EA 190 Week 7 Outline EA 190 Shakespeare & Japan Week 6b lecture (actually given week 7, 2013) I. The political and religious situation of Shakespeare and King James I A. Noted last time: right at this time King James is trying to reunify England and Scotland 1. the prehistoric King Lear (or Leir) is supposed to have divided his kingdom into three (Albany= Scotland to the north; Cornwall = south; Cordelia = the center, where Lear expects to retire); this division was disastrous for the country 2. King James will repair the mistake Lear made. B. Underlying assumption that the king as “head of the body politic/state” = father as “head of the household” (this is similar to Neo-Confucian beliefs) 1. Fathers and kings should command the respect of their children and subjects. (Does this happen in King Lear?) 2. BUT fathers and kings should also be worthy of respect, and think well about their children and subjects. (Both Lear and Gloucester eventually realize that they have not done this, both with respect to their children and to their poverty stricken subjects.) 3. HOWEVER, according to James I, even if the king is not worthy of respect, because he rules by “divine right,” he should not be overthrown. a. This is a tricky point. But Shakespeare clearly indicates that even though Lear makes disastrous mistakes in judgment, his betrayal and overthrow by his daughters is not justified. C. From the spring of 1585 through the summer of 1586 a series of public exorcisms were performed by Catholic priests, led by Jesuit William Weston, known as Father Edmunds. Possession by fiends or devils was popularly understood as a cause of insanity. By “casting out” the devils that possessed the person, they could be restored to sanity. 1. However, as part of the exclusion of Catholicism from England, there was a movement to show that exorcisms by Catholic priests were actually faked (performance) meant to inspire faith in the gullible and naïve. a. In 1603, long after the priests involved had been arrested and punished, Samuel Harsnett, chaplain to the bishop of London, wrote A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures in which he gave detailed accounts of each possession, explaining how they were frauds. 2. In King Lear, Edgar disguises himself as the mad beggar Tom O’Bedlam, and indicates that he is being possessed by various fiends and demons. We know Shakespeare read this essay, because the names of all of these demons come from Harsnett. 3. In King Lear possession madness is clearly marked as faked (Edgar is not actually insane or possessed), so the audience is being reminded that possession is literally a theatrical performance. Later in the play, after Edgar deceives his father into thinking that he has jumped off the cliffs at Dover, and somehow survived through a miracle, he tells his father that Tom o’Bedlam was actually a demonic fiend. [4.6. 85-97, p. 201] D. Primogeniture as the structural motivation for the Edgar/Edmund plot It is the system of primogeniture that sets up the murderous competition btw Edmund and Edgar (whose names are nearly interchangeable). 1. What is primogeniture? 2. Works this way in Ran as well. II. Late tragedies by Shakespeare: King Lear, Macbeth, Othello A. From King Lear onward, Shakespeare stops providing any clear back-story for most of his characters, a back-story that might explain their actions. It is clear he does this on purpose, since there is usually a clear motive provided in the source Shakespeare used to write his play. 1. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth 2. Why does Iago hate Othello so much? 3. What did Lear do to Goneril and Regan for them to hate him so much? 4. Even if Edmund has reason to resent his brother, why does Edmund hate his father so much he is willing to let Cornwall gouge his eyes out? B. Effect of the lack of psychological motivation:. III. Is Shakespeare following the conventions of tragedy, or flouting them? My position: Shakespeare expects you do know the conventions of tragedy, and he uses that knowledge to manipulate you. A. The convention of exposition: that as quickly and smoothly as possible in the first act the playwright is supposed to give us our bearings, to let us know who's who and what's what, who we're supposed to root for, and who we're supposed to be booing. QUESTION: The opening scene (1.1) with Gloucester, Kent and Edmund. Do we know who to root for by the end of the scene? 1. Would you think that Gloucester was the good guy and Edmund the bad guy just from this opening? 2. What has Gloucester done for Edmund? 3. What does this first impression do? 4. Later point that Edgar (who tends to try to moralize everything) makes with regard to his father: “The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices B. What do we find out about Lear in Act 1 Scene 2? 1. list characteristics
C. How long does it take us to really get that Goneril and Regan are bad? If you just looked at this scene, what negative things might you say about Cordelia? 1. Goneril and Regan D. Why is Lear dividing his kingdom and marrying off Cordelia at the same time? 1. One explanation along the lines of a Freudian family dynamic: daughters leave the household when they marry -- they switch their loyalty and love from their father to their husband. 2. If Lear marries Cordelia off, where does he expect to go? 3. Cordelia recognizes what Lear is doing, and refuses to go along with it. [1.1.105-115, p. 13] E. If Shakespeare was intending to show us who to root for, he appears to have failed. So what is he doing? 1. We’ll see this in Ran as well. 2. Right at the start, implicit criticisms of the inequalities of social structures such as marriage, primogeniture -- they are hidden causes of the subsequent tragic developments.
IV. Belief and skepticism in King Lear From a modern perspective, King Lear seems to be asking the question: is there a god or gods who care what happens to human beings? Is there such a thing as justice in this world? This is a difficult question to ask straightforwardly in Shakespeare’s time because it would have been considered blasphemous. A. Not long before King Lear was written, using the lord’s name in vain or any kind of blasphemy (especially implying that there is no God) on stage was outlawed. How does setting the story in a prehistoric Britain allow Shakespeare to get around this? 1. B. Two world views in King Lear (skepticism vs faith). In Ran we will see the conflicting views of skepticism and Buddhism. 1. That the gods/fortune's wheel/stars-astrology determine our fate -- and that the gods punish those who are bad, and reward those who are good. There is divine intervention. 2. The skeptics position; that human suffering is caused by humans, and that fortune or the gods or nature have nothing to do with it. 3. Who are the characters who seem to believe in skepticism, at least initially?
4. Who are the characters who believe in the gods, at least initially? C. Examples of Skepticism: 1. Edmund “This is the excellent foppery of the world...” D. Characters who believe in fortune/astrology/gods: GLOUCESTER: 1. [1.2.108-121, p. 35] Gloucester comes in and says that oracles predict disaster. “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us...` 2. Before his eyes are put out he says 3. Gloucester comes to believe that the gods are simply playing with man: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, EDGAR: 1. Continuously moralizes both as himself and as Tom o'Bedlam. Typical moralizing speeches by Edgar: [3.6.111-120, p. 157] [4.1. 1-6, p. 171] Even after his father shows up blind, instead of revealing himself to his father, and comforting him, he goes off with him to Dover to commit suicide. Why? "Thy Life's a Miracle" [4.6.69, p. 199] But what happens when he finally reveals himself to his father? [5.3. 217-234, pp. 249-51] LEAR: 2. Divine right of kings [1.1.120. p. 15] Swears to the gods an oath banishing Cordelia [1.4. 289-303, pp. 59-61] Cursing Goneril with sterility [2.4.180-190, p. 109] (cursing Goneril again) [2.4.313-315, p. 117] [2.4.218, p. 111] [3.2.] [3.2.52-63 p. 131] KENT: [4.3.38-41, p. 187]
C. Which position does Shakespeare take? 1. Are any prayers heard? Any attempts to explain events shown to be true? 2. Fortune's wheel becomes a rack in which Gloucesters eyes are gouged out; or a metaphorical wheel of fire that Lear is being tortured upon at the end of the play. 3. Edgar's attempts to teach his father to believe through miraculous jump a. fail in the long term 4. What happens in the end? Why does Cordelia die? Edgar: [5.3.204-207, p. 249] Edmund: And after Edgar describes his father’s death, Edgar says: When Edmund hears that Goneril and Regan are dead: Then Kent walks in and asks where Lear and Cordelia are. [5.3.282, p. 253] Edmund says [291-295]: Albany says "The gods defend her!" The silence of “nothingness” that is played upon throughout the play, becomes the silence of the gods at the end: Lear [[5.3.319-21, p. 257] But Cordelia is Kent: Is this the promised end? Weak last attempt by Albany: And then one more moral by Edgar. Many early critics objected to the ending: Bradley: the catastrophe, "does not seem at all inevitable...In fact it seems expressly Is there any supranatural or supernatural force that will intercede for human beings? IV. So what is the lesson learned, if any? A. Class discussion B. Metaphor of motherhood: Edgar says about himself: But is Edgar “pregnant to good pity?” C. Does Lear learn compassion? Fool tells him: Lear: [2.4. 62-64, p. 101] Scene outside Tom o' Bedlam's hut Gloucester, after his eyes are gouged out, and thinks he is going to commit suicide offers his purse to Edgar, thinking him a mad beggar: IV. Class discussion on imagery in King Lear I'd like you to think about imagery in King Lear. Pick ONE of the following kinds of imagery in the play and note all the instances you can find (lines and page numbers). Pick two of the images you've found (not just the first two you run into please!), quote the lines in which the image appears, and discuss what you think that image means in the specific context and in the wider context of the play. c. Clothing and nakedness: how do clothes "make the man" in King Lear? How are clothes related to power? Why does Lear take off his clothing when he goes mad? d. Nothing and nothingness: When Cordelia replies "nothing" to her father's request to tell him how much she loves him, he says "Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again." From this moment onward, the idea of nothing, nothingness, naught, zero (a mathematical concept which had only just been introduced) appears repeatedly. What is the effect of all this nothinginess? e. Animal imagery: used to describe Goneril and Regan, especially.
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