1. “King Lear”

2. Background- Shakespeare
Born 1564 and died 1616
Author, playwright, actor, and poet
Usually credited with writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
Plays are divided into the early plays (e.g., The Taming of the Shrew),the comedies (e.g., Much Ado About Nothing), the histories (e.g., Henry V), the tragedies (e.g., King Lear), the problem plays (e.g., Measure for Measure), and the romance plays (e.g.,The Winter’s Tale)

3. Where did the story come from?
The story of King Lear originated 400 years before Shakespeare wrote his version.
Lear was a British King who reigned before the birth of Christ allowing Shakespeare to implement some polytheistic (God like) elements into the plot.
British mythology refers to a“Lyr” or “Ler” who was the basis of a King Lear story by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1137 which Shakespeare used as a source as well as Raphael Holinshed’s
“Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland.”

4. Shakespeare also “borrowed” plot and subplot ideas from Edmund Spencer’s “The Faerie Queen” and John Higgins“A Mirror for Magistrates” among others which he then interwove into the basic King Lear tale to create his own version, ignoring much of the older Monmouth storyline.
Duke James Scott,1649–85, was the illegitimate son of Charles II of England and pretender to the throne of James II.

5. Scholars believe the play was written after “Othello” but before “Macbeth” assigning it a creation date of

6. Shakespeare also “borrowed” from a convenient contemporary true story of a gentleman of the court of Elizabeth I named Sir Brian Annesley whose daughters tried to have him declared insane in late 1603 so they could legally take control of his estate. His youngest daughter, named Cordell, intervened on his behalf.

7. Shakespeare’s Language
Many students find Shakespeare difficult to read and to understand.
If you understand his language, you can better understand his plays.
His plays are written in two forms: prose and poetry.

8. Figurative Language
Shakespeare uses figurative language as he speaks with metaphors, similes, and personification. Recognizing when his characters are speaking figuratively helps in understanding the play.

9. FOR BETTER OR FOR VERSE Blank Verse:
King Lear is written in BLANK VERSE and it is an unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Each line contains five “feet,” or units made up of two syllables. The first syllable is unstressed; the second is stressed. This kind of foot is called an “iamb.”
Read aloud, iambic pentameter has this rhythm:
buh-BAH buh-BAH buh-BAH buh-BAH buh-BAH
“How do you do?”

10. Tragedy Protagonist dies while defeating antagonist
In revenge tragedy, the protagonist is driven by desire to exact revenge, which leads to his/her demise
The tragic hero is dominated by a fatal flaw in character, which leads to his/her downfall
The tragic hero is held in high standing, making the downfall more tragic for the audience

11. Parallel Plots Lear has three legitimate daughters.
1. Gloucester and his sons / Lear and his daughters
Lear has three legitimate daughters.
Gloucester has one legitimate son and one illegitimate one.
Evil is not confined either to gender or to being illegitimate. It can occur anywhere.

12. Elizabethan World View
One of man’s most persistent characteristics is the desire to organize the world about him, so that he can understand and explain it. He sets out to create a world picture that is rational and meaningful to him.
The Elizabethans operated on TWO assumptions:
All activity takes place in a world with good moral order.
The universe is a Christian universe created and controlled by God. Order has its source in God. There is also evil, and its source is Satan, who revolted against the order of God, which subsequently brought about Man’s fall (from grace).

13. “Tell Them What They Want to Hear”
In a world dependent on words for communication, each of us comes to value the spoken and written word. We can all readily identify with a child who “says what his parents want to hear.” So, in “Lear”, you can’t always trust what is said or what is recorded.

14. Ah, Deception
Elizabethans, three centuries ago, struggled with the same type of questions. In King Lear, Shakespeare offers a world where the natural and unnatural are intertwined, appearances and self-perception are confused, and words—written and spoken—are deceptive.

15. Morality Play or Classical Tragedy
True to Shakespearean tradition, King Lear borrows its tragic elements from several types of tragedies that were popular during the Elizabethan Renaissance. Even though King Lear is classified as a chronicle play (a type of drama which draws its English historical materials from the sixteenth-century chronicles—such as Holinshed’s), Shakespeare uses elements of tragedy sometimes called Classical tragedy, and the morality play.

16. Classical Elements
To enhance this chronicle with a tragedy of character, Shakespeare incorporates a few classical elements: (1) the use of stock characters—a faithful male servant (Kent); (2) the employment of sensational themes drawn from Greek mythology, involving much use of “blood and lust.”
To balance the stock characters, Shakespeare also used characters that were consistently good or evil in their intent, echoing the pattern of a morality play. Edmund, Regan, and Goneril embody avarice, envy, anger, lust, and pride; while Edgar and Cordelia embody faithfulness and unconditional love.

17. As a tragedy, King Lear portrays a protagonist and as defined by Aristotle, the protagonist of a tragedy should be a person “who is not eminently good or just, yet whose fortune is brought about by some error or frailty.”
Lear’s impulsive division of his powers and kingdom before his death—more particularly, disowning Cordelia because she will speak “nothing.”

18. Themes -
Note that the following themes demonstrate Shakespeare’s use of opposition. Many of his plays present the conflict between two extremes. In so doing, Shakespeare seems to urge readers to assess their own capacity to deal with life’s extremes. Perhaps it is in this process that a Shakespearean tragedy can help a reader learn to avoid undue suffering by finding a happy middle ground on which to live.

19. Appearances vs Reality
Much of the play deals with the characters’ failures to understand the intentions of the people around them. The evil characters in particular make use of deceit and lies to achieve their goals. Other characters assume disguises for their own protection.

20. (or The Foolish vs the Wise)
Blindness and Sight
(or The Foolish vs the Wise)
This theme is directly linked to the theme of “Appearances vs Reality”. Some characters are described as “blind” to the realities of the world around them due to their ignorance, poor judgement or lack of insight.
Whereas Gloucester is literally blinded when he is deceived by false appearances; ironically, it is only when blinded that he learns to truly see.

21. Order vs Chaos
This view of the universe assumes that a strict moral order (having its source in God) binds all of creation together. This order demands love, honour and obedience from all beings to those who are of superior rank in the “Great Chain”. Woman must be obedient to man. Child must honour parent.
In King Lear notice how chaos is demonstrated through tainted family relationships, political instability, and the mental deterioration of characters.

22. Loyalty vs Disloyalty
Shakespeare shows us that many characters are willing to use deceit and treachery for their own personal gain, even when it means being disloyal to someone that should be honoured and respected. However, Shakespeare warns that there is no honour in blind loyalty to people who are corrupt and evil (Such as Oswald’s loyalty to Goneril).

23. Motifs
Clothing and Nakedness – A recurring image which may represent the following: loss of status or identity Clothing in disarray or nakedness can symbolize insanity Nakedness can represent the discovery of one’s humanity, liberated from the trappings of civilization.
Bird and Animal Imagery - A recurring use of birds and animals to symbolize human conditions and behaviours. Often the animals to which humans are compared are dark and violent to denote the bestiality within human beings who give way to evil impulses.

24. Letters - A recurring plot device used by characters to help them carry out evil deeds. Ironically, it is also because of these letters that these evil characters get caught.
Symbols
The heath
The hovel
The castle
The coronet
The storm

25. Foils King Lear and Gloucester-
A foil is a character who can be compared and contrasted to another character
Used to clarify character traits and issues in the play
King Lear and Gloucester-
Old friends
Both are betrayed by their children
Neither has the wisdom to see through duplicious love
Lear’s insanity leads him to clear perception; Gloucester’s loss of his eyes leads him to clear vision
Both die after having been reunited with their faithful children

26. Goneril and Regan Equal in evil
Neither sister has love for good beings
Both sisters are attracted to Edmund
Neither sister possesses compassion for love
Exclusive thoughts of themselves
Actively feed on the wickedness of the other

27. Edgar and Edmund Brothers; Edgar is legitimate; Edmund is illegitimate
Clear opposition of good and evil, with good prevailing in the end
As Edmund tries to push his father away; Edgar tries to protect his father from a distance

28. Kent and the fool
Both try to speak the truth to King Lear; he is deaf to both characters
Kent is part of the action until Lear’s death; the Fool exits the play as soon as his usefulness is exhausted
Although they belong to different classes, they both show equal honour and loyalty