Patriarchy or Matriarchy: Who Has the Real Power in Shakespeare's King Lear?
Patriarchy or Matriarchy: Who Has the Real Power in Shakespeare's King Lear? Robert Di Lorenzo Mr. Naccarato ENG 3U1-02 5 November 2004 Robert Di Lorenzo Mr. Naccarato ENG 3U1-02 5 November 2004 Patriarchy or Matriarchy: Who Has the Real Power in Shakespeare's King Lear? Throughout recorded history, men are seen as the ones with fundamental power; they are the ones that possess leadership qualities and management capabilities. Men are ruthless, barbaric, cold-blooded and merciless, thus making them the individuals sitting a top the executive chain, the figures making the influential decisions, and the people in the important world leading roles. The world has yet to see a system of government dominated by women. On the contrary, it is said that a loyal husband will not purchase a vehicle without consent from his wife, though the wife may not know a thing about cars. On the familial level, the women are the individuals with the power, influencing the husband and children's decisions. The women are those who control the conventional lives of society. So who has the real power: men who control the organization, or women who control mainstream, everyday life? In King Lear, through the representation of Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril, Shakespeare expresses that the females are the ones with the ultimate power and it is matriarchy that runs the world; gender roles
Drama review - I didn't have the opportunity to see Hannie Rayson's first play Life After George and I couldn't be more disappointed, especially after seeing her latest play Inheritance.
DRAMA REVIEW- Draft Claudia Buttazzoni I didn't have the opportunity to see Hannie Rayson's first play Life After George and I couldn't be more disappointed, especially after seeing her latest play Inheritance. Inheritance is a wonderful piece of work. It is a sensitive, tender play, witty and sophisticated at the same time. It is also a very deep piece of work which covers many of our Nations biggest issues. Rayson weaves so many controversies together in the one play; gender identity, women's rights as land owners and the way they are viewed in a mans world, depression and suicide, city life versus life in the bush and one of Australia's longest existing battles- Aboriginal land rights. Inheritance is about rural Australia, which could only mean that it is a play about the land. It tells the story of five generations and just one farm. Twin sisters Girlie Delaney and Dibs Hamilton are preparing to celebrate their 80th birthday. The families are all gathered at 'the farm', Allandale, which Dibs had inherited from her mother. As the story goes, Dibs and Girlie's grandfather Jessie Allan, whose daughter married a man by the name of Norm Myrtle, founded Allandale. They had twin daughter's Dibs and Girlie. Norm struggled with depression, he struggled with life until the day that he decided he couldn't go on anymore, and hung himself. His body was found, hanging, by
Review and interpretation of King Lear
BACKGROUND OF THE IDEA In creating the tragedy play King Lear, William Shakespeare used many sources in getting the base-line story, but it required his genius and intellect to place them together to create the true tragedy with its multiple plot lines that his play turned out to be in the end. The story of King Lear (or as it started, King Leir) is first seen in literature in the year 1135, contained in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. Other authors placed King Leir into their stories including; John Higgins in A Mirror for Magistrates (1574), by Warner in Albion's England (1586), by Holinshed in The Second Book of the Historie of England (1577), and by Spencer in The Faerie Queen (1590). The most influential of all was probably The True Chronicle History of King Leir, which was anonymous. This play was performed as early as 1594, which is when it showed up in the "Stationers' Register." Kenneth Muir even suggested that Shakespeare "may have acted in it". Shakespeare took the best of all the sources of King Leir, added his touches and personality, and created the masterpiece we enjoy today. Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae, gave the description of King Lear and his three daughters, and also the basis for the love test. One major difference is that unlike Shakespeare's Lear, Geoffrey's Leir does not appear to be insane and has not lost
Kent's most notable characteristics are his loyalty and bluntness. Discuss?
Q Kent's most notable characteristics are his loyalty and bluntness. Discuss? The character of King Lear's Kent is a formidable one. Whether it is the extent of his service to the King, the harshness and imagination with which he fights to defend the King or his character progression throughout the play. His most notable characteristics are definitely his incessant loyalty and his use of blunt language when his respectful interjections are ignored. It is his loyalty that motivates him and his bluntness that lands him in trouble. He speaks up to the King and warns him about his 'hideous rashness' in the treatment of Cordelia and is blunt and to the point "What wouldst thou do, old man?" - Act 1 Scene 1; but only uses this language when he is not being taken into consideration. We normally hear Kent referring to the King in a respectful and loyal manner 'my lord' and 'my leige'. His bluntness and forwardness towards the King leads to his banishment, which Kent accepts but not without a final word of advice "See better Lear, and let me still remain the true blank of thine eye." - Act 1 Scene 1 We notice that his advice and speeches are justified by the subsequent events of the play. His reference towards the Kings daughters prior to leaving the court is a sign of what is still to come . "...the gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, that justly think'st and hast
Kingship and leadership and their absence have major implications in the play King Lear. Explore how Shakespeare presents these themes.
King Lear Kingship and leadership and their absence have major implications in the play King Lear. Explore how Shakespeare presents these themes. Jonathon Dollimore (1984) focuses on Lear's identity throughout the play. 'What makes Lear the person he is, is not kingly essence, but among other things, his authority and his family. As the play progresses Lear is forced to question his identity. "Does anyone hear know me?...Who is it that can tell me who I am?". Dollimore believes King Lear is about power, poverty and inheritance. Shakespeare focuses on what happens when there is a 'catastrophic redistribution of power'. At the start of the play Lear has a rich, powerful and complex social identity. He is King and Patriarch of his family. Being the king he was therefore looked upon as being the source of meaning and order in society. The opening scene represents a strong theme of authority and kingship. A sennet marks the arrival of the king. He enters accompanied by attendants and is greeted as 'Royal Lear' and 'Most Royal Majesty'; "Royal Lear, Whom I have ever honoured as my king, Loved as my master followed, As my great patron thought on in my prayers". "Most royal majesty, I crave no more than hath your Highness offered, Nor will you tender less". We see here how a great image of kingship and authority are presented. When Kent is banished from the kingdom,
King Lear Is a Play Based Upon Love, Betrayal and Conflict. Discuss how King Lear’s Role as King of England Deteriorates
King Lear Is a Play Based Upon Love, Betrayal and Conflict. Discuss how King Lear's Role as King of England Deteriorates From a King to a Man. Aim During the course of this essay, I will be discussing the role of King Lear and his deterioration from being a King, to becoming a man as a result of Ignorance and Dignity. King Lear is a rather complex character, who was neither all good, nor all unpleasant. He was simply a combination of the two. His role as King places a great deal of stress upon him From the opening chapters of King Lear, one is able to deduce that the Kings role is paramount to that of other characters. Shakespeare portrays King Lear as the dominant character in the first stages of the play. This is obvious especially when the Earl of Kent, someone the King had trusted and respected, intervened over the situation where King Lear banished Cordelia. You can see through the manner in which he spoke to Kent that there was something about the King that was not right, which we assume is caused merely by old age, i.e. his ignorance towards a friend, and even more so his ill-treatment of his youngest daughter Cordelia, who was his joy. Lear: "...Now, our joy..." (Act 1 Sc 1) This is the reference of Cordelia prior to the dilemma, a reference of joy that can only be seen as a most pleasant reference for a father to give to a child, and he also says 'our', from
An Interpretation of Molire A Critique of the Bourgeois Men
An Interpretation of Molière A Critique of the Bourgeois Men The two plays that I have read by Jean-Baptiste Molière, Tartuffe and The Miser, seem to be centered on a possession that is desired by the father of each story. In Tartuffe, the character of Tartuffe is Orgon's greatest possession. In The Miser, money is Harpagon's greatest possession. Molière seems to use these possessions not only as a way to create comic muse but also as a way to divide the father from the rest of the cast in his plays. Harpagon and Orgon are used to show the audience the traits of the bourgeois. These central characters personas are possibly exaggerated to the point of mockery to illuminate the main characteristics of their ego: avarice, jealousy, and egotism. Molière makes sure to announce the character traits possessed by the bourgeois men in each story. In Tartuffe, Orgon's irrational and excessive behavior is brandished about his character throughout the play by family members, friends, and Mariane's servant, Dorine. Although we do not come upon Orgon's character until the forth scene of the first act, we already have a sense of a man who may be irrational by the words of Mariane's servant Dorine by which she describes Orgon's feelings towards Tartuffe:" He calls him brother, and loves him as his life, preferring him to mother, child, or wife"(Tartuffe 1.2.15-16). This
Animal Imagery - 57 different animals are mentioned in King Lear.
IMAGERY ANIMAL IMAGERY 57 different animals are mentioned in King Lear. Dominant animal imagery is symbolic of the hierarchy and the dismissal of God's law. The traditional order was: God Angels Man Animal Plants Stones Animal imagery represents the breakdown of natural order and the savage instincts of certain evil characters. Therefore these evil characters are not obeying God's law but behaving according to instinct. For example in Act I Scene 4, King Lear refers to Gonerill as possessing a "wolvish visage." In a way the evil characters support Montaigne's views, who questioned the natural order and believed man was not necessarily superior to animals. Animals of prey are used in the imagery, where the non-human nature world taking over, as the civilised world breaks down. This parallels with Montaigne because animal instincts overpower human instincts. A.C. Bradley quotes: "The lower animal souls have found a lodgement in human form and there found brains forge, tongue to speak, and hands to eat enormities." It is interesting to compare the animal imagery in King Lear to that in Othello. The two plays have certain likenesses; they were written together (Othello probably in 1604, and King Lear around 1605). Also they are the most painful of the great tragedies, and they are both studies of torture. However, torture in King Lear is so vast and so inhuman a
What are Seneca's views on anger (support your answer with evidence from primary sources)? Critically evaluate his views.
Question 2: What are Seneca's views on anger (support your answer with evidence from primary sources)? Critically evaluate his views. Seneca who was a Spanish-born stoics philosopher and a good public speaker between 4 B.C and 65 B.C has given his opinion about anger in his essay 'On Anger'. This essay will illustrate his views on anger by looking at his definition on anger, the discordances of anger with nature, the decision to start anger, the causes of anger, and the process of anger, the good and bad consequences of anger and the remedies of it. It will then critically analysis his views by looking at the consistence with stoicism, the practicability of his remedies and some oversights of his views. Stoicism was a philosophical system started by Zeno. The belief of stoicism was a ruling principle underlay reality and permeated all things. It accounted for the orderliness of nature (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob & Lane 1996:112). It believed that happiness came from the disciplining of emotions by the rational part of soul and individuals should progress morally (Perry et al. 1996:113) In the essay, Seneca gave the definition of anger. Anger is "a burning desire to avenge a wrong" or "a burning desire to punish him by whom you think yourself to have been unfairly harmed."(Seneca On Anger Extracts I2). These were the definitions of anger given by Seneca. Seneca then talked
Tragedy and Silence in Beckett's Endgame and Bond's Lear
Tragedy and Silence in Beckett's Endgame and Bond's Lear Neither Samuel Beckett's Endgame nor Edward Bond's Lear are described by their authors as tragedies, and it seems unlikely that Aristotle would recognise them as such. Nevertheless, both writers draw self-consciously on elements of classical tragedy - though with different aesthetic and moral intentions, and with strikingly different results. In this essay, I will discuss the ways in which Beckett and Bond have adapted the model of classical tragedy, as outlined by Aristotle, to reinvent the genre for the modern era. At the same time, I want to explore the theme of silence. This is a key idea in both plays, but it is interpreted very differently by the two writers in their diverse tragic schemes. Thanks in no small part to Beckett and Bond, tragicomedy has been the dominant theatrical genre of the last half-century - so much so that it has become an almost meaningless catch-all term to describe any play which combines sad and funny elements. However, both Lear and Endgame can properly be described as tragicomedies, as recent productions make clear. A review of the revival of Lear at the Sheffield Crucible states: 'If Shakespeare's Lear blurred the line between high tragedy and black comedy then Edward Bond removes that line completely' (Highfield, 2005). Meanwhile, the programme notes for the Oslo Shakespeare