- Prof. Burton has mentioned in class a couple of times that he would like to see more close reading and textual analysis. Here is my attempt with one of my favorite scenes from King Lear. This is the end scene, one of the most tragic, but also most powerful, in my opinion.
- Enter Lear, with Cordelia [dead] in his arms, [Edgar, Captain, and others following].
- Lear. Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stone.
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives.
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking glass.
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
- Edgar. Or image of that horror?
- Duke of Albany. Fall and cease!
- Lear. This feather stirs; she lives! If it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
- Lear. And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
- Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you undo this button. Thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her! look! her lips!
Look there, look there! He dies.
- Edgar. He faints! My lord, my lord!
- Earl of Kent. Break, heart; I prithee break!
- Edgar. Look up, my lord.
- Earl of Kent. Vex not his ghost. O, let him pass! He hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
- Edgar. He is gone indeed.
- Earl of Kent. The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long.
He but usurp'd his life.
- Duke of Albany. Bear them from hence. Our present business
Is general woe. [To Kent and Edgar] Friends of my soul, you
twain
Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain.
- Earl of Kent. I have a journey, sir, shortly to go.
My master calls me; I must not say no.
- Duke of Albany. The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest have borne most; we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
I like this Ian Holm version, this scene starts at 1 minute into the clip.
'I love that use of the word "howl" in Lear's opening lines, though it can be hard to play. What is interesting is that Shakespeare has Lear actually say the word "howl" rather than simply howling wordlessly. I think this gives a deeper sense of sorrow, as Lear cannot think of any words to express what he is feeling other than "howl".
"Men of stone" is an interesting expression, indicating that they have no human feeling, no human emotion. Shakespeare used a similar expression in Julius Caesar twice: Act 1, scene 1 "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things" and again with Anthony's line in Act 3, scene 2, "You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;/ And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar, /It will inflame you, it will make you mad:"
Richard III also had a line, " I am not made of stone,/ But penetrable to your. kind entreats" (Act 3, scene 7). So, it seems that comparing people to lifeless stones was a common thing, at least for Shakespeare
There has been a lot of scholarly talk about Kent's line "Is this the promised end?" with many equating this with the apocalypse and the final judgement, but I don't see it that way. I see this more as a reference to death and the end of life. Kent and Edgar are watching Lear as he descends into madness brought on by senility and grief. They look at him and see the end of man; a hopeless, tragic end. This is reinforced by Lear's last lines, with the repeated "No, no, no life" and "Thou'lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never."
I had a class with Prof. Duerden a few years ago, and he talked bout King Lear being a Christian play because of its lack of Christianity. He argued that the play shows the 'promised end' of a man or a family or a society that does not have Christ. Without the hope that Christ brings of a resurrection or an atonement, there is nothing after death, there is nothing to comfort those who mourn the death of a loved one. Without the hope of Christ there is nothing but death and despair.
That is how I read King Lear now, as a 'this is what would happen without Christ in the world' example.
"Men of stone" is an interesting expression, indicating that they have no human feeling, no human emotion. Shakespeare used a similar expression in Julius Caesar twice: Act 1, scene 1 "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things" and again with Anthony's line in Act 3, scene 2, "You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;/ And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar, /It will inflame you, it will make you mad:"
Richard III also had a line, " I am not made of stone,/ But penetrable to your. kind entreats" (Act 3, scene 7). So, it seems that comparing people to lifeless stones was a common thing, at least for Shakespeare
There has been a lot of scholarly talk about Kent's line "Is this the promised end?" with many equating this with the apocalypse and the final judgement, but I don't see it that way. I see this more as a reference to death and the end of life. Kent and Edgar are watching Lear as he descends into madness brought on by senility and grief. They look at him and see the end of man; a hopeless, tragic end. This is reinforced by Lear's last lines, with the repeated "No, no, no life" and "Thou'lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never."
I had a class with Prof. Duerden a few years ago, and he talked bout King Lear being a Christian play because of its lack of Christianity. He argued that the play shows the 'promised end' of a man or a family or a society that does not have Christ. Without the hope that Christ brings of a resurrection or an atonement, there is nothing after death, there is nothing to comfort those who mourn the death of a loved one. Without the hope of Christ there is nothing but death and despair.
That is how I read King Lear now, as a 'this is what would happen without Christ in the world' example.
