Themes (AO1 + 2)

‘Which of you shall we say doth love us most‘

King Lear describing the love test, 1.1.

‘I stand in the plague of custom’

Edmund describing why he wishes to top his brother, 1.2.

‘I love your majesty According to my bond‘

Cordelia’s response to the love test, 1.1.

‘I loved her most and thought to set my rest On her kind nursery‘

Lear explaining why Cordelia’s refusal to perform in the love test hurt him the most, 1.1.

‘Our potency made good, take thy reward‘

Lear to Kent after he opposes the love test, 1.1.

‘We must do something i’th’heat‘

Gonerill to Regan when alone after Cordelia’s banishment, 1.1.

‘Dowered with our curse‘

Lear describing Cordelia’s punishment to Burgundy and France, 1.1.

‘I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall‘

Kent and Gloucester discussing which son-in-law the King favours, showing the disruption in the kingdom, 1.1.

‘The coronet part between you‘

Lear describing what he does to the kingdom, and therefore the crown, 1.1.

‘Be Kent unmannerly When Lear is mad‘

Kent calling Lear mad - the cause of his banishment, 1.1.

‘Love well our father‘

Cordelia telling Goneril and Regan to look after Lear, even after her banishment, 1.1.

‘a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed‘

Gloucester discussing Edmund’s conception with Kent, 1.1.

‘no dearer in my account‘

Gloucester telling Kent that he loves both his sons equally, 1.1.

‘I shall never marry like my sisters‘

Cordelia dividing herself from her sisters during the love test, 1.1.

‘Unburdened crawl towards death‘

Lear explaining why his age causes the love test, 1.1.

‘I love you more than words can wield the matter‘

Goneril’s response to the love test, 1.1.

‘Only she comes too short‘

Regan’s response to the love test, 1.1.

‘Nothing will come of nothing, speak again‘

Lear’s plead to Cordelia to answer the love test, 1.1.

‘only we shall retain The name‘

Lear declaring he wishes to keep the title of King, 1.1.

‘The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash‘

Goneril describing Lear’s impulsive nature, 1.1.

‘Edmund the base Shall top th’legitimate‘

Edmund’s declaration to top his brother, 1.2.

‘This is the excellent foppery of the world‘

Edmund describing those around him as foolish, 1.2.

‘Some villain hath done me wrong‘

Edgar’s trust of Edmund, 1.2.

‘an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny‘

The contents of Edmund’s fake letter, which are opposed to Gloucester, 1.2.

‘if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles‘

Gloucester’s plead to read Edmund’s letter, falling for his trickery, 1.2.

‘A credulous father and a brother noble‘

Edmund describing his father and brother, 1.2.

‘thy master, whom thou lov’st‘

Kent’s declaration of love for Lear, 1.4.

‘Into her womb convey sterility‘

Lear’s curse on Goneril, 1.4.

‘This is not Lear‘

Lear dissociating, 1.4.

‘As you are old and reverend, should be wise’

Goneril insulting Lear’s stupidity, 1.4.

‘mad’st thy daughters thy mothers‘

The fool insulting Lear’s decisions, 1.4.

‘I did her wrong‘

Lear’s realisation that he wronged Cordelia, 1.5.

‘O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!’

Lear’s plea to avoid madness, 1.5.

‘Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means to make thee capable‘

Gloucester rewarding Edmund, 2.1.

‘You have heard of the news abroad? I mean the whispered ones‘

Curan describing rumours of a war with France to Edmund, 2.1.

‘heard of no likely wars toward ‘twixt the Dukes‘

Curan describing rumours of a civil war to Edmund, 2.1.

‘This weaves itself perforce into my business‘

Edmund showing Machiavellism when using rumours to his advantage, 2.1.

‘Fortune, goodnight, Smile once more, turn thy wheel’ [he sleeps]

Kent comforted by the reading of Cordelia’s letter, 2.2.

‘proof and precedent Of Bedlam beggars‘

Edgar describing his plan to become Poor Tom, 2.3.

‘This is the foul Flibbertigibbet‘

Edgar pretending to be possessed as Poor Tom, 3.4.

‘What need you five and twenty? ten? or five?‘

Goneril arguing that Lear no longer needs his retinue, 2.4.

‘O how this mother swells up toward my heart!‘

Lear describing himself as suffering from hysteria, 2.4.

‘divorce me from thy mother’s tomb, Sepulch’ring an adulteress‘

Lear declaring his dead wife an adulterer, 2.4.

‘The younger rises when the old doth fall‘

Edmund declaring himself against the old, 3.3.

‘defend you from seasons such as these? O I have ta’en Too little care of this‘

Lear declaring he has not been a good enough King, 3.4.

‘In, boy, go first‘

Lear encouraging the fool to take shelter, showing his care, 3.4.

‘True or false, it hath made thee Earl of Gloucester‘

Cornwall showing he will reward for beneficial lies when praising Edmund, 3.5.

‘Give me thy sword‘

Regan killing a servant, 3.7.

‘our power shall do a curtsy to our wrath‘

Cornwall showing he will abuse his power, 3.7.

[Regan plucks Gloucester’s beard]

Stage direction showing Regan committing unnecessary cruelty, 3.7.

‘better service have I never done you Than now to bid you hold‘

A servant pleading with Cornwall to spare Gloucester, 3.7.

‘O, my follies! Then Edgar was abused‘

Gloucester realising that Edmund lied, 3.7.

‘My father, parti-eyed? World, world, O world!‘

Edgar showing sympathy for his father, 4.1.

‘The low’st and most dejected thing of fortune, Stands still in esperance‘

Edgar showing he still has hope, 4.1.

‘As flies to wanton boys are we to th’gods, They kill us for their sport‘

Gloucester showing he believes the God’s are sadistic, 4.1.

‘I stumbled when I saw‘

Gloucester regretting his actions, 4.1.

‘Ere long you are like to hear… A mistress’s command‘

Goneril suggesting Edmund can be her mistress, 4.2.

‘My fool usurps my body‘

Goneril showing her disgust of Albany, 4.2.

‘Flew on him and amongst them felled him dead‘

A messenger falsely describing Cornwall’s death to Goneril and Albany, 4.2.

‘I must change names at home and give the distaff Into my husband’s hands‘

Goneril declaring Albany should take the place of a wife, 4.2.

‘All you unpublished virtues of the earth, Spring with my tears‘

Cordelia’s prayer for Lear, 4.3.

‘No blown ambition doth our arms incite, But love, dear love, and our aged father’s right‘

Cordelia saying why she sides with her father, 4.3.

‘Where he arrives he moves All hearts against us‘

Regan’s belief the common people will side with Gloucester, 4.4.

‘But to the girdle the gods inherit; Beneath is all the fiend’s‘

Lear describing a woman’s sexuality as demonic, 4.5.

‘So distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough‘

Gloucester declaring everyone should be equal, 4.5.

‘You have many opportunities to cut him off‘

Edgar reading Goneril’s plot to kill Albany, 4.5.

‘Feel you your legs? You stand‘

Edgar parenting his father, 4.5.

[aside] ‘Why I do trifle thus with his despair is done to cure it‘

Edgar explaining why he fools Gloucester, 4.5.

‘When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools‘

Lear declaring his apathy, 4.5.

‘If Edgar live, O bless him‘

Gloucester blessing Edgar, 4.5.

‘I am a very foolish, fond old man‘

Lear acknowledging his madness, 4.6.

‘I never shall endure her. Dear, my lord, Be not familiar with her‘

Regan pleading to Edgar to choose her over Goneril, 5.1.

‘Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, Burst smilingly‘

Edgar describing Gloucester’s death, 5.3.

‘Witness the world that I create thee here My lord and master‘

Regan declaring her intent to marry Edmund, 5.3.

‘The dark and vicious place where thee he got Cost him his eyes‘

Edgar saying his father deserved to die, 5.3.

‘The wheel is come full circle; I am here’

Edmund describing his rise and fall, 5.3.

‘This judgement of the heavens … Touches us not with pity‘

Edgar describing the deaths as Godly punishment, 5.3.

‘her sister By her is poisoned‘

The reveal of Regan’s death, 5.3.

‘the laws are mine, not thine. Who can arraign me for’t?‘

Gonerill telling Albany she is above justice, 5.3.

‘Look on her! Look, her lips. Look there, look there‘

Lear’s final words of hope, and madness, 5.3.

‘For thee, oppressed king, I am cast down‘

Cordelia accepting her imprisonment, 5.3.

‘you twain Rule in this realm and the gored state sustain‘

Albany giving away his leadership, 5.3.

‘thou dost make thy way To noble fortunes‘

Edmund using his power for bribery, 5.3.

‘Whose age had charms in it, whose title more, To pluck the common bosom on his side‘

Edmund believing the common people would side with Lear, 5.3.

‘Some good I mean to do Despite of mine own nature‘

Edmund’s change of heart, 5.3.

‘To the descent and dust below thy foot, A most toad-spotted traitor‘

Edgar insulting Edmund, 5.3.

‘Edmond, I arrest thee On capital treason, and in thy attaint This gilded serpent‘

Albany arresting Edmund and Goneril, 5.3.

‘my writ Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia‘

Edmund announcing his plan to kill Lear and Cordelia, 5.3.

‘we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long‘

Edgar’s final words of the play, 5.3.

‘As duteous to the vices of thy mistress As badness would desire‘

Edgar’s insult of Oswald, 4.5.

Jupiter and Apollo

The two Gods Lear names in 1.1.

‘By the kind gods’

Gloucester’s pleas to the Gods during his torture, 3.7.

‘Thou swear’st thy gods in vain’

Kent’s refusal of Lear’s pleas to the Gods, 1.1.

‘men Are as the time is‘

Edgar’s description of the nature of men, 5.3.

‘Unnatural, detested, brutish villain!’

Gloucester describing Edgar once fooled by Edmund, 2.1.

‘Nature, art my goddess’

Edmund avowing his services to nature, 2.1.

‘a wretch whom Nature is ashamed Almost t’ acknowledge hers.’

Lear insulting Cordelia for being unnatural, 1.1.

‘Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man’s life is cheap as beast’s.’

Lear distinguishing man from beast, 2.4.

‘Out, vile jelly‘

Cornwall’s cry when blinding Gloucester, 3.7.

‘See better, Lear‘

Kent pleads with Lear to see the truth of the world, 1.1.