King Lear

Numerous things stood out to me while reading King Lear. I will focus briefly on five different mini-topics in this blog. First of all, the character of Edgar was my least favorite one in the play. I did not like him because I feel as though he was trying far too hard to be Poor Tom and, in doing so, became less and less believable. He was constantly making reference to himself in the third person—“Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog…” (3.4.136)—which made me shocked that no one would have questioned him actually being Poor Tom. I also wonder how he and Kent were able to disguise themselves so well. I think the fact that Gloucester did not recognize Poor Tom as his son Edgar emphasizes our class discussion about this play being a social commentary on parenting. Gloucester, if he had been close to his son, should have picked up on the subtle nuances of Edgar (i.e. his voice, mannerisms).

Changing pace, there are several references to lions and other somewhat “exotic” animals throughout the play as in 3.4.98-106. I didn’t realize that the people of Elizabethan England would have had enough exposure to these animals to be familiar enough with them for Shakespeare to use them as references in his plays. I guess I could understand if some of the royalty and richer people would understand because they would potentially have seen pictures of these animals, but I don’t think that the groundlings would have understood. This question of mine also comes into play in Titus because there are references to tigers.

In 3.7.40-41 Regan plucks the beard of Gloucester. Were beards really that important in England that as a punishment for a crime they would pluck someone’s beard? This reminded me of the Chinese cue (I am not sure if that is how they spell it). Another thing that surprised me was that the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk” goes back as far as Shakespeare and would have already been wildly known enough to include a reference to it in King Lear (3.5.195-197). And, finally, I thought that the lines 1.4.122-131 were really interesting/insightful: “Have more than thou showest,/ Speak less than thou knowest,/ Lend less than thou owest,/ Ride more than thou goest,/ Learn more than thou trowest,/ Set less than thou throwest,/ Leave thy drink and thy whore/ And keep in-a-door,/ And thou shalt have more/ Than two tens to a score.”