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KING LEAR, Lear, Edgar, Gloucester, Goneril, Edmund, Cordelia, Regan, Kent…
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Lear
King of Albion (Iron Age Britain). Divides his kingdom between his daughters Goneril and Regan and is cast out by them. Descends into madness and dies of sorrow after Cordelia's death
"[Lear is] engaged in a constant monologue and questioning of his identity" - Clement
"Lear as an everyman in the modern world tends
to be characterised as a vicitim of violent forces in an uncaring society" - Foakes
"his most tragic choices: to invest rather than
to divest, and to mistake affectation for affection" - Foran
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"Shake all cares and business from our age"
"Nothing will come of nothing"
"Come not between the dragon and his wrath"
"Kind nursery"
"Who is that can tell me who I am?"
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child"
"I am ashamed that thou hast power to shake my manhood"
"Man's life is cheap as beast's"
"I shall do such things - What they are yet I know not, but they shall be the terrors of the earth!"
"Distribution should undo excess and each man have enough"
"They told me I was everything; tis a lie, I am not ague-proof"
"Down from the waist they are centaurs... the sulphurous pit"
"I am cut to the brains"
"I am a very foolish, fond old man"
"Crack nature mould"
LEAR'S MADNESS
Doran: Lear is powerful, angry, standing on an raised platform. His shouting is punctuated by thunder and lightning
Nunn: Lear is pathetic, vulnerable, miserable. He leans on the Fool for support and is much quieter
Lear and the Fool swap places - Lear becomes foolish whereas the Fool becomes wise. The Fools disappearance may also represent the complete loss of Lear's sanity
Both Lear and Gloucester undergo self-discovery due to their madness and blindness respectivley, and both link to the motif of sight and the ignorant older generation
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In the Doran vers., Lear is initially carried onto the stage on a golden block. His walking by the end of the play (except when he is ill) reflects his fall from grace
"The way [Lear's knights] are staged can affect the interpretation of the whole play" - Wardle - If they are staged as being rowdy like Goneril says then she is somewhat resolved of blame (Doran), but if they are orderly then it emphasises her treachery
Edgar
Gloucester's legitimate son, brother to Edgar. Is betrayed by Edgar, has to escape and disguises himself as the insane 'Poor Tom'. Redeems himself by duelling Edgar
"My cue is villainous melancholy"
"No port is free"
"Edgar I nothing am"
"Why do I trifle thus with his despair is done to cure it"
"thy life's a miracle. Speak yet again"
Doran: Whilst posing as Poor Tom,
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Gloucester
Edmund and Edgar's father. Blinded by the traitors for refusing to abandon Lear he eventually reconciles with Edgar (who he thought had betrayed him). He dies offstage
"One must be poor to be rich, a fool to be wise and blind to see" - Hare
"The bond cracked 'twixt son and father"
"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport"
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Gloucester's wish for sucide contrasts Goneril's - Gloucester's suicide may be accepted by stoics due to his misery and injury
Gloucester and Edgar's vignette on the cliff links to Sydney's Arcadia (1509), in which a blind and suicidal man is talked down off a cliff by his son
Goneril
Lear's daughter. Lies to her father to gain land, and then plots against him and later her sister to ensure Edmund marrys her. She commits suicide after poisoning Regan
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Edmund
Gloucester's bastard son. Angered by his inability to inherit, Edmund plots to brand his brother as a traitor and then works with Goneril and Regan to dethrone Lear. Is killed by Edgar in a duel
"[Bastards] have a clear motive to contest the dominant (or 'hegemonic') ideology" - Bruce
"Bastards are always rotten in English Renaissance drama" - Bruce
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"Now gods, stand up for bastards"
"The father should be as ward to the son and the son manage his revenue"
Edmund's anger is directed at primogeniture, a contemporary system in which the eldest legitimate son inherited
Doran: Edmund is portrayed as being humourous and witty, perhaps to persuade the audience to side w/him or to emphasise his betrayal
Cordelia
Lear's only faithful daughter. Is refused inheritence as she refuses to humour Lear's love test but returns later (with French soldiers) to defeat the traitors. She is captured and killed.
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"According to my bond, no more, no less"
"unpublished virtues"
"Let this kiss repair those violent harms"
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Links to Susanna Shakespeare, who was named a recusant for failing to attend Easter church service
Regan
Lear's daughter. Lies to her father to gain land, and then plots against him to completely dethrone him and destroy his power. Is poisoned by Goneril
"The rebellion of the children has been seen as marking the transition from an old order to a new" - Foakes
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Lear's betrayal by two of his daughters (and not by Cordelia) mimicks the contemporary Brain Annesley case, where two daughters attempted to claim their father's inheritance by pretending he was mad. This was prevented by the actions of his other daugher - Cordell
Kent
Lear's retainer. Banished for attempting to help Cordelia and returns disguised as a servant Caius. He guides Lear and outlives his master
"the very figures of the dutiful retainer [and the] daughter whose loyalty withstands any horror" - Bruce
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The loyalty of Kent and Oswald may seem similar, though Oswald's loyalty to a corrupt and traitorous mistress contrasts Kent's loyalty to a supposedly virtuous master. Modern audiences may criticise this, and suggest that neither are good. A Marxist/class-conscious critic may also dispute their loyalty to the opressive monarchy
The Fool
Lear's fool. Acts initially as comic relief but then becomes one of Lear's few companions when he is cast out. Actually provides valuable insight, but dissappears in A3, S6
"Thou should not have been old till thou hadst been wise"
"The realm of Ablion shall come to great confusion"
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Albany
Goneril's husband. Acts as the opposite of Goneril and eventually betrays the traitors to support the loyalists
Who says the ending lines of the play is particularly important, as they are usually said by the most important living character. If they are said by Edgar (Folio) then that represents a shift in power to the younger generation, whereas Albany in the Quarto is the opposite
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