Close Analysis of Act 3 Scene 4 of King Lear

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Looking closely at Lear’s Speech in Act III, Scene IV (lines 6-33), how is the tragic genre of disorder in ‘King Lear’ developed further? You should make a close reading of the speech, as well as draw on your wider knowledge of the play.

Shakespeare’s language portrays tragedy and disorder in King Lear in many ways, especially in the context of developing the idea of disorder in Act 3, Scene 4. The Oxford Dictionary defines disorder in three ways, all of which are portrayed in King Lear. The definition is as follows: “a lack of order; confusion, the disruption of peaceful and law-abiding behaviour [and/or] (Medicine) a disruption of normal physical or mental functions.” The overall purpose of Act 3 is: to juxtapose events preceding events; outline the action of a single stormy night and chart Lear’s descent in to madness and much of this scene on Lear’s mental disintegration. In Act 3 Scene 4, Lear is a broken man in a fragile state who is seeking mental redemption from the storm which can be interpreted as from the Gods. He isn’t bothered about his physical state and more concerned about his mental anguish. This contrasts with the strong and powerful king who is depicted in Act 1 and 2. This shows a lack of order because the audience and society expects a king to be strong and powerful so they know he’s in control.  Shakespeare’s technique of characterising the tragic hero in King Lear is typical of his tragedies. At the start of Scene 1, Gloucester and Kent are talking about Lear: “I thought the king had more affected the Duke of/Albany than Cornwall.” by introducing the tragic hero with the opinion of other characters the audience forms an impression of the character before they come on stage.  The impression of King Lear at this early stage is that he is governing a corrupted society in which his ruler ship is governed by favouritism much like the love trial. For example in another of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo the tragic hero, is portrayed by his parents and cousin before he enters in the impending scene: “[Lady Montague] O, where is Romeo? Saw you him to-day? /Right glad I am he was not at this fray.... [Benvolio] A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;” The key phrase here is ‘troubled mind’ showing that before the audience meets Romeo he is a ‘troubled mind’.

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Disorder is presented in a naturalistic way which is typical for Shakespearean writing; in the extract Shakespeare portrays how Lear rather would face a bear than the relentless storm metaphorically: The quote “The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'dst shun a bear; / But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea, /Thou'dst meet the bear I' the mouth. ”, shows that Lear feels that we would rather be eaten by a bear, committing the sin of suicide maybe and taking what might be considered a easier decision, than face the storm. It also foreshadows future chaos because of the confrontational ...

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