KING LEAR & SHAKESPEARE:
YESTERDAY AND TODAY
William Shakespeare
He: 18
She (Anne Hathaway): 26
Shotgun wedding?
Shakespeare is still relevant and inspiring in the 21st
century
Commemorative coins marking 600 years since his death
1. Cultural context
▪ The idea of
microcosm vs
macrocosm
1. Cultural context
▪ The concept of
the Great Chain
of Being
Whenever a
character in an
English
Renaissance play
appears with a
wreath of flowers
on their head it
indicated that
they have gone
mad.
King Lear and
Ophelia
Criteria for a genuine tragic hero
▪ Tragic flaw
▪ Inner strife
▪ Lack of self-knowledge
▪ King Lear's tragic flaws: pride,
rashness, defiance, poor judgement
Examples?
2. One of
Shakespeare's four
plays known as the
major/great
tragedies: King Lear,
Hamlet, Macbeth and
Othello
Only in King Lear
a) Mutilation shown
on stage
b) No poetic justice?
3. The question we all love to hate:
What is the play about?
4. Charles Lamb, who wrote together with
his sister Tales from Shakespeare, has said
that this play is too big for the stage.
Why?
5. Interesting structure
Parallel plots
▪ The Lear story
▪ The Gloucester
story
▪ Similarities?
6. The issue of nothingness
KING LEAR
Now, our joy,
Although the last, not
least; to whose young love
The vines of France and
milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd;
what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than
your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA
Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR
Nothing!
CORDELIA
Nothing.
KING LEAR
Nothing will come of nothing:
speak again.
7. Language:
Edgar:
“He childed as I
fathered”
King Lear treats love as
merchandise
Can you put a price tag on
love?
Why does he banish
Cordelia?
Why is Lear so enraged when his best friend Kent is put in stocks? (in
the film they put a sack on his head)
The role of the Fool
 King Lear:
 “I am a man more sinned
against than sinning”
 Filial ingratitude –
what does it mean?
8. The final paradox
Lear begins to “see” the truth when he
loses his mind (when he becomes
mentally blind)
Gloucester begins to “see” the truth
when he literally loses his sight
9. THE questions:
The idea of poetic justice
Is order restored?
Is the world healed?
Destruction or reconciliation?
What would you ask King Lear (or any
other character from the play)?
Sometimes questions are more
important than answers