Critical Readers

summarise Kastan’s argument

Shakespeare does not exhibit a clear theory of tragedy, but instead his plays are characterised by a sense of ambiguity, asking metaphysical questions and failing (or refusing?) to answer them. This is shown in the ‘agonizing silences of Shakespeare’s tragedies’

what quotes from ‘King Lear’ does Kastan use to demonstrate the ‘agonizing silences’

* ‘why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life and thou no breath at all?’
* ‘is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?’

what other view of tragedy does Kastan’s vindicate

Plato questions what authority poets have to define things as moral or immoral, and in his plays Shakespeare puts the same challenge to his tragic heroes and to himself as the playwright

summarise Nuttal’s argument

there is an innate pleasure in the viewing of tragedy and of human suffering, perhaps due to the feeling of seeing catharsis enacted on stage

who is the idea of catharsis associated with

Aristotle

what idea of ‘King Lear’ does Nuttal’s view challenge

that the blinding of Gloucester is unnecessarily violent and serves no purpose besides spectacle (this is an Aristotelian idea)

which critics condemn the blinding of Gloucester as an excessive act of spectacle

Samuel Johnson and A C Bradley

why do we arguably need to see violence on stage, such as the violence of the daughters or the blinding of Gloucester

* we need to see distortions of nature to be reminded that natural order doesn’t exist
* we need to see the blinding of Gloucester to be made aware of our own blindness/ obliviousness

why does the violence of the daughters show a distortion of nature

because it so grossly contrasts the ideal of the feminine

why does the relationship between the daughters and Lear show that natural order is non-existent

the distortion of nature is reciprocal - while Goneril and Regan transgress their position as daughters, Lear also fails in the paternal role - he has to learn on affection, and take on the role of the maternal throughout the play

how can Nuttal’s view be criticised

there is arguably no satisfaction in the suffering of ‘King Lear’ - there is not just a fall from great height to create a momentous catharsis, but the fall of those who have nowhere to fall, who did not commit the same acts of transgression as those who do

summarise A C Bradley’s argument

Bradley has a very rigid view of the tragic structure, suggesting that it follows just one tragic hero, with a discernible fatal flaw, or hamartia, to the point of their death, which acts as a catharsis for the play and its ideology as a whole

what model of tragedy does Bradley’s argument follow

Bradley attempts to fit every Shakespearian Tragedy into the Aristotelian structure

how can Bradley’s argument be criticised

* there are arguably no redeeming qualities about Lear and so he cannot be called a hero
* the play is as much about Lear’s refusal to die
* Lear’s is not the only death, and many of the deaths that surround his can be considered unnecessary
* the other deaths detract attention from Lear’s and so it has less significance than Bradley would argue

what comment could be made by the fact that Lear has no redeemable qualities

as humans we should stop trying to find a justification for our actions

which critic could be seen to directly criticise Bradley and how

O’Toole, by arguing that the fight between Edgar and Edmund (allegories of good and evil) seems the conventional end to the tragedy, and thus the death of Lear seems an afterthought as the play has already reached its denouement

how can it be argued that ‘King Lear’ is as much about Lear’s refusal to die as his actual death

he is very concerned with the idea of identity, and thus the theme of legacy becomes important. His death is thus not his real one (which is presented as an afterthought), but an ideological one, in which he no longer has any influence as King, and the possibility of the legacy he had hoped for has died

how is it clear that ‘King Lear’ is concerned with the theme of identity

Lear regularly questions who he is, or who other people are

* for example in Act One, Scene Four, Lear asks Goneril - ‘are you our daughter?’ and then asks ‘who is it who can tell me who I am?’

summarise Mack’s argument

madness is a device commonly used in Shakespearian tragedy as both divine punishment and a means of speaking the truth, and often this is a truth about the contemporary society in which the play was written

what role in Shakespeare is a metaphor for the position of the playwright, vindicating Mack

the fool

what are some examples of the truth in the folly of the fool

* ‘when thou clovest thy crown i’th’middle, and gavs’t away both parts, thou bor’st thine ass on thy back o’er the dirt’
* comments on the foolishness in giving away his power
* in his singing - ‘that such a king should play bo-peep’
* this reference to children’s games is a reference to the idea that the king will become a child (‘child-changed’)

what example does Mack give of madness revealing the truth in ‘King Lear’

Lear’s speech on the lusts of women is a reference to ‘the designs of Goneril and Regan on Edmund’, but he has no knowledge of these

what is a key quote from Mack’s essay

he comments on ‘the predicament of the artist - Shakespeare himself, perhaps - who, having been given the power to see the ‘truth’, can convey it only through poetry’

what mythological character does Mack compare the role of the madman/ fool/ playwright to

Cassandra

summarise Rutter’s argument

the play explores anxieties about female power in relation to language, and women take on the masculine mode of speech while Lear undergoes the process of ‘effeminization’ that patriarchal society was so anxious about

what key themes does Rutter argue that ‘King Lear’ explores

* motherhood, as Lear must become himself the absent mother
* female relationships to power (in which women were seen as obtaining power through immoral means)
* nurture over nature

how does Rutter argue that ‘King Lear’ approaches the idea of female acquisition of power

by showing, through language that is an emulation of their father, that Goneril and Regan do not obtain power through immoral means but by playing the games designed for them by men

what example does Rutter give to suggest that Lear becomes an image of motherhood

‘there is a recollection… of the Pieta, Lear-as-Mary staggering onto stage, arms full of Cordelia-as-Christ’

summarise Kermode’s argument

language in ‘King Lear’ strains to find words to express the pain of being

what comment does Kermode suggest that ‘King Lear’ makes about emotion

it is not ever felt in moderation - this is shown in Lear’s ‘wild linguistic outbursts’ - because rational encounters with emotion are insufficient to express the pain of being

what comment does Kermode suggest that ‘King Lear’ makes about masculinity

masculine modes of speech are incapable of summarising the human experience - ‘feminine’ means such as cursing are far better

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according to Kermode, what has Shakespeare created in ‘King Lear’

a godless world

what traditional feature of tragedy does Kermode’s argument suggest can be found in ‘King Lear’

the idea that the things that need to be said are spoken too late

what does Kermode’s argument suggest is said about flattery in ‘King Lear’

flattery, speaking too much, and dishonesty (‘rhetorical falsity’) is negative, it is far better to say ‘nothing’ at all

summarise O’Toole’s argument

there are many complaints about the unsatisfying nature of the end of the play, which pushes past the conventional moral ending provided by Edgar and Edmund’s conflict, allowing for the arguably unnecessary deaths of the other characters (including, importantly, Cordelia). This, however, is precisely Shakespeare’s intention

what does O’Toole’s reading of the play suggest about Shakespeare’s presentation of human relationships

* this unconventional ending does not allow for satisfying reunions
* this is because everyone is focussed on themselves and the ego plays a huge role in ‘King Lear’
* the conventional ending cannot happen because this would benefit society as a whole, rather than creating an apocalyptic one, and the ego is too involved for this

what does Freedman comment on

feminist readings of Shakespeare and how these have developed, taking women out of the stereotypical roles that they have previously occupied in literature

what are some stereotypical roles of Shakespearian women, according to Freedman

* the androgynous heroine of the comedy
* the whore
* the dominatrix
* the monstrous daughters

in what way could Goneril and Regan be seen as coming out of the stereotypical role of women

they are actually an emulation of their father

in what way could Goneril and Regan be seen as conforming to the stereotypical literary roles of women

* they fulfil the roles of the monstrous daughters
* their undoing is lust

summarise Storoynsky’s argument

the world of ‘King Lear’ is divided into the real and the imaginary - the real is what the upper class actually has control of and the imaginary is the extent of the power he believes he has

summarise Barish and Waingrow’s argument

Shakespeare argues that duty should be characterised by reciprocity, and it is Lear’s denial of this that is his tragic flaw. His reduction throughout the course of the play is that the master must become the servant

what is a key quote from Barish and Waingrow’s argument

‘it is precisely the denial of reciprocity that is the first of Lear’s tragic violations’

what is a criticism of Barish and Waingrow’s argument

they suggest that Lear undergoes transformation in becoming the servant, in becoming the child, but this is only ever half-formed - there is a universal refusal, throughout the play, of metamorphosis