Quotes

• 35) “Meantime we shall express our darker purpose'


  • References Lear’s decision to divide his kingdom in three, according to which daughter claims to love him the most.
• Lear: '"Meantime we shall express our darker purpose"'
• Lear's decision to divide his kingdom in three

  According to which daughter claims to love him the most
• "darker"


  Hints at something malign in Lear's motivation, either deliberate or subconscious
• "darker"


  Could also suggest something oblique in Lear's motivation
• "darker"


  Perhaps it is Lear's compulsive desire for his own downfall
• Lear: '"unburdened crawl towards death"'
• Lear


  • Wants to be relieved of kingship: it is a 'burden'
  • The word 'crawl' suggests he has become infantilized
• Lear: '"which of you shall we say doth love us most?"'
• Lear's emotional blindness and power-driven arrogance


  Leads him to divide his kingdom according to the flawed love test
• Lear


  Conceitedly believes that love can be equated to material affection (i.e. commodified rather than something given generously)
• Lear's fury


  Exacerbated when he is shown love cannot be commodified
• Lear's act of banishing Cordelia


  Demonstrates his commodification of love
• Lear's tone


  Imperious, using the royal plural "we say"
• Lear: '"what can you say to draw a third more opulent than your sisters?"'
• Lear


  Nakedly prefers Cordelia and the love-test is rigged from the start
• "opulent"


  Suggests Lear equates love with value, he has commodified it
• Lear: '"Here I disclaim all my paternal care, / Propinquity and property of blood"'
• Lear disowning Cordelia


  Emotionally and materially, denying her participation in the marriage market
• "property of blood"


  Implies Lear sees Cordelia as his possession
• Plosives


  Reflect finality of Lear's judgement
• Lear: '"Come not between the dragon and his wrath"'
• Lear's treatment of Kent


  Brutal and with vituperative rage, banishing him on pain of death
• Lear's treatment of Kent


  Hints at something demonic inside Lear and that he delights to indulge in
• Lear losing Kent


  Exacerbates his vulnerability
• Lear: '"Only we shall retain / the name, and all th'addition to a king"'
• Lear


  • Wants to keep the title of King and the "addition" - his one hundred knights
  • Wants to divest himself of the responsibility of rule
• Lear's decision


  Could cause political chaos because it would be unclear as to who rules the kingdom
• Lear: '"her price is fallen"'
• Lear


  Sees Cordelia as his property, worth nothing as a dowry
• Cordelia: '"What shall Cordelia speak?" (aside)'
• Cordelia's aside


  Invites the audience's sympathy, she has been placed in the position of the victim of her father's arrogance and vanity
• Cordelia's aside


  Heightens anticipation of her response in contrast to her sisters
• Cordelia: '"Nothing"'
• Cordelia's blunt answer


  • Could be the product of her panicked state of mind
  • Could be interpreted as defiance rather than panic
• Cordelia: '"I cannot heave my heart into my mouth"'
• Cordelia


  • Cannot express her love for her father as it is too strong
  • The verb "heave" articulates the pain she experiences
• Cordelia's response


  Could be interpreted as a brattish reluctance to please her father
• Cordelia: '"I love your majesty / According to my bond,"'
• Cordelia


  Says she loves her father in a way that is appropriate for a daughter, which will not please Lear as he demands excessive gratification