King Lear Quotes

Key Quotes with analysis and links to context, also critics quotes included

“No blown ambition doth our arms incite, / But love, dear love and our aged father’s right.” - Cordelia 4.4

Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 leaving a big question of succession and threat of foreign invasion - diacope of love, reinforcing does not intend to invade, still loves him, highly contrastive against G and R

RSC - N: Background noise of wind and birds as they are out on the heath

“Know that we have divided / In three our kingdom” - L 1.1

James I united England and Scotland - 1604 unite coin minted engraved with “I will make them one nation”

RSC - D: Unroll massive map outline on floor as divvy up kingdom

“that future strife / May be prevented now” - L (1.1)

Basilikon Doron (‘royal gift’) 1599 - a treatise on government written in form of a letter addressed to eldest son Henry (Duke of Cornwall) warning of the dangers of dividing territory among children: “By dividing your kingdom, ye shall leave the seed of division and discord” - irony

“If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue for ever and live the beloved of your brother.” - Gloucester reading ‘Edgar’s’ treasonous letter (1.2)

Gunpowder plot - Catholic conspiracy against James - the Monteagle letter = November 1605, written to Monteagle by his brother in law to warn him leading to discovery of gunpowder plot under Westminster Palace to assassinate James

“[Storm still]”  (3.2)

Fisher King - Arthurian legend that when the King is hurt the country is hurt; “I am the head and it is my body” - James in 1st address to Parliament 1603 - path fall, symbol of chaos after Lear’s misguided abdication/actions and of his mental/emotional state, reification of Lear’s inner condition - Fisher King (country experiences the same tempestuousness as Lear)

RSC - N: Lear stumbles about, plain thin clothing, has disregarded his royal robes

“The one the other poisoned for my sake, / And after slew herself.” - Edmund (5.3)

Suicide laws - enforced laws against it, if convicted the crown got your stuff and you were denied a Christian burial - still relishing in his antics, kind of got what he wanted - to be cared for

“Why brand they us / With base? With baseness, bastardy?” - Edmund (1.2)

“Edmund the base / Shall top the legitimate.” - Edmund 1.2

“Now gods, stand up for bastards!” - Edmund 1.2 - temporal adverb, imperative

Bastardy - Elizabeth 1st was technically a bastard as born out of wedlock due to the annulled marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, primogeniture meant that bastards were unable to inherit - Polysemous juxtaposition, innuendo, base meaning bottom, he will be better than him, underdog, base meaning bastard, he will become more legitimate, Edmund intends to move himself above Edgar; apostrophe, satirical?, arrogant, trying to command the gods, feels strongly, not Christian god as not capitalised

RSC - N: Dark lighting, whispering - classic villainy, archetypal machiavellian villain, sort of sounds out ‘legitimate’ as though tasting the word, it is foreign to him

“Why then let fall / Your horrible pleasure.” - Lear 3.2

“A poor, infirm, weak and despised old man” - Lear 3.2

Story of Job - how far can your faith be pushed, represents human suffering, God and Satan make a bet as to whether his faith is strong enough, everything is restored to him in recompense for his patience and loyalty to God (theodyssey = how can there be a god when there is suffering in the world) - enjambment makes first line ‘why then let fall’ as though addressing his fall from power and grace, feels attacked? like the storm is personal - karma/divine retribution, apostrophe/RQ, they cannot answer, doesn’t understand what did wrong, no insight

RSC - N: Eyes directed up at times - possess or addressing gods

“Men must endure / Their going hence even as their coming hither.” - Edgar 5.1

Eg, an ostensibly good character, the voice of reason in this mad and chaotic world, can’t choose a way out cos suicide bad so must endure life, suffering is part of the human experience, linking birth and death, inherent parts of humanity, must suffer to learn, link to Jesus and Job

RSC - N: Edgar hugs Gloucester on the floor

“Nothing will come of nothing” - L 1.1

epanalepsis - repetition at start and end

RSC - N: Cordelia in white, gets down to Ls level when talking to

 “Make your speed to Dover, you shall find / Some that will thank you” - Kent to a Knight 3.1

Robert Devereux (Earl of Essex) lead an abortive coup d’etat against the government and was executed for treason and his followers had to be neutralised to forestall division within the kingdom

“Howl, howl, howl, howl!” - L, 5.3

The True Chronicle History of King Leir (1594) the source text fixated on the issue of royal succession - the pattern of 4 returns, quartet of sounds of heartbreak

“Nothing my lord” - Cordelia 1.1

Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna was named a recusant for not attending an Easter Day Church service - C is defying her father and thus committing treason in her neglect to honour the command of a king

“The prince of darkness is a gentleman. Modo he’s called, and Mahu” - Edgar as Poor Tom

‘Declaration of Egregious Popish Imposters’ Harsnett 1603 - satire, revealed Catholic exorcisms to be nothing more than elaborate performances - hinting to us that Poor Tom is all an act from Edgar

“Let this kiss / Repair those violent harms” - Cordelia (4.7)

“She shook / The holy water from her heavenly eyes” - Gentleman 4.3

Joan of Arc - claimed to hear the voice of God who chose her to lead the French army at 13 with no military experience, put on trial by Bishop Cauchan on accusations of heresy including blaspheming by wearing men’s clothes, acting on demonic visions, refusing to submit words and deeds to judgement of the church, declared guilty and burned at the stake 1431 - C, saviour figure, JC coded, link to Luke 15:20 the return of the prodigal son where the kiss was a sign of reconciliation, patterns of biblical language, Mary?

“Till noon? Till night, my lord, and all night too” - Regan 2.2

“Hard, hard. O, filthy traitor!” - Regan 3.7

Daemonology (1597) James on witchcraft, viewed as a grave concern and trials were commonplace - R, exacerbating the punishment, cruelty, contradicting her husband (defying gender norms), ultimate power, violent, authoritarian

“I must change names at home and give the distaff / Into my husband’s hands.” - Goneril 4.2

G, defeminising, turning Albany feminine, shows cruelty and lack of maternal instinct and hunger for power

“you are old: / Nature in you stands on the very verge / Of her confine.” - Regan 2.2

Brian Annesley’s court case (1603) - his 3 daughters, Lady Grace Wild-Goose and her husband tried to have him declared insane to gain control of estate, Cordell (one of his other daughters) defended him and convinced court he was sane, he then left most of his estate to her - R, condescending down to Lear

“once or twice she heaved the name of father / Pantingly forth as if it pressed her heart;” - Gentleman about Cordelia 4.3

G about C, link back to 1.1, could not heave heart into mouth then but can now - is it regret for earlier actions, link heart to G+L’s later deaths by heartache and Ls earlier sorrow weighing him down

“There is a cliff whose high and bending head / Looks fearfully in the confined deep; / Bring me but to the very brim of it” - Gloucester 4.1

Arcadia (1590) - long prose pastoral romance by Sir Phillip Sidney

“This feather stirs, she lives” - Lear 4.3

“Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life. / And thou no breath at all?” - Lear 4.3

Nahum Tate rewrote the play in 1681 - happy ending, all reconcile with ‘good’ children and Eg and C marry, more popularly performed 1681-1838 - L and C relationship and his madness

“While we unburdened crawl towards death” - Lear 1.1

bored of responsibility wishes to be free before he dies

“Here I disclaim all my paternal care” - L 1.1

RSC - N: L stands and everyone else crouches while L banishes C

“call hither my fool” - L 1.4

Constant repetition of this command shows his diminishing power, clearly the fall is important to him, misguided as greatest concern at this time is entertainment, changed from the together, powerful man was at star

“when thou gav’st them the rod and putt’st down thine own breeches” - F 1.4

Subverting father/daughter roles, showing G and R have the power as Lear is reliant on them, by giving them their land he gave them the power and as such lost authority himself

RSC - N: G gets close to L's face and begins to spit and shout her words

“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” - L 1.4

Rhetorical, first sign that he is lost, a shell of his former self, futile, weak, vulnerable language as shows has no sense of self without power, forgetting self is big sign of madness, links to dementia theory, could be a criticism of self actions ‘forgetting self’ means to misstep in social order as Lear has been in Goneril’s home

“Into her womb convey sterility” - L 1.4

Such harsh abusive language can only be the product of Lear’s continued madness as he attempts to defeminise and diminish her power by cursing her future children, harsh, villainous, abusive, misogynistic, no heir = taking away her power, curse like, defeminising her, explains later eye gouging - extremely out of character worse for G than was for C

“O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad.” - L 1.5

Frantic diacope of ‘not mad’ creates opposite effective, displaying him as absent of mind, not logically thinking, mad, apostrophe in ‘O’ as if calling to the gods to save him from madness, or could be asking the fool to assist, shows depth of relationship but also foolishness as there is very little the fool can do to save him

RSC-N: whispers ‘O let me not be mad’ - horrified

“O madam, my old heart is cracked, it's cracked” - Gloucester 2.1

diacope to reinforce heartbreak, emphasises importance of family relationships, foreshadows his and Lear's downfall, echoes Lear later on

“am bethought / To take the basest and most poorest shape” - Edgar 2.2

role reversal with Em, Em has become Gs favoured son and Eg now occupies the open post of base, he must hide himself to stay safe

RSC - N: crouches on floor and gradually removes clothing, represents stripping away of identity

“Edgar I nothing am.” - Edgar 2.2

madness invading his syntax, identity stolen by Em, no place for him anymore, plain simple language but semantically difficult to parse, soliloquy means alone, vulnerable, wants us to understand him, innocence, deconstructing self and grammar deconstruction too - links to Lear, must do before become King, reflects 1.2 showing Em has succeeded, central theme of nothingness aligns with Lear - nihilism (life has no central meaning, no morality other than what we invent)

RSC - N: faces audience like breaking fourth wall, uncomfortable, like we’ve done to him, feel guilty (dram iron)

“You think I’ll weep, / No, I’ll not weep” - L 2.2

being defiant, childlike tantrum, diacope, trying to control and reestablish power cos feels emasculated, ‘w’ sound could mimic crying

RSC - N: L takes off belt and swings madly during speech, moving frantically round stage, stomps, begins to cry in hanky and fool hugs and helps off stage

“Singe” ; “Strike” ; “Crack” - L 3.2

pattern of imperatives, trying to command the weather, powers he no longer holds, onomatopeia, dramatic language as wants to feel powerful, smite? wants divine justice, provoking the storm, trying to use natural powers he has lost

RSC - N: Actual rain pouring down, landscape recreated, very realistic, thunder and lightning

“Why then, let fall / Your horrible pleasure.” - L 3.2

enjambment makes first line ‘why then let fall’ as though addressing his fall from power and grace, feels attacked? like the storm is personal - karma/divine retribution, apostrophe/RQ, they cannot answer, doesn’t understand what did wrong, no insight

RSC - N: directs eyes up throughout, shouts

“I am a man / More sinned against than sinning”

enjambment, that is the line until we get the rest, he is now plain/ordinary/average, ‘reduced’ himself to this or ascended to it, Shakespeare's broader message is that he’s been enlightened, ‘against’ like an attack, still no culpability, shifting blame, polyptoton ‘sinned’ and ‘sinning’ like a petulant child trying to force himself as victim cos can’t face the truth

“Off, off you lendings: come, unbutton here.” - L 3.4

trying to reduce himself like Eg to recompense for doing the people wrong, shedding self of earthly burden, free himself, become a man, shift into prose, the demotic speech of the people, signifier of his casting off of his old life and aligning with Eg, link to Cicely Berry, Marxism, embracing Eg’s mindset - need to align for DRoK, must find selves again or is their collective madness a commentary

RSC - N: L removes cloak and throws off Fool when tries to reclothe him

“Stop her there! Arms, arms, sword, fire, corruption in the place!” - L 3.6

 imperatives, exclamations, SF of warfare, crusades, Lear seeks justice on Goneril and Reagan for the suffering they have caused him and his men, he believes he is a victim who must rise up to halt their corrupting influence, the imperative ‘stop’ shows his delusion as he still believes he holds the power to command a great force demonstrated in the patterns of language relate to warfare or arsenal.

RSC - D: Fool stays behind on stage at end, no longer necessary as L has become own fool

“I have no way, and therefore want no eyes: / I stumbled when I saw” - Gloucester 4.1

G, diacope = absence, nihilism, patterns of nothingness in the play, absence of moral order, iambic pentamer = rhythmic, lost eyes but gained insight, stability and peace, emotional clarity, sibilance, erred and had trivial concerns with sight, ‘stumbled’ = plosive difficult to sound, misjudgement, clumsiness, reification for his ‘fall’ into Em’ s trap

RSC - N: G stumbles around

“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, / They kill us for their sport” - Gloucester 4.1

flies = gods creation, murder, sin, meaninglessness of human life, absence of moral order, zoomorphic simile, cruelty of the gods, SF = fragility, brutality, carelessness

“You are not worth the dust which the rude wind / Blows in your face” - Albany 4.2

 A to G, personification, is not worthy of anything, reduced herself to nothing, lost her moral worth/fibre/value, stripped everything away from herself, brutal cruelty, first time A stood up for himself

RSC - N: G wanders stage while A rants

“Tigers, not daughters” - Albany 4.2

zoomorphic, calling them out for the aggressors they are, modern conns of cats?, violence undermines their femininity, but its their humanity thats the issue not their gender

RSC - N: A is disgusted with Goneril at the news of Gloucester

“once or twice she heaved the name of father / Pantingly forth as if it pressed her heart” - Gentleman 4.3

G about C, link back to 1.1, could not heave heart into mouth then but can now - is it regret for earlier actions, link heart to G+L’s later deaths by heartache and Ls earlier sorrow weighing him down

“Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, / With burdocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers” - Cordelia 4.4

C about L’s crown, patterns of natural imagery, linking L to kingly power, all poisonous or bitter-tasting weeds (destructive), befitting current state, has fallen to the lowest point, weeds unwanted yet strong and unrelenting, YN suggests now associated with nature rather than the world of the court, fitting given interest in justice and human condition

RSC - N: C in long cloak, hair tied up, looks very regal, reaches out at end as if to pull Lear to her

“Beneath is all the fiend’s: there’s hell, there’s darkness, there is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption!” - L 4.6

vagina’s are evil, patterns of hellish/Satanic adjectives, their maternal organs are corrupt, asyndetic list,  Vagina’s gateway to hell as his children are evil, hellish imagery, temptation of the devil, he is taking his anger on G+R out on all women

RSC - N: L stumbles around, jagged movements, L carries a doll/fool’s rattle made of flowers - is he the fool now

“let this kiss / Repair those violent harms” - Cordelia 4.7

saviour figure, JC coded, link to Luke 15:20 the return of the prodigal son where the kiss was a sign of reconciliation

RSC - N: C stands over L and kisses him

“I am a very foolish, fond old man” - Lear 4.7

admission, finally gaining clarity

RSC - N: C helps L off stage

“Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Or neither?” - Edmund 5.1

pattern of RQs/interrogatives, picking and choosing the sisters, what will benefit him the most, overconfident, drunk/horny on power

RSC - N: R leans seductively on a wooden pile, low cut dress, obviously presenting herself to Em

“Let her who would be rid of him devise / His speedy taking off.” - Edmund 5.1

manipulating G into killing A for him, needs A gone as he will show mercy to L+C thus threatening Em’s power, mess of pronouns/determiners show extent of wit in keeping all these plates spinning

RSC - N: Em speaks to camera during soliloquy

“Men must endure / Their going hence even as their coming hither.” - Edgar 5.2

an ostensibly good character, the voice of reason in this mad and chaotic world, can’t choose a way out cos suicide bad so must endure life, suffering is part of the human experience, linking birth and death, inherent parts of humanity, must suffer to learn, link to Jesus and Job

RSC - N: Eg hugs G on the floor

“Let’s away to prison; / We two alone will sing like birds i’the cage” - Lear 5.3

finally got what he wanted, to live with C till he dies, patterns of trapping/isolating/incarceration nouns, the only place to find freedom/peace in this subversive world, ‘birds’ = free animals, juxtaposition/antithesis, natural symbolism, imperative shows L still keen to control, pattern of collective pronouns, unity, end-stop = traps the line, reification, wants it all to be over - character dev of tyrant to natural/benevolent

“Yet Edmund was beloved: / The one the other poisoned for my sake, / And after slew herself.” - Edmund 5.3

still relishing in his antics, kind of got what he wanted - to be cared for

“Howl, howl, howl, howl!” - Lear 5.3

the pattern of 4 returns, quartet of sounds of heartbreak