Lear quotes - by theme

Nature (justice & injustice)

• ‘Now Gods stand up for bastards’ - Edmund

• ‘Thou, nature, art my goddess‘ - Edmund

• ‘Why brand they us/ with ‘base’? with ‘baseness‘? ‘bastardy‘? ‘base, base‘?’ - Edmund

• ‘The lusty stealth of nature‘/ ‘the dull, stale, tired bed.’ - Edmund

• ‘As flies are to wanton boys as we are to the Gods, they kill us for sport.’ - Gloucester (on heath post blinding)

• 'Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature/ To quit this horrid act' - Gloucester (a3, s7)

• ‘The gods are just‘ - Edgar (A5, S3)

Justice

(intentional justice)

• ‘which of you shall we say doth love us most.’ - Lear

• ‘I disclaim all my paternal care’ - Lear

• ‘Well, you've given away all the other titles you were born with, so you might as well keep the title of "fool."‘ - Kent

• ‘Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law/ My services are bound.’ - Edmund

• ‘Why brand they is/ with ‘base’? with ‘baseness’? ‘bastardy’? ‘base, base’?’ - Edmund

Justice

• ‘Burning shame detains him from Cordelia‘

• ‘Though well we may not pass upon his life/ without the form of justice’

• ‘Howl, howl, howl, howl, howl’ - Lear

• ‘What comfort to this great decay may Rome/ shall be applied.’ - Albany

Misogny

• ‘Dry up her organs of increase’ - Lear

• ‘Hysteria passio, own, thou climbing sorrow, thy element’s below.’ - Lear

• ‘Do you smell a fault?‘ - Gloucester

  (sin of his affair)

• ‘Proper deformity shows not in the fiend/ So horrid as in woman.’ - Lear

Family relationships

• ‘I am made of that same self-mettle as my sister’ - Goneril (A1, S1)

• ‘Ever since thou maddest thy daughters thy mothers’ - Fool (A1, S4)

• ‘You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face‘ - Albany to Goneril (A4, S2)

• ‘Why bastard? Wherefore base?’ - Edmund (A1, S1)

• 'A credulous father, and a brother noble' - Edmund -A1, S2

Sight & blindness

• ‘As if we were God’s spies’ - Lear (A5, S3)

• ‘See better Lear’ - Kent (A1, S1)

• ‘Turn out thy eyeless villain’ - Cornwall (A3, S7)

• ‘Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind’ - Gloucester (A4, S1)

• ‘And like a scurvy politician, seem/ to see things thou dost not.’ - Lear (A4, S6)

• 'I have no way and therefore want no eyes' - Gloucester (A3, S7)

• ‘You see how this world goes’ - Lear to Gloucester (A4, S6)

Animals

• ‘Come not between the dragon and his wrath’ - Lear

• ‘Howl, howl, howl, howl, howl’ - Lear

• ‘Tigers, not daughters’ - Lear

• ‘Dog-hearted daughters’ - Lear

• ‘Those pelican daughters’ - Lear (A3, S4)

• ‘Toad-spotted traitor’ - Edgar

Madness

• ‘Tis the infirmity of his age’ - Reagan

• ‘Hysteria passio, own, thou climbing sorrow, thy element’s below!‘ - Lear (A2, S4)

• ‘Vengeance! Plague! Death! Confusion!’ - Lear (A2, S4)

• ‘O fool I shall go mad’ - Lear (A2, S4)

• Well, you've given away all the other titles you were born with, so you might as well keep the title of "fool." - Kent

Sight

• ‘Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty’ - Goneril (A1, S1)

• ‘I stumbled when I saw’ - Gloucester (A4, S9)

• ‘I see it feelingly’ - Gloucester (A4, S6)

The eye gouging scene (A3, S7)

Sight & blindness/ Tragedy/ Monarchy & power/ Corruption

• Till noon? Till night, my lord, and all night too. - Regan (harsh 't' and nasal 'n' & metric emphasis on 'moon' and 'night' - conveys passion for suffering)

• 'Pluck out his eyes!' - Goneril

• 'so white and such a traitor' - Regan (a3, s7- eye gouging scene)

  -> irony of Gloucester's old age & lack of wisdom - subverts expectations of wisdom that comes with age

• 'Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature/ To quit this horrid act' - Gloucester (a3, s7) - feelings of filial affection/ avenge this act/ dramatic irony/ context - harsh nature of pagan gods

• 'I have no way and therefore want no eyes' - Gloucester

• 'O dear son Edgar/… Might I live to see thee in my touch' - Gloucester (A3, s7)

Monarchy & power (A1, S1)

Appearance & reality

• ‘which of you shall we say dost love us most’ - Lear

• ‘Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter’ - Goneril

• ‘dearer than eyesight, space and liberty’ - Goneril

• ‘I am alone felicitate/ In your dear highness’ love’ - Regan

• ‘my father’ - Cordelia

• ‘my love’s/ More ponderous than my tongue’ - Cordelia (L disclaims parental care)

• ‘I have cut the egg I’the middle (…) thou clovest thy crown I’the middle’ - The Fool

Poverty & marginalisation

• ‘like a scurvy politician/ seem to see things thou dost not’ - Lear (A4, S6)

• ‘which is the justice, which is the thief?‘ - Lear (A4, S6)

Clothing

• enter Edgar disguised as Poor Tom (A3, S4)

• ‘Thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more than this? Consider him well.’ - Lear (A3, S4)

• ‘Unaccomodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal’ - Lear

• Thou owes the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha!’ - Lear (A3, S4)

• He tears off his clothes (about lear - A3, S4)