FISE DE CITAT

King Lear was too fresh and real for audiences after the Restoration in 1660 of the monarch
Charles II(son of Charles I), when the professional theatres were allowed to reopen.Audiences
had been enough tragedy in real life, and in the theatre they wanted comedy instead.The
psychological and emotional complexities of the play for both actors and audiences kept King
Lear off the professional London stage beginning in 1681, when it was replaced by Nahum Tates
sentimentalized, tragicomic adaptation, in which Lear survives and betroths his daughter
Cordelia to Edgar at the plays conclusion.Shakespeares version of the play remained off the
stage for 150 years.During this long period of oblivion, literary critics attempted to justify
Shakespeares methods and the seemingly excessive cruelty in them, but they saw his King Lear
through the prism of the bloody English civil war and the cultural values of the subsequent
Restoration and Enlightenment. (Grace Ioppolo, 2003:4)

It is significant that the absolutist notion here that kings have something approaching divine
knowledge is of course thoroughly undermined by Shakespeare in Cymbeline, a tragicomedy in
which the player king is easily led astray by outward beauty and practiced flattery.Unlike this
portrait, the play seems to suggest that a royal commitment to peace is praiseworthy,but that a
royal claim to godlike omniscience is absurd. (P.M.Simonds, 1992:22)

A play in which the wicked prosper, and the virtuous miscarry, may doubtless be good, because
it is just a representation of the common events of human life: but since all reasonable beings
naturally love justice, I cannot easily be persuaded that the observation of justice makes a play
worse: or, that if other excellencies are equal, the audience will not always rise better pleased
from the final triumph of persecuted virtue. (S.W.Singer, 1826:547)

A confusion of times, places, and manners, with the ceremonial of old mythology and the
sentiments of Christian chivalry, the heroic deeds of earlier, and the liberal ideas of later
periods, blended together without restraint and in the order merely of inherent fitness; the play is
of course replete with improbable incidents; yet the improbability is everywhere softened by
distance, and even made grateful by the romantic sweetnesss, the sober wisdom,and the pathetic
tenderness, that still spring up fresh and free in its course. (P.F.Collier&Son, 1912:23)

In Cymbeline, however, Posthumus, rather than the dismembered Cloten, becomes the prophet
when he falls asleep and dreams of a descent by Jupiter, who leaves behind a tablet prophesying
happy events in the future(and incidentally proving that his descent was real).This tablet will be
misinterpreted later by the Roman Soothsayer, who has no way of knowing that he understands
to be a Roman symbol, the eagle, will soon be transformed into a symbol of Christ and His
Church, or that the future James I will think of himself as the new Augustus Caesar in England
during the early seventeenth century. (P.M.Simonds, 1992:76)

FISE DE REZUMAT
Shakespeares play, King Lear, was too real for the audience because they had enough tragedy in
their lives.He also thinks that King Lear was seen by the audiences through the perception of the
English civil war.(Ioppolo, 2003:4)

In Shakespeares Cymbeline, king can be easily led by the outward beauty but he is not
approaching divine knowledge. (Simonds, 1992:22)

A play in which the wicked prosper cant be good because an observation of justice , sometimes,
makes the play worse than it is.(Singer, 1826:547)

The play is a combination of times, places , manners and old mythology, and its scope is to
create confusion. Improbability is everywhere and its attenuate by the distance and romantic
distance.(Colliers, 1912:23)

Posthumus becomes a prophet by falling asleep and dreaming the happy moments in the
future.The tablet he saw in his dream is interpreted in a incorrect manner by Roman
Soothsayer.Soothsayer doesnt know that he will become a new symbol in the future. (Simonds,
1992:76)

FISE DE PARAFRAZARE
Ioppolo thinks that Shakespeares play, King Lear, was too real for the audience because they
had enough tragedy in their lives.For this reason they wanted to see comedies, and so
Shakespeares play was replaced by the play of Nahum Tate, which is actually a adaptation of
King Lear.He also thinks that King Lear was seen by the audiences through the perception of the
English civil war.(2003:4)

Simonds says that in Shakespeares Cymbeline,which is a tragicomedy the king can be easily led
by the beauty from outside but he cannot approach the divine knowledge. (1992:22)

Singers opinion is that a play in which the wicked prosper cant be good because an observation
of justice , sometimes, makes the play worse than it is. A play which presents common
situations from peoples lives is worse.(1826:547)

Collier thinks that the play consists of an amalgam of times, places and manners which creates
confusion.Mythological influences as Christian chivalry are found through all the play. The
heroic deeds and the liberal ideas makes the reader think that the improbability is introduced
everywhere in a subtle manner with the help of the romantic situation and distance.(1912:23)

According to Simonds, Posthumus suits better in the role of the prophet than Cloten.He dreams a
tablet left behind by one of the Jupiters descent, prophesying a happy future, but the tablet will
be interpreted incorrectly by Roman Soothsayer who doesnt know the fact that he will be a
symbol in the future.(1992:76)