Show:
Plot
Characters
Themes
Quotes
Think about it!
100
Name how many plots are in the play and the characters associated with them.
There are 2 plots in the play: 1. King Lear, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia 2. Gloucester, Edgar, Edmund
100
Name the characters from oldest to youngest in Lear's family.
Goneril, Regan, Cordelia
100
What does King Lear to do at the beginning of the play to disrupt the NATURAL ORDER? Why is this significant? Explain.
King Lear decides to divide his kingdom amongst his daughters. This denies the natural order because a King is supposed to wait until he dies of natural causes rather than retiring and giving up his kingdom.
100
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom, and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me, For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base? … Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate. Fine word—“legitimate”! Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate-: I grow; I prosper. Now, gods, stand up for bastards! (I.ii.1–22)
Speaker: Edmund (soliloquy)
100
What is the irony of the relationship between father and children in the play?
It is ironic that Lear believes the only daughter that his truly loyal to him as well as Gloucester believes that Edmund is loyal to him meanwhile he is the one devising the plan to murder him.
200
What does King Lear do to test his daughters? What was the outcome?
King Lear uses the "love" or "flattery" test with his daughters. Goneril and Regan exaggerate and profess their false love, however, Cordelia refuses to take part in his game. The outcome: Lear ends up staying with Goneril at first and she tells him to get rid of half of his riotous men. Thus, the daughters gained all of the power and authority over their father and using it to their advantage.
200
Name the two sons of Gloucester. What is the difference between the sons? What were some of the consequences of this difference?
Edgar and Edmund. Edmund is the bastard child (out of wedlock). Edmund plots to frame Edgar so Gloucester would believe Edgar is attempting to murder him. This resulted in Edgar disguising himself as Poor Tom ( a beggar from the insane asylum).
200
Describe the theme of illusion vs. reality and blindness and how the two plots are paralleled throughout the play.
Blindness represent the inability to see past someone's exterior. The figurative blindness symbolizes King Lear's illusion of his two daughter's flattery. King Lear will have to face the consequences of not seeing the reality rather than just the surface (what he hears and sees) Similarly, Gloucester believes his son Edmund and is unable to closely read into Edmund's attitude. The two men (fathers) are quick to come to conclusions about their children.
200
Good my lord, You have begot me bred me, lov’d me: I 
 Return those duties back as are right fit, 
 Obey you, love you, and most honour you. 
 Why have my sisters husbands, if they say 
 They love you all? Haply when I shall wed, 
 That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry Half my love with him, half my care and duty: Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters, To love my father all. (I.i.94-103)
Speaker: Cordelia to Lear
200
What is the significance of Lear stripping his clothes and talking about the "poor naked wretches"?
Lear now feels empathy for the peasants in his kingdom because he has now, unwillingly been transformed into one. The image of Lear stripping himself down to nothing figuratively signifies that his decisions led to his downfall and is now stripped of everything he had. It literally means he is transformed from a wealthy King to a poor naked peasant.
300
What does Edmund discuss in his first soliloquy? What plan does he devise?
Edmund, in his soliloquy, discusses his dissatisfaction with society's attitude toward children who were born out of wedlock "bastard children" like himself. He resents his legitimate brother, Edgar, who is supposed to inherit his father's estate. He wants to gain respect and entitlement as a son and a man. He plans to frame Edgar so Gloucester would believe Edgar is trying to murder him.
300
What does Lear do and say regarding to social justice in the hovel? Describe what has happened to him at this point in the play. (act 3)
Lear has now lost his power, therefore, feels like he himself has now been victim of social justice. He is beginning to relate to the characters of lower status and their lack of power and luxury. This signifies the beginning of his transformation because he is moving down the hierarchal pyramid and being transformed into a stature like one of a peasant.
300
Discuss Lear's madness in act 4 and 5. What is the danger of madness? BONUS: Provide a quote. (you have 60 seconds)
Lear is evidently becoming less sane as a result of his anguish and daughter's betrayal. His character declines as he becomes less blind and more aware of the truth. This in turn leads him to have no authority, as a former King and man, he is unable to accept his new position. Lear has no choice but to become mad and transform himself into one without power such as that of a peasant. As a result of his tragic downfall, Lear dies.
300
These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no Good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet Nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: In cities, mutinies; in countries discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction; there’s son against father: the king falls from bias of nature; There’s father against child… (I.ii.98-106)
Speaker: Gloucester to Edmund
300
Discuss the idea of civility vs. rusticity in reference to the court.
The court, although it appears to be civil is quite barbaric. From Lear's haste banishing of Kent to Cornwall's blinding of Gloucester the court never ceases to use humanity and hospitality. In the end, the court must be restored to the natural order.
400
What happens to Lear after Regan and Goneril reject him? What does this mark the beginning of?
Lear goes out into the storm in rage and into the hovel. This marks the beginning of his madness and decline of his social status.
400
What does Lear do to indicate his madness throughout the play?
Lear holds a mock trial of his daughters with Edgar (disguised), Kent and the Fool. He also dresses himself in flowers and babbles.
400
Discuss the consequences of betrayal/ deception. Use textual evidence. BONUS: 100 points: provide a quote. (you have 60 seconds)
Examples: - Death - Exile - Blindness (figurative & literal) - Madness - Relationships are destroyed (specifically that of family) - The breaking of the natural order - Loss of authority, power - Anguish etc...
400
I heard myself proclaimed, And by the happy hollow of a tree Escaped the hunt. No port is free, no place, That guard and most unusual vigilance, Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may ‘scape, I will preserve myself. And am bethought to Take the basest and most poorest shape That ever penury, in contempt of man, Brought near to beast. My face I’ll grime with filth, Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots, And with presented nakedness outface The winds and persecutions of the sky. (II. iii.1-12)
Speaker: Edgar (soliloquy)
400
Discuss Fortunes Wheel and its symbolism throughout the play. Who specifically talks about this wheel?
Fortunes Wheel is primarily said by Kent when he is put in the stocks then later said by Edmund. It is ironically said by the two men when they are at their low point in the play. The significance of the wheel is the representation that when something is too good to be true, there must be something bad coming and vice versa. The characters in the play use this wheel to help them cope, it also allows the characters themselves to be apart of their own fate (foreshadowing that when times are tough the wheel will always go back up) There is also an underlying theme of restoration: what happens to the wheel (therefore your life) when the natural order is disrupted, who is left to pick up the pieces etc.
500
Describe what happens in the play after act 3.
- Regan and Goneril fight over Edmund - Cordelia arrives with the French army - Edgar (still in disguise) leads Gloucester - Edgar kills Oswald in Gloucester's defense - Oswald gives Edgar the letter to give to Edmund (about Goneril's love for him, and persuade him to murder Albany) - Cordelia forgives Lear in the French camp - Regan tries to persuade Edmund to be with her - Edgar gives Albany the letter - Edgar kills Edmund - Lear and Cordelia are captured - Regan is poisoned by Goneril, and Goneril later kills herself - Edgar reveals his true identity - Cordelia is hanged - Lear falls upon her and dies - Edgar, Kent and Albany are left alive in the end to restore order
500
What is the role of the Fool? What happens to his character? Why?
The Fool speaks in puns and double entendres and tells lear it was a mistake to hand over his kingdom to his two scheming daughters. As the Fool, he is able to hide behind his puns in order to reveal the truth about the characters and their thoughts and actions. He is able to use humour to criticize without being punished. The Fool does not show up in the play after act 4, this is because there is no more need for comic relief.
500
Discuss the value of justice in relation to Cordelia at the end of the play.
Even though Cordelia has been loyal to Lear, as a result of character's inability to see past the exterior (Lear) she became the Queen of France. However, when returning to England, showing her continuous loyalty to her father no matter what she was executed. (Where is the justice in that?!)
500
Prithee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease; This tempest will not give me leave to ponder On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in. In, boy; go first. You houseless poverty,- Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep Poor naked wretches, wheresoever you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, That thou mayst shake the superflux to them, And show the heavens more just. (III.iv.28-36)
Speaker: Lear
500
Discuss the tragic downfall of each character that endured a decline of character. What makes a Shakespearean play a tragedy?
Discussion of the following characters: Lear Gloucester As well as: Edgar Edmund Goneril Regan Sadness- specifically DEATH- makes a Shakespearean play a tragedy.