Motifs: recurring elements and
patterns of imagery (support themes)
•
•
•
•
•
Nature
Blindness
Clothing and nakedness
Madness
Animal imagery
All the World’s Asleep
•
•
•
•
Groups of 7
Memorize your own line
Throw ball to group member
That group member says his line and
throws to another person go around until
everyone seems to know the line
Rule change
• Instad of ball catcher saying their line the
rest of the group must say the catcher’s
line
Step 3
• Look at lines and images that suggest
transition from
• Regal and Sane to common man and Mad
• Each quote will suggest regal and sane to
becoming less regal (more of a commoner)
and less sane.
• Losing power
Step 2
• Put the cards in the order that best represents
the transitions that Lear makes during the play
from
• 1. regal to more real ( first 3 or 4 quotes)
• 2. from sane to mad. ( then 3 or 4 quotes)
• Compare with actual order
• What clues did you use?
Why Lear Why Now?
Do any of you know…
•
•
•
•
Someone in their advanced year?
How are they different?
What challenges to they face?
What are some of the conflicts they encounter
with their children?
King Lear
1 Are children obligated to take care of their
parents when they are elderly?
2 What do you feel we should do about the elderly
in our society?
3 Should they be turned out?
4 Should they be revered and honored among the
young until they die?
5 Should they be allowed to live at home, or put
into a nursing home until the end of their lives?
Agenda
• Family Relationships
• 1.1
• Homework: Wednesday 1.2-1.3. Look up any
confusing words. Be able to explain to class
the different views of fate..Complete Journals
Why teach King Lear?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sibling rivalry
Elders
Aging relatives
Betrayal
We will all be Lear someday
We all strive to be Cordelia
Avoid the Edmunds in college
Was Lear real?
• , Shakespeare borrowed his two plots from
previous sources. Holinshed reported in his
Chronicles (1577) a story that dates back as far
as Geoffrey of Monmouth (1136) in which a
supposedly real King Leir who ruled England
around 800 BC divides his kingdom between
two of his daughters, disowning the third for
failing his love test,
Was there a Lear?
• “With a setting so far back in time, the sense
of the historical blurs into the sense of the
mythical and legendary.” Frye
• Neolithic Age?
• Some say during the Bronze or Iron Ages
– Inhabitants of Britain mostly illiterate
– Largely agricultural,
– Ritualistically religious
– Dover probably considered the ends of the earth
setting
• Mythical England- ancient pre christian
Britian
• (productions will transpose it to any period
because they can)
What Critics Say
• Described alternately as Shakespeare’s “Everest”, and
his deepest plunge into the human soul, there is no
intrinsic, coherent view of the play’s meaning.
• Seen as overtly religious allegory
– goodness/evil
– Power of forgiveness and honesty
• Others see it as a nihilistic work
– The futility of the human condition
Themes
• Justice, Love, betrayal, revenge, loyalty,
foolishness
• Greed and lust for power; greed and lust for
power
• Natual vs unnatural behavior
• Appearance vs. reality
• fate
Motifs
•
•
•
•
•
Blindness
Madness
Animal imagery
Nothing
The storm
Instructions
• 1.1.
• Read out loud with group
• Circle words/phrases that are confusing and
translate as best you can into modern English.
• Underline words that you think might connect
to a theme:
Read first page outloud
• What words cause confusion?
• Any puns?
• What are Gloucester’s views toward his son
Edmond?
• What do we notice about Edmond here?
• Themes?
Watch clip
• What are Gloucester’s feelings toward his
son?
• Support your answer?
• What do we learn about Edmund?
Read pages 9-15
•
•
•
•
Why is he dividing his kingdom?
What is the test that he uses?
What do Goneril and Regan say?
What is Cordelia’s answer and why does she
answer as she does?
• Is she being cruel in refusing to play her
father’s game? Why? Why not?
Lear
• “Nothing will come from nothing”
• What does he mean by this?
• His Reaction?
15-29
• What does Kent say that angers Lear?
agenda
• Finish 1.1 reading as class.
• Homework: 1.2-1.3: annotate speech assigned
• #1: views of nature, what we learn about Edmond’s
character
• #2 &3 Views of fate
Paper
• Staple paper to rubric and outline.
• Please print.
Warm up context-theme?
1 Cordelia: What shall Cordelia speak? Love,
and be silent? (68)
2 I am sure my love’s /More ponderous than my
tongue. (85)
3 I love your majesty/According to my bond, no
more nor less.
4. See Better Lear. Who says it and What theme
does this relate to?
How might references to sight and
blindness become important for the
rest of the play?
France and Burgendy
• Why does Burgendy back out?
• What does France say?
View of Goneril and Regan
• P. 25 310 read.
• Are they evil or are they realistic? What is
their plan?
The Great Chain of Being (divine order)
God
Angels
Humans (kings, merchants,
men women, etc
father
mother
sons
daughters
Servants
Animals (mouse, dogs, lions,
etc.)
Plants (grass, trees, etc.)
Nonliving Objects (rocks,
metals, etc.)
1.2 view on Fate
• Views on astrology?
• Fate?
Solar Eclipse took place around 1652
• Black Munday
• Great doom was predicted
• Read first and then the second.
agenda
• 1.2-1.3
• For Monday read 1.4-1.5 complete jouransl
• And look closely at your assigned section . Be prepared to
answer the following: you could use this as part of your
journal response
1 What is going on?
2 What significant insights do we learn about the characters? If
you have a small role, then write about Lear.)
3. What insights, or thoughts do characters havg? Cite lines
4, What themes, if any are present in scene? Cite lines
Read 1.4-1.5
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
GROUPS
Group 1: Kent, Lear, Oswald; Lines1-49
Group 2: Knight, Lear; Lines 50-77
Group 3: Oswald, Lear, Kent; lines 79-95
Group 4: Fool, Lear, Kent 96-193
Group 5: Goneril, Lear, fool; 195-265
Group 6: Albany, Lear, Goneril; 266-307
Group 7: Lear, Albany, Goneril, Oswald, Fool; lines 308-end of scene
Group 8: Lear, Kent, Fool; Beginning of 1.5 to the end.
Group 9: 2.1 Edmund, Edgar; lines 1-40
Group 10: Gloucester, Edmond; lines 41-99
Group11: 2.1: Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, Edmund 100-151
1 What is going on?
2 What significant insights do we learn about the
characters? If you have a small role, then write about
Lear.)
3. What insights, or thoughts do characters havg? Cite
lines
4, What themes, if any are present in scene? Cite lines
Speeches Views Support?
•
•
•
•
Group 1 Speech p. 29: analyze Edmond’s speech
Group 2 Gloucester’s speech p. 35
Group 3, Edmund’s speech p. 37
What are the character’s views regarding fate
and the influence of the eclipse? Look at
imagery and choice of diction
– Cite specific lines
– Each group will perform the speech. Find places
where you can speak together
Edmund’s speech
• He is just as legitimate as his brother
• He will exercise free will to make it so.
1.2
• Edmund’s soliloquy
• What are his two views of nature?
– Allegiance to nature, not society’s view of of the
natural order of things.
– In Elizabethan order, he is not considered the
natural heir, or son
– In his view, he is more natural because he was
conceived by love
Gloucester’s view on fate?
What is Edmund’s plan
• P. 32 read letter
• What is Gloucester’s response?
Read speech again
• Subtext: Gloucester reader could emphasize
that he knows the audience disagrees with his
views.
• Subtext: Edmund reader could read knowing
that the audience is intellectually on his side,
even though he is a villain.
Monday 10/8
• Tuesday: watch act 1
• Homework for Wednesday:
– Quiz act 1: quotes, who is who, vocabulary
– Read 2.1-2.3 complete journals.
Themes 1.2
• Fate (status quo) vs. free will
• References to sight/inability to see truth
• Views of nature: Edmund views nature as
indifferent and a force to be reckoned with.
• Gloucester views nature as a reflection of the
hiearchy of things. (father turns against child
that order is disturbed and will lead to
disorder and chaos.
How is Gloucester similar to Lear?
• Jumps to conclusions
• The child he should trust the most he
immediately distrusts
• Easily gullible
1.3 Goneril’s alace
• Why is g mad?
• What does she tell Oswald?
– “Put on what weary negligence you please.”
• Old fools are babes again
1.4
• Theme: Appearance vs. Reality
• Kent is disguised and still views Lear as one
who has authority.
1 What is going on?
2 What significant insights do we learn about the
characters? If you have a small role, then write about
Lear.)
3. What insights, or thoughts do characters havg? Cite
lines
4, What themes, if any are present in scene? Cite lines
• 5 literary terms such as irony, conflict, theme,
foreshadowing, imagery, etc.
•
Read 1.4-1.5
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
GROUPS
Group 1: Kent, Lear, Oswald; Lines1-49
Group 2: Knight, Lear; Lines 50-77
Group 3: Oswald, Lear, Kent; lines 79-95
Group 4: Fool, Lear, Kent 96-193
Group 5: Goneril, Lear, fool; 195-265
Group 6: Albany, Lear, Goneril; 266-307
Group 7: Lear, Albany, Goneril, Oswald, Fool; lines 308-end of scene
Group 8: Lear, Kent, Fool; Beginning of 1.5 to the end.
Group 9: 2.1 Edmund, Edgar; lines 1-40
Group 10: Gloucester, Edmond; lines 41-99
Group11: 2.1: Cornwall, Regan, Gloucester, Edmund 100-151
1.4
• Where’s my foo? Ho, I think the world’s
asleep. (46)
• Oswald: “My lady’s father”
The Foooool
• Shakespearean fools make witty, profound
observations (usually in riddles) about the
themes of the play and its characters.
• Often, the fool, who is a downtrodden
everyman, is the most intelligent and
insightful character in the play.
• Fool in King Lear
• tells Lear uncomfortable truths about
what his abdication from power and
authority mean for Lear himself as King
and for his loyal servants living in a
newly tyrannical regime.
• Lear ignores, or pretends to ignore, the
Fool, even though he does understand
the Fool's powerlessness and
vulnerability as a mirror to his own.
What is the egg analogy?
• Split his kingdom in half and gave away the
crowns. Nothing in the middle.
Does anyone know me? This is not
Lear
Albany
• Striving to better off, we oft we mar what is
well. (45)
Fool 1.5 (p.67)
• Lines that show him reproving Lear
1.5
• O let me not be mad, sweet heaven
• Keep me in temper. I would not be mad.