Choose a
particular monologue or passage of dialogue to analyze. (1) In your analysis
demonstrate an understanding of the passage's meaning within its context. (2)
Also, identify and discuss the significance of (at least two) motifs within the
passage. What does the use of the motifs reveal, particularly about characters,
conflicts, and themes? (3) Finally, discuss the relationship between how the
motifs are presented in the passage and how the motifs are presented elsewhere
in the play. Post your response below. At the beginning of your post include
your name, name the motifs, and quote the passages (include act.scene.line).
Kelly Foster
ReplyDeleteF block
Motifs:
Nature/ Natural vs Unnatural
Significance of sex and lust
Passage:
EDMUND:
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Analysis:
This passage is found in the very beginning of Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Within its context, this passage is a speech, or soliloquy, by Edmund where he is speaking in private about wanting to kill or ruin his father, Gloucester, and why he wants to. We really are able to feel Edmund’s anger about the fact that his father favors his elder brother Edgar. This passage begins by Edmund expressing that he will follow nature, and not God. It foreshadows the fact that he will not follow the law. Next, he implies that he is not bound by society’s laws, but by people’s views on naturalism. He then mentions “the plague of custom”, which shows his hatred for the order of hierarchy in the family. Towards the middle of the passage, he talks about how he is often referred to as a “base” or a “bastard” because he is the youngest child, and because he is illegitimate. In the next few lines, Edmund is saying that there is nothing wrong with being an “illegitimate” child. He feels as if it is almost better that he had been conceived at a moment of love, passion, and when nature and instincts take over, rather than in a boring marriage bed, where parents typically have child after child. Then, he says that, since he will not inherit much of anything from his father, he must have Edgar’s land. This passage is very important because it is when the reader first hears of Edmunds plans to seek revenge, by getting Edgar’s land, and ruining his father. He is very dissatisfied with the the feelings that the society has towards “bastards” and how he is denied certain things and privileges, such as inheriting the estate. Edmund feels that just because Edgar is older and legitimate is not a reason for him to be that much more important/higher up than Edmund.
One very important motif present in this passage is nature and the idea of what is “natural” versus unnatural. The line “Thou, nature, art my goddess”, shows his respect to nature because he is technically a natural child and a force of nature because of the way he was born. He is different than the typical child at this time. It is ironic in that his being a “natural” child causes him to be viewed as if he is even more atypical, or unnatural. The use of this motif reveals that Edmund will always have this underlying force that will cause him to seek revenge, and it suggests that he may use the idea of what others view as “natural” or “unnatural”. Edmund embraces the fact that he is closely connected to nature, and it is likely to be an apparent theme in the play. Here, we see that Edmund is underestimating the power and the force of nature.
(CONTINUED)
Another motif in this passage is sex and lust. The lines “More composition and fierce quality/ Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,/ Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,/ Got 'tween asleep and wake,” bring up the idea of sex and love. He is expressing his thought that when the passion and overwhelming love take over, the child or “bastard” that is born (the illegitimate child) is actually superior to legitimate children. He contrasts the idea of a passionate affair with the traditional way that legitimate children are conceived by. He talks about “dull, stale, tired bed” by a conventional couple who are having sex in order to have a baby, half asleep in saying, “Got ‘tween asleep and wake.” As a consequence of this conventional idea of love and children, they end up having many children who are of no special qualities. This is connected to the motif of sex and lust because this is when we first hear of Edmund’s opinion on the matter, and how he views the conceiving of legitimate children, versus illegitimate children like himself. The presence of this idea in this passage suggests that it could appear and be more significant in later parts of the play.
DeleteEmily Moore
ReplyDeleteSpeech, Age and Power
Act 1, Sc 1 lines 161-173
Kent: Let it fail rather though the fork invade
The region of my heart. Be Kent unmannerly
When Leer is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Thinkst thou that duty shall have dread to speak
when power to flattery bows? To plainness
honor's bound
When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgement,
They youngest daughter, does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness.
In this passage, Kent is claiming that King Leer is going mad. He tells Leer that he must keep his power, and protests the King's rash actions to divide his land up between his daughters. This opinion gets Kent banished.
There are many motifs in this passage. The most important ones to this passage are speech and power. King Leer will not hear what Kent has to say because he is superior and has much more power. Kent's, a man with little power, opinion is offensive to the King, as what he says goes. Also, the youngest daughter is mentioned in this passage. The daughter who refused to portray her love to her father out of pride. This was also has offended offensive to the King. The pride of the youngest daughter was almost shocking, and the King knew she had no power and no right to offend him such. Kent tried to talk some sense into the king. He is trying to convince the King to think about what he is doing. The King will not hear Kent's speech, and sends him off.
In other parts of this play, speech and age are used both similarly and differently than in this passage. In Act 1 Scene 1, Regan and Goneril talk about how their fathers age has affected his physical appearance and use of authority as King. Then, in Act 1 Scene 4 lines 244-259, the Fool speaks to the King almost in riddles. He says that the King that a man of his age should act wisely, especially when in a position of authority. For shameful actions will show the true colors of the leader and cause devastation. Both of these examples show the King's actions should reflect his age and power, but often do not. This is also true for the passage above. All in all, this passage demonstrates the significance of the speech and power within the play.
CORDELIA
ReplyDeleteUnhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.
KING LEAR
How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.
CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.
KING LEAR
But goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA
Ay, good my lord.
KING LEAR
So young, and so untender?
CORDELIA
So young, my lord, and true.
King Lear is planning on dividing his land between his three daughters. The first two, the oldest, are told that the way they’re going to describe how much they love their father in order to get a nice cut of land. Goneril and Regan explain to him their love, and last to go is the youngest, Cordelia, who is unwed. Cordelia finds it all ridiculous, that a child must explain to their parent that they are loved and appreciated for an award. She thinks it manipulative and phony. When her turn comes to tell Lear of her love, she refuses to do so. When he urges her to try again, she eloquently explains that Goneril and Regan must have been lying because they have husbands to divide their love between, and declares she hopes not to be like them, if they only love their father. Cordelia loves Lear as a daughter should, for bringing her into the world, loving her, and providing for her well-being. She refuses to lie to her father.
Because of King Lear’s response to Cordelia’s refusal of flattery, he is shown to be selfish with a temper. His “favorite daughter” lost his favor because of a single rejection of request. She finds it more dignifying to keep to the truth and avoid false flattery, even though she knows that a cut of land is at stake. Cordelia and her father have opposite views of the situation; she thinks he is doing him right by speaking her mind, but he thinks she is insulting and degrading him. This also shows that Cordelia’s sisters have some amount of greed, and are willing to lie and manipulate in order to get what they want. Lear sees no problem in this act, but finds it instead in Cordelia’s unwillingness to lie.
The theme of lying and manipulation can also be tied to Edgar, and his plan to overthrow his father. The other parallel that can be made between the two situations, is that Cordelia and Edgar are both disregarded by their fathers. Edgar is only known as Edgar the Bastard, and though his father loves him, the fact that he is illegitimate is ever present in his life. Cordelia was rejected by her father for having opposing views.
James King
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: Blood, Unnatural vs. The Natural, and Betrayal
Act 1, Sc 2 lines 1-23
EDMUND
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
This passage opens up scene two by continuing to deepen the theme of betrayal. Similar to how Goneril and Regan plotted to go against there own blood, their father, Edmund is also planning on becoming the air of Gloucester’s thrown by betraying both his half-brother and father’s trust. Shakespeare deliberately ended scene one and opened scene two with a conspiracy to show parallel plot arcs that will doubtlessly connect. The motifs of both blood and the natural/unnatural are deeply connected in this passage. Edmund is a bastard, he has had an unnatural birth but he still has the blood of Gloucester and with it believes he is entitled to power. Edmund knows he is loved more by his father and feels that this is his natural claim to the thrown. He even goes as far as to state that nature is his goddess, of whom he serves. This point indicates irony because he a bastard is claiming to be a servant of the natural. The contrast between the natural and unnatural may is also reflected in the fools speech to the king. The fool says that Lear is trying to look natural as if nothing has changed my marching around with hundreds of knights but in reality he has lost all of his power. Legitimacy and bastard can be interpreted as the natural and unnatural, this further ties together the relationship between blood and the natural. In addition to the significance of family the motif of blood may also be getting used to foreshadow future violence.
Kacie Quinn
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: Honesty/Truth and the role of the family
(1.1.311-326)
KING OF FRANCE
Bid farewell to your sisters.
CORDELIA
The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So, farewell to you both.
REGAN
Prescribe not us our duties.
GONERIL
Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted.
CORDELIA
Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!
In this passage, Cordelia is alone with her two sisters and the King of France, after being banished by her father. She is now engaged to France, and it is likely that she is going to be away from her sisters for a long time, if not forever, so the three of them say their good-byes to one another. Like her previous conversation with her father, Cordelia is brutally honest here, rather than overly-sentimental. She states that, as their sister, she is hesitant to point out their flaws, but that she hopes that they will be true to their words of love for their father. And yet, she doesn’t trust that her sisters will do so, and, if she thought that her father would listen to her, she would suggest that he not go to her sisters at all. Goneril and Regan then beg Cordelia to reconsider, to exaggerate to their father of her love for him in order for her to “prosper.” Cordelia refuses and eventually leaves with France.
The motif of honesty is clear throughout in this conversation. Cordelia is absolutely dedicated to telling the truth, regardless of how much it may hurt someone. Unlike her sisters, who will lie and exaggerate in order to please their father and obtain their land, Cordelia is unwilling to do so, and will risk her own fortunes in order to be an honest individual. This works out for her in the long run, as France loves her all the more for her honesty, and they become engaged. In the end, that honesty worked out best for Cordelia. The motif of the role of the family is closely related to honesty. Both Goneril and Regan sung their father’s praises and went into long speeches of their love for him, and yet Cordelia stated that she loved him just as much as she was required to, as his daughter. This conversation between the sisters reflects Cordelia’s beliefs of the role she has to play as a family member. Although she clearly has lost respect for her sisters, she is still hesitant to point out their flaws, because, as with her father, she still loves them, because they’re family. She doesn’t go into extravagant odes about her love, but she doesn’t have to. This short conversation reveals a lot about Cordelia’s belief system, and sets it apart from that of her sisters’, who believe that stretching the truth would benefit their father, as well as themselves. Cordelia’s belief system when it comes to family is an even starker contrast to Edmund’s in the scene immediately after this. He is willing to lie and frame his brother Edgar for the attempt at murder of their father, all so that he can benefit. While Cordelia believes that honesty is more important than personal gain, Edmund believes the complete opposite. The fact that these two scenes are consecutive makes the contrast all the more clear. Cordelia has just exited, after being exiled by her family for her brutal honesty, and on the next page, Edmund tells of his plan to lie and frame his brother. The two motifs of honesty and the role of a family are very closely related when it comes to these characters.
Leah Svensson
ReplyDeleteF Block
Act I, iv
Lines 147-62
GONERIL
This admiration, sir, is much o' th' savour
Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you
To understand my purposes aright.
As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;
Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd, and bold
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn. Epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel
Than a grac'd palace. The shame itself doth speak
For instant remedy. Be then desir'd
By her that else will take the thing she begs
A little to disquantity your train,
And the remainder that shall still depend
To be such men as may besort your age,
Which know themselves, and you.
1. Goneril addresses Lear in a very up-front manner and her assertions are clear, but the meaning of what she is saying reveals more depth when it comes to the nature of her true intentions. When Goneril ridicules the lewd actions of her father’s knights and demands that action is to be taken right away, it is clear that, while Goneril makes points that seem valid, her intentions are more wicked and conniving than she lets on to King Lear. At first Goneril acts like she truly does care for the betterment of Lear’s kingdom, but then once she threatens to have the knights taken away herself, the sense of betrayal becomes more prominent and it is clear that she aims to diminish all of her father’s influence over the kingdom and claim it for her and her own people. She knows that the less military her father has, the less power he as a ruler will have. Her tone and attitude reveal her bold and deceitful nature and displays her as one of the most important contributing factors in the downfall of King Lear.
2. One of the most prominent motifs in this passage specifically is betrayal, which Goneril demonstrates when she threatens to get rid of King Lear’s knights. By telling her father how to rule his kingdom and by basically calling him a hypocrite, Goneril strains the loyalty between her and father, only to replace it with betrayal and her growing authority over her father. As the loyalty and power falters, the conditions of the kingdom reflect a certain madness that is also a recurring concept within the play. While Goneril demonstrates betrayal better than madness, she is one of the many reasons for the madness of her father and the corruption over King Lear’s kingdom.
3. While Goneril mirrors betrayal, she shows the betrayal to her father in a way that can be taken as subtle from a character’s point of view, but obvious from the audience’s. In this passage, the betrayal is technically underlying, but as the play continues it begins to become more direct and up-front. Goneril’s talk with her father foreshadows the oncoming betrayal that he and his kingdom are to confront later on. However, just before Goneril enters in this scene, the Fool tells the king that he has made a grave mistake by handing over the kingdom to Goneril and Regan. Lear seems to brush it off as just a silly man sputtering nonsense, and whether this is some type of defense mechanism or just plain oblivion, the Fool still withholds much truth behind his words that King Lear at first refuses to see. Betrayal here is also foreshadowed, but not directly. The madness, too, also occurs during the odd banter between the Fool and Lear, especially when Lear begs that he won’t himself go mad from all of the chaos that Goneril has brought to his life and also to his reign. I believe that the tragedy truly begins to unfold as Goneril argues with her father because that is where betrayal truly creates a dark mood over the tragedy of King Lear.
Christina Sargent
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: truth/honesty, flattery/foolishness
(1.1 156-190)
KENT
Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honored as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers—
LEAR
The bow is bent and drawn. Make from the shaft.
KENT
Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart. Be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound
When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness.
LEAR
Kent, on thy life, no more.
KENT
My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thine enemies, nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being motive.
LEAR
Out of my sight!
KENT
See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.
LEAR
Now, by Apollo—
KENT
Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear’st thy gods in vain.
LEAR
O vassal! Miscreant!
ALBANY/CORNWALL
Dear sir, forbear.
KENT
Kill thy physician, and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift,
Or whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,
I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.
King Lear has just asked his three daughters to profess their love for him so that he can divide his lands and give the best portion to the daughter that loves him the most. The eldest two daughters showered him in flattery, but the youngest, Cordelia, spoke honestly, saying that she loves him like a father, no more, no less. Outraged, King Lear disowns her. In this passage, Lord Kent tries to reason with Lear. He says that it is foolish for Lear to reward flattery rather than honesty. Kent believes that the elder daughters’ words were empty and that they were only telling Lear what he wanted to hear. Lear tells Kent to get out of his sight. Kent says that he is only trying to help, and he will continue to tell Lear that he’s made a mistake unless he takes it back.
The main motif in this passage is truth and honesty. The youngest daughter, Cordelia, spoke honestly about her feelings towards her father, and now Lord Kent is defending her honesty. He believes it is his duty to tell King Lear that his actions have been unfair and harsh. He also thinks that the flattery of the elder two sisters is dishonest, and that they probably love the king less than Cordelia does because they were so willing to exaggerate. Kent is punished for speaking the truth, although he is one of the few people that are trying to help King Lear, not take advantage of him. The other motif is that flattery brings about foolishness. King Lear is so touched by his eldest daughters’ declarations of love for him that he gives them all his land. Kent believes that King Lear is bowing to flattery, and that “majesty [has fallen] to folly.” He also compares the king sending him away to the king killing his physician, since Lord Kent is trying to help Lear. This highlights how foolish King Lear is being.
The motif of honesty and truth comes up in several other parts of the play, notably when King Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, must ask her father to leave her home, and also when Edmund devises a plan to pit his father and half-brother against each other so that he can inherit his father’s land. As far as I have read, flattery and foolishness is discussed when King Lear’s court fool indirectly suggests that Lear is the true fool for letting his eldest daughters take advantage of him.
Katie Manning
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: trust/blindness and betrayal
(1.2 125-144)
EDMUND
This is the excellent foppery of the world, that,
when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeit
of our own behavior,--we make guilty of our
disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as
if we were villains by necessity; fools by
heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and
treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards,
liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of
planetary influence; and all that we are evil in,
by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish
disposition to the charge of a star! My
father compounded with my mother under the
dragon's tail; and my nativity was under Ursa
major; so that it follows, I am rough and
lecherous. Tut, I should have been that I am,
had the maidenliest star in the firmament
twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar--
Enter EDGAR
And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the old
comedy: my cue is villainous melancholy, with a
sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. O, these eclipses do
portend these divisions! fa, sol, la, mi.
Edmund is alone talking to himself, trying to work out what is exactly going on in his head. Gloucester just left, leaving Edmund with specific orders to find his brother and find out if what was said in the letter true. Edmund plays on towards his father in order to keep his secret identity of being the author of the letter. As Edmund is alone he thinks about the recent conversation he just had with his father. Edmund knows he is the “bastard” child and Edgar is seen as the total opposite. Edmund uses this to his advantage by creating a shield over his father, making him distracted from what is actually going on. Edmund is really the one out to get his father, but he thinks Edgar is. Gloucester is displaying one of the main motifs of the play, blindness. He loves his favorite son, Edgar, and doesn't want to believe that he wrote the letter, not one bit. As he is trying to figure out what is actually going on, excuses after excuses flow out of his mouth. Gloucester uses the moon, sun, and stars to dismiss Edgars supposed behavior. This is what leads us to Edmunds rant shown above. He thinks it is absolutely hysterical and possibly the dumbest thing ever how people use assumptions to give reason to peoples actions and why things are the way they are; they can't just accept what is. Edmund goes on about how he is the way he is, nothing made him act horrid, and it seems as if he wants everyone to understand and accept the way he is, especially his father. I sort of believe that he wants to be relieved of his sins, because it is too easy to betray and lie to a person’s face, another main motif found in the play. The last line he spoke was, “O, these eclipses do portend these divisions! fa, sol, la, mi.” Edmund is making fun of the way things are going, finally using the moon and stars as an excuse. He mocks the nature by blaming it for his actions, almost replacing himself as the eclipses. He is the one causing the disorder. He is the moon, stars, and sun. His place in life will not go away, and he causes more destruction just as everyone believes “he” is responsible for.
Olivia Parsons
ReplyDeleteF-Block
Motifs: Foolishness and Planets, Stars, Fate
“This is the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence, and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting-on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon’s tail and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Edgar—and pat on ’s cue he comes like the catastrophe of the old comedy. My cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. Oh, these eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol, la, mi. “ 1.2.37
This section of act 1, is the following dialogue after Gloucester has exited the room. Edmund had convinced his father that Edgar has intentions of killing Gloucester, through a note that Edmund attempted to “hide.” When Gloucester hears this news, he becomes baffled and asks Edmund to find out what Edgar’s exact plan is, because he truly believes his son is out to betray him. Once Gloucester exits the scene, Edmund starts to rant about how Gloucester’s actions properly represent the stupidity of the public within his day. How Gloucester went on and on about the stars and the moon, everyone else it to blame. Edmund then transitions that because his parents wed under “Ursa Major” they produced him as an off spring, which means he HAS to be a rude and deceitful person. However Edmund retorts that even if they had wed under the “maidenliest star” Edmund would still be the same person that he is. As he goes about his mumbling, in walked Edgar. Edmund then quotes along the lines of “speaking of the devil” and claims he must play the part to now fool his brother.
Within this passage, I was able to detect two strong motifs that appeared more than once;
foolishness and planets, stars, fate. Edmund’s opinion on Gloucester perfectly describes the motif of foolishness. He genuinely thinks that is what Gloucester is: foolish. TO be so quick to believe that this note about him has come from his own son, in hopes of killing him. How easy it was to convince him that that was the truth and how well Edmund’s plan had worked out. Simply due to Gloucester’s foolishness, and his inability to put a guard up and put his research before his assumptions. The following motif of plants, stars and fate appeared within the passage when Edmund claims that all people ever due it put the blame upon everything but themselves. For it is the moon’s fault that Edmund’s personality has turned out the way it has. Being conceived under “Ursa Major” plays a major role in how you are suppose to turn out as a child.
Within King Lear there are a select amount of sections where the motifs of foolishness and astronomical aspects come about. One of the character’s name happens to be “fool,” where the King gets most of his resources from. It isn’t the wisest of decisions to believe information coming from a person who is named, “Fool.” Also, many of the choices that the characters make throughout the play are considered foolish. Sometimes what they say aren’t in the right context, or shouldn’t be brought up within conversation. Also, throughout King Lear it appears that a lot of the characters decisions are based upon the stars and their fate. When putting in further research, it appears that Shakespeare tries to connect astrology with a lot of his work because he believes it truly does influence our actions.
Arly Macario
ReplyDeleteLoyalty and Fairness
Kindness and Cruelty
Age and Youth
Parents and Children
1.1.105-117
CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me bred me, loved me.
I return those duties back as are right fit:
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands if they
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
{To love my father all.}
The following passage is found in Act 1 Scene 1. King Lear plans to divide his kingdom in three parts amongst his daughters. He plans to announce each daughter’s inheritance, although he will give one of his daughters a bigger part. Before making his decision, he asks Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia to speak aloud their love for him. Both Goneril and Regan’s speeches satisfy King Lear, although he does not give either daughter the largest part of the kingdom. Initially he planned to bestow the largest part to his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Though her speech changed his plan. Cordelia states that she loves him like any daughter loves her father, however she is unable to say that she loves him more than anything otherwise she would consider it a lie. King Lear reacts in bitterness and disowns Cordelia. Cordelia says that she is cannot love her father more than she would love her husband, if she had one. She states that her sister’s are merely interested in the inheritance. Cordelia cannot verbally speak her love for her father aloud. She finds it very difficult to express. Thus, King Lear banishes her.
The motifs that can be found in the passage are loyalty and fairness, kindness and cruelty, parents and children, age and youth. It is very evident that the following passage reveals a disagreement between King Lear and his youngest daughter. It shows how King Lear differentiates his three daughters. He treated Goneril and Regan fairly, yet he treated Cordelia with cruelty. She simply thought out loud. Cordelia was not saying lies nor was she attempting to disrespect her father. All she wishes to say is that she cannot love him more than anything in the world because that would be impossible. Moreover, it also shows her lack of maturity since she is unable to sophistically say aloud the love she has for King Lear like her older sisters had. Nonetheless, it is unfair of King Lear to disown her daughter since she was attempting to act in a truthful manner.
The motifs of loyalty and fairness can be seen in the relationship between Edmund and Gloucester. Gloucester loves his legitimate son, Edgar along with his illegitimate son, Edmund. Although, he loves Edmund simply because he has grown to love him, yet he still considers him a bastard. Young Edmund on the other hand does not love his brother Edgar and he wishes to take Edgar’s inheritance through mischief. This demonstrates the motif of kindness and cruelty since Edgar is a kind individual who loves his brother and father. Edmund responds in resentment. In other words, his lack of maturity may also be the reason why he reacts that way. In addition, when Kent tries to convince King Lear that he had done wrong by disowning his daughter, King Lear banishes him. This deals with the motif of loyalty and fairness as well because Kent is trying to do a loyal act that is only fair especially since Cordelia does not deserve such treatment.
Let it be so. Thy truth then be thy dower.
ReplyDeleteFor by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be—
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity, and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous
Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved
As thou my sometime daughter.
Lear from King Lear 1.1.120-133
Cordelia refused to indulge Lear in his yearning for filial piety. Upset, he publicly cuts her off from his lineage. he compares her to a barbarian that devours his young. A couple apparent motifs are planets, stars, fates and animals and humans. Though he does not explicitly refer to wild beasts, cannibalistic tribesmen are animalistic in their own right (right?). The first line, by the way, is why I chose this passage. Such epicness.
The first set of motifs concerning astrology suggests Lear regards Cordelia’s betrayal as fate. There is further evidence for this in Act 3 Sc 4 in which Lear presupposes Poor Tom’s destitution is because he has daughters. For Lear people that have children are destined to be miserable. It is interesting that Lear swears on the moon that is usually associated with fickleness. Also, the intoning of the sun “From whom we do exist” is as if the sun god or whatever is his father and he is calling upon him to curse (“...and cease to be”) Cordelia. As if it it’s the parent’s duty to punish misdeeds done by their kiddies. That’s enough of starry occult goodness.
In the second half of his rambling we get a good idea of what Lear thinks of primitive tribesmen doing their own thing and how he would show hospitality towards them. Lear claims children that do not give back to their parents are the same as animals- later this analogy is extended to include members of the pelican species that were believed back then to live on the blood of the one that gave them life. What he means is the distinction between man and the common beast is a sense of duty. The reversal of roles that appears in his diatribe also caught my attention. Whereas the pelican family may have the misfortune of harboring a parricide the example he gives here is that of the offspring nom-nom-ing cavesman. He may be insinuating she will be a cruel mother because she neglected her father. Or he is wishing she will have such frustration in maintaining a peaceful family that she will want to obliterate her children. I don’t even know what I’m talking about.
Morgan Taylor
ReplyDeleteMotifs:
Natural vs Unnatural
Parents and Children
Rank and Status
Property and Wealth
(1.2.5-23)
EDMUND
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
In this passage, Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, is expressing his feelings to himself in a monologue towards his illegitimacy versus his legitimate brother, Edgar. Edmund opens up by mentioning that he believes in nature against manmade, or the unnatural. His apparent illegitimacy is caused only by the customs and laws of the man. His life is a natural creation, but because of its circumstances of not being created through a marriage, man considers it unnatural and bastardly, depriving Edmund of rights that his legitimate brother has always had. Edmund doesn’t understand why society must brand children born outside of marriages as “base”, or lowlifes. He believes that bastard children are very well better than the not, for they were created through passion and lust, rather than in a dull, stale, married bed. Because of man’s customs about bastards, Edmund has never been able to reach the rank and status of Edgar, even though their father loves them both. Therefore, Edmund begins a plan to take all of Edgar’s land through lies and trickery. He is going to give his father a forged letter appearing to be from Edgar, in which he plots the death of his father. If this works as Edmund believes it should, he, the illegitimate will top the legitimate.
This passage intertwines several of the large motifs shown throughout the play. The natural versus unnatural motif is the first to stand out within the passage. Edmund is playing around with these two concepts and their stance in both man and natural. To man, the legitimate is natural and the illegitimate is unnatural. To Edmund, man is unnatural. And to nature, all man is natural. Edmund is at both times natural and unnatural. It’s kind of a funny circle that travels around that works to bring to light the conflicts between natural and unnatural, man and nature, as well as the actual harmony between them. Bringing the parents and children motif into this comes their father, Gloucester. Gloucester, a nobleman who must follow manmade life, naturally loves both his natural and unnatural sons. If love, one of the most natural emotions, cannot be bound by man, how then could Edmund be illegitimate and unnatural?
Both the motifs of rank and status, and property and wealth are tied in through Edmund’s illegitimacy. Because he was not born from marriage, he is deeply deprived of the rank, status, property, and wealth that his brother Edgar automatically receives. These four concepts are acting as the definitions of what makes a man. Because Edmund cannot have these, he is confined to a life of deprivation.
This concept, as well as the two prior, already run through other parts of the play. The relationship between King Lear and his daughters are based on rank, status, property, and wealth. Two of his daughters, Goneril and Regan, are willing to act out an unnatural love for their father in order to obtain his rank, status, property, and wealth. However, his third daughter, Cordelia, refuses to speak out of her natural feelings for a higher place in life. This motif is working to help discover the actual love versus the fabricated between the daughters.
DeleteAll of these motifs are working to bring out the truth to these characters. Uncovering the true relationships between them, as well as teaching the audience both the connections and disconnections between them.
Nicole Bauke
ReplyDeleteMotifs: Loyalty/betrayal
Trust/blindness
KING OF FRANCE: This is most strange,
That she, that even but now was your best object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favor. Sure, her offence Must be of such unnatural degree, That monsters it, or your fore-vouch’d affection
Fall’n into taint: which to believe of her, Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.
CORDELIA: I yet beseech your majesty,—
If for I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,
I’ll do’t before I speak,—that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness, No unchaste action, or dishonor’d step, That hath deprived me of your grace and favor;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
King Lear wants to divide his kingdom for his three daughters, but even in this action of giving up what he rules, he still grasps for control of the situation by dealing the land out according to the pledges that his daughters give out; whoever can cry the greatest poetry of devotion and love is rewarded. It’s almost a way to assert the fact that Lear still has power over this situation, forever having a hold on the land and a hand in his daughter’s futures. It’s not clever, nor admirable; he is base, just looking for what he wants, which is everything he can get, and acting solely on his instinctual greediness. Nobody respects him for it, as the King of France says; it seems funny that Cordelia, Lear’s favorite daughter, could lose his love and respect so quickly and over such a small, misunderstood matter. To lose a father’s love, she must have done something abominable. Cordelia attempts to defend herself as well; she loves Lear, but she is not going to robotically proclaim her love when she already has proved it with all she has done for him. She is not a liar, she is not sly, and she is not out to get all she can for herself. She has done what she can for him, and to ask her to prove it is insulting, and obviously he does not know her, appreciate her, or realize her.
This passage represents the conflict between trust and blindness; Lear, greedy and base, cannot trust anyone in a real way when he keeps his own personal wishes in front of everyone else. His greed created his own simple blindness. He cannot see Cordelia’s love or the work she has done for him out of daughterly love. Because of this same greed, he is blind towards Goneril and Regan’s selfishness, and interestingly, moves out as if to trust them. His blindness jumps quickly to distrust and banish Cordelia, but it also makes him quick to have some reliance on his other two daughters. But as soon as Goneril shows her true colors, he leaps away in anger, realizing he cannot trust her. This trust/blindness conflict motif is very relatable to the loyalty/betrayal motif in the play, because as every character begins to show their true colors, it becomes apparent that no one can trust anyone else, and that loyalty towards other does not exist, only to their own selves. Edmund cannot be trusted, as he plans to betray the trust that his half brother has put in him. At the same time, Edmund never received family loyalty or loving trust from a father or a family because he is “not technically family”.
Diana DiLiberti
ReplyDeleteflattery, parents and children, prosperity and wealth
Goneril
“Sir, I love you more than word can yield the matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor;
As much as child e’er loved, or father found
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.”
(1.1.55–61)
Regan
"Sir, I am made
Of the self same metal that my sister is,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart,
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses,
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love." (1.1.67-74)
In order to decide how he will divide his kingdom to give to his three daughters, King Lear asks them to tell them how much they love him. The above passages are the responses of his two eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan. Both daughters’ responses are full of flattery, and as such they are given large amounts of land. As Cordelia mentioned later in the scene, they could not love their father above all else, since they are married. The fact Regan simply tried to outlove Goneril is evidence that they were not entirely truthful in their declarations.
The main motifs in these passages are flattery, parents and children, and wealth and prosperity. As both Goneril and Regan use large amounts of flattery to please their father, they demonstrate their willingness to be untruthful to their father to get what they want. Flattery is heavily connected to wealth and status in the play, since it is the main tool used to obtain these. Through the use of words such as “precious”, “worth”, and “valued”, the motif of wealth in connected to the motif of parents and children. As Lear is a king, he has possession of a great deal of wealth, which his children have right to. Essentially, deception of the parent is how many in King Lear aim to obtain wealth.
The actions of Goneril and Regan mimic those of Edmund in a way, the three actively lie to their fathers for their own gain. Flattery is shown as a way to obtain success; as Cordelia refused to flatter her father, she received nothing from him. Many of the characters shown to be of higher rank and favorability are those who actively deceive with what they say. The roles of parent and child inverse between King Lear and his two daughters after he lives with them, as they and their husbands have most of his old responsibilities. After this change of roles, the two sisters no longer flatter King Lear, because they got all they needed from him.
Anna Gray
ReplyDeleteMotifs: astrology, (human) nature, weakness
GLOUCESTER:
“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects...strange.” (act 1, scene 2, lines 109-124)
In this section Gloucester is forcing Edmund to show him the note he is trying to conceal. On the note it is written that Edgar, his son, is trying to kill Gloucester. In reality, Edgar did not write the note, Edmund did. Gloucester ends up reading the note that has contains the notion of planning to kill him. He feels as though everything is falling out of place and rants a bit about it in this short monologue. He speaks as though nothing is his fault that when everything is starting to crumble, everyone and everything else should be blamed. In the passage he lists examples of tragedies that come “after the eclipse,” such as, “kings are betrayed and the bond between father and son snap.” Gloucester believes that it is not Edmund, his bastard son, who is plotting against him, but his legitimate son Edgar. He feels betrayed but determined to find out exactly what Edgar is planning to do, although he is unaware of the true betrayer.
Gloucester begins by metaphorically speaking about astrology “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us,” referencing astrology was something that happens often in this book. It seems to be a central motif that Shakespeare uses throughout the play. In Shakespeare’s time and in this particular time period where this play takes place, characters often blame the universe for their personal problems, like believing that because the stars are out of line that their own life or fate will be altered because of it. Here is a clear example of how Gloucester easily misplaces the fault and blames the sun and moon.
Nature in general and the universe are used numerous times to relay a point. But in this certain passage nature is not only used with its literal meaning but also includes another topic: human nature. Shakespeare utilizes the meaning of nature in various ways throughout the play, he describes actual nature and he incorporates the nature of how humans function in a situation. Gloucester lists a few things that humans do that relate to natural human life, “love cools, friendships falls off, brothers divide…” everything he says is part of nature and are just things that naturally occur in someone’s life. There is a different way of looking at nature, more than just trees and stars.
Although weakness is not prominent at first glance of this monologue, Gloucester still shows his weak side through his words and actions. He feels as though he has to blame the universe for his problems instead of coming up with a reasonable explanation or even solution. This sort of weakness is one that would be represented in the rest of the play because it does not seem like one that a character can grow out of, its part of Gloucester’s personality. He also wants Edmund to be the one to find out more about the letter and not take charge for himself. In this particular passage he cannot find anything positive, just all negative things wrong within his life and the world in general.
Bethany Gray
ReplyDeleteF block
Motifs: relationships between family, sex and lust
Act 1, Scene 2...
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
This monologue (from Edmund) is taken from Act 1, Scene 2. It is the first introduction we have of this character in person. Straightaway the audience can feel moments hinted with resentment and bitterness. Such times would be when he questions his label as “the bastard” and when he the word “legitimate”. He is also very sarcastic when towards the end, he starts calling his brother the legitimate one of the two. He obviously doesn’t mean it, for that is what his entire soliloquy is criticizing.
Throughout the monologue, Edmund wonders why he is labeled a bastard; why has he been branded with this label? He has all the same qualities as anyone else who was born “legitimately”. There is nothing inferior about him just because his existence was not planned. Following this idea, he goes on to say that his life is more exciting because the two who conceived him had passion, whilst the people who legitimately conceive have boring and uneventful lives that are not filled with the same sort of passion and emotions as his own, or as his parents. So, not only is he not inferior, but he is almost better and superior to others. Towards the end, Edmund says that he should have the land/property because he is the result of raw emotions and real passion. He is better than the legitimate child, and should ergo be treated as such.
There are a couple different motifs present throughout Edmund’s speech; the first being relationships between family members. The audience can clearly see that he is not happy with his relatives. He hates his “legitimate” brother who seems to overpower him because of his status. Edmund also thinks that it doesn’t matter if he has the same qualifications and characteristics of his brother, people in his family will still call him a “bastard”. Another motif that is present not only in the entire play, but in this section as well, is sex and lust. Edmund says that it is better and more exciting to be a result of strong emotions and spontaneous actions. This means that his soul is more fulfilled and there is more love that lies with him than with his brother. If the unplanned act hadn’t occurred he would be boring and uneventful like those who are planned and those whose conceivers did not have a choice in the lifelong matter.
Act 1 Scene 1 Line 60
ReplyDeleteGoneril
GONERIL: Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
This is one of the opening passages of the play. Goneril is explaining her love for her father, in order to obtain a piece of his kingdom. Shakespeare has Goneril open and end this passage with the same phrase “I love you” which proves she is loyal, and also that she is trying very hard to obtain a piece of the kingdom by the repetition of this phrase and the dramatic placement of it. Goneril also compares the love she has for her father as more important than even her own freedom; “Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty” (1.1.63). Also the use of the word “and” is this sentence displays that Goneril is so devoted to gaining this part of her father’s kingdom that she claims to love her father more than the very important things which are vital to rule the kingdom she wants so bad. It seems as if Shakespeare is playing with irony at this point in the passage. Next Shakespeare touches on one of the many motifs in this play: parents and children. He has Goneril say “As much as a child e’er loved or father found” Saying that her love for her father is more than any child has ever loved a father or more love than a father has ever received from a child. The use of this motif reveals that Goneril may be very deserving of her father’s kingdom, and also re-initiates the connection as to why she should have the kingdom: because she is his daughter. Another motif found in this passage is loyalty and faithfulness. Goneril is attempting to prove her faithfulness to her father by saying how important and significant her love is for him. She refers to her love for him as a specific love by saying “a love” like it is different than any other love he has received, maybe even from his other two daughters. The singular version of the word love displays a very specific faithfulness and loyalness toward her father. These motifs are also seen a lot in this scene. When the other daughters explain their own individual love for their father or something the opposite of love as well, the parent and children motif appears. Also the response from King Lear when Cordelia explains her “love” for her father shows that expects loyalty and faithfulness, and the huge caliber of his response proves he expects his daughters to behave in a loyal and faithful way and he was not expecting the opposite.
Corinne DeLouise
ReplyDeleteMotifs: nothing and loyalty
Act I Scene 4 lines 115 - 140
KENT. This is nothing, Fool.
FOOL. Then ’tis like the breath of an unfee’d lawyer, you gave me nothing for’t. Can you make no use of nothing, nuncle?
LEAR. Why, no, boy, nothing can be made out of nothing.
FOOL.
To Kent.
Prithee tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to. He will not believe a fool.
LEAR. A bitter fool!
FOOL. Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a sweet one?
LEAR. No, lad, teach me.
FOOL.
That lord that counsell’d thee
To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand.
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear:
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
LEAR. Dost thou call me fool, boy?
FOOL. All thy other titles thou hast given away, that thou wast born with.
KENT. This is not altogether fool, my lord.
FOOL. No, faith, lords and great men will not let me; if I had a monopoly out, they would have part an’t. And ladies too, they will not let me have all the fool to myself, they’ll be snatching. Nuncle, give me an egg, and I’ll give thee two crowns.
LEAR. What two crowns shall they be?
FOOL. Why, after I have cut the egg i’ th’ middle and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i’ th’ middle and gav’st away both parts, thou bor’st thine ass on thy back o’er the dirt. Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away. If I speak like myself in this, let him be whipt that first finds it so.
In this passage the fool uses mockery and bitter humor in order to critique the King Lear’s most recent decisions to divvy up his property amongst his daughters and banish his youngest daughter. The king presently lives with one of the daughters who remains in his favor, but her servants have started showing the king a lack of respect. They do not see him as having much power over them, and his daughter has also tried to limit certain of the king’s activities because she considers them too rowdy. At the beginning of this scene the fool tries to give his hat to the Earl of Kent, illustrating the passing on of titles, much like the king has given up his title to his daughters. In this way the fool mocks the king. He sings the king a sort of song, which, at the end, the Earl of Kent proclaims the song to be made up of nothing, to which the fool responds, “can you make no use of nothing?” Here we see the motif of nothing that is present throughout the rest of the play. King Lear has a problem with concreteness. Everything he sees needs to be straightforward and clear as day, or it is nothing to him. This problem arose at the very beginning of the play when his youngest daughter refused to speak flattering lies. The king was more pleased with the older daughters’ praises, because, false or true, their praises existed and they spoke them in front of him. The youngest daughter, while obviously more truthful and loving, is not so blunt and straightforward, so the king values her actions less, just as he responds to the fool, “Why, no, boy, nothing can be made out of nothing.” As the passage continues, the fool proceeds to talk about the king’s crown, another motif in the play. Throughout King Lear, royalty and symbols of royalty are very important. In a way, this theme also ties in with that of nothing. In this passage for instance, having a crown symbolizes royalty and the lack there of symbolizes the loss of a title, or “nothing.” The king views his standing in society as something that is achieved by physical possessions, not so much by respect and honor. The fool, cruelly chiding the king, offers to give him two crowns, and the king is eager to hear the rest of the proposition, but then the fool tells him that it will only be the two crowns of an egg, after the fool has already eaten any of the useful part out of the egg. He likens the two crowns to the two shares of property that the king has given his daughters, and then makes a pun on another type of crown, the part of the head, saying to the king “Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away.” In this way the fool finishes off this passage by blatantly critiquing and mocking the king’s decisions.
DeleteHannah Ellis
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: nothing and foolishness
Act: 1 Scene: 4 Lines: 121-154
Fool: Mark it, nuncle:
Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more
Than two tens to a score.
KENT:This is nothing, fool.
Fool: Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you
gave me nothing for't. Can you make no use of
nothing, nuncle?
KING LEAR: Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out of nothing.
Fool: [To KENT] Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of
his land comes to: he will not believe a fool.
KING LEAR: A bitter fool!
Fool: Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a
bitter fool and a sweet fool?
KING LEAR: No, lad; teach me.
Fool: That lord that counsell'd thee
To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
KING LEAR: Dost thou call me fool, boy?
Fool: All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with.
In this passage the Fool is supposed to be entertaining King Lear, but he is actually speaking of serious matters. The King does not understand this and takes everything the Fool says as a joke and the Fool does not correct him. The Fool tries to warn Lear that giving his riches to his two daughters was a bad idea, but his warning is not listened to. He tries to give Lear lessons on how to live his life and wants Kent to tell him because Lear will not listen to the advice of a fool. The Fool then goes on to call King Lear a fool for not listening to him and giving away everything. The theme of nothing has come up more than once in the first act of King Lear. Lear believes that the Fool is just speaking and his words have no meaning, mostly because a fool should not being saying anything that would be considered insightful. The Fool mocks King Lear in speaking about nothing because Lear shunned his youngest daughter for saying nothing while his other daughters lied and praised him. Cordelia refused to say words of love and praise to King Lear because she knew that what her sisters said was just empty praise while she believed that her actions showed her love for Lear. Lear says, “nothing can be made of nothing,” but the Fool understood Cordelia’s refusal of praise and is teasing the King with it. The motif of foolishness is also shown in this passage. The Fool believes that King Lear is actually the fool in their situation not himself. The Fool calls Lear a fool because “all thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with.” King Lear gave away all of his land and titles to his daughters and their husband, so the fool says that all that is left for Lear is the title of the fool. Lear chose to give all his things to the ones who could lie the best and pretend to care instead of the one who showed she cared and for that his is foolish.
Kenneth Wheeler
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: Faithfulness, Irony, Sane vs. Mad
1.4.1-44
KENT
If but as well I other accents borrow,
That can my speech defuse, my good intent
May carry through itself to that full issue
For which I razed my likeness. Now, banish'd Kent,
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn'd,
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lovest,
Shall find thee full of labours.
KING LEAR
Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready.
How now! what art thou?
KENT
A man, sir.
KING LEAR
What dost thou profess? what wouldst thou with us?
KENT
I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve
him truly that will put me in trust: to love him
that is honest; to converse with him that is wise,
and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I
cannot choose; and to eat no fish.
KING LEAR
What art thou?
KENT
A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as the king.
KING LEAR
If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a
king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst thou?
KENT
Service.
KING LEAR
Who wouldst thou serve?
KENT
You.
KING LEAR
Dost thou know me, fellow?
KENT
No, sir; but you have that in your countenance
which I would fain call master.
KING LEAR
What's that?
KENT
Authority.
KING LEAR
What services canst thou do?
KENT
I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious
tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message
bluntly: that which ordinary men are fit for, I am
qualified in; and the best of me is diligence.
KING LEAR
How old art thou?
KENT
Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing, nor
so old to dote on her for any thing: I have years
on my back forty eight.
KING LEAR
Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like thee no
worse after dinner, I will not part from thee yet.
Dinner, ho, dinner! Where's my knave? my fool?
Go you, and call my fool hither.
In one of Shakespeare's most comedic moments, Kent infiltrates King Lear's court and regains the king's friendship. Earlier in the play, Kent was banished for trying to keep Lear from making destructive decisions out of extreme pride. As a result, both Kent and the King's daughter, Cordelia, became treacherous in the eyes of their monarch.
King Lear's decisions have not been entirely rational to this point. As a ruler of many years, the King has built up a vast sense of pride, and is quick to condemn any words that contradict his own will. Whether it be senility or pure arrogance, the King is a simple man, and quickly agrees to the help of the unexpected acquiantiance. Even in gaining his servantship, Kent does little more than praise the King and promise complete loyalty.
When Kent was first exiled, it was due to what the King saw as betrayal. Ironically, however, Kent was actually very worried for the well-being of Lear, and this faithfulness continues here. As Kent re-establishes himself in the kingdom he was just banished from, he is actually doing it for completely unexpected reasons. It would be odd for a man so clearly hated to return to his King, but in Kent's case, it is merely the righteous thing to do.
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ReplyDeleteKirsten L. Salo
DeleteD Block
Motifs: parents and children, loyalty and faithfulness, age and youth
ACT I, i, 100-115
CORDELIA
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.
LEAR
How, how Cordelia? Mend your speech a little,
Lest you may mar your fortunes.
CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me.
I return those duties back as are right fit:
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall
carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
[To love my father all.]
1. This passage is found near the beginning of the play and it is learned that King Lear has divided his kingdom into three, and is giving each daughter a portion of the kingdom as well as some inheritance. Lear then asks for his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, to tell him how much they love him in order to receive their inheritance. Both Goneril and Regan have no issue in disclose how much love they have for their father, which they say is more love than they have for anything else, even more love than they have for their husbands. Cordelia, the youngest, is the last to speak. However, Cordelia cannot express her love for her father like her two sisters. Simply she says that she loves Lear only by the father-daughter bond that they share. She doesn’t find it true or right to say that she loves him more than anything, especially more than a husband she hopes to have one day. Lear is taken aback and disowns Cordelia for saying such things.
2. Three motifs made an appearance during this passage: parents/children, loyalty/faithfulness, and age/youth. This entire passage as well as section in this play, is directed towards the relationship between a parent and their children. This motif reveals specific relationships between the three daughters and their father. The two eldest daughters seem not to care about their father and are only interested in what he has to offer them. Lear doesn’t mind however, for all he is looking for is loyalty and false love to boost his self-esteem. Cordelia however loves her father in a way that she feels it wrong to lie to him about how much she loves him. Lear doesn’t respond to her well because he doesn’t find her love to be loyal enough, another motif found in this passage. The daughters are building false relationships on loyalties that aren’t there. Age/youth is the other motif I found within this passage. To me, Lear, Goneril, and Regan represent age while Cordelia represents youth. With age comes wisdom and the oldest three have learned that lie can possibly propel you further in life. Youth hasn’t realized this yet and is constantly fighting for the truth in every matter.
3. Although we haven’t read much further in the play, I already have begun to see the repetition of the motifs seen in this passage: parents/children, loyalty/faithfulness, and age/youth. This passage was centered around the idea and presence of family as well as the factors of age. It seems as if these motifs will continually appear for the play is about King Lear himself, the father.
Motifs: loyalty/faithfulness and rank/status
ReplyDelete"O you, sir you, come hither, sir. Who am I, sir?
OSWALD: My lady's father.
LEAR: 'My lady's father'? My lord's knave! You whoreson dog, you slave, you cur!
OSWALD: I am none of these, my lord, I beseech your pardon.
LEAR: Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?
[Lear strikes him]
OSWALD: I'll not be strucken, my lord.
KENT: [tripping him] Nor tripped neither, you base football player?
LEAR: I thank thee, fellow. Thou serv'st me, and I'll love thee.
KENT: (to Oswald) Come, sir, arise. Away. I'll teach you differences. Away, away. If you will measure your lubber's length again, tarry. But away. Go to. Have you wisdom? So.
[Oswald exits]"
Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 78-93
1. Oswald is Goneril's steward, and acts as if he is more loyal to her than the king himself. Right before the start of the passage, Lear has asked Oswald to find Goneril, and Oswald leaves the room rudely. Afterwards, he returns to the room and Lear tests him by asking who he is, looking for a flattering and submissive answer, which he does not receive. Lear is immediately insulted, and his followers follow him as he punishes Oswald verbally and physically in a bullying fashion. This questionable disrespect of King Lear is just a small start to what I believe will unravel King Lear mentally. Lear is a hothead and overreacts the minute his rank is degraded in anyway. This characterization of Lear is definitely something to keep an eye on as the story progresses, and Lear's demise approaches.
2. The motifs of loyalty/faithfulness and rank/status are important in this passage as well as the entire book. King Lear is obviously the main leader and demands the most respect. I find this to be ironic as he has just given his daughters large chunks of his kingdom. Technically, they, as young women, have more power than him. Lear knows this is true, yet still expects Oswald to see him as a superior figure. Oswald's faithfulness and loyalty lies in Goneril, and this bothers Lear. I can see Lear losing his mind while his power and kingdom deteriorate. This makes it obvious that Lear has an issue with trusting people and is power hungry. These are two typical characteristics of a tragedy character. I find it strange that Lear is giving his power away even though it is obvious it is important to his sanity. The way that Oswald replies afterwards even when being beaten and tripped appears to be respectful, but one can see that the dryness and lack of honesty is there. Rank and status are not what they appear to be in this passage. Lear is like the head bully of his followers, and therefore here he is dominant, but I feel that Oswald has the power of the situation because he knows how to bother Lear. It is almost like Lear wants to retire but remain king.
3. I am predicting that Lear will eventually lose his mind due to his lack of control over others, leading to his death. The false loyalty we see, and possible lack of faithfulness can make anyone feel alone, especially when you are a king, and there are people out to get you. Rank and status can be a label, but they must be backed up by action and evidence. Eventually, I think Lear will lose his ability to justify the rank that he wants. Loyalty and faithfulness are not always truthful, and rank and status are not always meaningful.
Zachary Schultz
ReplyDeleteD Block
Motifs: Ranks and Status, Sanity and Madness
EDMUND:
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
(1.2.1-25)
Edmund is filled with anger and cruelty, enough to betray his family merely to gain status, wealth and property. In the scene Edmund reveals his plans to the audience, touching upon major motifs within the play. Edgar is given higher status and the benefits of such because of his legitimacy over the bastard Edmund. The lesser brother plots to depose the legitimate of his place in the family, defaulting all possessions to Edmund. He uses a fake and incriminating letter to create the illusion that Edgar is planning to kill Gloucester, the father of the two half-brothers.
Rank and status are the driving factors for Edmund. He wishes to ascend the social class ladder and Edgar is taking up the rung above him. The fact that he is willing to go to the extent that he is for materialistic possessions suggests madness. This suggestion is backed up by Edmund’s speech patterns. He uses a lot of repetition, almost as if his mind becomes stuck and fixated on one major part in his internal scheme. Madness feeds his drive for status while his inability to obtain status drives him madder.
Different characters have different views on rank and status. Gloucester says that Edmund’s illegitimacy has no effect on the love he has for his son and that that love is equal to the love he has for Edgar. Lear’s fool has no care for rank, to him if a joke or witty remark is available, he will make it regardless of the status of the person he mocks. On the other hand, Lear himself views ranks and status as ties to him and his kingdom; the higher the rank, the closer to crown and country that person is. That is why he is quick to remove power from people who question him: he views it as distancing themselves from the kingdom and therefore deeming themselves of power within it. Characters form very distinct relationships with each other based on their feelings on the importance of rank.
Madness has been a smaller motif in this act but it could be inferred that Lear losing his daughters’ love and support is slowly pushing him to madness. His seemingly irrational and quick actions (banishing Kent, the outbursts at Goneril before leaving her court, etc.) are possible pieces of evidence to this but further reading would need to be done to prove or disprove this hypothesis.
KING LEAR
ReplyDeleteIt may be so, my lord.
Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her! If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child! Away, away!
Motifs: Parents versus children and Sanity versus madness
In this scene King Lear has been told by Goneril that his knights needed to calm down and that he needs to cut down the number of them. Lear then goes into another one of his hissy fits telling Goneril that he hopes that she never has children and if she does he hopes its disfigured and shames her, and torments her so that she feels the “thankless” that he does.
This shows how Lear has disrespected his children and now they are disrespecting him. He wishes upon them what he thinks they have done to him even though they haven’t done really done anything unreasonable. This shows the connection between father and daughter and how that can influence the relationship between mother and child when it and if one is created. Because of that it extends it to create a relationship between the Lear and his unborn grandchild. Goneril’s requests are really not that outrageous, and is looking out for her people. So trying to reason with Lear about how he need to control his knights is something sane and logical about the conversation. But then Lear goes all crazy and starts ranting about how his daughter hates him and that she needs to die and be tortured by her unborn child. He is acts like he is a spoiled brat and he is probably going to go even crazier as the play goes on because he might not be treated as the most important person but as an equal and that will drive him off the edge.
Act 1 Scene 4 Lines 288-303
ReplyDeleteMotiffs: Kindess/cruelty, parents/children
It may be so, my lord. –
Hear, Nature, hey, dear goddess, hear!
Suspend they purpose if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful.
Into her womb convey sterility.
Dry up her in her the organs of increase,
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honor her. If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen, that it may live
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her.
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,
Wath cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,
Turn all her mother’s pains and benfits
To laughter and contempt, that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child. – Away, away!
In this scene Goneril has refused to take in Lear unless he dismisses his retinue of knights. Lear storms off in a huff but returns, cursing her and attempting to wither her womb. This is also an act of cruelty on both sides considering Goneril is disrespecting his wishes to maintain a certain amount of knights following his and is essentially undermining his authority. In Lears case it is also an act of cruelty considering he is emotionally and verbally abusing his daughter by outright telling her that he hopes she never bears children and if she does they do the same to her that she has done to him. His cruelty is apparent in his choice of words and phrases that are incredibly descriptive including, “child of spleen”, “cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks” and “derogate body”. All cruel and foul words purposefully chosen to hurt his daughter. There is little kindness between the two besides Goneril earlier masking her undermining of him, her king and father. The parent/children theme is at use not only between Lear and Goneril but also between Goneril and any potential children she could have. Goneril, who has rejected her parent, now has no chance to become a parent. Which she doesn’t considering she commits suicide in Act 5. The parental motif is also apparent between Lear and Goneril because of the unique interactions happening at the moment. In the film, the actress playing Goneril starts crying under Ian McKellens verbal onslaught. This is a moment of weakness for the otherwise strong character.