King Lear Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for reviewing King Lear

1. Lear (1.1): “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?”

Lear reduces love to flattery, triggering Cordelia’s honesty and his own downfall.

2. Cordelia (1.1): “I cannot heave my heart into my mouth.”

Cordelia refuses to exaggerate her feelings—her integrity costs her the kingdom.

3. Lear (1.1): “Nothing will come of nothing.”

Lear punishes truth with rejection, revealing his need for empty words.

4. Kent (1.1): “See better, Lear.”

Kent appeals to Lear’s judgment, warning him against rash decisions.

5. Lear (1.1): “I loved her most, and thought to set my rest on her kind nursery.”

Lear’s ironic regret: he trusted Cordelia above all, then banished her.

6. Lear (1.1): “Better thou hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.”

Lear’s cruelest curse demonstrates the extreme of his wounded pride.

7. Lear (1.4): “Does any here know me? This is not Lear.”

Lear’s identity crisis begins as his authority unravels in Goneril’s hall.

8. Lear (1.4): “O most small fault, how ugly didst thou in Cordelia show!”

Lear realises he overreacted—first crack in his self‑righteousness.

9. Lear (1.4): “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”

Lear’s anguish at filial ingratitude becomes a central pain driving his madness.

10. Lear (1.5): “O let me not be mad, sweet heaven!”

Lear fears the collapse of his reason as betrayal and shame mount.

11. Lear (2.4): “O fool, I shall go mad!”

Lear acknowledges the approach of insanity after Regan locks him out.

12. Lear (3.2): “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!”

Storm mirrors Lear’s inner turmoil—nature as emotional partner in tragedy.

13. Lear (3.2): “My wits begin to turn.”

Lear admits his mind is unravelling under the storm’s and his daughters’ cruelty.

14. Lear (3.2): “I am a man more sinn’d against than sinning.”

Lear casts himself as victim of injustice, seeking audience sympathy.

15. Lear (3.4): “Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are…”

Moment of social awakening—Lear realises he neglected the poor.

16. Lear (3.4): “Is man no more than this?”

Lear questions human worth when stripped of power and status.

17. Lear (3.4): “The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else.”

Internal chaos eclipses the physical storm, revealing depths of his anguish.

18. Lear (4.6): “They told me I was everything; ’tis a lie.”

Lear rejects false flattery—significant moment of self‑awareness.

19. Lear (4.6): “Through tattered clothes great vices do appear; robes and furred gowns hide all.”

Condemns social inequality: wealth conceals corruption.

20. Lear (4.7): “Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound upon a wheel of fire.”

Lear contrasts Cordelia’s purity with his own torment and guilt.

21. Lear (5.1): “They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had the most poor, bare, wretched change of state.”

Lear recalls true care versus deceitful flattery—highlights hypocrisy.

22. Lear (5.3): “We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage.”

Lear’s fantasy of peace in prison—tragic delusion born of love for Cordelia.

23. Lear (5.3): “Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones!”

Primal grief over Cordelia’s death—exposes the depth of his loss.

24. Lear (5.3): “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and thou no breath at all?”

Lear rages at the universe’s injustice—Cordelia’s death seems senseless.

25. Lear (5.3): “Look on her: look, her lips; look there, look there!”

Lear’s final delusion—dies believing Cordelia still lives.

26. Lear (5.3): “Is this the promised end?”

Lear welcomes death as release—final resignation to suffering.

Cordelia (1.1): “I love your majesty according to my bond; no more nor less.”

Defines love as duty, not hyperbole—misread by Lear.

28. Cordelia (1.1): “Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides.”

Foresees her sisters’ deceit will be exposed—prophetic integrity.

29. Cordelia (4.4): “O dear father, it is thy business that I go about.”

Selfless return to save Lear—her actions driven by love, not politics.

30. Cordelia (4.7): “No cause, no cause.”

Forgives Lear wholly—ultimate expression of grace.

31. Cordelia (5.1): “Arise, and beauforth, dear father; ’tis your business that I go about.”

Encourages Lear to reclaim authority—restores his dignity.

32. Fool (1.4): “All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with.”

Mocks Lear’s abdication—Fool as his conscience.

33. Fool (1.5): “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”

Cutting insight: age without wisdom is folly.

34. Fool (3.4): “The prince of darkness is a gentleman.”

Edgar’s line appropriated by the Fool motif—suggests even evil can wear polite veneer.

🧠 Edmund (35–41)

35. Edmund (1.2): “Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law my services are bound.”

Rejects social morality in favour of ruthless ambition.

36. Edmund (1.2): “Now, gods, stand up for bastards!”

Defiant cry—demands power despite illegitimacy.

37. Edmund (1.2): “Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit.”

Will seize status through cunning—defines his character.

38. Edmund (2.1): “This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times.”

Denounces deference to old—justifies betrayal.

39. Edmund (3.3): “The younger rises when the old doth fall.”

Celebrates the downfall of his father and rise of the next generation.

40. Edmund (5.2): “If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes; I know thee well enough…”

Threatens Goneril—shows he betrays even his allies.

41. Edmund (5.3): “Some good I mean to do, despite of mine own nature.”

Too‑late attempt at redemption—tragic irony.

🧙 Edgar / Poor Tom (42–47)

42. Edgar (2.3): “Edgar I nothing am.”

Renounces identity to survive—becomes Poor Tom.

43. Edgar (3.2): “Poor Tom’s a-cold.”

Emphasises real suffering—reflects Lear’s compassion for the poor.

44. Edgar (3.6): “The worst is not so long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’”

Offers hope—endurance possible even in despair.

45. Edgar (5.3): “My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.”

Emotional reveal—restores Gloucester’s dignity.

46. Edgar (5.3): “Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.”

Final counsel—honesty over convention.

47. Edgar (5.3): “The dark and vicious place where thee he got cost him his eyes.”

Denounces Edmund—moral reckoning.

👁️ Gloucester (48–54)

48. Gloucester (1.1): “…and the whoreson must be acknowledged.”

Gloucester’s casual dismissal of Edmund sets the play’s parent‑child betrayals.

49. Gloucester (1.2): “Unnatural, detested, brutish villain!”

Mistakenly condemns Edgar—parallels Lear’s misjudgment of Cordelia.

50. Gloucester (2.1): “O madam, my old heart is cracked—it’s cracked.”

Devastation at false betrayal—prepares us for his physical blinding.

51. Cornwall (3.7): “Where is thy lustre now? Out, vile jelly!”

Commands Gloucester’s blinding—ultimate symbol of moral and physical blindness.

52. Gloucester (3.7): “I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw.”

After blinding, gains insight—values moral vision over physical.

53. Gloucester (4.1): “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.”

Expresses nihilism—questions divine justice.

54. Gloucester (4.1): “Might I but live to see thee in my touch, I’d say I had eyes again.”

Values reunion with Edgar more than recovery of sight.

🧔 Kent (55–58)

55. Kent (1.1): “Be Kent unmannerly when Lear is mad.”

Kent’s loyalty drives him to defy Lear’s folly.

56. Kent (1.1): “My life I never held but as a pawn to wage against thine enemies.”

Kent offers total devotion—his life is Lear’s to command.

57. Kent (2.2): “Thou art a three‑suited, hundred‑pound, filthy worsted‑stocking knave.”

Colorful insult to Oswald—shows Kent’s contempt for sycophancy.

58. Kent (2.4): “Thou wert better in a grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity.”

Defends Lear against Cornwall’s blow—ultimate sacrifice.

👩‍🦰 Goneril (59–62)

59. Goneril (1.1): “Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter…”

Manipulative flattery—foundation of her betrayal.

60. Goneril (1.3): “Idle old man, that still would manage those authorities that he hath given away!”

Resents Lear’s presence—demonstrates her cruelty.

61. Goneril (2.4): “My sister may receive it much more worse to have her gentlemen abus’d…”

Justifies stripping Lear’s knights—pragmatic ruthlessness.

62. Goneril (4.2): “Milk-liver’d man!”

Mocks Albany’s softness—asserts her own dominance.

👩‍🦱 Regan (63–66)

63. Regan (1.1): “I am made of that self mettle as my sister…”

Echoes Goneril’s deceit—reveals their collusion.

64. Regan (2.4): “Shut up your doors.”

Denies Lear shelter—ultimate rejection.

65. Regan (3.5): “Let us deal justly.”

Feigns fairness while plotting Gloucester’s downfall.

66. Regan (3.7): “One side will mock another; the other too.”

Sadistic zeal during Gloucester’s blinding—reveals her cruelty.

🧑‍⚖️ Albany (67–69)

67. Albany (4.3): “Restore us, and bring the fatted calf again to the table…”

Hope for reconciliation—celebratory tone.

68. Albany (4.7): “I shall hear more; it was a bastard’s cry.”

Senses Edmund’s wrongdoing—moral awakening.

69. Albany (5.3): “All friends shall taste the wages of their virtues and all foes the cup of their deservings.”

Pronounces justice—idealistic closure.

👨‍⚖️ Cornwall (70–71)

70. Cornwall (2.2): “See’t shalt thou never. Fellow, raise that chin or shrink it hard.”

Threatens Kent—asserts brutal authority.

71. Cornwall (3.7): “Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly!”

Commands Gloucester’s blinding—ultimate demonstration of cruelty.

👨 Gentleman & Servant (72–75)

72. Gentleman (4.1): “His flight was madness: when thou saw’st him, thou saw’st a madman.”

Comments on Gloucester’s escape—madness as driving force.

73. Servant (4.7): “You beastly traitor!”

Denounces Edmund—moment of communal condemnation.

74. Kent (5.3): “Is this a doleful thing? Is this a world?”

Kent laments the universal ruin—questions existence.

75. Edgar (5.3): “Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.”

Final counsel—emotional honesty over politeness.