Concept Vocabulary for King Lear

Transcription

1 Concept Vocabulary for King Lear King Lear by William Shakespeare. The New Folger Library Edition. Organizational Pattern: King Lear is divided into five different acts. This is not unusual, seeing as how almost all of Shakespeare s plays all have five acts. The acts indicate a change in setting as well as a change in major topics/issues at hand. In order to understand how all of Shakespeare s plays work, students should understand the division of each of his acts and why each act ends and begins where it does. Each act is divided into scenes. There is not a set amount of scenes in each act; some acts will have a couple of scenes, while other might have eight or nine. Scenes mainly indicate a change of characters on stage or a change in setting. Scenes do not always indicate a change in the major topic at hand, and in fact, scenes often do not change the major topic, but instead moved through the act showing different characters responding the major focus. It is also important that acts and scenes be recognized for the stage change that occurs. Often times a play has acts to break up the play so that stage shifts can be made. Scenes rarely break up a stage change, and instead this occurs with an act ending or beginning. Plays never stop in the middle of an act. Issues related to the Study of Literature: There are countless different areas of literature that can be explored with King Lear. Only a few will be mentioned here, but other resources can be found on the internet describing the different facets of literature that can be analyzed in King Lear. Themes: Family Relations: The entire plot of Lear hinges upon the relationships that King Lear has with his three daughters. Lear puts faith in his two false daughters, Regan and Goneril, because of the false front they choose to put on when he asks them how much they love him (Act I.i). His faith in them is quickly destroyed when they both throw him out of their homes. Cordelia, on the other hand, tells Lear of her sincere devotion and love to him, but because she also tells Lear what he doesn t want to hear, he disowns her. Ultimately, Cordelia comes to Lear s aid when he is on his deathbed. Regan and Goneril s husbands end up warring with Cordelia s husband over the land that has not been given to her. In the end, all the members of Lear s immediate family end up dead.

2 Corruption of Power/pride: Lear is an old king, over the age of eighty, who divides his kingdom among his daughters. He has become so blinded by his rule as king that his pride dictates his responses to his daughters. Cordelia very literally embarrasses her father in front of the court, and as a result Lear is angry and hurt and disowns Cordelia. In the subplot, Edmund seeks the power that is never rightfully his because he is the bastard son of Lord Gloucester. In order to obtain this power, Edmund tears apart Gloucester and his full son, Edgar. After disbanding their loyalty to one another, Edmund turns his sights upon the daughters of Lear. The audience never knows this is his first intent until after Act 3. This new information suggests that the power has gone to Edmund s head and he seeks to be king, when he has no right to the throne. Both Goneril and Regan seek for power when they insincerely tell their father of their love for him. Instead of saying genuinely how they feel for their father, they put on false faces in order to appease their father s pride, and thereby secure for themselves and their husbands, large portions of the kingdom. Power corrupts the family tree. Insanity vs. Truth: Characters in King Lear both feign insanity and actually go insane. Edgar, while being chased for his life, pretends that he is a crazy old beggar. He mutters nonsense most of the time, but then when spoken to directly by the king, utters wisdom and insight into the themes of the play. Likewise, the fool plays the part of the character revealing truth after truth. He is told by the other characters in the play to stop talking and to stop being annoying, essentially, but the fool sees and knows more than all of the characters. He, too, is called crazy like Edgar as he fakes his insanity. On the other hand, Lear actually seems to go insane. This can be credited to several things. First of all, he loses the faith in the one daughter he loved best. Second, the rest of his family leaves him out in an awful storm because they are unhappy with his desires. Third, Lear is old and has lost everything that was once his, including his kingdom, his friends, his court, and his family. Lear s insanity is only alleviated when Cordelia comes to take care of him and removes most of these elements from his life. Other important themes: Nature vs. Man; Pagan vs. Christianity; Cordelia as Savior Setting: King Lear takes place in a pagan kingdom where Lear has once ruled, but now his rule is coming to an end. It is on the isle of Great Britain, proven by the Cliffs of

3 Dover and the French coming to invade. There are no links the royalty of Shakespeare s time. Plot: King Lear is dividing his kingdom between his three daughters because he is getting too old to rule it any longer. Although he plans on splitting the kingdom equally, he also relies heavily on the love of his youngest daughter Cordelia who is to be his caretaker in his old age. Before splitting the country up, Lear asks his daughters, in front of the court, to tell everyone present how much the love Lear. Only by doing so can they receive their inheritance. Goneril and Regan both make a big show of appeasing their father, although their words are not sincere. In contrast, Cordelia is hones with her father, professing a deep love but nothing showy. As a result, Lear disowns Cordelia, and thereby seals his own fate. The Earl of Kent tells King Lear how mad he is being. Lear banishes Kent as well because he is so caught up in his pride. Now that his kingdom is divided into two, Lear is under the care of his two false daughters. Within weeks, Goneril is treating her father like a child, taking away any of his kingly privileges, saying that his need to have his men all around him is ridiculous. Therefore, Lear leaves Goneril, after cursing her to either not bear children and if she does that they are deformed. He goes to Regan s home where Regan refuses her father s wants and needs, as well. She and Goneril send him out into a raging storm concluding that the storm will humble him and then he will listen. In the meantime, war is about to break out between Cordelia s new husband, the King of France, and Goneril s husband, the Duke of Albany. Although England is now her enemy, Cordelia still seeks to care for her father. The subplot includes the Duke of Gloucester, his son Edgar, and his bastard son Edmund. Edmund seeks revenge on his father by deceiving Gloucester to believe that Edgar is trying to kill him. Gloucester puts out a warrant for Edgar s arrest and death. Edgar flees, and comes across Lear while out in the storm. Edgar plays a poor madman who talks with Lear and the fool. Edmund continues his plotting, seeking for the throne. Gloucester has his inheritance taken from him and given to Edmund. Edmund uses this to try and seduce both Goneril and Regan, whose husband has been murdered by one of his servants. Lear suffers greatly from the storm, both physically and mentally. Cordelia comes upon the shores of England in time to find her father and care for him. There is a mild reconciliation between Cordelia and Lear before they are both put in prison by Albany as war prisoners. Still seeking the throne, Edmund has a man go and hang Cordelia making it look like a suicide (assuming this is because Edmund is planning on marrying Regan), but the servant continues that Regan has also dies, being poisoned by Goneril. Lear carries Cordelia s dead body to the stage,

4 explaining he caught the man in act of trying to hang Cordelia. He hopes that he is not too late to have saved her and whispers lines that he can still see her breathing, with that he lies down and dies, too. Point of View: The point of view is told from the perspective of a narrator. It is third-person objective. All the audience knows is what is told and presented on stage. Irony: Main Irony: King Lear banishes the one daughter who truly loves him and has his best interest at heart. The fool is actually the voice of reason and wisdom, while Lear, who is supposed to be a wise, old king, is lost and confused. Gloucester seeks to kill the son who is faithful to him. Tone: Like any tragedy written by Shakespeare, King Lear s tone is despairing. Event after event presents another tragedy that will or is occurring. But, ultimately, in the end a little ray of hope is shown and then quickly taken away. This is what emphasizes the tone of tragedy and despair. But, like any tragedy there is a note of warning and hope in the final lines. Affective Issues Related to the Work: CAUTION: Many of the themes and related issues in King Lear are sensitive subjects when students are asked to reflect on the text and make person-to-text analysis. Keep this in mind and try not to overstep boundaries. ~ Students can understand why or why not the play makes sense to them depending on their family relationships. Every student will be able to grasp the idea of betrayal and pain that accompanies family betrayal. Have they ever been betrayed by anyone? ~ Students are all young and can sympathize with Goneril and Regan s dilemma of frustration with their father. Explore this topic. Ask them why they can relate and for what reasons they can see the Lear is a frustrating character. Do Goneril and Regan deserve any sympathy? Afterwards, explore how Lear could be seen as a victim of abuse. ~ What important issues does the fool bring up? If you were a character in the play, would you be the fool? As teens, you are often overlooked as having any insight, but this can be a foolish assumption. Discuss being old before you are wise and other lines that the fool says.

5 Vocabulary Issues: Most of Shakespeare s works contain difficult vocabulary due to the nature of the language surround the time period in which Shakespeare wrote. Folger s edition works very well in this sort of situation because the pages on one side give a lot of important information students will need to interpret the test. Some words will be familiar to students, but their comprehension of the words can be completely different due to the time period difference (ex: villain). There is no way to say exactly where this will occur in the text and vocabulary should be discussed as the book is read in class. For any assigned outside reading, students should either be given lists of words that they will encounter in their reading, or the vocabulary should be discussed before students are sent home to read on their own. Major Concepts: The age old idea of trust and betrayal hits hard in King Lear. The people Lear thought her trusted most let him down and two of his own children betrayed him. However, Lear is also guilty of betrayal. Led by his pride, he betrays his only trustworthy daughter, Cordelia, and leaves her stranded. She is only saved by her suitor, the King of France. Cordelia is the only primary character who is true to herself and those she loves. She refuses to betray any of her family, even when she knows they have wronged her. Another major concept is the want of power. Goneril and Regan feign sincerity towards their father so that their husbands can have a portion of the kingdom, power. Edmund sacrifices, at no cost to himself, the lives around him because he his hungry for the throne, power. King Lear is sick with grief because he has relied too much on his power and has failed to see sincerity in its form, which is Cordelia. The corruption of power and the seeking of power is a natural human instinct, carried throughout time; Shakespeare displays this well in King Lear. Background Knowledge: Students should understand the time period in which the play was written, who Shakespeare was writing for, the people during the Elizabethan Era, the issues with which the country was dealing with, etc. Similarly, they need to understand the time period in which Shakespeare was trying to describe. This would also include the Globe Theatre, royalty of the time, the inspiration from which Shakespeare took his ideas, and the life of Shakespeare himself. In order to understand Shakespeare, student need background knowledge on iambic pentameter, acts and scenes, narration, stage directions, and other basics relating to play performances. Understand the syntax and language will help students understand. If they don t understand how and

6 why these things are different then they will have little or no reading comprehension. It should also be noted that students understand more of Shakespeare when the plot is explained to them BEFORE they start to read. Implication for Student Diversity: ~ Unknown to students, whether religious or not, most read from a very Christian lens. It should be understood that Shakespeare writes the play with the characters being pagan, but he himself includes Christian ideas because of the time in which he writes. ~ Students read to relate to themselves and understand from their point of view. They often deal with gender issues, races issues and age issues as they pertain to them. Students should read and analyze King Lear from the age perspective, both from the daughters point of view (young), and Lear s point of view (old). ~ Although this is an Anglo-Saxon view, the issues presented are enduring because they relate to human nature, regardless of the country. Gender Issues: The gender issues can be inferred because Lear has three daughters who fight like cats amongst themselves, while in the subplot there are two brothers fighting for the affection of their father. These gender issues help to display sibling rivalry as well as show that siblings of the same gender have a harder time getting along. In others of Shakespeare s works, siblings who are both male and female tend to get a long much better. The relationship between father and daughter as seen as man to woman can also be explored. Lear has bad relationships with two of his daughters and a good relationship with one daughter. The interaction and roles each daughter plays can be interpreted through gender issues. The Central Question/Enduring Issue: This is definitely debatable due to the many kind of reading that can and will go into reading King Lear. However, in my opinion the central question/enduring issue that revolves around family. Family is the root from which life stems. Harmony within the family allows for harmony in life, whereas discord in the family equates to discord in life. Only when Lear and Cordelia reconcile are either of them content. In contrast, Goneril and Regan fall apart only after they have thrown out their father and warred amongst one another. Research Issues/Project Ideas: 1. Discuss Pagan beliefs in this area of the world

7 a. Read students different folklore and myths that can help describe the importance of nature in this play. b. Assign students features of nature and have them relate that part of nature to a character, theme, idea, or scene in the play. c. Each student should write a one page paper explaining how and why the piece of nature relates. d. Students will present the aspect of nature to the class. 2. Family Tradition and Folklore a. Have students brainstorm about the different types of traditions they have at home. b. Students should write a journal entry describing this family tradition. 3. Character Comparison a. Have students till out character analysis forms. b. Have students read over the character forms and select a character they are most like. The characters won t all have wonderful qualities, but let students pick a character and then explain why they are most like this character. 4. Shakespearean Research a. Students should select a topic of interest pertaining to the time in which Shakespeare was writing (i.e. politics, clothing, other playwrights, etc.) b. Spend time in the library researching the topic both in class and out of class. Students should write a 6-8 research paper about the topic of their choice. 5. Experiencing Shakespeare a. Have students get into groups. Assign a scene in the play to each group. b. Students will be required to act out this scene for the class. It can be video-taped if they want, it doesn t have to be live, but it does have to include all of the students in the group. c. Let student be creative, allow them to interpret it the way the want. They can use unique costumes, themes, time periods, and settings, let them OWN the text.