{"id":319,"date":"2024-04-14T06:28:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=319"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:04:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T17:04:19","slug":"king-lear-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/king-lear-1\/","title":{"rendered":"King Lear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Questions on<br>Shakespeare&#8217;s Tragedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-4f6cdd05 uag-hide-mob\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-dcba7b2a wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-9ae5aeea wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/my-olli-courses-at-unlv\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">OLLI<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-2368e1c6 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-questions\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">QUESTIONS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-040dd0bb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-commentaries\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-57f86fdb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-audio\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">AUDIO<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-1b812369 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-guides\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-d5da63d7 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-links\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-19d28286\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-69502be5 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act1\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0ec42142 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act2\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-6ac70dcb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act3\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-bfd6ecc9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act4\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-55716ff6 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act5\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Shakespeare, William. <em>King Lear.<\/em>&nbsp;Folio with additions from the Quarto. (<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em>&nbsp;3rd ed. Combined text 764-840.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act1\">ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>1. In Act 1, Scene 1, Gloucester introduces his natural son (i.e. a son not born in wedlock) Edmund to Lear\u2019s advisor Kent, and what will soon become the \u201cGloucester sub-plot\u201d gets under way. In what manner does Gloucester introduce Edmund? Why does he make a point of emphasizing the circumstances of this son\u2019s conception in the humorous way that he does? What effect might hearing such language have on Edmund? Also, what do we learn about Edmund at this early point\u2014how close is he to the family? In how much regard is he held?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. In Act 1, Scene 1, does Lear\u2019s division of his kingdom remind you of a fairy tale? If so, in what way? Try writing a brief narrative beginning, \u201cOnce upon a time, there lived an old king who had three daughters \u2026.\u201d Describe your expectations about how the story might end based on Lear\u2019s opening division of the kingdom in the particular manner Shakespeare has contrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. In Act 1, Scene 1, what, if anything, is the problem with Lear\u2019s decision to step aside and to divide his kingdom into thirds? Is dividing his kingdom inherently a bad idea, or is there a flaw in the particular <em>way <\/em>that he does so? Moreover, this is not simply an abdication, so what exactly is the King proposing to retain, and what is he giving up? (See lines 35-39 \u201c\u2019tis our fast intent \u2026\u201d and 127-35 \u201cI do invest you \u2026.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. In Act 1, Scene 1, why does Lear appear to need the public display of affection from his daughters that he apparently imagines he is going to get and\u2014at least when it comes to his eldest Goneril and his middle daughter Regan\u2014does in fact get? What personal need might this display satisfy in the old king? Consider both Goneril and Regan as rhetoricians\u2014what persuasive strategy do they respectively follow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. In Act 1, Scene 1, Cordelia exhibits that common quality of goodness\u2014inability to explain itself, as opposed to the loquaciousness of wickedness. What reasons does Cordelia offer herself and the King for not going along with his request for a public display of affection? If she truly loves her frail old father, why doesn\u2019t she go along with his request? Isn\u2019t this kind of linguistic (and even ethical) fluidity a requirement for anyone involved in politics? Why is Cordelia so dead set against \u201cplaying the game\u201d? Is she right to refuse, or not? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6. In Act 1, Scene 1, Kent speaks truth to Lear\u2019s raging power, and promptly gets himself banished. How good (or bad) is his attempt as a piece of rhetorical persuasion? Is the plain-spoken counselor Kent in some sense repeating the laconic or tongue-tied Cordelia\u2019s error? If you find Kent\u2019s strategy flawed, do you think any other strategy might have worked where Kent\u2019s failed? Why or why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>7. In Act 1, Scene 1, how do Cordelia\u2019s two powerful suitors, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, receive the blow that Lear\u2019s rage delivers to their hopes for a prosperous and advantageous marriage? Why does Burgundy reject Cordelia, and how does Cordelia reassert her dignity in response to him? Why, in turn, does France choose to make her his queen, in spite of her newly suffered poverty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>8. In Act 1, Scene 1, what comments do Regan and Goneril offer at 771, 1.1.284-96 (\u201cYou see how full of changes his age is \u2026\u201d) regarding their father\u2019s past character and his present conduct? In what sense might their views be considered reasonable? Nonetheless, what do they reveal about themselves, especially in their mutual upbraiding of Cordelia right before this conversation takes place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>9. In Act 1, Scene 2, Edmund and Gloucester separately give us their respective understandings of \u201cnature.\u201d Examine Edmund\u2019s soliloquy at the beginning of the scene, Gloucester\u2019s astrology-based gloss from lines 93-106 (\u201cThese late eclipses \u2026\u201d), and then Edmund\u2019s response to the now-departed Gloucester beginning at line 107 (\u201cThis is the excellent foppery of the world \u2026\u201d). How do the father and his \u201cnatural\u201d son, respectively, talk about this concept? What advantage does Edmund\u2019s view give him in comparison to his plot against Gloucester, and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>10. In Act 1, Scene 3, we begin to realize that Lear\u2019s plan to spend his time at the estates of his two powerful daughters is not going well. To judge from what Oswald the Steward and Goneril say, what has the King been getting up to? Does his behavior sound genuinely offensive? What is Goneril\u2019s plan to deal with her father, and how would you describe her attitude toward him at this point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>11. In Act 1, Scene 4, on what principle does the banished Earl of Kent return to serve King Lear as \u201cCaius\u201d? How does he manage to disguise himself well enough to avoid detection? What manner does he adopt that catches the King\u2019s attention and wins his favor? What is Kent\u2019s first material act of service, and what is his reward for it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12. In Act 1, Scene 4, consider the Fool\u2019s interaction with King Lear. What does the Fool do for Lear\u2014what insight is he able to offer the King about his situation now that he has given over his kingdom to his daughters? Discuss also the modes (songs, riddles, etc.) that the Fool employs to convey his meaning. Which mode do you find most effective, and why? In addition, what effect might the presence of the Fool have on our perspective with regard to the King\u2014does it distance us from his suffering, endear him to us, or would you describe the effect some other way? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>13. In Act 1, Scene 4, after her servant has insulted the King, Goneril enters at 1.4.169 (\u201cNot only, sir, this, your all-licensed fool \u2026\u201d) and makes herself odious. What does Lear find so offensive in Goneril\u2019s manner and in the things she says to him? More particularly, attend to the startling effect this ungrateful daughter\u2019s presence begins to have: what does Lear begin to question? What curse does he level against Goneril, and what threat does he make?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>14. In Act 1, Scene 5, what insight does Lear begin to express about his daughters and perhaps his situation more broadly? How do the Fool\u2019s questions and observations affect Lear at this point? How do they affect you, as a member of the audience? How would you characterize the King\u2019s state of mind by the end the first act\u2014how has his image for us changed from the beginning of the play to this point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act2\">ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>15. In Act 2, Scene 1, by what strategy does Edmund not only manage to drive Edgar out of doors but also to win himself still more credit with his gullible father Gloucester and ingratiate himself with Regan\u2019s husband, Cornwall? Why does this strategy succeed so well and so quickly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>16. In Act 2, Scene 2, Kent, on his way to deliver the King\u2019s message to Gloucester, encounters Oswald and insults and beats this corrupt servant of Goneril. Examine Kent\u2019s tortured attempt afterwards to explain to Regan and Cornwall at Gloucester\u2019s home why he has been thrashing their sister\u2019s messenger. What limitations does Kent show as a speaker in this episode? Why is his bluntness especially unlikely to persuade the likes of Regan and Cornwall? How does Gloucester take the punishment that Regan and Cornwall inflict upon Kent? How does Kent himself react?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>17. In Act 2, Scene 3, beyond the obvious motive of avoiding detection by his father Gloucester\u2019s agents, why does Edgar choose to take on the appearance and identity of \u201cPoor Tom\u201d? What are the main characteristics of this fictive identity? Find out what you can about \u201cBedlam beggars\u201d in Elizabethan times\u2014who were they, and why were they so numerous? Finally, how should we interpret Edgar\u2019s chilling admission, \u201cEdgar I nothing am\u201d\u2014what might he be starting to understand about his former life and identity that he didn\u2019t before Edmund\u2019s plot took him down?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>18. In Act 2, Scene 4, Lear is furious when he learns of Kent\u2019s punishment in the stocks. As for the number of his knights-retainers being reduced, he initially blames Goneril but quickly learns that Regan, too, is complicit. Describe the \u201cbidding war\u201d that Regan and Goneril engage in regarding the number of knights as the cause of the King\u2019s progress toward madness. What assumptions and logic do these two caretakers wield against Lear to strip him of his train? By the scene\u2019s end, to what extreme has the resolution of Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall against Lear gone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>19. In Act 2, Scene 4, Lear responds to the above-described \u201cbidding war\u201d with the remarkable outburst beginning, \u201cOh, reason not the need!\u201d (see lines 259-80). Why is it so important to Lear that he retain his hundred knights\u2014not fifty or twenty-five or one, or none at all, as his daughters would prefer? What argument is Lear advancing here about something more than \u201cperks\u201d\u2014what does he insist is vital to human nature itself? Why is <em>necessity <\/em>never enough, and what is lost when a person is reduced to that level? By the end of his outburst, what is Lear\u2019s state of mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act3\">ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>20. Act 3, Scenes 2, 4, and 6 are concerned with King Lear, the Fool, Kent, Edgar as Poor Tom, and Gloucester during a raging storm. (In Scene 2 and the first part of Scene 4, Lear remains out in the storm, but by the middle of Scene 4, he, too, is sheltering.) In what way is the storm metaphoric of Lear\u2019s inner disturbance? But also, in what sense is it a natural phenomenon&nbsp;<em>not<\/em>&nbsp;reducible to Lear\u2019s inner state and, therefore, perhaps even more relevant to broader issues of heavenly or natural justice in the play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>21. In Act 3, Scene 2, what does the storm apparently mean to Lear himself? How does he address it\u2014to what extent does he connect its operation with what his daughters Regan and Goneril have done to him? As for his statement, \u201cI am a man \/ More sinned against than sinning\u201d (lines 59-60), why might it be considered central to the play\u2019s tragic perspective? Is Lear right in saying this about his culpability? If so, how is what has thus far been done to him worse than anything he has done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>22. In Act 3, Scene 2, what service do the Fool\u2019s songs and other utterances provide the King as both men suffer in the storm? How do you understand the Fool\u2019s \u201cprophecy\u201d beginning \u201cWhen priests are more in word than matter \u2026\u201d (lines 81-94)? What might he be suggesting in this oddly anachronistic \u201cMerlinesque\u201d prophecy that in any way relates to the King\u2019s plight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>23. In Act 3, Scene 4, what significance does King Lear find in \u201cPoor Tom\u2019s\u201d sufferings and in his crazed utterances? What connections does the King make between himself and this supposed beggar? What does he learn from him? Deep into his conversation with Poor Tom, Lear declares, \u201cThou art the thing \/ itself \u2026\u201d (lines 96-97). No doubt Lear believes this about the man he\u2019s addressing, but why is the statement nonetheless ironic? How is Poor Tom <em>not <\/em>an example of what Lear says he is, and why does this matter in terms of the play\u2019s broad concerns with identity, nature, and suffering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>24. In Act 3, Scene 6, King Lear stages a mock trial for Regan and Goneril, with Edgar (as Poor Tom) and the Fool as judges. What reproaches does Lear level against Goneril and Regan, and what key question does he ask about the latter? What might Lear be trying to accomplish by putting them on trial <em>in absentia<\/em>\u2014what kind of justice is the King looking for? Moreover, how does Edgar begin to return to himself over the course of this scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>25. How do Act 3, Scenes 3 and 5 set the stage for Scene 7 (one of the most distressing scenes in Shakespeare), wherein Gloucester, having been taken prisoner in his own home, is blinded by Regan\u2019s cruel husband, Cornwall? How does the horribly specific mode of punishment meted out to Gloucester take shape in the minds of Regan, Goneril and Cornwall as this scene progresses to its end? Shakespeare doesn\u2019t always show the extreme violence that his plays sometimes refer to. Why do you suppose he was so determined to show Cornwall\u2019s outrageous cruelty in Scene 7?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act4\">ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>26. In Act 4, Scenes 1 and 6, the wretched Gloucester conceives of and then tries to make his final exit, but as it turns out, he is\u2014or rather isn\u2019t\u2014in for a letdown. What does Edgar, still disguised first as Poor Tom and then as a peasant, accomplish with his misleading but creative treatment of Gloucester? In other words, how does he change his wounded father\u2019s perspective? Moreover, to what extent does Edgar\u2019s interaction with his father parallel or differ from his interaction as Poor Tom with the mad King Lear in Act 3, Scene 4?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>27. In Act 4, Scene 2, Goneril plots with Edmund to have him replace her husband Albany, and then in Scene 5, Regan (now a widow) attempts to gain Oswald\u2019s help as a courier in winning Edmund\u2019s affections. How does this sexual competition symbolize the new dispensation or state of affairs to which Lear\u2019s mistakes have partly led his kingdom? In Act 4, Scene 2, what is Albany\u2019s assessment of Goneril (and Regan), and how does his assessment help us to understand the kingdom-wide degeneration that has overtaken Lear\u2019s Britain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>28. In Act 4, Scene 3, what picture do Kent (still disguised as \u201cCaius\u201d) and a Gentleman piece together about the impending reconciliation between Cordelia (now the Queen of France) and King Lear? What is Lear\u2019s state of mind at present\u2014why, according to Kent, won\u2019t the King consent to allow Cordelia to visit him? In what way does Scene, followed by Scene 4, demonstrate for us the purity of Cordelia\u2019s spirit and of her intentions toward her ailing father?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>29. In Act 4, Scene 6 (823, 4.6.85ff) King Lear walks in just as Edgar has finished letting his father Gloucester \u201cfall\u201d from Dover\u2019s cliffs, and proceeds to ramble madly about the nature of kingship and authority, womankind, and justice. What obsessions grip him, and what insights does he offer, regarding these subjects? What does Gloucester\u2019s brief interaction with Lear add to this scene? In sum, what has the ruined king learned from the harsh experiences into which his own errors, in part, have thrust him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>30. In Act 4, Scene 6 (at 826, 4.6.228ff), Edgar catches Oswald in the act of attempting to kill Gloucester and dispatches him, reading afterwards Goneril\u2019s treasonous letter to Edmund. Why does Edgar confront Oswald in rustic dialect? What role in the unfolding tragedy has Oswald played up to his ignominious end? Even though Edgar is no longer playing the role of Poor Tom, how is this lethal encounter an important milestone for him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>31. In Act 4, Scene 7, King Lear, now a patient in the French camp, is at last brought together with Cordelia. When Cordelia last encountered the King, she was unable or unwilling to find words to satisfy a perplexing \u201ccommand performance.\u201d How has that changed now, at the moment of reconciliation? In what sense does Cordelia exceed even the virtue that Lear, and we, should already have expected from her? How, finally, does King Lear react to his youngest daughter\u2019s kind treatment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act5\">ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>32. In Act 5, Scene 1, the two British armies\u2019 respective principals (Edmund and Regan, Goneril and Albany) spar verbally. What non-military accusation does Regan level at Edmund, and what seems foremost on Goneril and Albany\u2019s minds, respectively? How does this conference help us appreciate the level of depravity to which Lear\u2019s kingdom has descended? Alone, how does Edmund weigh his current situation and prospects with respect to Goneril and Regan, both of whom are enamored of him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>33. In Act 5, Scene 2, Edgar takes his leave of Gloucester and then, after the battle between the British and French forces, returns to tell his father that Lear and Cordelia\u2019s French army has lost. In Scene 3, Lear, on his way to a holding cell with Cordelia, lays out his vision of their future. What predictions does he make? To what extent do the King\u2019s lyrical words here amount to tragic insight\u2014what has he learned from his downfall? How does Edmund react to the presence (and probably the words) of Lear and Cordelia\u2014what does he plan to do to them, and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>34. In Act 5, Scene 1, Edgar (disguised as a knight) arrived after the military conference and gave Albany the treasonous letter written by Goneril to Edmund that he had found on Oswald\u2019s body. In Scene 3, Edgar challenges Edmund in person over the Gloucester conspiracy. Why is it poetic justice that a duel with \u201clegitimate Edgar\u201d should be Edmund\u2019s undoing? Consider the force that Edmund swore allegiance to near the play\u2019s beginning\u2014what value system does Edmund actually die in service of? How much difference does it make that when he is mortally wounded, Edmund tells the truth and tries to make amends?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>35. In Act 5, Scene 3, King Lear, carrying the dead Cordelia in his arms, bursts onto the dismal scene where Edmund has just been mortally wounded. In his brief conversation mainly with Kent, to what extent, if at all, does the King seem to be in his right mind? How much does he understand of what is said to him, and what is his main concern or preoccupation during his last few minutes of life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>36. In Act 5, Scene 3, although for a moment it looks as if Albany will be able to turn over power to a restored Lear, the King dies, leaving everyone in dismay. It seems that <em>someone<\/em> has to accept the unlovely responsibility of governing. What attitudes do Albany, Kent, and Edgar adopt toward this responsibility? Do Edgar\u2019s last four lines, which conclude the play, adequately sum things up\u2014do they plausibly deliver the tragic perspective we generally hope for in a play of this genre? Why or why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>37. In Act 5, Scene 3, the 1608 First Quarto attributes the play\u2019s concluding four lines to Albany, not to Edgar as in our text, which combines the First Quarto with the First Folio edition of 1623. As the Norton footnote points out, that is a consequential difference. Why, then, does it matter who speaks the lines? How would it change the meaning of the play\u2019s conclusion if we were to attribute the final two rhyming couplets not to Edgar but to Albany? What is implied if we attribute them to Edgar, as the current text does?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GENERAL QUESTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>38. How many different meanings for the term \u201cnature\u201d are developed in this play? Who articulates the various meanings? Are these significations kept distinct? Do they remain stable throughout, or are certain characters disabused of what they had formerly thought? Discuss your findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>39. The various characters try to assert control over the play\u2019s events by using a number of different linguistic strategies: plain honesty or bluntness, rash invective, Machiavellian analysis, flowery evasion (Oswald), the language of madness and foolery, astrological discourse, and visionary or prophetic language, to name several. Discuss a few of them by way of response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Document Timestamp: 3\/20\/2025 7:50 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shakespeare, William. King Lear.&nbsp;Folio with additions from the Quarto. (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,&nbsp;3rd ed. Combined text 764-840.) 1. In Act [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[296,284,285,28,294,36,37,287,288,293,291,295,297,286,290,253,289,130,240,292],"wf_page_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-319","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-tragic-plays","tag-ars-moriendi","tag-clowns-in-shakespeare","tag-disguised-identities","tag-early-britons","tag-edmund-the-bastard","tag-elizabethan-drama","tag-english-political-theory","tag-female-villains-regan-and-goneril","tag-fools-in-shakespeare","tag-gloucester","tag-human-nature","tag-i-am-a-man-more-sinned-against-than-sinning","tag-kent","tag-legitimate-edgar","tag-philosophy-of-nature","tag-shakespeares-tragedies","tag-shakespearean-heroines-cordelia","tag-shakespearean-tragedy","tag-violence-in-literature","tag-violence-in-shakespeare"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ajd_shxpr","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/author\/ajd_shxpr\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Shakespeare, William. 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