KL crit

Question 1

Hegel and the heath crit

Answer 1

“The ignorant man is not free,’
- - Hegel’s idea is that all human processes are the movement towards understanding the world to overcome fear
○ if we do not understand something, we will always be scared of it
○ we want to leave this
- Lear is so committed to his ignorance, his self-belief in his power, that he is willin to see his life and kingdom fall apart to maintain his power and worldview
○ this is why his life falls apart, and only by being freed from the court can he truly understand himself

Question 2

crit on feudalism

Answer 2

Shakespeare’s archetypal Lion vs Fox
Edgar’s vision of a meritocratic society- seen as criminal by Lear and Gloucester
self-made man vs hierarchical order

• death of old style Feudalism, means of production changing hands- Lear is a hero out of his time
  Delany

Question 3

crit on money

Answer 3

○ linguistic inflation- too many signifiers flying around and not enough actual love
- fractured link btwn signifier and signified
Eagleton

Question 4

crit body politic

Answer 4

his kingship and his body are the same
a body without a mind is nothing ‘insentient blank’

a mind without a body devours itself ‘emptily devours itself’
Orwell

Question 5

madness the Fool crit

Answer 5

“Like a trickle of sanity running through the play”
Orwell

Question 6

crit class

Answer 6

allowed to ‘expose the foolish thoughts and deeds of those higher in society’
Halvorson

Question 7

crit Lear’s voice

Answer 7

“Lear has no soliloquies… Fool intimate and unguarded voice”
Woods

Question 8

crit nothing

Answer 8

nothing is central to the play
Shapiro

Question 9

crit- R and G as men

Answer 9

“masculine protest,” a refusal by women to accept the weakness of -the feminine role

Mclaughlin

Question 10

crit justice

Answer 10

justice implies only punishment
Savvas