King Lear III iv
4. Explain how this scene brings the plot (Lear, Fool, etc.) and the subplot (Gloucester) together.
5. Lear is becoming increasingly mad. List and explain two examples that support this idea.
6. “…In the past Lear has assumed that respectability went hand-in-hand with appearance. Now, however, Lear see that though circumstances may strip a human of all outward show of strength, the basic humanity remains and is worthy of respect and care” - Stacy Mulder, PhD Prof. of English
Explain what this quote means. (Hint: consider Goneril, Regan, Fool and Tom)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
King Lear: Act III Scene iii
King Lear: Act III Scene iii
Study Guide
1. Summarize the important information from the letter that Gloucester is reading.
2. What mistake does Gloucester make?
3. What does Edmund mean when he says, “the younger rise when the old doth fall” (III iii 26) ?
Study Guide
1. Summarize the important information from the letter that Gloucester is reading.
2. What mistake does Gloucester make?
3. What does Edmund mean when he says, “the younger rise when the old doth fall” (III iii 26) ?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
King Lear: Act III Scene ii Study Guide
Study Guide
1. At the beginning of this scene Lear starts to rage and the fool interjects with a plea. What is it that the fool wants Lear to do?
Is this a reasonable request or is it hypocritical?
2. Explain what the storm has to do with Goneril and Reagan, according to Lear’s view at this time.
******************
At the beginning of the play Lear felt like he knew and understood everything about the world. It was a safe and predictable place he was in control of. He is finding that he is tragically wrong. He feels like the world is falling around him and that he is open for attack from every angle. This develops into a situation of dramatic irony. Lyman Baker of Kansas State University offers and excellent definition:
Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between a character's limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant, understands the character's situation actually to be.
******************
3. Explain why this section of the play is an excellent example of dramatic irony. Be very specific with your explanation or examples.
4. How has Lear’s consideration of the Fool changed from the beginning of the play to how it is in this scene.
What kind of shift in Lear does this signify?
5. Lear states, “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” III ii 59-60
Write a paragraph that states whether you think this a true statement or you think he is wrong. Be sure to back up your response with two specific examples from the play thus far.
1. At the beginning of this scene Lear starts to rage and the fool interjects with a plea. What is it that the fool wants Lear to do?
Is this a reasonable request or is it hypocritical?
2. Explain what the storm has to do with Goneril and Reagan, according to Lear’s view at this time.
******************
At the beginning of the play Lear felt like he knew and understood everything about the world. It was a safe and predictable place he was in control of. He is finding that he is tragically wrong. He feels like the world is falling around him and that he is open for attack from every angle. This develops into a situation of dramatic irony. Lyman Baker of Kansas State University offers and excellent definition:
Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between a character's limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant, understands the character's situation actually to be.
******************
3. Explain why this section of the play is an excellent example of dramatic irony. Be very specific with your explanation or examples.
4. How has Lear’s consideration of the Fool changed from the beginning of the play to how it is in this scene.
What kind of shift in Lear does this signify?
5. Lear states, “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” III ii 59-60
Write a paragraph that states whether you think this a true statement or you think he is wrong. Be sure to back up your response with two specific examples from the play thus far.
Act III Scene i King Lear Study Guide
King Lear: Act III Scene i
Study Guide
**************
This act is a significant and fast moving one. Act III scene i is designed to inform the audience of the political unrest and to set up the next important situation. This is a difficult act to stage with its fierce storm. However, the Elizabethan audience would have understood that it stood not only for the physical storm raging outside, but also the one raging in Lear. They would have seen Lear as a “the little world” meaning he is a microcosm that represents and/or reflects what is going on in the macrocosm of the universe. When it is wrong with Lear, so is it wrong with the universe.
****************
This short scene gives us a lot of information designed to help us understand what is happening at large. Explain the what is going on with/is important concerning:
Albany & Cornwall
France
King Lear
Cordelia
Study Guide
**************
This act is a significant and fast moving one. Act III scene i is designed to inform the audience of the political unrest and to set up the next important situation. This is a difficult act to stage with its fierce storm. However, the Elizabethan audience would have understood that it stood not only for the physical storm raging outside, but also the one raging in Lear. They would have seen Lear as a “the little world” meaning he is a microcosm that represents and/or reflects what is going on in the macrocosm of the universe. When it is wrong with Lear, so is it wrong with the universe.
****************
This short scene gives us a lot of information designed to help us understand what is happening at large. Explain the what is going on with/is important concerning:
Albany & Cornwall
France
King Lear
Cordelia
Act II Scene iv King Lear Study Guide
King Lear: Act II Scene iv
Study Guide
Please use the chart below to translate the dialogue into modern English. You can go segment by segment, not line by line.
CORNWALL Hail to your grace!
I am glad to see your highness.
KING LEAR Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's w
omb,
Sepulchring an adultress.
Beloved Regan, Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath
tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here:
Points to his heart I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt
not believe With how depraved a quality--O Regan!
REGAN I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope.
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.
KING LEAR Say, how is that?
REGAN I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, perchance
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
KING LEAR My curses on her!
REGAN O, sir, you are old.
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be ruled and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you have wrong'd her, sir.
KING LEAR Ask her forgiveness?
Do you but mark how this becomes the house:
'Dear daughter, I confess that I am old; Kneeling
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
REGAN Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks:
Return you to my sister.
KING LEAR [Rising] Never, Regan:
She hath abated me of half my train;
Look'd black upon me; struck me with her tongue,
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lameness!
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.'
CORNWALL Fie, sir, fie!
KING LEAR You nimble lightnings, dart your
blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
To fall and blast her pride!
REGAN O the blest gods! so will you wish on me,
When the rash mood is on.
KING LEAR No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse:
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
Thee o'er to harshness: her eyes are fierce; but thine
Do comfort and not burn. 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
And in conclusion to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.
REGAN Good sir, to the purpose.
I know't, my sister's: this approves her letter,
That she would soon be here.
KING LEAR
This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.
Out, varlet, from my sight!
KING LEAR Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope
Thou didst not know on't. Who comes here? O heavens,
Enter GONERIL
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,
Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!
To GONERIL
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
GONERIL Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended?
All's not offence that indiscretion finds
And dotage terms so.
KING LEAR O sides, you are too tough;
Will you yet hold?
REGAN I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.
If, till the expiration of your month,
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me:
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
KING LEAR Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o' the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,--
Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom. Pointing at OSWALD
GONERIL At your choice, sir.
KING LEAR I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
We'll no more meet, no more see one another:
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it:
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove:
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.
REGAN Not altogether so:
I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister;
For those that mingle reason with your passion
Must be content to think you old, and so--
But she knows what she does.
KING LEAR Is this well spoken?
REGAN I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house,
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.
GONERIL Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance
From those that she calls servants or from mine?
REGAN Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack you,
We could control them. If you will come to me,--
For now I spy a danger,--I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty: to no more
Will I give place or notice.
KING LEAR I gave you all--
REGAN And in good time you gave it.
KING LEAR Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
But kept a reservation to be follow'd
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so?
REGAN And speak't again, my lord; no more with me.
KING LEAR Those wicked creatures yet do look
well-favour'd, When others are more wicked:
not being the worst Stands in some rank of praise.
To GONERIL I'll go with thee:Thy fifty yet
doth double five and twenty, And thou art
twice her love.
GONERIL Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?
KING LEAR O, reason not the need: our basest
beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,--
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall--I will do such things,--
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep
No, I'll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!
Exeunt KING LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and Fool
Storm and tempest
CORNWALL Let us withdraw; 'twill be a storm.
REGAN This house is little: the old man and his people
Cannot be well bestow'd.
GONERIL Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest,
And must needs taste his folly.
REGAN For his particular, I'll receive him gladly,
But not one follower.
1. At this point, where does that leave King Lear?
• Describe his mental state.
2. Where are Goneril, Regan and Cornwall?
* Was the treatment by the sisters and demands of King Lear reasonable? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
Study Guide
Please use the chart below to translate the dialogue into modern English. You can go segment by segment, not line by line.
CORNWALL Hail to your grace!
I am glad to see your highness.
KING LEAR Regan, I think you are; I know what reason
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother's w
omb,
Sepulchring an adultress.
Beloved Regan, Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath
tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here:
Points to his heart I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt
not believe With how depraved a quality--O Regan!
REGAN I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope.
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.
KING LEAR Say, how is that?
REGAN I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, perchance
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
KING LEAR My curses on her!
REGAN O, sir, you are old.
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be ruled and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you have wrong'd her, sir.
KING LEAR Ask her forgiveness?
Do you but mark how this becomes the house:
'Dear daughter, I confess that I am old; Kneeling
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
REGAN Good sir, no more; these are unsightly tricks:
Return you to my sister.
KING LEAR [Rising] Never, Regan:
She hath abated me of half my train;
Look'd black upon me; struck me with her tongue,
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lameness!
That you'll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.'
CORNWALL Fie, sir, fie!
KING LEAR You nimble lightnings, dart your
blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
To fall and blast her pride!
REGAN O the blest gods! so will you wish on me,
When the rash mood is on.
KING LEAR No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse:
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
Thee o'er to harshness: her eyes are fierce; but thine
Do comfort and not burn. 'Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
And in conclusion to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know'st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow'd.
REGAN Good sir, to the purpose.
I know't, my sister's: this approves her letter,
That she would soon be here.
KING LEAR
This is a slave, whose easy-borrow'd pride
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.
Out, varlet, from my sight!
KING LEAR Who stock'd my servant? Regan, I have good hope
Thou didst not know on't. Who comes here? O heavens,
Enter GONERIL
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,
Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!
To GONERIL
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
GONERIL Why not by the hand, sir? How have I offended?
All's not offence that indiscretion finds
And dotage terms so.
KING LEAR O sides, you are too tough;
Will you yet hold?
REGAN I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.
If, till the expiration of your month,
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me:
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
KING LEAR Return to her, and fifty men dismiss'd?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o' the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,--
Necessity's sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom. Pointing at OSWALD
GONERIL At your choice, sir.
KING LEAR I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
We'll no more meet, no more see one another:
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it:
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove:
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.
REGAN Not altogether so:
I look'd not for you yet, nor am provided
For your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister;
For those that mingle reason with your passion
Must be content to think you old, and so--
But she knows what she does.
KING LEAR Is this well spoken?
REGAN I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
Speak 'gainst so great a number? How, in one house,
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.
GONERIL Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance
From those that she calls servants or from mine?
REGAN Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack you,
We could control them. If you will come to me,--
For now I spy a danger,--I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty: to no more
Will I give place or notice.
KING LEAR I gave you all--
REGAN And in good time you gave it.
KING LEAR Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
But kept a reservation to be follow'd
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so?
REGAN And speak't again, my lord; no more with me.
KING LEAR Those wicked creatures yet do look
well-favour'd, When others are more wicked:
not being the worst Stands in some rank of praise.
To GONERIL I'll go with thee:Thy fifty yet
doth double five and twenty, And thou art
twice her love.
GONERIL Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?
KING LEAR O, reason not the need: our basest
beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,--
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall--I will do such things,--
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep
No, I'll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!
Exeunt KING LEAR, GLOUCESTER, KENT, and Fool
Storm and tempest
CORNWALL Let us withdraw; 'twill be a storm.
REGAN This house is little: the old man and his people
Cannot be well bestow'd.
GONERIL Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest,
And must needs taste his folly.
REGAN For his particular, I'll receive him gladly,
But not one follower.
1. At this point, where does that leave King Lear?
• Describe his mental state.
2. Where are Goneril, Regan and Cornwall?
* Was the treatment by the sisters and demands of King Lear reasonable? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
Act II Scene iii King Lear Study Guide
King Lear: Act II Scene iii
Study Guide
Edgar I nothing am (II iii 21)
One scholar states that, “evil shows its face in the sun while good is forced to hide.”
Explain what this quote means in relation to this play.
What is a Tom O’ Bedlam?
Explain why Edgar would disguise himself as a Tom O’ Bedlam.
Draw a picture of what he would look like in this scene.
Study Guide
Edgar I nothing am (II iii 21)
One scholar states that, “evil shows its face in the sun while good is forced to hide.”
Explain what this quote means in relation to this play.
What is a Tom O’ Bedlam?
Explain why Edgar would disguise himself as a Tom O’ Bedlam.
Draw a picture of what he would look like in this scene.
Act II Scene ii King Lear Study Guide
King Lear: Act II Scene ii
Study Guide
1. What is Kent’s opinion of Oswald? Is it justified?
2. Who starts the fight?
3. Why are they fighting?
4. Who stops the fight?
5. What is Kent’s attitude towards Edmund and Cornwall?
6. It was a deep insult to put Lear’s servant in the stocks since that is a punishment usually reserved for the lowest and worst crimes. Do you think he deserves such punishment? If so, why? If not, what punishment would be more appropriate?
7. Regan has a knack for making bad things worse. How does she do that in the scene?
• Based on what we know about Regan so far, what would you expect from her once her father, King Lear, arrives at her castle?
Study Guide
1. What is Kent’s opinion of Oswald? Is it justified?
2. Who starts the fight?
3. Why are they fighting?
4. Who stops the fight?
5. What is Kent’s attitude towards Edmund and Cornwall?
6. It was a deep insult to put Lear’s servant in the stocks since that is a punishment usually reserved for the lowest and worst crimes. Do you think he deserves such punishment? If so, why? If not, what punishment would be more appropriate?
7. Regan has a knack for making bad things worse. How does she do that in the scene?
• Based on what we know about Regan so far, what would you expect from her once her father, King Lear, arrives at her castle?
Act II Scene i King Lear Study Guide
King Lear: Act II Scene i
Study Guide
1. Explain importance of the brief conversation between Edmund and Edgar at the beginning of this scene.
2. What does Edmund accuse Edgar of planning?
• How does this change Gloucester’s view of Edmund?
3. Regan and Cornwall believe Edmund. They think Edgar is one of King Lear’s unruly knights sent to kill Gloucester. Why do they think Edgar wants to kill his father?
4. How has all of this impacted or change Regan’s relationship with Edmund?
The Elizabethan audiences would have recognized Edmund to be a Machiavellian villain as such villains were very popular during this time period. They see the Machiavellian villain as a person:
• Without moral scruples;
• Totally immersed in a struggle to win power and influence;
• Who is smart and clear-headed. He uses muddle-headedness of the weak around him to achieve his goals.
• Who ignores laws;
• Who has total disregard for civil or moral authority figures;
• Who gains enjoyment and pleasure from manipulating others;
• Is often a very handsome, charming man.
On the back of this sheet, write a paragraph that uses specific evidence from the play to support or disprove the idea that Edmund is a classic Machiavellian villain.
Study Guide
1. Explain importance of the brief conversation between Edmund and Edgar at the beginning of this scene.
2. What does Edmund accuse Edgar of planning?
• How does this change Gloucester’s view of Edmund?
3. Regan and Cornwall believe Edmund. They think Edgar is one of King Lear’s unruly knights sent to kill Gloucester. Why do they think Edgar wants to kill his father?
4. How has all of this impacted or change Regan’s relationship with Edmund?
The Elizabethan audiences would have recognized Edmund to be a Machiavellian villain as such villains were very popular during this time period. They see the Machiavellian villain as a person:
• Without moral scruples;
• Totally immersed in a struggle to win power and influence;
• Who is smart and clear-headed. He uses muddle-headedness of the weak around him to achieve his goals.
• Who ignores laws;
• Who has total disregard for civil or moral authority figures;
• Who gains enjoyment and pleasure from manipulating others;
• Is often a very handsome, charming man.
On the back of this sheet, write a paragraph that uses specific evidence from the play to support or disprove the idea that Edmund is a classic Machiavellian villain.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Act V Scene v King Lear
King Lear: Act I Scene v
Study Questions
In this scene Lear is leaving Goneril’s castle and readying himself to go to Regan’s castle. He sends Kent with a letter to inform her that he will be arriving soon. This leaves Lear alone with the Fool. Lear is distracted and his thinking is splintered as we can see since he changes topics often. It is a hint that he is beginning to go mad.
1. Explain the importance of the following quote from this scene:
Lear “I did her wrong” (I v 24)
Lear “ To take ‘t again perforce – Monsster ingratitude!” (I v 38)
2. Take a closer look at the fools jokes. What is he actually saying or meaning when he says…
“Thou canst tell why one’s nose stands I’ th’ middle on’s face?”
“I can tell why a snail has a house.”
Study Questions
In this scene Lear is leaving Goneril’s castle and readying himself to go to Regan’s castle. He sends Kent with a letter to inform her that he will be arriving soon. This leaves Lear alone with the Fool. Lear is distracted and his thinking is splintered as we can see since he changes topics often. It is a hint that he is beginning to go mad.
1. Explain the importance of the following quote from this scene:
Lear “I did her wrong” (I v 24)
Lear “ To take ‘t again perforce – Monsster ingratitude!” (I v 38)
2. Take a closer look at the fools jokes. What is he actually saying or meaning when he says…
“Thou canst tell why one’s nose stands I’ th’ middle on’s face?”
“I can tell why a snail has a house.”
Act I Scene iv King Lear
King Lear: Act I Scene iv
Study Questions
The good must hide their real identity.
For Kent – the good man must disguise his identity in order to survive in a mad world.
Blindness – Lear is blind when is confuses disloyal daughters for a loyal one, and friends for enemies.
One role of the fool in this play is to serve as a counterbalance to the divinity of the king and the fact that Lear is still very much a fallible human being. The fool is able to use his position and his wit to attack the king and help him see the truth. The fool also serves to clarify information for the audience. His chief function at this time is to point out that Lear’s distortion in perception has led to an unnatural order of things.
The father should punish the children, but here the children are punishing the father,
The king should teach the fool, but here the fool is teaching the king.
1. Summarize the exchange between Kent and Lear (I iv 1-44)
2. Summarize the exchange between Lear, the Knight and Oswald (I iv 45-88)
Here is the first of many lessons the Fool gives the king. Either explain what each line means or rewrite it in plain, modern language:
Mark it, nuncle.
Have more than thou showest,=____________________________________________________
Speak less than thou knowest, = _________________________________________________
Lend less than thou owest, = ____________________________________________________
Learn more than thou trowest, (Believe or know)__________________________________
Set less than thou throwset, (Don’t bet more than you can stand to lose)
Leave they drink and they whore, = _______________________________________________
And keep in-a-door,_______________________________________________________________
And thou shall have more__________________________________________________________
Than two tens to a score. (Your money will increase)
This little rhyme means…
Now, explain this riddle:
Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a sweet one?
That lord that counseled thee
To give away thy land, Who is this lord?_________________________
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand.
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear; (* motley – a multicolored fabric worn by fools)The one in motley here,
The other found out there. Who is the Motely?_________________________
Who is the other?___________________________
Which has cause to be sweet?
Why?______________________
Which has cause to be bitter?
Why?______________________
Here’s another riddle:
Fool Nuncle, give me an egg, and I’ll give thee two crowns.
Lear What two crowns shall they be? What does the egg represent?
Fool Why, after I have cut the egg i’ th’ middle and
Eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg… What does the meat represent?
Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou
Gav’st they golden one away. What is the actual message the fool
Is giving to the king?
The fool says, “ The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long that it’s has it head bit off by it young. So out went the candle, and we were left darkling.” (I iv 216-220)
The audience would have understood the metaphor here. They knew that the cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of a smaller bird who then hatches the egg and cares for the cuckoo chick after the cuckoo would have pushed out the legitimate hedge-sparrow chicks, causing them to die.
6. In light of this information, what is the Fool saying about Lear, his two older daughter and the people who follow Lear?
7. Explain what is going on between the king and Goneril ( I iv 239-
She tells him that…
He insults here when…
She makes him feel…
Then Goneril tells Oswald to …
Study Questions
The good must hide their real identity.
For Kent – the good man must disguise his identity in order to survive in a mad world.
Blindness – Lear is blind when is confuses disloyal daughters for a loyal one, and friends for enemies.
One role of the fool in this play is to serve as a counterbalance to the divinity of the king and the fact that Lear is still very much a fallible human being. The fool is able to use his position and his wit to attack the king and help him see the truth. The fool also serves to clarify information for the audience. His chief function at this time is to point out that Lear’s distortion in perception has led to an unnatural order of things.
The father should punish the children, but here the children are punishing the father,
The king should teach the fool, but here the fool is teaching the king.
1. Summarize the exchange between Kent and Lear (I iv 1-44)
2. Summarize the exchange between Lear, the Knight and Oswald (I iv 45-88)
Here is the first of many lessons the Fool gives the king. Either explain what each line means or rewrite it in plain, modern language:
Mark it, nuncle.
Have more than thou showest,=____________________________________________________
Speak less than thou knowest, = _________________________________________________
Lend less than thou owest, = ____________________________________________________
Learn more than thou trowest, (Believe or know)__________________________________
Set less than thou throwset, (Don’t bet more than you can stand to lose)
Leave they drink and they whore, = _______________________________________________
And keep in-a-door,_______________________________________________________________
And thou shall have more__________________________________________________________
Than two tens to a score. (Your money will increase)
This little rhyme means…
Now, explain this riddle:
Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a sweet one?
That lord that counseled thee
To give away thy land, Who is this lord?_________________________
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand.
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear; (* motley – a multicolored fabric worn by fools)The one in motley here,
The other found out there. Who is the Motely?_________________________
Who is the other?___________________________
Which has cause to be sweet?
Why?______________________
Which has cause to be bitter?
Why?______________________
Here’s another riddle:
Fool Nuncle, give me an egg, and I’ll give thee two crowns.
Lear What two crowns shall they be? What does the egg represent?
Fool Why, after I have cut the egg i’ th’ middle and
Eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg… What does the meat represent?
Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou
Gav’st they golden one away. What is the actual message the fool
Is giving to the king?
The fool says, “ The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long that it’s has it head bit off by it young. So out went the candle, and we were left darkling.” (I iv 216-220)
The audience would have understood the metaphor here. They knew that the cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of a smaller bird who then hatches the egg and cares for the cuckoo chick after the cuckoo would have pushed out the legitimate hedge-sparrow chicks, causing them to die.
6. In light of this information, what is the Fool saying about Lear, his two older daughter and the people who follow Lear?
7. Explain what is going on between the king and Goneril ( I iv 239-
She tells him that…
He insults here when…
She makes him feel…
Then Goneril tells Oswald to …
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