King Lear 5.1 Quotes

‘Enter with drum and colours’

Stage direction— gives the audience a sense of the oncoming battle and climax of the play

‘I had rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me’

Goneril— paralleled speeches of G + R, expressing antagonism of her sister— internal conflict. There is a hatred developing between them and a domestic, personal clash.

‘To both these sisters I have sworn my love, each jealous of the other as the stung are of the adder’

Edmund— he is catalysing the conflict between the two sisters, and the idea of poison foreshadows the deaths of Regan and Goneril.

‘As for the mercy which he intends to Lear and Cordelia….they within our state power shall never see his pardon’

Edmund— once again reinforcing is evil nature. The word ‘our’ is almost as if he is using the royal we, and is about to take power, holding the audience in suspense and creating a climax to the tragic outcome.