AP Seminar
Lesson Plans
King Lear
Duke of Albany & Goneril
Earl of Gloucester
-Edgar
-Edmund
Duke of Cornwall &
Regan
King Lear
-Goneril
-Regan
-Cordelia & France
Duke of Kent
Existentialism
Crowell, Steven. “Existentialism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 11 Oct. 2010. Web.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/>.

Neither the universe nor human life has any inherent or essential meaning; and absolute truth, absolute right, and absolute
wrong do not exist; therefore, human beings must create their own realities and truths, their own meaning.

Despite the apparent absurdity, uncertainty, and meaninglessness of the universe, the world, and human life, human beings
do have the capacity as well as the need to create meaningful lives for themselves, which can be done through
philosophical inquiry and a quest for moral purpose.

Human beings can rise above the absurd, uncertain, and meaningless world and provide meaning in their lives by taking
personal responsibility for their actions; by affirming the importance of human effort, honesty, and compassion; by saying,
“Yes!”

The universe is unfathomable—enigmatic, immeasurable, and incomprehensible.

Human beings must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of freewill without any certain knowledge of what is right or
wrong, good or bad.

According to Ernest Hemingway, “man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (from Old Man
and the Sea, p. 103).

According to Brian Idle, “Life is quite absurd/And death's the final word/You must always face the curtain with a
bow./(What have you got to lose?/You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing./What have you
lost? Nothing!)/Always look on the bright side of life” (from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian).
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Wx230gYJw
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrdEMERq8MA

For Jean-Paul Sartre, a human being “is what it is not and is not what it is.”
Who am I? What am I? What do I stand for?
 For Jean-Paul Sartre, a human being “is what it is not and is not
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what it is.” What does this quote mean? How does this quote
relate to the “Mission Statement” video clip from Jerry Maguire?
Jerry Maguire, Mission Statement (6:05)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSi4HHNOnd0
Jerry Maguire, Part 1 (12:50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_jRZ5FIYt8
Jerry Maguire, Part 2 (12:50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA6ArFp5xSw
Jerry Maguire, Part 3 (12:50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&
v=q2kxjl8MnSc
Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus”
 Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus@
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/00/pwillen1
/lit/msysip.htm
 For Jean-Paul Sartre, a human being “is what it is not
and is not what it is.” What does this quote mean? How
does this quote relate to “The Myth of Sisyphus” by
Albert Camus?
“Invictus” (1875)
by William Ernest Henley, British Poet (1849-1903)
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
“Invictus” read by Morgan Freeman in the
movie Invictus (2009).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foz
hZHuAcCs
For Jean-Paul Sartre, a human
being “is what it is not and is not
what it is.” What does this quote
mean? How does this quote relate
to “Invictus” by William Henley?
Who am I? What am I? What do I stand for?
 For Jean-Paul Sartre, a human being “is what it
is not and is not what it is.”
 What does this quote mean?
 How does this quote relate to the “Mission
Statement” video clip from Jerry Maguire,
“Invictus” by William Henley, and “The Myth of
Sisyphus” by Albert Camus?
 By the way, this quote is an example of chiasmus.
Existentialism: Camus and Shakespeare,
Sisyphus and the Fool
In “The Myth of Sisyphus” Camus tells the story of the mythical Sisyphus who
was condemned by the Gods to ceaselessly roll a rock to the top of a
mountain and then have to let it fall back again of its own weight. “Sisyphus,
proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of
his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity
that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is
no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn” (Camus 2000:109). One must
imagine then Sisyphus victorious: fate and absurdity have been overcome by a
joyful contempt. Scorn is the appropriate response in the face of the absurd;
another name for this ‘scorn’ though would be artistic creation. When Camus
says, “One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a
manual of happiness” (Camus 2000:110), he writes about a moment of
exhilarated madness, which is the moment of the genesis of the artistic work.
Madness, but nevertheless profound. Think of the function of the Fool in
Shakespeare’s King Lear as the one who reveals to the king the most profound
truths through play, mimicry, and songs.
Act I, Scenes i-ii
 Read Act I, Scene i
 What is the nature of the conversation between Gloucester and Kent?
 What is Gloucester’s tone?
 Listen to Act I, Scene i, Lines 44-106
 What happens?
 What is ironic about this scene?
 How do the two readings compare?
 If you were the director, how would you stage it? Why? Explain.
 Why does Lear call everyone together?
 Listen to Act I, Scene i, Lines 136-176
 What metaphor does Lear use? What does it suggest?
 How does Kent respond?
 How does Kent’s relationship with Lear compare to Creon’s relationship with Oedipus?
 What might Lear’s tragic flaw be? What errors in judgment does it cause?
 Read Cordelia’s monologue to her sisters (I.i.263-270): What literary/poetic devices are being used?
How are they used to establish tone and express theme?
 Listen to Edmund’s soliloquy (I.ii.1-22)
 What is Edmund’s argument? How is diction used to establish tone and express theme?
 What is Edmund’s plan? How does he manipulate both his father, Gloucester, and his brother,
Edgar.
 Read Edmund’s soliloquy (I.ii.100-112): What are his views regarding fate and freewill? If you recall
Cassius from Julius Caesar, how do their views compare?
Edmund and Cassius
Cassius from Julius Caesar
(I. ii. 95-101, 136-142)
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life, but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar. So were you.
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he.
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Cassius from Julius Caesar
(I. iii. 46-53)
Those that have known the earth so full of faults.
For my part, I have walked about the streets,
Submitting me unto the perilous night,
And, thus unbracèd, Casca, as you see,
Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone.
And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open
The breast of heaven, I did present myself
Even in the aim and very flash of it.
Act I, Scene i
Observation and Direct References
 Kent and Gloucester speak in prose in Act
I, Scene i, Lines 1-33 (pp. 1 and 2). Why?
 King Lear and his daughters speak in
poetry in Act I, Scene i, Lines 37-133 (pp.
2-15). Why?
 Nature Imagery and Symbolism
 Irony
Interpretations and Explanations
Act I, Scenes iii-v
 Discuss nature imagery and the essence of human nature.
 Discuss how Oswald and Goneril disrespect Lear.
 Discuss Cordelia and the Fool.
Fortune’s Wheel
 What does Kent mean at the end of Act II, Scene ii when he refers
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to “fortune’s wheel”: “Fortune, good night. Smile once more; turn
thy wheel” (II.ii.188)? (Answer this question on your picture.)
Draw a picture of a wheel with a handle or lever to control the
wheel.
Who might be the controlling figure, the one who turns the
wheel? (Identify this figure and label the wheel accordingly.)
What does the concept of a “wheel of fortune” suggest about the
nature of human life? (Answer this question on your picture.)
At the beginning of the play, what is Lear’s position on the wheel?
What is Kent’s? (Briefly explain and label the wheel accordingly.)
Where is Lear now (at the end of Act II, Scene ii)? Where is Kent?
(Briefly explain and label the wheel accordingly.)
What is Edmund trying to do to the “wheel of fortune”? (On your
picture, illustrate this, explain why he is trying to do this, and
explain the possible consequences of this behavior.)
For what is Kent wishing in the closing lines of Act II, Scene ii,
which are written above? (Briefly answer this question on your
picture.)
Act III, Scenes i-iii
 What do the following lines suggest about the Fool’s role: “None but the
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Fool, who labors to outjest/His heart-struck injuries” (III.i.19-20)?
Read Kent’s monologue (III.i.21-46). What does Kent reveal about
Albany and Cornwall? What does he reveal about France?
Read Kent’s monologue (III.i.48-56). What does Kent send to Cordelia?
Why? What is Kent planning to do?
Play tracks 19-21 (III.ii.1-27). If you were directing this play, which
interpretation would you use? Why? What might Shakespeare be
suggesting about human nature in these lines?
Read the Fool’s lines (III.ii.29-38). What is his suggesting? How do his
observations relate to Lear’s situation?
Read the Fool’s lines (III.ii.86-103). What is the Fool’s prophecy?
What does Gloucester think about the treatment of Lear by Cornwall,
Regan, and Goneril? What information does Gloucester share with
Edmund in Scene iii? What is Edmund going to do?
Act III, Scene ii, Lines 12-13, 17-20
“O nuncle, court holy water in a dry
house is better than this rain water
out o’door.”
 What is the Fool saying?
“Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are
my daughters,
I tax not you, you elements, with
unkindness.
I never gave you kingdom, called
you children;
You owe me no subscription.”
 What is Lear saying? What do these
lines suggest about Lear’s values?
Act III, Scene ii, Lines 86-102
I’ll speak a prophecy ere I go:
When priests are more in word than matter,
When brewers mar their malt with water,
When nobles are their tailors' tutors,
No heretics burned but wenches' suitors,
When every case in law is right,
No squire in debt nor no poor knight,
When slanders do not live in tongues,
Nor cutpurses come not to throngs,
When usurers tell their gold i' th' field,
And bawds and whores do churches build—
Then shall the realm of Albion
Come to great confusion.
Then comes the time, who lives to see ’t,
That going shall be used with feet.
This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live
before his time.
What two worlds are being compared? Where do shifts
occur? What will bring Albion (England) “to great
confusion”? What does this mean? What might this
speech foreshadow? Does the Fool think he is going to
live to see it?
Act III, Scenes iv-v
 What does Kent mean when he says: “The tyranny of the
open night’s too rough/For nature to endure” (III.iv.2-3)?
Consider the use of the words tyranny and nature.
 Reader’s theater: Lear, Kent, the Fool, and Edgar. Read and
discuss lines 4-120.
 What do Cornwall and Edmund discuss in Scene v? How
does the conversation reflect Edmund’s Machiavellian
personality?
Act III, Scenes vi-vii
 What is the effect of the mock trial (III.vi.37-90)? What does
it suggest about Lear’s status and his state of mind?
 Read Edgar’s lines (III.vi.111-126). What is he suggesting
about suffering? What does he realize?
 Play tracks 25-27 (III.vii.62-114). If you were directing the
play, which interpretation would you use? Why?
Act III, Scenes vi-vii
 Reader’s theater: Lear, Edgar, Fool, Kent (III.vi.37-90). What
is the effect of the mock trial? What does it suggest about
Lear’s status and his state of mind?
 Read Edgar’s lines (III.vi.111-126). What is he suggesting
about suffering? What does he realize?
 Play tracks 25-27 (III.vii.62-114). If you were directing the
play, which interpretation would you use? Why?
Summary: Acts I-III
 Apostrophe: “Thou, Nature, art my goddess” (Edgar: I.ii.1).
 Ellipsis: “He that conceals him, death” (Gloucester to Edmund: II.i.63).
 Fate vs. Freewill: “Fortune, good night. Smile once more; turn thy wheel”
(Kent: II.ii.155-156).
 Nature Imagery—In addition to direct references to “nature” and what is
“natural” and “unnatural,” identify references to the following:
 Animals
 “The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long / That it had it head bit
off by it young” (Fool to Lear: I.iv.189-190).
 “’Twas this flesh begot / Those pelican daughters” (Lear: III.iv.66-67).
 Eclipses: “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to
us” (Gloucester to Edmund: I.ii.88).
Summary: Acts I-III (cont.)
 Nature Imagery (cont.)
 Nakedness
 “My face I’ll grime with filth, / Blanket my loins, elf all my hair
with knots, / And with present nakedness outface / The wind and
persecution of the sky” (Edgar: II.ii.165-168).
 “Poor naked wretches . . . / . . . O, I have ta’en / Too little care of
this” (Lear to the Kent: III.iv.28-33).
 “Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy
uncovered body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more but
this? . . . Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare,
forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings. Come on, be
true!” (Lear to Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom: III.iv.87-93).
 Storms : “Shut up your doors, my lord. ’Tis a wild night. / My
Regan counsels well. Come out o’ ’the storm” (Cornwall to
Gloucester: II.2.469-470).
Plot Map: Acts I-III
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Lear tests his daughters’ love and divides his kingdom (I.i).
Initiating Event/Exciting Force: Cordelia refuses to openly profess her
love for Lear (I.i).*
Edmund tricks Gloucester with a letter supposedly written by Edgar
(I.ii).
The fool confronts Lear with his folly (I.iv).
Lear curses Goneril and flees to Regan (I.iv).
Lear admits his fear of madness (I.v).
Edmund sets up Edgar and wound himself (II.i).*
Kent attacks Oswald (II.ii).
Kent is placed in the stocks (II.ii).
Edgar disguises himself as Poor Tom (II.ii).
Regan tells Lear to apologize to Goneril (II.ii).
Cornwall shuts the door on Lear (II.ii).
Gloucester tells Edmund news about impending wars (III.iii).
Climax: Lear begins to tear off his clothing (III.iv).
King Lear, Act IV, Scenes i-iii
Objectives
1.
Consider how Shakespeare’s stylistic choices and use of literary devices (i.e., figurative
language) are used to develop character and conflict, establish tone, and express theme.
2.
Read and paraphrase key passages in the text to understand their meaning and determine
what they reveal about character, conflict, tone, and theme.
3.
Review the peripeteia and identify the anagnorisis of the parallel plot.
4.
Compare Goneril with Lady Macbeth in terms of sex roles, human nature, and treachery.
Procedure
1.
Read and discuss Edgar’s monologue (IV.i.1-12). What is he suggesting about human
nature and life?
2.
Read and discuss the dialogue between Gloucester, the old man, and Edgar (IV.i.19-42).
What is the anagnorisis?
3.
Discuss the following question: Why does Gloucester want to go to Dover? (IV.i.80-90)
(p. 177)
4.
Read and discuss Act IV, Scene ii, Lines 1-83 (pp.177-183). Roles required are Goneril,
Edmund, Oswald, Albany. What do these lines reveal about Goneril and Albany?
5.
Think-Pair-Share: Read the passages from Macbeth. How do Goneril and Lady Macbeth
compare? Cite textual evidence to support your claims. Share your response with a
partner.
Compare Goneril’s conversation with Edmund and Albany (IV.ii.1-83) to Lady Macbeth’s
Monologue (I.v.39-51) and Lady Macbeth’s conversation with Macbeth (I.vii.31-82).
Consider what both Goneril and Lady Macbeth are suggesting about sex roles, human
nature, and treachery.
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief!
MACBETH
We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep-Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
MACBETH
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
King Lear, Act IV, Scenes i-iii (cont.)
Objectives
1.
Consider how Shakespeare’s stylistic choices and use of literary devices (i.e., figurative
language) are used to develop character and conflict, establish tone, and express theme.
2.
Read and paraphrase key passages in the text to understand their meaning and determine
what they reveal about character, conflict, tone, and theme.
3.
Review the peripeteia and identify the anagnorisis of the parallel plot.
4.
Compare Goneril with Lady Macbeth in terms of sex roles, human nature, and treachery.
Procedure
1.
What news does the messenger bring at the conclusion of Act IV, Scene ii? How does
Albany react to the news? What appears to be Albany’s position regarding Gloucester
and Lear? Cite textual evidence to substantiate your claims.
2.
In Act IV, Scene iii, what do we learn about Cordelia? How has she reacted to the news of
her father’s condition? What does this suggest about her? Cite textual evidence to
substantiate your claims.
3.
What does Kent believe “governs our conditions” (IV.iii.39) (p.187)? Why does he feel
this way? How do these views compare to Edmund’s (I.ii.125-140) (p. 37)? How is
Shakespeare characterizing Kent and Edmund?
4.
Read Kent’s monologue (IV.iii.51-57) (p.189). What does Kent reveal about Lear? What
does this suggest about Lear?
5.
Based on Act IV, Scene iii, do you think Cordelia will forgive and reconcile with her
father? Cite textual evidence to substantiate your claims.
King Lear, Act IV, Scenes iv-v (pp. 189-195)
Objectives
1. Consider how Shakespeare’s stylistic choices and use of literary devices
(i.e., figurative language) are used to develop character and conflict,
establish tone, and express theme.
2. Read and paraphrase key passages in the text to understand their
meaning and determine what they reveal about character, conflict, tone,
and theme.
Procedure: Discuss the following questions.
1. In Act IV, Scene iv, what service does Cordelia request? What does she
offer for this service? What does this suggest about her?
2. According to Cordelia, why has she and the French forces come to
Dover? What is their purpose? What does this suggest about her?
3. What message does Regan ask Oswald to deliver to Goneril? What does
she say regarding Gloucester? What do these actions suggest about her?
4. Why do you suppose Shakespeare chose to juxtapose these two scenes?
Explain.
King Lear, Act IV, Scenes vi-vii
Objectives
1.
Consider how Shakespeare’s stylistic choices and use of literary devices (i.e., figurative
language) are used to develop character and conflict, establish tone, and express theme.
2.
Read and paraphrase key passages in the text to understand their meaning and determine what
they reveal about character, conflict, tone, and theme.
Procedure: Discuss the following questions.
1.
Why has Gloucester travelled to the cliffs of Dover? What does he want to do, and why does he
want to do it? What does this suggest about his character? Explain. Cite evidence from the text
to substantiate your claims.
2.
How does Edgar trick Gloucester? Why does Gloucester believe him? Explain. Cite evidence
from the text to substantiate your claims.
3.
Think-Pair-Share—Edgar says of Lear: “O, matter and impertinency mixed,/Reason in madness
(IV.vi.192-193) (p. 207). What is the “reason in madness” that Lear expresses? Cite at least three
specific examples of Lear’s “reason in madness” from Act IV, Scenes vi-vii, and explain how each
example illustrates “reason in madness”?
4.
How does Lear’s comment, “A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine
ears. See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief ” (IV.vi.165-167, p. 205), compare to
Steinbeck’s The Grapes ofWrath? What do both suggest about justice, or the façade of justice?
5.
Why does Lear run away (IV.vi.220-225) (p. 209)? What does this action suggest about his
character?
6.
Edgar kills Oswald and intercepts a letter from Goneril to Edmund. What does this letter reveal
(IV.vi.290-300) (p. 215)?
King Lear, Act IV, Scenes vi-vii (cont.)
Objectives
1.
Consider how Shakespeare’s stylistic choices and use of literary devices (i.e., figurative
language) are used to develop character and conflict, establish tone, and express
theme.
2.
Read and paraphrase key passages in the text to understand their meaning and
determine what they reveal about character, conflict, tone, and theme.
Procedure: Discuss the following questions.
1.
Read Cordelia and Kent’s dialogue (IV.vii.1-4) (p. 215) and Cordelia’s monologue
(IV.vii.35-48) (p. 219). What do these lines reveal about character?
2.
Play CD of Lear and Cordelia’s reunion (IV.vii.50-85) (pp. 219-221). What is Lear’s
initial reaction upon seeing Cordelia? Why does Lear think Cordelia hates him? How
does Cordelia respond? What does her response suggest about her character?
Regarding the interpretations that we just heard, which delivery would you use if you
were directing this play? Why?
3.
Read the final lines of the scene (IV.vii.111-112) (p. 223). What poetic device is being
used? What is Kent foreshadowing?
King Lear Act V
Objectives:
• Analyze character motivation and the impact of characters’ actions on others, focusing on Edmund as a
Machiavellian character, Lear, Kent, and Edgar.
• Compare different interpretations of the play to determine which is most accurate.
• Use the text of the play to substantiate claims, to defend interpretations, and to illustrate observations.
Procedure:
•
Read the following lines spoken by Edmund:
o V.i.63-77, pp. 231-233
o V.iii.32-45, p. 237
•
What is Edmund planning to do? How do these plans reveal his Machiavellian character?
•
Read the following lines spoken by Edmund:
o V.iii.195-198, p. 247
o V.iii.236-238, p. 251
o V.iii.287-295, pp. 253-255
•
Do you think Edmund shows any remorse, or does he play the Machiavellian role to the very end?
•
Listen to Lear’s final lines. How would your characterize Lear at this point? By the way, who is the “fool”
to whom Lear refers?
•
Listen to the final lines spoken by Kent and Edgar (V.iii.390-395, p. 261). What poetic form do they take?
What do they reveal about their character?
King Lear Act V
Summation Questions
 Should we allow “the stars above us to govern our conditions,” as
stated by Kent (IV.iii.39, p. 187), or should we “govern our
conditions” ourselves?
 Which characters allow the stars to govern their conditions?
Which characters govern their conditions themselves? What is the
outcome for each character?
 What might Shakespeare be suggesting about fate vs. freewill,
human nature, and justice?
Words of Wisdom Post-reading Activity for King Lear
Objectives:
1. Compare King Lear to famous quotes.
2. Substantiate claims/defend interpretations with
direct references from the text of the play.
Procedure:
1. Consider how King Lear supports or refutes your
assigned quote.
2. Select at least three direct references to
substantiate your claims and defend your
interpretation.
3. With your number partner, create a graphic
organizer that clearly illustrates how King Lear
supports or refutes your assigned quote. The
graphic organizer must include at least three
direct references from the text of the play to
substantiate your claims/defend your
interpretations. Write your names on your
graphic organizer.
4. Share your findings with your color partners. I
will make copies for tomorrow.
 Ones: “When pride is highest, catastrophe is
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nearest” (Welsh proverb).
Twos: “Today a king, tomorrow nothing”
(French Proverb).
Threes: “Every man is the architect of his
own fortune” (German proverb).
Fours: “Man is the measure of all things”
(Protagoras, Greek philosopher, 490-420
BC).
Fives: “There are none so blind as they who
willfully shut their eyes” (Arabian proverb).
Sixes: “Govern your passions, otherwise they
will govern you” (Horace, Roman poet, 6527 BC).
Sevens: “Only the shallow know themselves”
(Oscar Wilde; Irish poet, playwright, and
novelist; 1854-1900).
Eights: “To say ‘I love you’ one must first be
able to say the ‘I’” (Ayn Rand, Russian born
American writer and novelist, 1905-1982).
Words of Wisdom Post-reading Activity for King Lear
 “When pride is highest, catastrophe is nearest” (Welsh proverb).
 “Evil deeds never prosper” (Homer).
 “Today a king, tomorrow nothing” (French Proverb).
 “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus).
 “Every man is the architect of his own fortune” (German proverb).
 “Man is the measure of all things” (Protagoras, Greek philosopher,
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
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490-420 BC).
“There are none so blind as they who willfully shut their eyes”
(Arabian proverb).
“Govern your passions, otherwise they will govern you” (Horace,
Roman poet, 65-27 BC).
“Only the shallow know themselves” (Oscar Wilde; Irish poet,
playwright, and novelist; 1854-1900).
“To say ‘I love you’ one must first be able to say the ‘I’” (Ayn Rand,
Russian born American writer and novelist, 1905-1982).