King Lear: Background AP English Lit Timeline: Francis Bacon’s King Lear Shakespeare Shakespeare written (1603- dies. (Galileo is New Elizabeth I is born. 1606); prohibited from Atlantis assumes (Galileo also published in further scientific published the throne born.) 1608. work.) (posthumo usly) ____________________________________ 1627 1636 1558 1564 1605 1613 1616 1644 Globe 1619 Harvard Theatre 1st African University Globe Theatre 1598 burns and is slaves established is demolished brought to Shakespeare’s 1603 rebuilt in the US by Puritans. son Hamnet Virginia Queen Elizabeth dies; King dies. James I takes the throne. King Lear (written between 1603-06) Setting: Ancient Britain Source: Holinshead Chronicles --Raphael Holinshed’s The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577). As was his general habit, Shakespeare borrowed his two plots from previous sources. Holinshed reported in his Chronicles a story that dates back as far as 1136 in which a supposedly real King Leir who ruled England around 800 BC divides his kingdom between two of his daughters, disowning the third for failing his love test, who Fig.2 nevertheless marries the King of France. Fig.1 Abused thereafter by the successful daughters, Leir goes to France, unites with his third daughter and her husband, and regains his throne by military force. The story took many shapes and variations, including a history play produced before 1595 in which the daughters actually try to murder Leir. The Edmund story came from Sidney’s Arcadia (a romance with pastoral elements). In both cases Shakespeare made radical changes. Fig. 3 • On 26th December 1606, the King’s Men performed the play at court for King James. Far from dividing his kingdom, James was busily trying to unite two sovereign realms, England and Scotland, and in so doing, creating a new concept of nation, calling it Great Britain. • Even the play’s first line, ‘I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall’, had a special point when spoken before an Fig. 4 audience that may well have included both dukes, titles King James had conferred on his sons. • The play’s resonances with the current monarch have often been troubling: during King George III’s bouts of madness the play was not performed in London. Fig. 5 • Described alternately as Shakespeare’s “Everest”, and his deepest plunge into the human soul. • Questions the difference between sanity and insanity, between order and chaos. • One sentence plot summary: Lear tries to control his daughters and ends up losing them all. • Shakespeare intentionally set KL in pre- Christian Britain so that the tragic ending could not be explained away as the will of a loving God. Fig. 6 Characters: King Lear • Aging king of Britain • Used to having absolute power Fig. 7 • Doesn’t respond well to being contradicted or challenged • Wishes to maintain the power of a king while unburdening himself of the responsibility. Fool • Highly intelligent, he uses his wit to criticize Lear and plead with Fig. 8 the king to right the wrongs Lear has done to others and himself. Cordelia • Lear’s youngest daughter • Refuses to flatter her father; is disowned by Lear Fig. 8 • Remains loyal to Lear and forgives him; is forgiving toward her sisters as well • Deep, quiet, reserved Goneril • Lear’s ruthless oldest daughter, wife of Duke of Albany. She is aggressive and treacherous. Fig. 9 Regan • Lear’s middle daughter; wife of Duke of Cornwall. She is another archetypal villian; competes with Goneril for Edmund. Kent • Earl of Kent is Lear’s outspoken, loyal, and selfless companion (though he spends much of the play disguised as a peasant in order to be near Lear). • Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, "Kent is, perhaps, the nearest to perfect goodness in all Shakespeare's characters, and yet the most individualized." Gloucester (Glah-ster) • The Earl of Gloucester is loyal to Lear and his story Fig. 10 parallels Lear’s in many ways. • Misjudges his children • Capable of great bravery Edgar • Older, legitimate son of Gloucester. Banished by his father, half-brother to Edmund • Dutiful, much like Cordelia • His propensity for disguises makes him a complex character Edmund • An outright villain, the illegitimate son of Gloucester • Bitter, bold, and wreaker of destruction Sources: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/king-lear/background-on-king-lear/background-on-king-lear/486/ http://nfs.sparknotes.com/lear/characters.html Fig.1 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wcUtbm5tqns/T2HyAbNOb3I/AAAAAAAACAc/2eQhmoa5IwM/s1600/Chronicles+1577.jpeg Fig. 2 http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/kinglear/kingleirfrontpage.jpg Fig. 3 http://mouveuno.cila.unior.it/file.php/13/Lez5/media/Slide4a_1197675953.jpg Fig. 4 http://www-tc.pbs.org/shakespeare/images/players/king-james1.jpg Fig. 5 http://izquotes.com/images/george-iii.jpg Fig. 6 http://alexatkinsdesign.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/king-lear-aad-poster.png Fig. 7 http://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/files/2014/07/KING-LEAR_Ian-McKellen-480x270.jpg Fig. 8 http://stephenwhitt.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/lear-and-cordelia.jpg Fig. 9 http://mmimageslarge.moviemail-online.co.uk/25267_king-lear-1.jpg Fig. 10 http://www.mckellen.com/images/3508.jpg.