King Lear

Acts I and II

A. Choose one of the following combinations of Lear’s speeches.  1) give the gist of all the chosen speeches, 2) offer detailed analysis about one of the speeches, including the context, Lear’s tone and attitude, and 3) pose any questions you have. Line numbering is from our Broadview edition. 

Act 1, scene 4: 1.4.191-254 [starting “Does any here . . . ..” Lear’s words are punctuated by others’ speeches but treat his words as one unit], 1.4.262-77 

This first speech is Lear’s reaction to Gonerill’s treachery. She claimed that his neglect to handle his supposedly disorderly knights is a sign of his mental infirmity. Indeed, Lear’s first response indicates that he is mad, and does not know who he is. He wants to leave, and renounces Gonerill as his daughter for her lies and unfaithfulness. He even goes so far as to curse her to be childless, or have a child who will show her the pain of a “thankless child” as she did to her father (Line 254).

Lear becomes increasingly angry, yet also increasingly lucid over the course of this speech. At first, he cannot believe that Gonerill has turned against him. Lines 191-197 are mostly questions, highlighting his confusion and agitation. After he decisively declares Gonerill a “degenerate bastard,” his speech contains more commands and exclamations (Line 216). He figures out the situation, and his disbelief turns to wounded fury, which he expresses at length. The length of his sentences also increases. Longer and more complicated syntax is often associated with higher and truer thought. This signifies that Lear perceives the truth about Gonerill.

Lear also mentions the motif of the natural versus the unnatural in relation to family. He says that when he disowned Cordelia and accepted the rule of her sisters, his “frame of nature” was not in its “fixed place” (Lines 233-234). The footnotes on that same page explain these two phrases to mean “natural disposition” and “natural location,” In other words, Lear is saying that what was natural got messed up, proving that his choice was a mistake. In this play, the idea of natural is associated with rightness, while the unnatural is wrong and potentially even evil. This motif unites Lear with his parallel character Gloucester. For Gloucester, the issue of what is natural and what is not surfaces in the conflict between his legitimate (or natural) and illegitimate (or unnatural) sons. Both men will find that in family, naturalness does not matter. Lear is betrayed by his first two daughters, and Gloucester is taken advantage of by his illegitimate son Edmund. A natural child is as capable of betrayal as an unnatural child.

In his next speech, Lear addresses the Duke of Albany, Gonerill’s husband. He insults Albany by explaining that not only is he ashamed of crying, but that he detests that his unworthy family is the reason. He vows never to cry for the same reason again. Then, there is a slight shift in which Lear speaks more to himself or the audience than to Albany. He plans to go to Regan, who he believes will remain true to him.

B. Choose one of the following. Give the gist of the passage in several sentences and explain why you regard it as important. 

Act 2, Scene 2 begins with a struggle between Gonerill’s servant Oswald, and the disguised Kent. Oswald has just arrived at Regan’s house. Kent has not forgotten Oswald’s earlier insolence, and is hostile. After listing the other’s faults, Kent fights Oswald. The most basic function of this scene is to provide the comic relief that Shakespeare in famous for including, to hold the attention of all kinds of audience members. However, it also touches on central issues such as love, duty, and concealed identity.