King Lear

All Ability Levels:
Shakespeare's work is best appreciated when it is performed. The meaning of the words becomes clearer when heard. Emotional intent is more easily divined when other students listen to what is said. Reading out loud, performing the play, listening to an audiocassette, or watching a film version provides a rich context to reiterate word choice and to introduce denotation and connotation.

B. Critical Questioning

Lower Ability Levels:
Critical thinking questions ask a student to use insight and make connections between the plot of the play, the inference of the words, and what she or he knows of the world. Because this activity may be difficult for some students, utilize mixed ability groups to discuss the questions. Utilizing cooperative learning by assigning one or two questions per group and then having students teach the class should encourage them to extend themselves beyond obvious answers.

Higher Ability Levels:
Students may use the questions as a study guide before they make a closer analysis of the play with the teacher and their peers.

Act I

1. Why does Lear favor Goneril's and Regan's professions of love over Cordelia's? (I, i)

2. How is this favoritism related to the exiling of Kent? (varied opinions)

3. Why does Edmund wish to overthrow Edgar's claim to his father's title? (I, ii)

4. In what manner has Lear offended Goneril and her household? (I, iii)

5. How is she justified in her anger? (varied opinions)

6. According to the Fool's arguments, how has Lear "deserved" this poor treatment from Goneril? (I, iv)

Act II

1. How does Edmund make himself appear to be the better son in Gloucester's eyes? (II, i)

2. Why should the reader not be surprised at Regan's decision to side with her sister rather than her father? (II, ii)

3. List and discuss Edgar's reasons for playing the part of Poor Tom. (II, iii)

4. How do Goneril and Regan assert power over their father, thus driving him into a raging storm? (II, iv)

Act III

1. How does the information that France sends troops impact the political strife that is beginning in England? (III, i-varied opinions)

2. In what manner has Lear caused all the strife that occurs between himself and his daughters? (III, ii)

3. In what sense are the Fool's assertions true? (III, ii)

4. In what sense are the Fool's assertions false? (III, ii)

5. In what sense is it ironic that Gloucester confides his good intentions in his illegitimate son, Edmund? (III, iii)

6. Compare the madness of Lear to the madness of Poor Tom (Edgar). (III, iv)

7. How is Edmund rewarded for his treachery? (III, v)

8. What are the judgments of mankind issued against Goneril and Regan in Lear's court? (III, vi)

9. How is the blindness of Gloucester symbolic to the blindness of Lear? (III, vii
-varied opinions)

Act IV

1. Why would Gloucester prefer to be led by the madman (Edgar) rather than by a faithful retainer? (IV, i)

2. How does Goneril compound her sins against her family? (IV, ii)

3. How does Albany perceive his wife? (IV, ii)

4. Why is it natural that Lear would not wish to see his daughter Cordelia? (IV, iii)

5. How does Regan compound her sins against her family? (IV, v)

6. How does Edgar begin the process of righting the unnatural events that have occurred? (IV, vi)

7. How does Cordelia react to her father's words? (IV, vii)

Act V

1. How is the division between Goneril and Regan furthered? (V, i)

2. Why does it seem that Edmund has more power than any other character? (V, iii)

3. In what manner and under what authority does Albany reclaim any power that Edmund may have? (V, iii)

4. Under what circumstance may Edgar answer Edmund's challenge? (V, iii)

5. How does Edmund justify or reconcile himself with his fall from grace? (V, iii)

6. What one act would provide possible redemption for Edmund, and why is Edmund compelled to perform that act? (V, iii)

7. How is the power of the realm realigned at the end of the play, and why do we not have a feeling of completion or satisfaction from this realignment? (V, iii)

C. Reading Journals

All Ability Levels:
A reading response journal helps evaluate a student's understanding, analyze a character, or discuss a difficult or interesting aspect of the play. A reading response journal may be required in which the student writes personal responses, observations, questions, feelings, and even digressions about the reading. Uses of a reading journal are limitless; however, minimum requirements and the method of evaluation should be discussed with students before given as an on-going assignment.

Lower Ability Levels:
The reading journal may be used after a scene has been discussed to serve as a "post-test" or to record the student's thoughts before leaving the classroom and losing the feeling of the moment.

High Ability Levels:
The reading journal may be used to replace questions, especially if students are asked to read outside the classroom.

D. Discussion/Research Material

Themes

Lower Ability Levels:
Small group discussions may help students understand these complex themes. While most students will have a unique opinion about a theme, they may have more difficulty understanding the messages embedded in the language. Allowing students to discuss their opinions in small groups encourages them to explore new perspectives and the language, prompting the group to find a more precise meaning or importance of a theme. Possibly, assign one theme to each group, giving each specific objectives. Then the groups may teach the other students in the class about the theme.

Higher Ability Levels:
While small group discussions will help broaden the perspective of all students, academically motivated students benefit from research. Distribute copies of criticism, allowing a close analysis of the work. Encourage students to question the critics and formulate their own ideas about the themes in the work. Once students are comfortable with the material, they may write a short research paper discussing their findings about a theme.

The natural and the unnatural are found often in Shakespeare's plays. Within King Lear, Shakespeare twines natural occurrences (an eclipse) around unnatural politics (I, ii, 112-127) [pp. 55-56], linking them to provide an unusual context for discussion. Some characters believe (as did some of the Elizabethan audience) that the astronomical events portended the "unnaturalness" of all that occurs in Lear. However, Edmund-who is central to the subplot-believes "this is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeits of our own behavior, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars" (I, ii, 128-131) [p. 56]. Shakespeare questions if man determines his own fortune rather than nature, fate, or destiny. Given the follies sown by Lear and Gloucester and the destruction that is reaped from the guilty and innocent alike, one would be inclined to agree with Edmund's first assessment; yet before his death, Edmund admits that fortune's wheel has come full circle, depositing him below his brother where he began his quest for land and legitimacy. Rather than interpreting Shakespeare's intent for the students, have them write opinion essays, discuss in small groups, or debate the theme.

Closely related is the theme of self-knowledge and appearance or reputation as a definition of the character or person. To be known as honest and moral is as important as to behave honestly and morally. Edgar says as much when he resigns himself to "be" Poor Tom (II, iii, 1-21 [p. 89] & IV, i, 1-9 [p. 131]). But how we perceive ourselves may not be how we are perceived by others. Lear believes himself a great and respected King; Goneril, Regan, and the Fool constantly remind him that he is an old man who has lost his kingdom, his faithful daughter, and his wits through his own folly. Part of this description is found in the relationships of the characters. Just as our parentage defines in part who we are, Lear becomes nothing more than Goneril's father or a shadow of his former self when he relinquishes his kingdom. Shakespeare is posing questions of public perception and self-knowledge. Do these concepts exist in harmony, or do they conflict?

In no other Shakespearean play is more made of nothing. "Nothing" binds a daughter to her father, and "nothing" is a note that severs a father's love and in turn makes a son "nothing." Always one to make something from nothing, Shakespeare offers an intriguing look at the deconstruction of two men. Lear, in his whimsical desire to hear how he is esteemed, makes the error of trusting the substance of spoken words. He is not concerned with the truth and thus mistakes Cordelia's response for an insult, a non-answer. She will not give him the words he desires because they do not hold the substance of what she knows to be truth. Until the final scene, Lear asks who and what he is, and he is told (most bluntly by the Fool) that he is nothing. He no longer has importance to the other characters. However, Kent, the Fool, and Cordelia make him more than nothing by serving faithfully, speaking bluntly, and loving unconditionally (respectively).

Ironically, if Gloucester had trusted in words as did Lear, then his ruin would not have occurred. When Edmund says the letter (the forgery) he holds is nothing, he is truthful. Yet, Gloucester would not trust the truth of the words. He must see the fact of the matter and must read the letter to determine if it is nothing. The metaphor of sight and of recognition is closely tied to the theme played out in this sub-plot. Since Gloucester will only trust in words he sees, he will continue to be deceived until he loses his sight. He is forced into a world where he must rely on only the sound and general meaning of a word when he is blinded by Cornwall. Through this deprivation, he regains his sight or his understanding of truth and is able to recognize Lear as a voice that is the king. For even in his madness, Lear is more kingly at the end than at the beginning of the play.

Quotations

Students can use these quotes as the basis for response journal writings and discussions of Shakespeare's themes.

Love

"Which of you shall we say doth love us most,/That we our largest bounty may extend/Where nature doth with merit challenge." (Lear, I, i, 53-55) [p. 41]

"What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent." (Cordelia, I, i, 64) [p. 41]

"I am sure my love's/more ponderous than my tongue." (Cordelia, I, i, 79-80)
[p. 42]

"I cannot heave/My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty/According to my bond, no more nor less." (Cordelia, I, i, 93-95) [p. 42]

"You have begot me, bred me, loved me. I /Return those duties back as are right fit,/Obey you, love you, and most honor you." (Cordelia, I, i, 98-100) [p. 43]

"Love's not love/When it is mingled with regards that stands/Aloof from th'entire point." (France, I, i, 240-242) [p. 48]

"Since that respects of fortune are his love,/I shall not be his wife." (Cordelia, I, i, 250-251) [p. 49]

"I'll go with thee./Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,/And thou are twice her love." (Lear, II, iv, 257-59) [p. 100]

Nature

"with strained pride/To come betwixt our sentence and our power,/Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,/Our potency made good, take thy reward." (Lear, I, i, 171-174) [p. 46]

"therefore beseech you/T'avert your liking a more worthier way/Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed" (Lear, I, i, 211-213) [p. 47]

"Sure her offense/Must be of such unnatural degree /That monsters it" >(France, I, i, 220-222) [p. 48]

"Is it but this? A tardiness in nature/Which often leaves the history unspoke/That it intends to do." (France, I, i, 237-239) [p. 48]

"Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law/My services are bound. ... Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take/More composition and fierce quality/Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,/Go to th'creating a whole tribe of fops/Got 'tween asleep and wake?" (Edmund, I, ii, 1-2 ... 11-15) [p. 51-52]

"His very opinion in the/letter. Abhorred villain, unnatural, detested, brutish villain" (Gloucester, I, ii, 80-82) [p. 54]

"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." (Gloucester, I, ii, 113-116) [p. 55]

"A credulous father, and a brother noble,/Whose nature is so far from doing harms/That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty/My practices ride easy." (Edmund, I, ii, 192-195) [p. 58]

"Degenerate bastard, I'll not trouble thee:/Yet have I left a daughter." (Lear, I, iv, 260-261) [p. 69]

"Which, like an engine, wrenched my frame of nature/From the fixed place; drew from my heart all love,/And added to the gall." (Lear, I, iv, 275-227) [p. 70]

"Hear, Nature, ...Suspend thy purpose...Create her child of spleen, that it may live/And be a thwart disnatured torment to her." (Lear, I, iv, 282-290) [p. 70]

"Seeing how loathly opposite I stood/To his unnatural purpose" (Edmund, II, i, 51-52) [p. 78]

"and of my land,/Loyal and natural boy, I'll work the means/To make thee capable." (Gloucester, II, i, 85-87) [p. 79]

"You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee. A/tailor made thee."
(Kent, II, ii, 55-56) [p. 83]

"We are not ourselves/When nature, being oppressed, commands the mind/To suffer with the body." (Lear, II, iv, 105-107) [p. 94]

"O, sir, you are old,/nature in you stands on the very verge/Of his confine."
(Regan, II, iv, 145-147) [p. 96]

"Allow not nature more than nature needs,/Man's life is cheap as beast's."
(Lear, II, iv, 265-266) [p. 101]

"making just report/Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow/the King hath cause to plain." (Kent, III, i, 37-39) [p. 104]

"Death, traitor; nothing could have subdued nature/To such a lowness but his unkind daughters." (Lear, III, iv, 70-71) [p. 114]

"How, my lord, I may be censured, that nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me to think of." (Edmund, III, v, 3-5) [p. 119]

"Opressed nature sleeps." (Kent, III, vi, 96) [p. 124]

"Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature/To quit this horrid act."
(Gloucester, III, vii, 87-88) [p. 129]

"I fear your disposition:/That nature which contemns its origin/Cannot be bordered certain in itself;/She that herself will sliver and disbranch/From her material sap, perforce must wither/And come to deadly use." (Albany, IV, ii., 1-36) [pp. 136-137]

"Nature's above art in that respect." (Lear, IV, vi, 86) [p. 149]

"O ruined piece of nature!" (Gloucester, IV, vi, 136) [p. 151]

"I am even/The natural fool of fortune." (Lear, IV, vi, 192-93) [p. 154]

"Thou has one daughter/Who redeems nature from the general curse/Which twain have brought her to." (Gentleman, IV, vi, 208-210) [p. 154]

To be "known"

"I know what you are,/And, like a sister, am most loath to call/Your faults as they are named." (Cordelia, I, i, 271-273) [pp. 49-50]

"'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself." (Regan, I, i, 295-296) [p. 50]

(Lear) "Dost thou know me, fellow?" (Kent) "No, sir, but you have that in your countenance which I would fain call master." (I, iv, 27-29) [p. 61]

"Does any here know me? This is not Lear." (Lear, I, iv, 232) [p. 68]

(Lear) "Who is it that can tell me who I am?" (Fool) "Lear's shadow." (I, iv,
236-37) [p. 68]

"Why, what a monstrous fellow are thou, thus to rail on one that is neither known of thee nor knows thee!" (Oswald, II, ii, 25-27) [p. 82]

"I know, sir, I am no flatterer. He that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain knave" (Kent, II, ii, 112-113) [p. 86]

"Sir, I do know you,/And dare upon the warrant of my note/Commend a dear thing to you." (Kent, III, i, 17-19) [p. 104]

"I know thee well. A serviceable villain,/As duteous to the vices of thy mistress/As badness would desire." (Edgar, IV, vi, 256-258) [p. 157]

(Herald) "What are you?" (Edgar) "Know, my name is lost;/By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:/Yet I am noble as the adversary/I come to cope."
(V, iii, 120-124) [p. 172-173]

(Albany) "Know'st thou this paper? (Goneril) "Ask me not what I know."
(V, iii, 162) [p. 174]

Appearances and Sight

"Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter;/Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty;/Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;/No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor;/As much as child e'er loved, or father found;/A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable:/Beyond all manner of so much I love you." (Goneril, I, i, 57-63) [p. 41]

"I profess myself an enemy to all other joys/Which the most precious square of sense professes,/And find I am alone felicitate/In you dear Highness' love."
(Regan, I, i, 74-78) [p. 42]

"Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,/Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds/Reverb no hollowness." (Kent, I, i, 154-156) [p. 45]

"See better, Lear, and let me still remain/The true blank of thine eye." (Kent, I, i, 160-161) [p. 45]

"Sith thus thou wilt appear,/Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here."
(Kent, I, i, 182-183) [p. 46]

"I do profess to be no less than I seem, to/serve him truly that will put me in trust, to love/him that is honest, to converse with him that is/wise and says little, to fear judgment, to fight/when I cannot choose, and to eat no fish." (Kent, I, iv, 14-18) [p. 60]

"How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell" (Albany, I, iv, 352) [p. 73]

"Draw, seem to defend yourself; now quit you well." (Edmund, II, i, 32) [p. 77]

(Gloucester) "Now, good sir, what are you?" (Edgar) "A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows;/Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,/Am
pregnant to good pity." (IV, vi, 223-226) [p. 155]

"Nothing"

"Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again." (Lear, I, i, 92) [p. 42]

"If aught within that little seeming substance,/Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,/And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace,/She's there and she is yours." (Lear, I, i, 200-203) [p. 47]

"Nothing. I have sworn. I am firm." (Lear, I, i, 247) [p. 49]

"The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let's see. Come, if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles." (Gloucester, I, ii, 34-36) [pp. 52-53]

"Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing." (Gloucester, I, ii, 124-125) [pp. 55-56]

Kent: "This is nothing, Fool." Fool: "Then 'tis like the breath of a unfeed lawyer-you gave me nothing for't. Can you make no use of nothing, Nuncle?" Lear: "Why, no, boy. Nothing can be made out of nothing." (I, iv, 131-136) [pp. 64-65]

"I had rather be any kind o' thing than a Fool, and yet I would not be thee, Nuncle; thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides and left nothing i' th' middle." (Fool, I, iv,
189-192) [pp. 66-67]

"I am better than thou art now: I am a Fool, thou art nothing." (Fool, I, iv, 199-200) [p. 67]

"So your face bids me, though you say nothing." (Fool, I, iv, 201-202) [p. 67]

"Have you nothing said/Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany?"
(Edmund, II, i, 27-28) [p. 77]

"art nothing but the composition of a knave" (Kent, II, ii, 20-21) [p. 82]

"Away, I have nothing to do with thee. (Oswald, II, ii, 35) [p. 83]

"Nothing almost sees miracles/But misery." (Kent, II, ii, 168-69) [p. 88]

"Poor Turlygod, Poor Tom, That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am."
(Edgar, II, iii, 20-21) [p. 89]

"tears his white hair,/Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,/Catch in their fury, and make nothing of" (Gentleman, III, i, 7-9) [p. 103]

"No, I will be the pattern of all patience,/ I will say nothing." (Lear, III, ii, 37-38)
[p. 107]

"Go to; say you nothing." (Gloucester, III, iii, 8) [p. 110]

"Couldst thou save nothing?" (Lear, III, iv, 64) [p. 113]

"Death, traitor; nothing could have subdued nature/To such a lowness but his unkind daughters." (Lear, III, iv, 70-71) [p. 114]

"The wretch that thou has blow unto the worst/Owes nothing to thy blasts."
(Edgar, IV, i, 8-9) [p. 131]

"Y'are much deceived: in nothing am I changed/But in my garments."
(Edgar, IV, vi, 9-10) [p. 146]

"thou are in nothing less/Than I have here proclaimed thee." (Albany, V, iii, 95-96)
[p. 171]