Quotes

• Though well we may not pass upon his life without the form of justice'

  Cornwall

  Act 3 Scene 7

  Theme: Justice

  Cornwall appears to recognize that he lacks the authority to put Gloucester to death

  Cornwall argues that he is provoked and must gratify his wrath.
• Which is the justice which is the thief?'

  Lear

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Justice

  To Gloucester referencing perspective and how you see things - Lear comes to believe that justice is meaningless (Nihilism)

  The play asks whether justice is a natural law or a man-made construct—or whether justice even exists at all.
• The Gods are just'


  Edgar

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Justice

  Edgar's faith presents problems too; when Cordelia is hanged its made hard to reconcile Edgar's belief in the justice of divine retribution
• Plate sin with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtle breaks'


  Lear

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Justice

  He is saying to Gloucester that wealth can protect/cover up someone from justice. Throwing money at sins makes them go away.

  He is saying that justice isn't served to the wealthy or the poor.
• I am made of that same self-mettle as my sister'

  Goneril

  Act 1 scene 1

  Theme: Family relationships

  Metaphor of metal suggests hardness to them, which foreshadows their cruelty to Lear.
• Why bastard? Wherefore base?'

  Edmund

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Family relationships

  Repetition of the word "base" conveys his hatred towards being deemed lower than his brother for purely superficial reasons, in addition to the repeated plosive 'B' sound creating a sense of intense anger.
• Ever since thou mad'st thy daughters thy mothers'

  Fool

  Act 1 Scene 4

  Theme: Family relationships

  Paradoxical truth-teller through riddles

  Allusion to subversion
• You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face'

  Albany to Goneril

  Act 4 Scene 2

  Theme: Family relationships

  Confrontational and aggressive
• I have so often blushed to acknowledge him'

  Gloucester

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Paternal relationships

  No longer embarrassed
• The bond cracked twixt son and father'

  Gloucester

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Paternal relationships

  King falls from bias of nature; theres father against child - Breakdown of chain of being

  Reputation of cracked symbolises the division of the family and kingdom. Cracked is an emotive verb and makes us sympathise with Gloucester, as does 'old'.
• Which of you shall say doth love us most?'

  Lear

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Paternal relationships

  Rhetoric of ''shall we say'' implies competition between the sisters. Sets the tone and foreshadows future events between the two. It also extenuates Lear's ego
• I love your majesty according to my bond, no more, no less'

  Cordelia

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Paternal relationships

  Duty
• Better thou hadst not been born'

  Lear to Cordelia

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Paternal relationships
• Into thy womb convey sterility'

  Lear to Goneril

  Act 1 Scene 4

  Theme: Paternal relationships

  Lexis of reproduction is reflective of the bond Lear had with his daughters. Purpose alludes to the bible as women were supposed to reproduce.
• I love you more than words can wield the matter'

  Goneril

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Deception

  1st line of her speech in Trial of Love

  Establishes the idea that language will be an important element of the play. - This is evident in Cordelia's refusal to speak in the wake of her sister's lies, in the letter Edmund uses to frame Edgar and the subsequent letter Edmund uses to betray Gloucester, and in Lear's speech as his dementia grows.

  Hyperbolic way she address him is sycophantic. Makes us question her motives
• Edgar I nothing am'

  Edgar/Poor Tom

  Act 2 Scene 3

  Theme: Deception
• Robes and furred gowns hide all'

  Lear

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Deception
• I cannot heave my heart into my mouth'

  Cordelia

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: (Hidden) Truth

  Alliteration of breathlessness
• Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides'

  Cordelia

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: (Hidden) Truth
• Jesters do oft prove profits'

  Regan

  Act 5 Scene 3

  Theme: (Hidden) Truth

  Proverbial

  Fool = truth teller

  the words of the jester in plays are often the most accurate, and their predictions more fair than the predictions by others who are required to say what the king says.
• Well then, legitimate Edgar I must have your land'

  Edmund

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Betrayal/Greed
• You are my guests. Do me no foul play'

  Gloucester

  Act 3 Scene 7

  Theme: Betrayal
• Whom I have honoured as my king, loved as my father'

  Kent

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Loyalty
• Gloucester I live to thank thee for the love showed'st the king'

  Albany

  Act 4 Scene 2

  Theme: Loyalty
• But better service have I never done you than now to bind you hold'

  Servant

  Act 3 Scene 7

  Theme: Loyalty

  Standing up for Gloucester, emblematic on how to stand up to do the right thing
• Unnatural, detested brutish villain'

  Gloucester

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Nature

  Towards Edgar (Wrongly)

  Mirrors what Lear said to Cordelia, shows their disbelief/temper when betrayed by their children who are obliged to obey them. Unnatural reinforces the theme of nature.
• Loyal and natural boy'

  Gloucester

  Act 2 Scene 1

  Theme: Nature

  Towards Edmund (wrongly after deceit)

  'Natural' is ironic as Edmund is anything but natural, literally because illegitimate son and also because he's plotting against him. Also emphasises Gloucester's blindness.
• Allow not nature more than nature needs'

  Lear

  Act 2 Scene 4

  Theme: Nature

  After taking knights

  Lear needs knights and attendants not only because of the service that they provide him but because of what their presence represents: namely, his identity, both as a king and as a human being. Goneril and Regan, in stripping Lear of the trappings of power, are reducing him to the level of an animal.
• Thou, Nature, are my goddess; to thy law my services are bound'

  Edmund

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Nature

  First line of soliloquy

  Edmund is addressing nature in this speech, opening with the line

  "Nature" personified in this metaphor, giving it a sense of power and authority + compared to a "goddess"

  Edmund as believing that nature is more important than man-made and superficial structures.

  Edmund feels that what is right and justified; he does not feel guilty
• Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty'

  Goneril

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Vision

  Foreshadows the subsequent loss that Lear, Gloucester, and Edgar must endure

  Gloucester loses his eyes, Edgar and Lear lose their "space" in the world, and all three characters lose their liberty in some way or another.
• I stumbled when I saw'

  Gloucester

  Act 4 Scene 1

  Theme: Vision

  Words uttered by Gloucester when he realizes his own error in trusting Edmund over Edgar.

  Express his guilt for the terrible decisions he made when he could see

  People make horrible mistakes with open eyes which are blinded by their arrogance or ignorance.
• I see it feelingly'

  Gloucester

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Vision

  When speaking to Lear referencing the fallibility of senses, compensate for lack of one senses with others
• O fool I shall go mad'

  Lear

  Act 2 Scene 4

  Theme: Madness
• Oh matter and impertinency mixed, reason in madness'

  Edgar

  Act 4 Scene 6

  Theme: Madness
• O let me not be mad not mad, sweet heaven!'

  Lear

  Act 1 Scene 5

  Theme: Madness
• Nothing, my lord'


  Cordelia

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Nothing

  She knows the declarations of her sisters are insincere, and therefore she cannot participate in such artificial pronouncements.

  Bathos- anticlimactic; dramatic contrast to G+R

  Nihilism references futility being meaningless
• Nothing will come of nothing, speak again'

  Lear

  Act 1 Scene 1

  Theme: Nothing

  Warning-giving an ultimatum ; beginning of his fury. Focus on empty superficial love

  No more no less is also idiomatic
• Can you make no use of nothing nuncle?'

  Fool

  Act 1 Scene 4

  Theme: Nothing
• The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself'

  Gloucester

  Act 1 Scene 2

  Theme: Nothing
• I am a fool, thou art nothing'

  Fool

  Act 1 Scene 4

  Theme: Nothing