Senior English 243: ShakespeareName:
William Shakespeare’s King Lear Reading #8: 4.5-4.7
[Note that all questions use The Folger Shakespeare Library’s edition of the play for line citations.]
4.5
Here is a scene about the sisters’ rivalry for Edmund and the coming battle between England (Albany’s army) and France are, as Harbage writes, “subsidiary to the central interest, the reconciliation and death of Lear and Cordelia” (A Reader’s Guide to William Shakespeare, 424).
- In competition with her sister, Goneril, what is “this note” (33) that she advises Oswald to share with her?
- What does Regan suggest that Oswald should do, if he meets “that blind traitor” (41), Gloucester?
- What is “the great ignorance” (4.5.11), or mistake, that Regan confesses to? (Or, how is Gloucester a threat to “us” (13), the side of England in the upcoming battle with France?)
4.6
- Gloucester notices that Edgar’s speech is “altered and thou speak’st / In better phrase and matter than thou didst” (4.6.10-11). What might account for Poor Tom/Edgar’s slipping into “better spoken” (14) English?
- When Edgar says, “Ho you, sir! Friend, hear you” (57), he is likely to be speaking in yet another different accent. Why? What’s going on? (Or, why does he say, “Thy life’s a miracle. Speak yet again” (69)?)
- Explain Edgar’s reasoning to his father in, “Think that the clearest gods who make them honors / Of men’s impossibilities, have preserved thee (90-91).
- There is (to quote Polonius) a method to Lear’s madness. At first, Lear sees Gloucester as “Goneril with a white beard” (115), thinking about his daugters. Why does Lear want to “Let copulation (sex) thrive” (132)—and how does this recall Edmund’s opening speech in 1.2?
- Gloucester recognizes Lear and wants to kiss his king’s hand, what does Lear mean by his response, “Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality” (148)?
- When the Gentleman sees Lear (“O, here he is” (206)), he says to him “Sir, / Your most dear daughter—“ (207-8) and is cut off by Lear. What do you imagine he was about to say?
- After he kills Oswald, Edgar reads the letter that Goneril’s servant asks him to give “To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester” (278). What’s in the letter?
- As Gloucester is “within a foot / Of th’ extreme verge” (31-32) of the cliff, Edgar says, “Why I do trifle thus with his despair / Is done to cure it” (42-43). What is his meaning/intention?
- The reunion with Gloucester brings together the two stories and produces one of the most meaningful passages of the play. Lear to Gloucester:
I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester.
Thou must be patient. We came crying hither;
Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air
We wawl and cry…
When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools. (195-201)
Briefly reflect on this short speech of Lear’s.
- Gloucester’s Change (?)
- What does Gloucester mean in, “You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; / Let not my worser spirit tempt me again /To die before you please” (241-43)?
- When Oswald sees his “proclaimed prize” (253), Gloucester responds by saying, “Now let thy friendly hand / Put strength enough to ‘t”(258-59), how does this seem to contradict his previous statement to “the ever-gentle gods”?
4.7
- What is Cordelia saying in the following speech, just after she sees her father: “Had you not been there father, these white flakes / Did challenge pity of them. Was this a face / To be opposed against the jarring winds?” (4.7.36-38).
- Lear to Cordelia:
You do me wrong to take me out o’ th’ grave.
Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire that my own tears
Do scald like molten lead. (51-54)
Where does he imagine they both are?
- Lear says to Cordelia, “You have some cause; they (Goneril and Regan) do not” (85), to which Cordelia responds, “No cause, no cause” (85). Summarize this moment.
- Finally, Lear says to his daughter, “Pray you now, forget, and forgive. I am old and foolish” (99). Is this the redemption that makes all previous suffering meaningful?