King+Lear

-I have a question really quick about this... So we are going to get LEAR over TWL and then what? We just start rambling off random facts about LEAR that are loosely connected to Plath??

-You get either Lear or TWL as your discussion and that it is for ten minutes, completely separate from the ten minutes you talk about your Plath poem.

King Lear

Letters Important Incidents Sub Plot vs. Main Plot Irony Re-making of Lear/Edgar Duty & Service Division of Kingdom / Disorder Folly Bastardy Broken Bonds Favorite characters Insane Lear

--> Do __ not __ just summarize the play, you must analyze it!

-From what I saw today, Mrs Wilson is going to ask discussion questions. So, make sure to follow the discussion when you're analyzing Lear! -- __ Stripping of Lear( End of Act 1) __ stripped literally of everything he had -right to stay at daughters houses **actually ALL housing (his own castle as well)** -all of knights **not in act 1, he keeps his knights until laters in act 2** -ceremonial treatment -title of king
 * Alifiya- i am not sure if this 100% right so you can make changes **

-verge of losing sanity **not associated with stripping in Act 1**

__Issues__ Bastardy Sibling Rivalry Disloyalty Banishment Favoritism

__bonds broken__ parent-child king-subjects siblings **both bro-bro sis-sis**
 * master-servant (cornwall getting stabbed last scene of act 3)**

Here are some of the notes I have... don't know how important some of it is but:

Poetry in the play begins when the King walks in. The opening 34 lines of the play is prose, the rest is poetry, I believe...

The play is **ELLIPTICAL**- many customs, events, relationships, expectations, and decisions are implied rather than clearly stated. The play is **IRONIC**- many expectations go unfulfilled
 * AMBIGUOUS**- Shakespeare places many words and phrases with multiple meanings, depending upon circumstances.
 * Iambic Pentameter**

King is a position by inheritance, and subjects don't typically question him. They are subordinate, implying that they are inferior. The life and death of the subjects is in the hands of the king.

FLATTERY is a major issue in the play. Insincere statements. Lear had been on the throne for 40-50 years and can't tell the difference between flattery and truth. This leads to some of the major situations within the play.


 * Challenges of old age:**
 * Leaving heirs the wealth and the physical property
 * Feeling lonely and unappreciated
 * Being tired of having so much responsibility

Secession is on Lear's mind in the beginning of the play. His favorite daughter is the youngest, Cordelia and he desires to help her win out in this ordeal. He wants Cordelia to get the best 3rd of the kingdom out of the 3 daughters. Lear is arrogant, capricious, fickle, easily angered when defied, and angered when his plans don't go according to how he wanted... ie Cordelia not flattering him. Lear wonders who is going to take care of him. He thinks the youngest daughter will, so he holds a love contest to prove the youngest daughter will win. THIS EXPECTATION GOES UNFULFILLED... IRONY

Obviously there two main plots within the play... One with Lear and his children and one with Gloucester and his children.Gloucester plans to allow for his legitimate son, Edgar, to take the throne, he is the heir. The bastard child, Edmund is considered nothing to Gloucester; he is inferior, but also resentful because of this. Edmund is angered by Gloucester calling his mother a whore and also because Gloucester plans to send him abroad.

Things Lear attempts to keep/get out of his situation: Live with each daughter for a month Keep 100 knights Name (title) Ceremonious Treatment

Lear thought he was solely giving away the responsibility, but he gave up way more than that... He became a dispossessed king, and set himself up for defeat. He is supposed to be king, but instead becomes nothing (self inflicted)... irony? He still seems to think he can make demands even though he has given up all his power.

Goneril and Reagan do not want the king to keep the knights because they know they will be loyal to the king. They think that he might be able to take back his power and land through the help and use of the knights.

Lear never wanted Cordelia to marry; he wanted her to take care of and stay with him forever. Lear is unhappy with for taking Cordelia without dowry.

Act 1, Scene 3 Goneril asserts her preeminence (defined as first position (superior over all other powers)). Lear was wrong to strike her servant.

The fool tries to tell Lear he made a bad choice, but Lear still sees himself as king, even though **everyone has stopped referring to him as king.**

Kent, Cordelia, Gloucester form an alliance. They all love Lear and know that Goneril and and Reagan were dishonest; they anticipate them taking advantage of Lear.

In disorder of kingdom, Lears reversal and loss of powers are imporant; he is no longer king but still expects to be treated as king, it is ironic because he still has a servant, and it is said in the play that his daughters are made into (act as though they are) his mother.

In disorder of family, Cordelia is the most loving daughter, yet she is the one that is banished (irony again?). There are also reversals with Edmund and Edgar... Edmund forges a letter to make Gloucester favor him over Edgar. The sons switch positions in Gloucester's eyes.

A civil war does not break out right away because Goneril and Reagan are too interested in getting Lear out of the picture, but Albany and Cornwall are expected to fight for the throne of England.

On Folly/Foolishness: On Irony: Dispossession (loss/removal of ownership): Stripping imagery (Lear) Nakedness= recognition. Realizes some truths, the stripping imagery is in the middle of the play so Lear can become a wiser king. Remaking of Lear.
 * Gloucester is foolish for telling Edmund about the war, even when told not to. Causes problems!!!!!
 * Kent follows a dispossessed king
 * Edgar was gullible enough to trust his base bastard brother
 * When Gloucester is blind, he can see better (figuratively...) He realizes Edgar is the good son.
 * Lear knows his elder daughters lied to him when he finally goes insane
 * Lear knows how to be a good king when he is no longer a king. When he is sane, he has no understanding.
 * Edgar must disguise himself and act like an animal in order to save his life
 * Lear realizes he was responsible for bad things when he is dispossessed and no longer a king
 * 1) "Power"
 * 2) "Preeminence"
 * 3) "All the large effects that troop with majesty"
 * 4) "Sway"
 * 5) "Revenue"
 * 6) "Execution of the rest"
 * 7) Ceremonious Treatment
 * 8) Title
 * 9) 50 Knights
 * 10) Shelter
 * 11) 50 knights remaining
 * 12) Sanity
 * 13) Clothing

Both Edgar and Lear become stripped at some point in the play.

Edgar begins to accept where he is at his lowest point. Ironic because he just gets done complaining that he has nothing to lose, but then sees Gloucester who is blind and stripped of title. Edmund at this point is the new king. Gloucester experiences a reversal with the blindness. Edgar is with Gloucester when Gloucester talks about him, unknowing that he is there.

Edmund's Changes in Status throughout the book:
 * Act 1: Bastard
 * Act 2: Heir
 * Act 3: Earl
 * Act 4: Takes Cornwall's place in battle. Commander in chief of army.

Later in the play, we notice more irony... Gloucester stripped Edgar, and then he begins to try to get him clothing. The reclothing of Edgar is how Shakespeare gets rid of the beggar character

Reversal: Albany goes from passive to aggressive in Act 4 Scene 2. Albany smiles about French coming to invade. Perhaps restoring power. Goneril states that her husband is a coward...

Edmund attempts to seduce Goneril. His goal is to become king and get all the power possible. He knows that if he marries either Goneril or Reagan marry him, he will become king.

Lear wears a crown of weeds and wild flowers, acts like a king (while he is dispossessed, he thinks he is conducting kingly business... irony AGAIN) Edgar pities Lear.