Study Questions for King Lear - Fall
2006
1. The story of King Leir that came down to Shakespeare
was set in approximately 800 BCE (Before Common
Era). Use Google or some other search engine or your
own knowledge to find other items that are dated from, say, 1100 to 700
BCE.
2. Look up the term feudal in
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) http://dictionary.oed.com/.
What is central to its meaning? And when did it begin
to be used?
4. Does King Lear make a mistake by giving away his kingdom? How can you decide what to think about this question? How does the play seem to answer it? Does the play have more than one answer? Do you think historical information would help? What would you need to know?
5. What about a father? Do you think
it would be a mistake or a good idea for parents to give property to children
while the parents are still alive?
6. The play is pre-Christian as well
as pre-feudal. Do you see any Christian ideas or patterns in the
play?
7. What is “glib and oily art” (I, i, 225, p.
11)? What is its opposite?
8. When Cordelia says "Time
shall unfold what plighted cunning hides" (I, i, 281, p. 13), what does she
imply?
9. Look up the word bond in the OED. Can
you find any definitions or examples of usage that you think help to interpret
King Lear? What does Cordelia mean when she says she
loves her father according to her bond (I, i, 90, p. 6)? What does
10. How does Edmund use the words
nature and natural (I, ii, 1 ff., p. 14); unnatural (II, i, 49, p.
37)? What about Lear (I, i, 212, p. 10)? What do you make of
Lear’s suggestion that they “anatomize Regan” to “see what breeds about her
heart”? He wants to know whether there is “any cause in nature that
makes these hard hearts” (III, vi, 71 ff., p. 77). Track on other uses of these
terms.
11. The idea of service is of fundamental importance in
the play. Who uses the words serve and service? What
does authority have to do with service? What sort of relationship
do these words outline? Do they belong to family or state?
both? neither?
12. Characterize
13. Is it possible to think of the
storm (III, pp. 59 ff.) as both literal and figurative?
14. Filial ingratitude: Find
instances of the play’s interest in filial ingratitude.(See, for example, III,
iv, 14 ff., p. 67; see also "thankless child" I, iv, 273, p.
31.)
15. What does "unaccommodated man" mean (III, iv,
98, p. 70)? Why is it contrasted with "sophisticated"?
Is the concept of “man” possible without the idea of
accommodation?
16. At several
points, the play seems to foretell remedies or restorations (Kent reads letter
from Cordelia: II, ii, 153-161, p. 46; word comes of an army from France: III,
i, 30, p. 60; Gloucester advises that they "drive toward
Dover" for Lear's protection: III, vi, 85 ff., pp. 77ff.;
Cordelia prays for Earth’s natural remedies: IV, iv, 15ff.,
p. 94); a gentleman calls Cordelia the “one daughter / Who
redeems nature”: IV, vi, 200, p. 104; Edmund says, “Some good
I mean to do, / Despite of mine own nature”: V, iii, 242-3, p. 125). What is the
function of these promises in the play? What happens to them by the end of
the play?
17. There are a number of powerful curses in the play
(e.g.,“Here I disclaim all my paternal care” (I, i, 110 ff., p. 7) and “Into her
womb convey sterility” (I, iv, 2262 ff., pp. 30-1). What is the
function of these curses?
18. What can you say about the blinding of
19. Do the meeting and
reconciliation of Lear and Cordelia (IV, vii, pp. 107ff) bring a sense of
resolution to the play?
20. Goneril’s and Regan’s ambition
is degraded by the plot of the play into a competition for Edmund.
The state almost becomes a prize to attract him with. (See V, i, 5 ff.,
p. 112). What happens to their stature as they become sisters
quarreling over a potential lover?
21. The language about women, particularly
in relation to women’s sexuality and reproductive capacity, is searing,
strident, scabrous. What do you make of this language?
How do you account for it in your interpretation of the
play?
22. Could Lear have been a
play about a father and sons or a mother and daughters (with parallel changes in
the subplot)? Why?
23. What if Goneril, Regan, and
Cordelia’s mother had been in the play? Why do you think there are
no marital pairs in the older generation?
24. The play ends (p. 128) with Edgar
speaking:
The weight of this sad time we must
obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to
say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are
young
Shall never see so much, nor live so
long.
Exeunt, with a dead march