lear study guide

7/17/2019 Lear Study Guide

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King Lear Study Guide

1. Characters

- King Lear, aging king of England.

- Cordelia, Lear’s youngest daughter.

- Goneril, Lear’s oldest daughter.- Regan, Lear’s middle daughter.

- Gloucester, father of Edmund and Edgar, loyal to Lear, etrayed y his astard son.

- Edgar, Gloucester’s older, legitimate son. Loyal to his father.

- Edmund, Gloucester’s astard son.

- Kent, noleman loyal to Lear. S!eaks luntly. S!ends a ma"ority of the !lay disguised.

- #lany, Goneril’s husand. Good at heart, e$entually denounces schemes against Lear.

- Corn%all, Regan’s husand. &orks %ith Regan to etray Lear and Gloucester.

- 'ool, Lear’s "ester. Gi$es im!ortant ad$ice through the use of doule-s!eak and humor.

- (s%ald, Ste%ard of Goneril’s house. Com!licit in her !lans.

). *ackground

King Lear %as %ritten around 1+, soon after ames / %as cro%ned as King of England.

0he !lay itself focuses on King Lear, %ho %as su!!osedly one of the first monarchs in early

*ritain. 0he !lay is a tragedy as %ritten originally, ut ecause of its loody nature has een

changed throughout its !erformance history. ahum 0ate %rote 20he 3istory of King Lear,4 a

2re$i$al4 of the !lay %ith a ha!!y ending, in 1+51. 0his $ersion %as significantly more !o!ular

on stage for the follo%ing century and a half.

6. #ct-y-act summary

#ct /, Scene /

- King Lear hands o$er his Kingdom to his daughters, ut Cordelia refuses to flatter

him

- Goneril and Regan flatter Lear and gain control o$er the kingdom

- Cordelia marries 'rance and lea$es the country- Lear’s madness egins to ecome a!!arent

#ct /, Scene //

- 0akes !lace at Gloucester’s castle

- Edmund introduces !lot to o$erthro% Edgar y gi$ing Gloucester a forged letter



#ct /, Scene ///

- 0akes !lace at #lany’s castle

- Goneril is annoyed y Lear’s eha$ior, instructs (s%ald to tell ser$ants to e cold to

Lear and his knights in ho!e that this leads to a confrontation

#ct /, Scene /7- #lany’s !alace

- Kent a!!ears disguised as CAIUS in ho!es of ser$ing his king

- 'ool critici8es Lear, saying 9in riddle: that the king %as a fool to gi$e a%ay his land

and !ut himself in the care of his daughters.- Goneril asks Lear to half his !arty, to %hich he rages in anger. 3e decides to li$e %ith

Regan.

#ct /, Scene 7

- #lany’s !alace- Lear sends CAIUS 9Kent: to Regan, e;!laining his decisions

- 'ool engages and emarrasses Lear in a attle of %ords. 'ool re!rimands Lear for his

eha$ior.

#ct //, Scene /

- Gloucester’s castle

- Edmund sets his !lan to o$erthro% his rother in motion, tells Edgar to flee.- Edmund cuts himself and claims Edgar has attacked him for eing un%illing to e

!art of his !lan.

#ct //, Scene //

- (utside Gloucester’s castle

- Kent and (s%ald enter, fight $erally and !hysically

- Regan !unishes Kent against the ad$ice of Gloucester

#ct //, Scene ///

- 0akes !lace in the %oods- Edgar, reali8ing that he has no !lace in the %orld as Edgar, takes on !ersona of 0om

(’*edlam

#ct //, scene /7

- (utside Gloucester’s castle

- Lear and the fool find Kent in the stocks, Lear is angered.

- Regan reuffs Lear, refuses to let him enter the castle.- Goneril enters, the sisters side %ith each other against their father. Lear, Kent, and

'ool e;it into a storm



#ct ///, Scene /

- Scene< a heath, storm continues to rage

- Kent informs someone that there is a di$ision et%een Corn%all and #lany

- 'rance sending in$asion force to England

#ct ///, Scene //- 3eath, still- Lear yells at the %ind aout the situation

- 'ool muses that Lear has caused all the troule himself

#ct ///, Scene ///


- Gloucester and Edmund discuss the situation and the 'rench army. 0ells Edmund that

they %ill side %ith Lear.

- Edmund !lans on telling Corn%all e$erything in order to gain his father’s title

#ct ///, Scene /7- *ack in the heath %ith Lear

- Lear, Kent, and 'ool meet 0om (’*edlam 9Edgar:

- Lear further descends into madness

#ct ///, Scene 7

- Gloucester’s castle- Edmund re$eals Gloucester’s letters %hich suggest su!!orting Lear to Corn%all

- Cornwall gives title to Edmund, who is now called Gloucester

#ct ///, Scene 7/

- 'armhouse ad"oining castle- Lear holds a mock trial of Goneril and Regan %ith 'ool, Edgar, and Kent !resent- Lear falls aslee!

- Gloucester hears of !lot to kill the king, he, Kent, Lear, and the 'ool head to =o$er to

meet 'rance and Cordelia

#ct ///, Scene 7//


- Corn%all sends forces to castle elder Gloucester and Goneril>Regan after Lear - Gloucester is ca!tured, interrogated, and, at Regan’s challenge, Corn%all attem!ts to

take Gloucester’s eyealls as !unishment

- Regan kills a ser$ant %ho attem!ts to sto! Corn%all- Gloucester is then forced out of the castle, lind and leeding

#ct /7, Scene /

- Gloucester is led to the heath %here he meets 0om (’*edlam 9Edgar:- Edgar agrees to lead Gloucester to =o$er

#ct /7, Scene //



- #lany’s !alace

- (s%ald re!orts ack to Goneril>Edmund that #lany no longer su!!orts the sisters’

!lan

- Goneril !romises to Edmund that #lany %ill die in the attle %ith 'rance- ?essenger informs them that Corn%all is dead

- #lany’s resolution against his %ife is augmented after learning that Edmund is notunha!!y %ith his father 9Gloucester’s: linding

#ct /7, Scene ///

- 'rench cam! near do$er

- Kent learns that 'rance has returned home, ut that Cordelia %as saddened to read

Kent’s letters

- Shame !re$ents Lear from seeing Cordelia

#ct /7, Scene /7

- 'rench cam! in =o$er

- Cordelia sends a soldier to find her father in order to get him medical hel!- ?essenger makes it kno%n that the *ritish army is mo$ing to%ards =o$er

#ct /7, Scene 7

- Gloucester’s castle- (s%ald notifies Regan that #lany’s army is on the mo$e

- Regan ad$ises (s%ald to create a re%ard for anyone %ho kills the elder Gloucester

- Regan suggests that Goneril should marry Edmund

#ct /7, Scene 7/

- ear =o$er

- 0om (’*edlam 9Edgar: takes his father to a cliff edge, %here Gloucester senior falls- Lear enters in %ild clothing

- Gloucester recogni8es Lear - Edgar kills (s%ald, %ho %as attem!ting to kill Gloucester

#ct /7, Scene 7//

- 'rench cam!

- Lear asks Cordelia for forgi$eness

- &e learn that Edmund leads Corn%all’s troo!s

#ct 7, Scene /

- *ritish cam!- Edmund sends a messenger to #lany

- Edmund $o%s to side %ith %hiche$er sister rings him the most !o%er



#ct 7, Scene //

- 'ield et%een cam!s

- 'rench lose the attle, Cordelia and Lear are taken ca!ti$e

#ct 7, Scene ///

- Edmund im!risons Lear and Cordelia, instructs a soldier to hang Cordelia in thefashion of a suicide

- Regan and Goneril argue, Goneril offers to marry Edmund

- #lany accuses Edmund of not ha$ing a real claim to his title, as %ell as traitorous

eha$ior - Edgar, no longer disguised, challenges Edmund’s claim to his title and defeats him

- Goneril !oisons Regan and then commits suicide

- Edmund re$eals he has told a soldier to hang Cordelia, ut it is too late. Lear enters

carrying a dead Cordelia. Lear sees 9%hat he elie$es to e: Cordelia reathing, and

dies as %ell.

- Edgar and Kent are oliged to take u! the cro%n, ut Kent refuses.

6. ?a"or 0hemes

2othing4

Cordelia chooses to say nothing %hen !rom!ted y Lear 92&hat shall Cordelia s!eak@

Lo$e, and e silent4 9/.1.+):, yet her 2nothing4 carries greater meaning than Regan and Goneril’s

!rofessions of lo$e. Re!eated throughout the !lay, %ith !articular em!hasis on the fool’s use. See

Kent>'ool in act / scene A.

7ision and sight $s. *lindness

Gloucester’s lindness is allusi$e to that of (edi!us B oth are lind to the truth.

Gloucester’s !hysical loss of sight !arallels Lear’s meta!horical loss of $ision 9his aility to

reason:.

atural 3ierarchies and ature

ature is !ortrayed as ao$e humans in the hierarchy of !o%er. Edmund, des!ite his

desire for !o%er, sumits to nature in /.) 920hou, ature, art my goddess4: and only the mad

Lear dares to make demands of nature 92*lo%, %inds, and crack your cheeks4: in ///.). 0he

!o%er that ature sho%s in the !lay reinforces the message that the human sDuales o$er !o%er

are, in some %ay, !ointless B in the end, nature remains %hile humans do not.



?adness

Lear’s madness is the dri$ing conflict in the !lay. Lear, in act / scene , asks 2(, let me

not e mad,4 yet he Duickly !rogresses dee!er into madness as he later tells the fool 2( fool, /

should go mad4 9//.A:. ?adness also !lays an im!ortant role in the class criticism !resent in

Lear , as the 'ool, the lo%est character 9hierarchically: !ro$ides some of the most sound logic,

%hile many of the royals ha$e con$oluted reasoning. (nly once Lear has shed his royal tra!!ings

does he ackno%ledge the madness that %as common!lace in the courts, much to the dismay of

the common !eo!le.

/nteresting fact< A Thousand Acres, y ane Smiley 91) Fulit8er Fri8e %inner for fiction: is a

no$el %here a father di$ides u! his one thousand acre farm et%een his three daughters. 0old

from the !ers!ecti$e of the oldest daughter 9Goneril’s !arallel:, it follo%s the account of the

daughters dealing %ith their father’s decline and !ast transgressions. Fretty interesting read.

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