Term
The way of the world
"I stumbled when I saw"
- Gloucester
The events of the play cause Gloucester to see the world in a different way, he understands that the system of the society was flawed. |
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Definition
| Kermode - thinks that Gloucester's "murmurings about the state of the world reflect the mood of the play" |
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Term
Animal instincts
"Come not between a dragon and his wrath"
- Lear
For the audience becoming like an animal was loosing control, Lear let his emotions rise above her and so became an animal |
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Definition
| Kermode - says that in a society people will "prey upon themselves like animals", play represents the destruction of society. |
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Term
Nature of tragedy
"Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill"
- Fool
Theme of following someone's tragedy,this is essentially what happens when we watch a tragedy play. Yet we do not run the risk of being brought down with Lear, unlike Kent. |
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Definition
| Nuttal - thinks we get enjoyment from watching tragedy plays. "Enjoyed discomfort" |
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Term
Madness/Women
'Down from the waist they are centaurs... There's hell, there's darkness'
Lear's sexist description of women reveals that he associates all women with something unpleasant, in which would not be said had he been sane. |
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Definition
Mack - Lear can be privileged in madness to say things |
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Term
Madness + Language
"When the mind's free, the body's delicate. This tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else" - Lear
-Lear discussing his mental torment in more detailed language |
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Definition
"The apparant unreason of the Fool and Poor Tom and the ravings of the mad King, where the imaginations of folly flood into the language and give it a violent local colour" - Frank Kermode. 'King Lear', 2000. |
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Term
'And with present nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky'
- Edgar / Poor Tom
- Willing to let nature deal with him and this problem that he is facing, letting go of humanity in the physical sense but not mentally. |
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Definition
| Kermode - Suggests that the play is a demonstration of how humanity reduces itself when dealing with extremities. |
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