King Lear: "Speak What We Feel, Not What We Ought To Say "

King Lear
“speak what we feel,

not what we ought to say…”
What are we talking
about?
Main Plot
Lear, the aging King of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and
divide his kingdom among his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and
Cordelia, the youngest. When he asks them how much they love him, the
first two give him phony answers, but Cordelia remains silent. She’s forced
to leave the castle and her father. During the story, his other two
daughters mistreat him to the point of madness. Only at the end of the
play, the king recovers and dies with his beloved daughter.
Sub-Plot
Meanwhile, Edmund, bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester, plots against
his brother, Edgar, legitimate son of Gloucester. After a series of bad
deeds, Edgar is forced to leave his father, who believes he’s a traitor.
Things get worse when Gloucester becomes blind due to the Duke of
Cornwall, Regan’s husband, and Edmund becomes the Earl. At the end
Edmund is killed by his brother.
Characters
Lear: he is the king of Britain and father of Goneril,
Regan and Cordelia.
Goneril, Regan and Cordelia: Lear’s daughters, they

will fight against each other.
The Fool: the jester of Lear’s court, he will be his

loyal caretaker, in spite of Cordelia.
Earl of Kent: one of Lear’s subjects, he will remain

loyal to the king even if he was sent away from the
castle.
Earl of Gloucester: another subject of King Lear,

father of Edmund and Edgar.
Edmund: Gloucester’s bastard son, he will plot

against his brother due to his state as legitimate son.
Edgar: Gloucester’s legitimate son, he will be forced

to leave his father cause the actions of his brother.
Minor Themes
• Justice: Can we find it in the play?
During all the play it’s possible to see how justice is something completely absent.
We can see it in the actions of Goneril and Regan, of Edmund and the Duke of
Cornwall. “King Lear” is a very violent and brutal play, and in all the characters is
reflected one question: is there any possibility of justice in the world? Various
characters offer their opinions, for example Gloucester muses “As flies to wanton
boys are we to the gods / They kill us for they sport”, thinking that the world is unjust
and all is relative. whilst Edgar insists “the gods are just”, believing that individuals
get what they deserve. But at the end, we are left with a cruel image: although the
wicked die, the good die with along with them. We get that there is goodness in the
world, but also madness and death, and it’s difficult to say which triumphs in the
end.
• Betrayal: Is it an unavoidable condition of the
human being?
It’s another important theme in the play. It shows the workings of
wickedness in both the familial and political realms, where brothers betray
brothers and daughters betray fathers. We can see how the betrayal
brings to a mutual destruction (see Goneril and Regan). The entire play is
set in motion by Lear’s foolish betrayal of Cordelia’s love for him, which
reinforces that at the heart of every betrayal lies a skewed set of values.
Major Themes
Power
Sisterhood
Love
The Fool and his function
Madness
Representation of Nature
POWER
Characters: Edmund,
King Lear
The power directs the fates of the characters and is presented in two
forms:
Wicked, represented by the character of Edmund, who is unsatisfied

with his condition of bastard: “Now, gods, stand up for bastards”. His
search of power brings him to discriminate familial love. He’s the evil of
the play, with Goneril and Regan, and he’s the embodiment of
treacherously power.
Healthy, represented by King Lear’s character. He’s an aging and

naive King who’s manipulated by his two eldest daughters. From the
text, we can understand that previously Lear was a good king and only
because of his two daughters’ viciousness his became an useless
power, corrupted and removed from his title.
“Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
The curiosity of nations to deprive me, Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base? Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
When my dimensions are as well compact, As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
My mind as generous, and my shape as true, Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take Now, gods, stand up for bastards!”
More composition and fierce quality
–Edmund (Act I, Scene II)

SISTERHOOD
Characters: Goneril,
Regan, Cordelia
Goneril: the eldest daughter, she is also the
strongest. She is the one who leads the alliances
against Lear.
Regan: she follows her sister’s and husband’s
advice; she becomes ruthless taking courage from
the eldest sister, but she is not at all weaker.
Cordelia: the youngest sister, she understands the
sisters’ bad intentions and she wants to be different
from them. She hasn’t got political aims, but she’s
more sentimental.
The “Love-Test”: it’s the beginning of everything. Cordelia is
disgusted by her sisters’ phony declarations and it seems that she
wants to distinguish herself from them.
The alliance between Goneril and Regan: their relationship isn’t of

love, but it’s purely of personal and political interests, to take the power
against the father.
The love for Edmund: Edmund’s coming brakes off the forced
relationship between the two sisters, both in love with him. This conflict
between the sisters is even worst than the first one: Goneril declares “I
had rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me”
and, at the end, she will poison Regan and kill herself.
“ CORDELIA The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So, farewell to you both.
REGAN Prescribe not us our duties.
GONERIL Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted. ”.
–(Act I, Scene I)
LOVE
Characters: King Lear,
Goneril and Regan,
Cordelia, Gloucester
The love is presented in many forms:
Fatherly love: love that King Lear feels for his three daughters and that
brought him to death.
Fake love: love that Goneril and Regan pretend to feel for their father in
order to appropriate Lear’s power.
Honest love: love that Cordelia feels for her father due to which she was
forced to leave her home.
“KING LEAR To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR Nothing!
CORDELIA Nothing.
KING LEAR Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
CORDELIA Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.”
–(Act I, Scene I)
The Fool
Who’s the jester?
The jester, or fool, was an entertainer during

Medieval era who was a member of the household
of a nobleman employed to entertain him and his
guests.
Shakespeare: jester or fool?
Shakespeare’s fools are similar to common jesters,

but they have one very important difference:
They don’t limit themselves to only entertainment,

but talk about more important issues, such as
love, power, self-conscience, truth.
What are the roles of the Fool in
“King Lear”?
Voice of conscience
Loyal companion
Truth-teller
Representative of Cordelia
Lear’s alter-ego and caretaker

“Why, for taking one's part that's out of favour:
nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits,
thou'lt catch cold shortly: there, take my coxcomb:
why, this fellow has banished two on's daughters,
and did the third a blessing against his will; if
thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb.
How now, nuncle! Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters!”
– Fool (Act I, Scene III)

MADNESS
Character: King Lear

King Lear: he leaves the throne to find peace and
serenity for the last period of his life, but he finds only
devastating consequences that will make him go mad.
He is a power man who loses reason in the material and
moral solitude.
The Fool: in the first act of the tragedy there are immediately some
allusions to Lear’s madness. In particular, there is a progressive
identification between the King and the Fool, who shows him his
miserable condition.
the night of the tempest: not by chance, Lear’s madness reaches the
peak in the night of the tempest, when the situation is overturned.
The imaginary trial: even if it doesn’t contribute to the story, the

imaginary trial of Lear’s daughters is a very important scene, that gives
the narration an elevated dramatic intensity.
physical and mental blindness: Gloucester’s physical blindness mirrors

Lear’s mental blindness and both, with it, manage to understand their
mistakes.
“ I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.
To EDGAR
Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;
To the Fool
And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side:
To KENT
you are o' the commission,
Sit you too. ”.[…]
Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my
oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the
poor king her father.[…]
And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape?
– King Lear (Act III, Scene VI)

Representation
of Nature
The theme of the nature emerge when the characters are
facing some kind of internal struggle.
Edmund blames the stars;
The storm is the symbol of Lear’s anger and frustration

Scala Naturae
(Chain of Being)
The great chain of being is a hierarchical system of divine order.
God ruled on creation;
Kings rule earthly kingdoms.
Violation of Order.
“Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!”
– King Lear (Act III, Scene I)

Language used in King Lear
Recurrent imagery used to emphasize themes, characterize, to

contrast characters, to create atmosphere;
Motifs to emphasize themes;
Reiteration, which stresses and reinforces;
Cumulation;
Prose and Rhyme;
Scene setting were created by the language for the imagination.

Film adaptation
1997 - directed by Richard Eyre,

King Lear is performed by Ian
Holm.
2008 - with Ian McKellen in the role

of King Lear and Jonathan Hyde in
the role of the Duke of Kent.

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King Lear

“speak what we feel,

Goneril, Regan and Cordelia: Lear’s daughters, they

The Fool: the jester of Lear’s court, he will be his

Earl of Kent: one of Lear’s subjects, he will remain

Earl of Gloucester: another subject of King Lear,

Edmund: Gloucester’s bastard son, he will plot

Edgar: Gloucester’s legitimate son, he will be forced

The Fool and his function

Wicked, represented by the character of Edmund, who is unsatisfied

Healthy, represented by King Lear’s character. He’s an aging and

–Edmund (Act I, Scene II)

The alliance between Goneril and Regan: their relationship isn’t of

The jester, or fool, was an entertainer during

Shakespeare’s fools are similar to common jesters,

They don’t limit themselves to only entertainment,

Lear’s alter-ego and caretaker

– Fool (Act I, Scene III)

Character: King Lear

The imaginary trial: even if it doesn’t contribute to the story, the

physical and mental blindness: Gloucester’s physical blindness mirrors

– King Lear (Act III, Scene VI)

Edmund blames the stars;

The storm is the symbol of Lear’s anger and frustration

The great chain of being is a hierarchical system of divine order.

God ruled on creation;

Kings rule earthly kingdoms.

– King Lear (Act III, Scene I)

Recurrent imagery used to emphasize themes, characterize, to

Motifs to emphasize themes;

Reiteration, which stresses and reinforces;

Prose and Rhyme;

Scene setting were created by the language for the imagination.

1997 - directed by Richard Eyre,

2008 - with Ian McKellen in the role

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