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:star:'"Have I caught thee?" Cordellia and the runaway Jesus…
:star:'"Have I caught thee?" Cordellia and the runaway Jesus.':star:
'King Lear' presents the idea of disobedience & respect in Cordelia's parent-child relationship through parallels to the story of the runaway Jesus and the symbol of the rosary.
1. Blown Ambition introduces the plot under which the main idea lays. By disavowing ambition as her root cause, and instead love, Cordelia creates a paradox, as the heir to the throne.
Cordelia has a biblical language which alludes to Christ. Scholars believe she has a "Christ like devotion to a cause." This is seen when she tells France she is coming to retake the throne, in the name of her Father.
"It is thy business that I go about...Soon may I see and hear him" (4.4.23-24, 28)
By claiming to fight the battle Cordelia is the "father's son" and she is essentially challenges gender dynamics.
The phrases indicate an "abused father's wrath" and an "aged father's right" & ends on a pledge for reunion with her father.
It is a complex phrase in the play. It balances Cordelia's daughterly compassion for Lear with the fire in her cause only to be conflicted between a violent invasion and her duty and dedication to the battle. I.e. her devotion to the cause
That is why the play's allusion to the boy Jesus is an accurate representation of Cordelia. The author, however, still questions her ambition.
2. Like a runaway. Cordelia's story ties back to the title and one of the main ideas of disobedience. The author doesn't argue Jesus was inherently disobedient by contrasting two Biblical stories. These points purpose is to introduce the Biblical side which is an impasse to the connection between Cordelia and Jesus
The story of the runaway Jesus is a key story. In it Jesus runs away from his family to preach, at the young age of 12. To the scholar Erasmus the story is about transferring feelings from family to God and "repudiating paternal authority" in order to follow the will of the Father.
Jesus disobedience to Mary, however, leads to Obedience of the Father. Jesus is a loving runaway and enjoys divine favor despite his change in attitude.
The change in attitude, also, reveals a consistent purpose of defiance and respect.
Another story/parable is the famous tale of the prodigal son. Ironically, the son who looks dutiful but is internally resentful brings less joy than the son who seeks an advance on his inheritance.
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When examined closely the tale of the runaway son it indulges the idea of loyalty more than the parable son. Jesus' attitude towards Mary is more of a "loving disobedience" # #
6. Finding & Loosing. Upon her death Cordelia doesn't escape from her father, and through the rosary as a symbol, it ties the child's life into the parents so that the parents can react throughout the narrative. A neat literary technique used by Shakespear
"Look on her: look, her lips,/Look there, look there!" (5.3.308-309). Cordelia cannot be reborn like Jesus but this phrase is the completion of the rosary. Lear is thinking (hoping) that there is still life in her.
When she dies Lear clutches her showing that he has finally caught Cordelia. #
3. Cordelia's Gospel (dis)obedience is the same as Jesus.' They do not disrespect their parents, but appeal to a competing authority or obligation
The author argues that by refusing to praise her father she splits her love between her husband (France) and King Lear. In doing so she expresses both rebellion and submission.
Cordelia expresses this in two steps. First she shows her independence from her father. Then she demonstrates concern for her father.
A passage from Matthew 21 illustrates this. The perfect son says he will not work on his fathers' land but later upon repenting went to work on the land. The Gospel books in the Bible are full of these stories and compliment the paragraphs assertion.
The prodigal son is also crucial to this idea. Shakespeare changes the roles of the parable of the prodigal son. It is Cordelia who must forgive Lear of his suffering as he encounters her in his storm. In the story of the prodigal son, however, the father forgives the son for his mistake.
For Cordelia her initial cold treatment of Lear in the Biblical sense foreshadows her good behavior & her good nature to Lear. Her initial scenes show an allusion between her life and the Biblical prototype she summons by following a Christ like formula.
4. Choosing the Father. In returning to England, Cordelia assert biblical phrases about her father's business. A phrase largely used by Jesus.
Jesus espouses his exalted father, choosing against his earthly parents. Cordelia also chooses her exalted father over Lear's current nimble state. This is a psychological behavior of choosing one's [type of] father.
There is a distinction between a King's Office and Person. There is the Body Natural, which is human and the Body Politic which is immortal. Body politic is annexed to the body natural for a King.
Even though Lear is no longer King Cordelia refuses to define Lear by his body natural, which is exaggerated by his naked state. Cordelia chooses the worthier Lear (father).
As Jesus acknowledges his Father he starts to gain his divinity. For Cordelia as she acknowledges Lear's body politic she asserts her royalty to the throne by birth, not through the marriage to France.
"O dear father/It is thy business that I go about..." (4.1.265). In this scene Cordelia takes upon the battle of avenging the throne by herself. This is done without France on her side.
5. From Temple to the Cross. As in Shakespeare's work there is a tragic outcome. Cordelia's defeat shatters Lear's heart and unintentionally shatters the two bodies of the King, despite her plan to unite them.
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The Jesus allusion resembles the stories function in the rosary which, firstly, emphasizes the affect Cordelia has on the emotional state of Lear.
Cordelia also is a special child who hurts her father. At the start she is like Jesus by defying but yet loving her parent(s). Also, she chooses her kingly father. Where she aligns the most is by running into danger. In that sense, she is the "prodigal son" and the runaway Jesus.
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6.1 Shakespeare finds precedent in his narrative for the ideas of loyalty through Jesus. The idea is that for a child to mature it must disobey (which in itself is obedience) and that the child chooses its parent from a psychological perspective.
The disobedience is not tied to consequences for Shakespeare character but is tied to the emotions of the parents. This is seen through the rosary which he uses to project a bleak vision of the parent-child relationship. The idea presented is that "every finding of one child hides behind it a "losing." This is seen through Cordelia and its allusion to Jesus.
In essence, merely through a Catholic view, the child's work is tied to the parent through the rosary inevitably creating a relationship conflict.
Reeder, Robert W. "'Have I caught thee?': Cordelia and the runaway Jesus." Early Modern Literary Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2010. Academic OneFile
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