Shakespeare's King Lear: pre-class thoughts

Ian McKellan and William Gaunt as King Lear and Gloucester for the RSC

This week I was asked to present on King Lear.  I packed as much textual analysis as possible into our class discussion questions:

Reason vs. Passion

We are asked to look at each of these texts through the lens of Reason and Passion.  Clearly, Edmund represents Reason, as evidenced by his Machiavellian plotting as he attempts to climb to political power.  In our previous texts, we have often seen madness as a symptom or result of a character’s excess passion or excess reason.  We see the madness, but where is the Passion in this play?

Fate Vs. Free Will

Lear’s problems begin as he abdicates the throne, dividing it between his daughters based on how much they claim to love him.  This circumvents divine law as he attempts to abandon his duty as a king, handing off the responsibilities of ruling while maintaining the luxury of royalty. Later, he is humbled by the storm – an act of God - which breaks him down and exposes his madness. 

Although Shakespeare deliberately places King Lear outside of a Christian setting (Lear calls on Apollo and Jupiter), the king’s flouting of God’s will still raises the question of pre-determination vs free will.   We have seen several texts that illustrate punishment for flouting God’s will, and we’ve seen some texts denying the existence of a God in favour of free will, but have we seen any room for both God and free will?

The Role of the Fool

Like the Greek chorus, the role of the Fool is often used as the voice of the audience; he is the only character who can speak the plain truth, even as it is masked in riddles.  The Fool pines when Cordelia is sent away (1.4.73), and he disappears when the King becomes mad and starts speaking in riddles himself.  The last time the Fool is mentioned, Lear says “And my poor fool is hanged” (5.3.303), speaking of Cordelia, but naming her the Fool.  What is the importance of the Fool here?  What happens to him? 

Ageism

The way that Lear and Gloucester are taken advantage of by their chosen heirs directly contradicts Mencius’s views on honouring one’s father.  Critics will claim that Lear’s madness is a metaphor for the older political eras being replaced by the new Machiavellian philosophies (although clearly the author sees neither of these approaches as successful).  In a literal reading of the play, we see Lear’s madness as a slide into senility.  What does this say about how we view and treat the elders today?

Echoes of Oedipus

King Lear shares many of the same themes that we find in Oedipus.  We see a king who is trying to escape his destiny (rulership), and by attempting to do so he curses himself, his line, and his kingdom.  We see the boundaries of appropriate inter-generational love tested, and we see a manifestation of physical blindness after Oedipus and Gloucester’s figurative blindness is revealed.   Why do these tragic elements stay with us through the millenniums?  Why is tragedy important in our society?

The Role of Women

If we have time, perhaps we can touch on the role of women in King Lear.  Gonerill and Reagan are painted with the same greedy brush.  What is the impact of having them fight over Edmund?  Why does Cordelia have to die at the end of the play?