Power, Kingship, & Authority

• ‘A dog’s obeyed in office’ - Act 4 Scene 6 


  In the height of his madness, Lear is perceptive; his use of bathetic metaphor highlights both the animalistic and primal nature of corrupt or selfish ruler and demonstrates his realisation that he was flattered because he was king rather than because of merit. 
• Lear: ‘we have divided in three our kingdom’ - Act I.I


  A sense of hubris is evident here through the royal ‘we’ pronoun. This could be proleptic of disorder to come as Lear’s excessive pride leads him to take a gods role of dividing a kingdom. His decision to divide the kingdom is a sign of political madness. 
• 'Here I stand your slave, / A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.' - Lear in Act 3, Scene 2
• “Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds" 


  This stage direction acts as an ironic comment on kingship, presenting Lear in utter antithesis to Cordelia, who is dressed in armor, and conveying his loss of power and authority. Furthermore, it suggests that the natural order is arguably more powerful and should be reinstated
• “Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile” 

  Act 4 scene 2 

  Pious adjectives evoke Jacobean ideas of a Godly person. Vile- the adjective transforms from describing the sisters and then the state of what they think. This emphasizes how corruption truly has become ubiquitous 

  The epinome of vile is a rhetoric device that portrays the disgust felt by Albany
• 'O, I have ta‘en too little care of this!” Act 3 Sc 4


  Moment of political anagnorisis – Lear understands that he had been a poor king, the old order didn’t show enough care for the poorer subjects. 

  Exclamative and interjection – shock and realisation, emphasises his anagnorisis 
• “Here I disclaim all my paternal care” 1.1 


  The process of Lear’s “disclaim” is evident of Lear breaking the natural law by denying Cordelia a relationship. The possessive pronoun “my” suggests Lear’s power at this point in the play but also has connotations of relentless pride and bigotry.  
• “Come not between the dragon and his wrath”- Act 1 Scene 1  


  Animalistic imagery- rage, impulsive, irrational- ‘dragon’ is an emblem of power  

  Personification of his own emotions  
• 'The laws are mine not thine' - Goneril  


  Subversive rebellion against the patriarchal distribution of power
• ‘Take physic pomp: expose thyself to feel what wretches feel’ 3.4


  Lear’s political anagnorisis- complete contrast from act 1, showing how his fall from power has caused him to see the true nature of suffering in society- his use of imperatives conveys how many others in power also need to undergo the same realisation 
• 'They told me I was everything. ‘Tis a lie: I am not ague-proof.’ 4.6


  Political anagnorisis becomes personal - ambiguous third person pronoun ‘they’ points to the masses of his subjects, especially his sycophants in his court. The prose heightens his emotional, vulnerable tone, and the unmitigated declarative ‘’tis a lie’ emphasizes his realization that he is just a man – not ‘ague-proof’ or disease proof.
• ‘Yet better thus and known to be contemned, than still be contemned and flattered’ Edgar


  Oxymoronic phrase draws attention to Edgar's wisdom – understands the powerful can be despised despite flattery. Offers potential hope to the audience that the evil will be defeated.