King Lear, Acts I-III

1. On Thursday we discussed the topic of love at some length. More specifically, we discussed the way Shakespeare uses/describes/portrays love in his sonnets. The theme of love also takes center stage, so to speak, in these first acts of King Lear. Which of the characters do you feel exemplify "Shakespearean" love, and which are furthest from exemplifying it: Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Kent, France, Edmund, Edgar, and/or Lear's Fool? Here's the trick: In your character analysis, and in defining "Shakespearean" love, you should use one or more examples/lines from the play and one or more examples/lines from the sonnets.

2. One of Shakespeare's favorite narrative techniques is to the tell the same story on multiple levels. For example, what similarities do you see between the parallel stories of Lear and Gloucester? Think specifically (but not necessarily exclusively) about what happens to Gloucester at the end of Act III and how that might relate to Lear's own story/situation.

3. It was quite common for monarchs during the Renaissance to have court jesters, or "fools" around for both entertainment and a kind of advisement. A fool could get away with saying things to the king or queen that other nobles might get banished or killed for saying, and this allowed a kind of bluntness that many monarchs valued. This advice would often be disguised in clever riddles, puns, and songs, but it would be discernible by a king or queen who was used to that manner of delivery. The relationship between Lear and his Fool is perhaps a bit atypical in that the two seem quite close, not just employer/employee or master/servant. Lear calls the fool "boy," and the fool calls him "Nuncle," or "mine uncle." So the advice the fool gives to Lear is not advice for advice's sake but also comes from a genuine concern. What advice does the fool give to Lear that is not foolish at all? Where does the fool seem wiser than the king?

A related question is this: We never see Lear's fool again after Act III. Why might this be?

4. At the end of Act III, we are in the midst of a terrible storm. What might that storm symbolize? Use specific examples from Shakespeare's description of the storm and tie them into whatever/whomever you feel they might represent.

See you on Tuesday.