King Lear THEME key quotes

Super quotations on themes for King Lear. (Use definition to guess the quote!)

‘I am a fool; thou art nothing’

The Fool - a response to Lear’s irrational anger and underminding his own identity as King.

Themes: Madness, Kingship, Power, ‘Nothing’

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

Lear: Fear at his loss of power and impenting loss of sanity.

Themes: Madness, Power

‘Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say’

Edgar: a model example of the goodness and leadership needed in a king, and suggests hope for a future run by the next generation.

Themes: Kingship, power, truth, goodness

‘Wherefore barstady? Baseness? Base! Base!’

Edmund: relfects his role as malcontent in the world of the play. Heightens injustice and perhaps leads to sympathy from a modern audience.

Themes: (in)Justice, reader’s response, Power, ‘nothing’(?)

‘excellent foppery of the world’

Edmund: Sarcastic, oxymoronic tone heightening his Malcontent nature (AO3)

Themes: Power, madness, (in) justice, nature, corruption.

‘Nothing will come of nothing’

Lear: insight into his value of flattery and tangible evidence of emotions.

Themes: ‘Nothing’, kingship, power

‘Power to flattery bows […] See better, Lear’

Kent: Personification emphasises an inbalance in morals and incredulity at Lear’s irrationality. Motif of sight depicts Kent as a voice of reason and truth amoungst deceit and falsehood.

Themes: Power, Blindness, truth & deceit, madness, kingship!

AO3: Kingship, King James was suseptible to flattery, perhaps Shakespeare is indirectly criticising this.

‘With washed eyes, Cordelia leaves you’

Cordelia: Clarity and reason in the face of Lear’s anger in inamgery of sight and cleansing. ‘Washed eyes’ connotes rebirth, transformation, emphasising growth into reality.

Themes: Blindness, truth, reality

‘You have begot me, bred me, loved me. I return those duties back as are right fit.’

Cordelia: Abstract qualities in a list of 3 emphasises importance of this over quantifable Love. Respect in tone illustrates loyalty, devotion and genuine goodness.

Themes: Family, Love and loyalty.