Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

King Lear Extract 1 Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 35 to 78

This extract comes right after the conversation between Gloucester and Kent to create tension in the audiences regarding the division of the kingdom. In this extract, we will see the division of Lears kingdom among three of his daughters through a love test. The love test is simply a procedure where each of Lears daughters has to profess their love for him to get a share of his kingdom. The more exaggerated their praise, the larger the division of kingdom they can expect to receive. After this extract, we will be brought to Cordelias turn in the love test where she does not flatter Lear with exaggerated praises leading to her banishment together with Kent. In my commentary, I will be focusing on the characterization of Lear, characterization of Goneril and Regan and the characterization of Cordelia.

Firstly, in the characterization of Lear, we are exposed to the prestige and authoritative power that Lear wields as seen from the use of royal plural we. Lears speech is also in the form of blank verses which indicate that he is a high born character with authority and power at that point in time. This is significant because Lears authority and power are shown to degrade over the course of the play as seen in A3S4 during the storm scene where he ceases to use royal plurals and his speech descends into that of a prose. Lear is very superficial causing him to be blind to the truth. His logic is flawed as he thinks that the daughter who praises him most should love him the most. This is ironic as Cordelia who spoke nothing was the only daughter who truly loved him from the bottom of her heart. This is seen in Which of you shall we say doth love us most displaying his superficial character. Furthermore, Lear is extremely stubborn and has his say in all matters. This can be seen from Know that we have divided which tells us that the kingdom has already been divided before hand and it is ironic to even hold a meeting for the love test to take place. His stubbornness is also seen in the phrases, fast intent and constant will which reflect his firm and unwavering decision to divide the kingdom. Despite having power and authority, Lears tragic flaw which is his vanity and ego prevents him from seeing the truth. This is a characteristic of all Shakespearean tragedy, where the main protagonist of high social standing is led to his downfall due to his tragic flaw. This is reflected in Darker purpose at the start of the extract. The phrase darker purpose has a sinister feeling to it and it foreshadows Lears tragic downfall because of his abdication which is to go against Gods will leading to social, moral and political chaos. During the Victorian era, people follows the Elizabethan world view which states that God is the highest rank in the system, followed by angels, King, men and animals and plants. By abdicating his throne as seen in To shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths, unburdened crawl toward death, it shows that Lear is trying to free himself from the burden and his foolishness is seen here probably because of old age. He claims that his actions will prevent future strives from happening however this is ironic because the division of the kingdom is the main catalyst for the strife and conflict that will be shown in the play. What Lear has done is going against Gods will as the King is mandated by God and by giving up on throne, social, political and moral chaos will occur. Dramatic tension is build up in the audiences in this part because the Elizabethan world view does not support what Lear is doing so they would expect a tragedy to occur in the later part of the extract.

Now I will be speaking about the characterization of Goneril and Regan. Goneril is the eldest daughter of the family however she does not show as much care and compassion as compared to Cordelia towards Lear. In the extract there are many occasions where Goneril praises Lear excessively to obtain a division of his kingdom. They are Sir, I do love you more than word can wield the matter and A love that makes breath poor and speech unable. These two phrases are ironic because Goneril mentions that she loves Lear more than word can wield the matter, stating that words are unable to truly describe how she feels. However she continues to talk a lot in flowery language contradictory to what she has just mentioned. The statement A love that makes breath poor and speech unable is also ironic just like the previous one. Goneril claims that her speech makes her out of breath causing her to be unable to speak, however she persists in her flattering of Lear and shows that she does not mean what she says. Goneril is also portrayed to be materialistic from Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare showing that she measures love by something concrete. From her speech, we can see that Goneril is hypocritical, materialistic and shrewd because she knows about Lears weakness against flattery and goes all out to exploit him. Regan on the other hand is the second daughter of Lear and in the beginning of her speech, she states that she is the same as her older sister, Goneril as seen in Sir I am made of that self mettle as my sister. Mettle is a pun which can be spelt as metal indicating that she is hard and cold just like her sister Goneril and this is seen in the later extract when they conspire together against Lear. Also Regans speeches are empty just like Goneril. In I profess myself an enemy to all other joys we can see that this is a hypocritical statement because she is married herself. By proclaiming such a statement, Regan is declaring that she does not love her husband which is an irony. Therefore we can see that Regan is exactly like Goneril. Both of their statements hold no real meaning and they are simply just exploiting Lear.

Cordelia is a stock character in this play as she represents the virtue of purity and sincerity. Throughout the play, her character does not change. As mentioned by Cordelia, I am sure my loves more ponderous than my tongue. Here Cordelia states that she believes that her deed of love is more significant than her sisters speeches and she stands firm in her decision to not praise Lear like what her sisters had. Poor cordelia evokes sympathy in the audiences as Cordelia seems unwilling to praise Lear. The dramatic tension is heightened even more when Cordelia repeats the word Nothing twice in the later part of this scene. It shows Cordelias unwavering decision, just like her father Lear even though she knows the severe consequences that she may face. This point is emphasized when Cordelia makes use of four negatives Unhappy, cannot, no more and nor less. The tension is created here as the audiences know that Lear is a vain person who needs to be flattered and Cordelias action serves as a premonition to a bad event. Looking from Lears point of view, we can see that he is blind to things around him and this is the first incident where the motif of blindness is introduced. As we can see, Lear would rather believe in Gonerils and Regans flowery tales instead of Cordelias honest words. This shows us of Lears poor sense of judgement and his lack of insight. However the audiences are able to

tell that Cordelia means well for Lear and her sincerity is shown through I love your majesty according to my bond which suggests filial obligation.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen