O! let me not be ___, not ___, sweet heaven”
Lear-mad. Lear finally recognises that he is going mad, and pleads with himself and heaven to prevent this from happening. This gives glimmers of self-awareness.
