The Last Lines of All the Plays Turns Out to be One of My Favorite

I loved King Lear. There are a lot of good speeches given by the different characters. One that made me stop and think was the one that ended the play, where the Duke of Albany says:

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.

A Scholarly Interpretation

Dr. Christie Carson, Royal Holloway University of London (shown on right) commented on the influence of these four lines on the play. Because the play has many renditions, there are times when Edgar delivers the line and, like the one we read, the Duke of Albany does so.

Edgar
Here, she quotes the director of the 1997 play in the National Theater, Richard Eyre. He says in essence that because Edgar has experienced some of the biggest tragedies in life, but stayed pure through it all it is perfect for him to give the advice to "open your heart, speak what you feel."

Duke of Albany
The lines of course have the same meaning, but a different effect when they are delivered by a different character. By his deliverance the words are kosher to the audience because of his "seniority," but she still feels like there needed to be a change to fit the audience's needs. By changing the character who delivered the lines from the Duke of Albany to Edgar, the play ends with more hope rather than "absolute despair."


My Own Interpretation

The first line really talks about the brutality of this life. There a lot of things we must go through in this life, there is no way out.

The second line, "speak what we feel, not what we ought to say" refers to being honest with ourselves no matter the cost. In our group, we talked about how this line refers to the beginning of the play. Christa pointed out how Goneril and Regan both said what they thought they should say while Cordelia said what she actually felt. Even though this put her life into a whirl, she seems the type of character that would not take back her actions had she the chance to do so.

The third and fourth line to me give glory and wisdom to old age. It submits that youthful people should honor the aged because they ultimately have gone through these trials. In connection, "we that are young shall never see so much, nor live so long" refers to the fact that youth can always learn from their elders. Even with time, the old will be older than the young and more experienced.

Eye Can See!

After researching in the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature I was not able to find anything that supported my last post comparing King Lear and King Leontes, but I did find more about the motif that things are not as they always appear, another theme Shakespeare stretches across his vast variety of plays.
While talking with a student from another Shakespeare class, we discussed how many of Shakespeare's plays involve sight. She explained how many of the major sonnets, speeches and scenes in Shakespeare often involve eyes, sight or something of the like. The point of this post is to begin developing the theme of seeing things as they really are.
In this play, King Lear's foil, Gloucester loses his eyes, and "learns to see." So what does it mean to see?
According to this play and other Shakespeare plays, people and their circumstances are more than meet the eye. When Gloucester loses his eyes, he has to rely on feeling, smelling, tasting and touching in order to understand. It is in the use of these senses that we can accurately see the world around us, not just our eyes.
In a theme analysis by Michael Cummings, he states the common theme that things are not always as they appear is found in other plays such as Macbeth or Othello. This is one of the prominent critical statements made by Shakespeare throughout his works and I'm sure we will see it further develop in King Lear.

King Lear vs. Winter's Tale

In the opening of King Lear, it is almost a mirror image of the Winter's Tale.

King Lear	Winter’s Tale
Starts out with King Lear going about business, nothing unusual	Starts out with King Leontes going about business, nothing unusual
Other characters come in, King Lear makes rash decision about his daughter	After some interaction, King Leontes makes rash decision about his wife
Kent tries to be the voice of reason and is cast out	Leontes confides in Camillo, who eventually flees with Polixenes

In both plays, the stage is set for a King to recognize his faults, change, and seek forgiveness. I'm curious to see what role "accepting someone back into society" will play in King Lear versus the Winter's Tale.

Setting the Stage

Shakespeare really shows some talent in his writing of the first scene, in particular, when the three daughters speak to their father. William is tasked here with presenting characters in the light they will be seen throughout the whole play and I wanted to focus on how he sets Cordelia to be pure.

First, when the 2 daughters are speaking, she speaks aside to herself. Looking at this factor to develop Cordelia's character. Shakespeare uses the element of self speech because a character's words are more believable when they are speaking to their self.
Second, look at what she is saying she is worried about motive and accurately expressing

What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent. Line 63

Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since I am sure my love's
More richer than my tongue. Line 80

She is worried about motive and accurately expressing her feelings for her father, both things deal with honesty. Shakespeare could have written many things for her to say, but in these lines he developed Cordelia's integrity, setting the stage for her role in the play.

She then speaks giving him her word and without exaggeration. "I love my Majesty according to my bond; no more no less." Line 95

These hints fall on to the sub conscience of the audience and the play moves on with the viewers trusting more in Cordelia because of Shakespeare's use of words and stage direction.

As a side note, I love the reaction King Lear has to her first response. I think directors could make it a comical dialogue during this serious situation. When she first says "nothing," to his inquiry about her love for him, he responds "Nothing?" To which she confirms and the King says, "Nothing can come of nothing. Speak again." If he were to change his voice to a higher pitch and make his line a little commanding I think it could turn out comical. Remind me and I'll explain in our group.