King Lear Act One

themes and quotes

what is shown by King Lear’s willingness to pit everyone against each other

* the hierarchy that humans so strongly believe in (they even try to create things like natural order to impose it on the natural world)
* his treatment of those below him as his pawns (the relationship between the upper and lower classes)
* the problem of division - dividing a kingdom by two will always result in a constant rivalry and stalemate

by dividing the kingdom between Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, what is Shakespeare referencing

the division of the United Kingdom (there was a popularity surrounding stories that could explain how the country became what it was at the time) and the issue of succession, which was of much contemporary relevance, with James I becoming King after a Queen with no heir

==Lear: great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love==

* the sense of pompous ceremony attached to marriage and competition shows how present in the public eye the royal court were
* suggests that Cordelia is in control of her own future, when we know this is not the case (the theme of whether predestination exists)
* shows that King Lear’s lust for competition is a way of controlling women and that the rivalry between them shows not their immorality, but a man’s

what is a quote to suggest that Lear ensured his daughters knew that there were things to be won, by using materialism on them

==Lear: which of you shall we say doth love us most? that we are largest bounty may extend==

Lear suggests, with the love test, that his daughters need to earn his love; would this be the same if they had been sons

it is likely that they would not, relating to the theme of virtue, and the idea that it is naturally occurring, but only in men

is good and evil shown as a social construct or naturally occurring

from the perspective of the characters, it is naturally occurring, shown as juxtaposing between men and women, however from the perspective of Shakespeare, the natural world is shown to be ruled by chaos, and so there is no distinction between good and evil

what themes can be discussed in relation to whether good and evil is a social construct

* religion (and how this is also a social construct)
* nature over nurture

how is love presented in King Lear, especially in Act 1, Scene 1

love is replaced with material objects and is shown as very transactional; the characters are incapable of loving conditionally

the exchange of love is replaced with the exchange of materials in the love test - what does this show

this shows that the characters of King Lear constantly try to quantify human emotion, but, as the natural world is ruled by chaos, when confronted by intense emotion such as passion or grief, it kills them - love is, in the end, destructive, and human emotion cannot be contained

what role does King Lear try to take on in holding the love test

that of a God

Lear: we have this hour a constant will to publish our daughter’s several dowers

King Lear decides that his daughter’s lives have monetary value, a notion that comes undone by the end of the play, as you cannot put value onto a human life

He tries to control them, as women grasping power can only be through immoral means

What could suggest that Goneril and Regan’s evil is a product of nurture

* the imbedding of competition into their psychology
* through treatment of Cordelia as the favourite - ‘our joy’
* through the competition that is emphasised between the two of them - ‘only she comes to short’
* the similarity between them and their father, particularly in dialogue (reference Rutter’s essay); they are more alike him than they would like to believe