Animal Imagery in KING LEAR

[to Goneril] “Detested kite, thou liest.”(I.4.254) “O, Regan, she hath tied Sharp-tooth unkindness, like a vulture, here”(II ) “Each jealous of the other as the stung / Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?(V ) “Those pelican daughters.” (III.4.72) The sisters are continuously associated with aggressive animals and, in the end, they are destroyed by their own animal instincts. REGAN AND GONERIL EDMUND LEAR Like monsters of the deep. Tigers, not daughters. (IV.5.41 and 51)

“We two alone will sing like birds I’the cage”(V.3.9) Lear’s vulnerability is emphasised by his comparison to passive animals, like the “edge- sparrow”. “Is man no more than this? Consider him well.Thou ow’st the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha? Here’s three on’s us are sophisticated; thou art the thing itself. Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings: come, unbutton here.” (III ) Rhetorical question Common nouns (animals) Adjectives Listing Prefix of negation This whole passage includes negative terms, such as the repetition of the negative, the prefix and the preposition. This reinforces Lear’s vulnerability and his negative stream of consciousness, corroborated by the use of caesura and enjambment. “The edge- sparrow fed the cuckoo so long / That it’s had it head bit off by it young.” (I )

Suffering and Madness in KING LEAR

Human Suffering In Odyssey, Zeus says: ‘Ah how shameless - the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves, with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share.’

“You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, As full of grief as age, wretched in both: If it be you that stirs these daughters’ hearts Against their father, fool me not so much To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, And let not women’s weapons, water-drops, Stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural hags, I will have such revenges on you both That all the world shall – I will do such things – What they are yet I know not, but they shall be The terrors of the earth! You think I’ll weep, No, I’ll not weep. Storm and Tempest. I have full cause of weeping, but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws Or e’er I’ll weep. O fool, I shall go mad.” (II ) Evocation Contrast ParenthesisContrasts with “poor old man” Hyperbole Pathetic Fallacy Hyperbole and metaphor Parenthesis and metaphor This passage is full of contradictions. On the one hand, Lear says he is a poor old man, but seems to think he has divine powers. On the other hand, he underestimates women’s power, but seems to forget that his daughters put him in this situation. Conditional Abstract noun Prefix / negative connotation adj. and noun

The Storm In part, the storm echoes Lear’s inner turmoil and mounting madness: it is a physical, turbulent natural reflection of Lear’s internal confusion. At the same time, the storm embodies the awesome power of nature, which forces the powerless king to recognize his own mortality and human frailty and to cultivate a sense of humility for the first time. The storm may also symbolize some kind of divine justice, as if nature itself is angry about the events in the play.

The Greek Take on Suffering According to the Greeks, the role of suffering in human life is clear: mathos pathei (learning [new self-awareness & knowledge] through suffering) In “King Lear”, most of the characters suffer. They react to suffering in different ways: - Some harden their hearts - Some indulge in violence - Some try to alleviate others’ suffering

King Lear & Suffering: the sadness of old age Lear makes a big mistake - he gives up his throne, but still expects to be treated as powerful. He rages against his own pain until his sanity cracks. He dies without being able to profit from his learning through suffering.

Madness Madness / insanity occupies a central place in the play and is associated with both disorder and hidden wisdom. Edgar’s feigned insanity also contains nuggets of wisdom for the king to mine. Meanwhile, Edgar’s time as a supposedly insane beggar hardens him and prepares him to defeat Edmund at the close of the play. “He childed as I fathered.” (III.6.107) The Fool, who offers Lear insight in the early sections of the play, offers his counsel in a seemingly mad babble. “Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away.” (I ) When Lear himself goes mad, the turmoil in his mind mirrors the chaos that has descended upon his kingdom. At the same time, however, it also provides him with important wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity, stripped of all royal pretensions. Lear learns humility. “man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal” (III )

“Most savage and unnatural” Human nature Nature (the elements: earth, sea, wind and fire, which can be associated to the gods) Natural order (divine order) “Thou, Nature, art my goddess” Nature in KING LEAR

Law and order “Take away order from things, what then should remain?” Tudor England is obsessed with the idea of order and hierarchy, and terrified of anarchy and change. People believed the world was made of a ‘great chain of being’, which stretched down from the angels to humans, and from humans to the beasts and plants. In this pyramid, society is unequal but everyone and everything has their divinely ordained place. The metaphors used to describe society – ‘body politic’ or ‘tree of the commonwealth’ – emphasise the organic unity of life.

In 1577, William Harrison, a country parson begins his account of society: Gentlemen - Everyone from nobles to professionals Citizens of the cities – Free men with special privileges. Yeomen of the countryside. Poor – Day labourers, servants and vagrants (who have no voice or authority).

Malign and Misread Nature The dominance of evil characters might lead us to feel that nature is a cruel force in King Lear. Cruelty seems to come naturally to Regan, Goneril and Edmund, who seem to delight in it. For these characters, there is no natural order, they seek to create their own selfish universe. Lear transgresses against natural order when he fails to recognise Cordelia’s honesty. CHARACTERS’ TRUE NATURES ARE MISREAD. EDMUND > “Loyal and natural boy” CORDELIA > “a wretch whom nature is ashamed almost t’acknowledge”

Benign Nature Kent, Fool, Edgar and Cordelia are all good natured characters. This group believe in NATURAL ORDER, which they struggle to restore. “All blest secrets, All you unpublished virtues of the earth, Spring with my tears. Be aidant and remediate In the good man's distress. Seek, seek for him, Lest his ungoverned rage dissolve the life That wants the means to lead it.” (IV ) Lear’s unnatural dealings leads to unnatural dealings in others. CORDELIA BUT

Malign Nature The dominance of evil characters might lead us to feel that nature is a cruel force in King Lear. EDMUND suggests that nature is malevolent: “Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom, and permit The curiosity of nations deprive me? For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous and my shape as true As honest madam’s issue?” (I.2.1-9) This soliloquy suggests that if nature was against Edmund’s intentions, it would have made him very different and inferior to his brother Edgar.

Malign Nature Interprets natural phenomena as a sign of bad times ahead: These late eclipses in the sun and moon Portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of Nature Can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools friendship Falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in Countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond Cracked twixt son and father. This villain of mine Comes under the prediction – there’s son against father. The king falls from bias of nature – there’s father Against child. We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery and all ruinous Disorders follow us disquietly to our graves.(I ) GLOUCESTER

Religion Protestants (Calvinists) Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation. I am only doing what He wants! This is God’s will!

Religion Protestants (Arminianists). Salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond) - man's response being the determining factor. God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation. Where is that “whore of Babylon”? Time to hunt!

Religion Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony Lust Sloth Envy Greed Pride Wrath Which one is Lear’s sin?

Malign Nature? “when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeits of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and the stars, as if we were villains on Necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves and treachers by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that are evil in by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star.” (I ) Nature only reflects men’s mistakes! EDMUND ARMINIANISM

Malign Nature? “O most small fault, How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show, Which like an engine wrenched my frame of nature From the fixed place” (I ) This shows the seriousness of Lear’s crimes against nature and natural order. LEAR Look at Act

Hear, Nature, hear, dear goddess, hear: Suspend thy purpose if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful. Into her womb convey sterility, Dry up in her the organs of increase, And from her derogate body never spring A babe to honour her. If she must teem, Create her child of spleen, that it may live, And be a thwart disnatured torment to her. Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth, With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks, Turn all her mother's pains and benefits To laughter and contempt, that she may feel How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child. Away, away! Evocation Conditional Imperatives Adjectives Prefix of negation Metaphor Caesura Nouns Female body often associated with mystery and evil. Mother Effect on child LEAR’S PRAYER

Ha! Goneril, with a white beard? They flattered me like a dog and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay‘ and 'no' to every thing that I said 'Ay' and 'no‘ to was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they are not men o' their words: they told me I was everything; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof. (IV ) LEAR In his madness, Lear sees Regan and Goneril’s true nature.