Tag Archives: King Lear

I revisited Stanley Cavell’s essay “The Avoidance of Love” today. I found a profound spiritual insight in its reading of King Lear. Cavell argues that we can answer the play’s nagging questions with an easy solution. Why does Lear act as he does in Act 1? Or Cordelia? Or Gloucester in response to Edmund’s claims?Continue reading “Avoiding God”

King Lear is a play about what comes next. Will the next generation transform the work of the previous generation and bring greater glory to the kingdom? Or will the next generation squander its inheritance and lose everything the older generation gained? The play’s final lines offer an answer. The weight of this sad timeContinue reading “King Lear: Theme”

William G. Elton’s King Lear and the Gods (1966) exemplifies “history of ideas” scholarship. Most critics, Elton claims, read the play as sympathetic to Christianity. In contrast, Elton sees the play as a paganized version of a Christian play. Shakespeare adapted the Lear story from an earlier King Leir, emptied it of Christian allusions, andContinue reading “King Lear and the Gods Part 1”

Scene one is all about Edmund. First, he asserts his power over both Goneril and Regan. Second, he pledges wrath to Lear and Cordelia. Gloucester appears for the final time in Scene two. He tells his son, “Grace go with you, sir.” Gloucester has found a measure of redemption, just like Lear. Cordelia and LearContinue reading “King Lear: Act 5 Commentary”

Act 4 transitions from wrath to grace. If the play ended with scene seven, it would be a comedy. Gloucester recognizes his sins: “I stumbled when I saw.” He adds, “O dear son Edgar, The food of thy abused father’s wrath, / Might I live to see thee in my touch, / I’d say IContinue reading “King Lear: Act 4 Commentary”

Shakespeare connects the unsettled kingdoms of Britain with the troubled natural world. Inside the court, political intrigue rains. Outside the castles, the heavens rain. In scene two, King Lear contrasts his daughters with the heavens. He doesn’t blame the sky for pelting him with rain because it, unlike his daughters, had no obligation to him.Continue reading “King Lear: Act 3 Commentary”

In scene one, Edmund preys on his father’s and Edgar’s fears by appealing to religion and politics. He tells Gloucester that Edgar wants him dead, even though “the revenging gods / ‘Gainst parricides did all the thunder bend.” He tells Edgar that the Duke of Cornwall seeks his life and implies Edgar has taken theContinue reading “King Lear: Act 2 Commentary”

Lear’s advisors don’t know his plan for dividing his kingdom. The play begins with Kent and Gloucester wondering whether Albany or Cornwall is Lear’s favorite. Of course, the rest of the scene shows that the husbands don’t matter much. Lear is more worried about his daughters. The opening scene compares earthly and heavenly inheritance. GonerilContinue reading “King Lear: Act 1 Commentary”

Here is a brief overview of the five main symbols in King Lear. HEAVEN This symbol of transcendence has two meanings in play: grace and wrath. Positively, the heavens are a source of temper, patience, benediction, and sweetness. Cordelia most embodies these heavenly virtues. We are told “holy water” drops “from her heavenly eyes.” AsContinue reading “King Lear: Symbols”

PLOT Lear banishes the daughter who loves him (Cordelia) and gives his kingdom to his two unloving daughters. The daughters ignore the provisos of his inheritance and banish him. Meanwhile, Gloucester, an adviser of Lear’s, believes his “unlawful” son Edmund’s slander about Edgar, his legitimate son; Edgar gets banished before Gloucester discovers Edmund’s the villain.Continue reading “King Lear: Plot and Context”