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King Lear (Lecture 2 of 4) — Transcript

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0:10okay I think we can get started it's
0:14tough to recommend films when it comes
0:17to King Lear but I just saw the one with
0:19Ian McKellen that's directed by Trevor
0:21Nunn and it's quite good and overall the
0:24one I'd recommend most you get to see
0:27Gandalf is King Lear and he's really
0:30quite good I don't agree with everything
0:32he does or everything in the productions
0:34directed by Trevor Nunn but but it's it
0:37slightly cut but that's the one I would
0:41recommend okay so today we come to King
0:45Lear finally the greatest of
0:47Shakespeare's plays and therefore the
0:49greatest single product of the human
0:51imagination
0:52one has to go to something like Bach st.
0:55Matthew Passion or Michelangelo's
0:57Sistine Chapel even to come close but
0:59King Lear is it we want to send
1:02something into outer space to represent
1:04our planet we should send out copies of
1:07King Lear although maybe they can just
1:10watch in mcallen so let's just back up a
1:13bit here see where we're coming from
1:16we spent an unusual amount of time on
1:19comedies for a course on Shakespeare's
1:22politics did Midsummer Night's Dream as
1:26you like it in Twelfth Night I didn't
1:30think was an interesting way of showing
1:31that politics raises interesting
1:34questions throughout Shakespeare's works
1:36even in the comedies and the comedies
1:38have something to teach us
1:39about politics they are in their own way
1:43very interesting explorations of the
1:46relation of individuals to the community
1:48into the political community and they
1:51deal with the question of whether people
1:53can stand independent of the political
1:56community one of the issues we're going
1:58to be dealing with deeply in King Lear
2:02is the political community and the
2:05cosmos are they coextensive the
2:08political community in the cosmos that
2:10is
2:11political life is very important for
2:13Shakespeare it involves a lot but
2:15doesn't involve everything does it
2:17encompass everything are their
2:19experiences that go beyond political the
2:21political and Shakespeare shows that in
2:23the comedies when he explores heroes
2:26explores love now love is part of the
2:28community it's what brings people
2:31together eros is a uniting force but it
2:34also sets them apart we saw that
2:37tragically in Romeo and Juliet that
2:39their love gave them a vision very
2:40separate from that of the rest of her
2:42ona and put them at odds with it now the
2:45comedy as we see them as a source of
2:47complication that the lovers in the
2:50comedy to start going off into a dream
2:52world into a night world but that's very
2:54confusing for them and ultimately as we
2:57particularly saw in Midsummer Night's
2:59Dream but in all three of the comedies
3:01the lovers choose to come back into the
3:04daylight world of the city they actually
3:08won't take the Romeo and Juliet course
3:09and indeed in the comedies Shakespeare
3:12is dealing with the ordinary run of
3:14humanity and I think one of the things
3:16he shows about the ordinary run of
3:17humanity is that most people don't want
3:20to go it alone especially you're not not
3:22in that radical sense that Romeo and
3:25Juliet do a course of going alone that
3:29leaves them dead at the end of the play
3:31most people want the support of the
3:33community they actually feel
3:35uncomfortable when they're seeing things
3:37differently from everybody else and
3:38that's the force of conventions that we
3:41saw in the comedies conventions seem at
3:44first to be the opponent of love to
3:49threaten to make it sterile and
3:51unproductive but once things get shaken
3:54up in the comedies and and conventions
3:57get revitalized they actually supply
3:59something important to the lovers a way
4:02of stabilizing their emotions that's
4:04what marriage means it's getting the
4:06support of the community to validate
4:09your love and that's what makes for
4:12these happy endings in the comedy is
4:15that they do bring people together it's
4:19another way of expressing what I think
4:22is fundamental to Shakespeare the idea
4:24that the state of nature for human
4:26beings is civilization that they
4:29fulfilled themselves in in community now
4:33that requires in the comedies suspending
4:37a lot of the tensions and problems that
4:40normally drive people apart so the
4:43companies to some extent are artificial
4:48they give us an image of cooperation and
4:51of harmony that I think Shakespeare
4:53feels will help guide us in our lives
4:57but must be understood ultimately as
4:59artificial hence a very interesting
5:02moment on page 68 of 12 nine you can
5:06look it up it's act 3 scene 4 about line
5:10132 Fabian in the middle of one of these
5:14crazy things going on having to do with
5:16Malvolio making a fool of self says if
5:18this were played upon a stage now I
5:21could condemn it as an improbable
5:23fiction now that's an extraordinarily
5:26postmodern moment in Shakespeare and
5:29there are actually many of them where
5:31he's quite self-conscious about his
5:34drama and reminding us we're just seeing
5:35a play then indeed this is being played
5:39upon a stage reminding us this is this
5:43comedy is improbable fiction life
5:46doesn't always work out this way that's
5:48why Shakespeare often introduces what
5:51I've been calling tragic relief in his
5:52comedies on the analogy of the comic
5:56relief in his tragedies that he very
5:59often reminds us particularly the
6:00endings that the comic resolution is not
6:03all-inclusive and so even in this
6:07reforming community where everyone's
6:10gonna be in harmony there's always
6:12discordant note there's Jake is who runs
6:16off there's a Malvolio who runs off it
6:19is interesting that Shakespeare often
6:20associates that with some kind of
6:22religious vision which transcends the
6:25normal political community but in the
6:29case of Twelfth Night he ends the play
6:32with this quite remarkable song from the
6:34clown as on pages 103 to 104 it's really
6:38interesting to compare this to Jay
6:40kisses seven ages of man's speech and
6:42I'll time to do that but briefly J
6:46kisses seven ages of man's speech is
6:48bitter this this speech this song of the
6:53clown is bittersweet
6:55unlike Jake is the clown seems
6:58reconciled to the suffering involved in
7:01human life and although he he implies
7:05that there's some nasty things that
7:07happen he's willing to accept them in
7:09the spirit comedy and the refrain is for
7:11the rain that rain it every day that is
7:15Shakespeare reminding us that in this
7:17sunny world of comedy that is created
7:20there are clouds on the horizon and life
7:22isn't going to be all happiness
7:25contentment and a harmonious community
7:28now it's fascinating that a variant of
7:32this song appears in King Lear it's on
7:34page 72 of your additions so that makes
7:39it actress into about line 73 were the
7:43fool sings he that has an a little tiny
7:45wit with hey ho the wind in the rain
7:48must make content with his fortunes fit
7:50though the rain that raineth every day
7:53Shakespeare likes to make these kind of
7:57links between his comedies and his
7:59tragedies to suggest us to us that
8:02either pattern is a pattern is a
8:06literary pattern the world is not a
8:08perfect comedy it's not a perfect
8:10tragedy somehow it's a mixture of both
8:12think that's one reason
8:14Shakespeare is realizing that was one
8:16reason he was such a genius at writing
8:18both comedy and tragedy so we will see
8:23many of the same problems that we saw in
8:26the comedies now in in King Lear but
8:29taking them in a tragic direction I
8:33apologized for my romp through Hobson or
8:36so last time it was all too quick but
8:39I'm gonna try to open up those ideas and
8:41going through King Lear and they do
8:43supply an important background again
8:46these modern thinkers
8:49Hobson and Russo don't see society as
8:54natural to human beings they see our
8:57natural state as a political I think of
9:00Shakespeare disagrees with that and
9:03we've seen it in his approach to
9:07politics now in King Lear were going to
9:11be really looking at the relationship
9:12between politics and human nature and in
9:15that sense it's a combination of
9:16everything we've looked at as I've
9:18stressed that many times many times
9:21Shakespeare
9:22sees politics as one of the arenas and
9:27human life where human beings fulfill
9:28themselves so that they cannot develop
9:32their nature to the its fullest without
9:35the option of politics so that
9:38Shakespeare would say if you want to
9:40look at what a human being is you have
9:43to look at Henry the fifth you have to
9:47look at Julius Caesar you have to look
9:49at King Lear these characters through
9:53politics develop aspects of humanity
9:55that would otherwise be undeveloped so
9:58this is that line of thinking that I
10:00associated with Aristotle that
10:04understand the nature of a thing you
10:06can't look at the average example of it
10:09you can't look at its primitive
10:10beginnings you have to look at its full
10:12development now it used to be I can
10:15illustrate this easily from popular
10:17culture with a film called Crocodile
10:19Dundee 1986 any of you have even heard
10:22of Crocodile Dundee all right well I
10:27won't try to explain the plot but Paul
10:30Hogan plays some guy from the Australian
10:33outback and he shows up in Manhattan and
10:36a mugger approaches him and pulls a
10:40knife on him and it's a regular sort of
10:44Street a New York Street knife a
10:47switchblade and then Crocodile Dundee
10:51pulls out this enormous bowie knife this
10:54hunting knife and the dialogue I just
10:57checked it the actual dialogue in the
10:59film is seeing this pitiful new
11:02street life the Australian outback guy
11:05says that's not a knife and then pulls
11:07out this you bowie knife and says that's
11:09a knife now it's very Aristotelian that
11:15you to understand knifing this you can't
11:19look at just any old knife you can't
11:22look at something that pairs apples
11:24you've got to look at a real Hemans
11:26knife that could take apart any Street
11:30crook in New York now it is very
11:33interesting looking this up I
11:34misremembered the lines and evidently
11:37everybody does the the way you google it
11:41is you call that a knife this is a knife
11:44not as in the film that's not a knife
11:47that's a knife now it sure I'm so glad
11:50to see that the whole world has made
11:52this mistake because that the the common
11:56formulation and evidently there's some
11:58heavy metal Australian band that has a
12:01song called that you call that a knife
12:04this is a knife that's the full
12:06Aristotelian approach you call that a
12:09knife you know you can't define knives
12:13by just any ordinary not this is a knife
12:17as Shakespeare takes the same view of
12:19human beings this is the very end of
12:24Julius Caesar so you guys may remember
12:26these lines very famous lines
12:28Antony's concluding tribute to Brutus
12:32this was the noblest Roman of them all
12:35all the conspirators save only he did
12:38that they did an envy of great Caesar
12:40he only in a general honest thought and
12:43common good to all made one of them his
12:45life was gentle and the elements so
12:48mixed at him that nature might stand up
12:50and say to all the world this was a man
12:53there it is this is a knife this is a
12:57man and notice nature might stand up so
13:01to understand human nature for Marc
13:03Anthony you've got to look at the
13:05noblest Roman of them all and that's why
13:10I'm saying Shakespeare's Aristotelian in
13:13disrespect and why politics is so
13:16important to him because to understand
13:19the perfection of humanity you have to
13:22look at how human nature manifests
13:25itself in politics at the same time
13:27though and this is where you get the
13:29tragedy in shakespeare politics is not
13:31everything and not all human
13:34possibilities can be revealed in
13:37political life and in the communal world
13:40there are things in human nature that go
13:44beyond politics and therefore he
13:47explores for example the tragic love of
13:50Romeo and Juliet and will be now seeing
13:53this in in king lear's I've said many
13:55times his plays are about the politics
13:58but also about the limits and politics
14:01human nature fulfills itself in
14:04political life but it also is often
14:07frustrated in political life it often
14:09feels dammed up forted in its goals and
14:14that's the tragic business that
14:15Shakespeare explores in King Lear so
14:19let's plunge right into the middle of
14:23King Lear and set up what I think are
14:26its fundamental issues so if you'll turn
14:31to page 79 this is act 3 scene 4 about
14:37line 102 this is after Lear has gone
14:41crazy and he's in the middle of the
14:44heath haven't been driven out by his
14:47evil daughters and he's looking at a
14:50figure he thinks is a naked beggar named
14:54Tom a bedlam and Tom a bedlam makes
14:59quite an impression on King Lear now
15:04we're better and a grave than to answer
15:06with I uncovered body in this extremity
15:08in the skies is man no more than this
15:11and there is the question what is the
15:15nature of man and it's at the very
15:17center here I three seen for King Lear
15:19consider him well that was the worm no
15:22silk the beasts no hide the sheep no
15:25wool the cat
15:27perfume ha he is 3 of us are
15:29sophisticated thou art the thing itself
15:32an accommodative man is no more buts it
15:35puts a poor bear forked animal as thou
15:39art off off you Lending's
15:43so so there's result it's just
15:46unbelievable it Shakespeare anticipates
15:48Rousseau second discourse and Russo's
15:51idea of the natural man that natural man
15:54would be an orangutan natural man would
15:58be just a beast the thing itself on a
16:01comet a man to get at the nature of man
16:04here King Lear things you have to reduce
16:07man to his barest essentials and above
16:11all that means take off his clothes
16:14that's just conventional stuff that
16:17comes with civilization clothing King
16:19Lear is really struck by the nakedness
16:21of port omnia and to get at human nature
16:24you would take away all sophistication
16:28and end up with this poor bare forked
16:32animal semen sounds like obvious
16:35characterization of the state of nature
16:37nasty poor solitary brutish and short
16:40and so leader starts taking off his
16:43clothing this is the central movement of
16:46the play get back to nature get back to
16:49nature by rejecting all of civilization
16:52as merely conventional and this is an
16:55important movement in the play and in
16:57his echoed elsewhere by Gloucester for
17:00example page 96
17:03this is act 4 scene 1 about line 33 in
17:10the last night's storm ice he's also
17:13looking at Tama bedlam in the last
17:15night's storm I such a fellow saw which
17:20made me think a man a worm same same
17:26notion of man a worm so there is a very
17:29strong movement in this play to say is
17:32man no more than this
17:34that we are no more than animals that a
17:38man without a city is a beast
17:41to use era solace terms and many people
17:46have identified this as the message of
17:48King Lear particularly in the 50s there
17:53were all these readings of King Lear's
17:55if it had been written by Samuel Beckett
17:57it was seen in the context of the
17:59theatre of the absurd the Peter Brook
18:02film of King Lear is based on this
18:04reading the play many people have seen
18:07this play is deeply nihilistic as
18:09revealing that human beings are no more
18:12than beasts and certainly it opens up
18:15that abyss and invites us to peer into
18:18it but we have to look at the whole play
18:24and if you turn to page 144 this is at 5
18:30scene 3 about line 307 King Lear
18:35thinking of Cordelia says why should a
18:38dog a horse a rat have life and thou no
18:42breath at all it's at least worth
18:45considering that in his dying words King
18:49Lear
18:49appears to repudiate what he claimed act
18:523 scene 4 here he suggests that man is
18:56more than a beast because his daughter
19:00Cordelia her life was worth much more
19:04than that of a dog a horse a rat I asked
19:07you to from the beginning to think of
19:09this as a complicating factor in
19:11thinking about the play and if you'll
19:13turn back to 60 page 65 which is act 2
19:17scene 4 line 265 King Lear at another
19:21moment says aloud not nature more than
19:24nature needs man's life is cheap as
19:27beasts as if at that moment he is
19:31rejecting the idea that man is just an
19:36animal and I do want to run I'll be
19:39spending three lectures running through
19:41the complexity of this issue in
19:43Shakespeare but if we go back
19:47to be paid 79 and act 3 scene 4 let me
19:52point out something else
19:53King Lear asks of poor time of bedlam is
19:56man no more than this well I've got news
20:00for King Lear man is more than this
20:02because this is not poor time a bedlam
20:05this is Edgar future Duke of Gloucester
20:08and possible King of England Lear is
20:12actually taken in by a disguise at this
20:15moment when he thinks he's seeing the
20:18thing itself he's actually seeing a
20:21disguise that we know Edgar has put on
20:24to protect himself now he's been
20:26outlawed on some simple level man is
20:31more than this this seeming reductio ad
20:35absurdum of human nature's relieved very
20:38sophisticated figure from the court it
20:41was good emerge is very important
20:42towards the end of the play Shakespeare
20:45often does this in this play offering us
20:50a sense that the characters are mistaken
20:54they they're saying fabulously
20:55fascinating things and we're so tempted
20:58to say oh yeah man is no more than this
21:01but Shakespeare's reminding us man is
21:04and then just two pages later
21:07so still actually scene 4 line 157
21:11suddenly Tom of bedlam undergoes a
21:16metamorphosis as leader says first let
21:20me talk with this philosopher what is
21:24the cause of thunder we'll come back to
21:27the scene and analyze it in great detail
21:29next time
21:30but do understand that this figure of
21:34Edgar has split into Tom a bedlam and
21:39this philosopher and we are seeing as we
21:44do throughout act 3 the bestial side of
21:47humanity once the political order
21:49dissolves but something else opens up
21:51too and it's not something insignificant
21:56that Shakespeare associated with
21:58philosophy
22:00indeed in this scene Shakespeare brings
22:05about the dream of Plato's Republic a
22:07conversation between a king and a
22:10philosopher just play as Socrates say in
22:14Republican human evils will not cease
22:16until this happens that Kings can talk
22:19to philosophers and that's what we see
22:21here King Lear talking to a philosopher
22:24in other words man is more than a beast
22:26we see his higher potentialities in this
22:30scene as well the potentiality for
22:32philosophy and by the next page page 82
22:35about line 188 leader is referring to
22:40this figure as a good Athenian an
22:43Athenian philosopher therefore Socrates
22:46so remember I said about era stuff you
22:49asked I her style what does a man he's
22:51gonna want to point you to Socrates not
22:55to an orangutan but in Aristotle's view
23:00the most highly developed even being
23:02which would be the philosopher now
23:04Shakespeare is merciless we do not hear
23:08the dialogue between the king and the
23:10philosopher in the scene Lear and Tom
23:12withdraw backstage and we hear some
23:15trivial stuff from Causton Kent but
23:19maybe the whole play is actually the
23:21dialogue between a philosopher and a
23:23king that Shakespeare only hints at in
23:26the scene in any case I just I want you
23:29to I'm gonna open up the whole playing
23:31for you from the very beginning here
23:32that at the center of this play is a
23:35seem that asks the question what is man
23:38and first offers the answer that man is
23:42no better than a beast but that offers
23:45the possibility that man is a
23:46philosopher and we'll see this repeated
23:52in the fourth act as well these two
23:55options and it is the great
23:58confrontation between Hobbes Russo on
24:01one side and Plato Aristotle on the
24:04other that is do you understand human
24:07nature from the lowest perspective
24:11our origins from our barest beginnings
24:14would you look at human nature by
24:17looking at an orangutan or do you
24:20understand human nature from the highest
24:22perspective in terms of our our goals
24:26what we can develop into and our highest
24:32what the fullest flowering of human
24:35nature might be the center of this play
24:38is an astounding confrontation between
24:40ancient and modern philosophy in that
24:43sense I don't quite know how Shakespeare
24:45could have first seen what was coming in
24:48Hobbes and Locke I think he probably saw
24:50enough in Machiavelli to anticipate the
24:52direction that was going so do you
24:54understand human nature in terms of its
24:57beginnings or its ends and in terms of
24:59its lowest common denominator or its
25:02perfection I'm gonna say that that
25:03argument runs throughout King Lear so
25:06again I apologize for jumping ahead but
25:09I'm trying to give you a sense of what's
25:13most fully at stake in this play all
25:15right now let's turn to analyzing King
25:18Lear in some detail and here we're gonna
25:22have to spend a lot of time on the
25:24beginning and understanding King Lia's
25:27plan because it's very important to
25:33understand the beginning of that King
25:34Lear is not an idiot he's not a senile
25:38old man many people within the play
25:41including his nasty nasty daughters
25:44think he is and many critics thinking is
25:47as well I would like to point out that
25:52when Shakespeare wants to portray a
25:55senile man he can do it look at page 125
26:00this is act 4 scene 7 about line 60 King
26:06Lear saying I'm a very foolish fond old
26:10man fourscore and upward not an hour
26:14more or less and to deal plainly I fear
26:18I am not my perfect mind he thinks I
26:21should know you and know this man and
26:23I'm doubtful
26:25for I'm mainly ignorant what place this
26:27is and all the skill I have remembers
26:30not these garments that is a week
26:33terribly old man who has been through a
26:36lot but that's not the King Lear we meet
26:40at the beginning of this play he's the
26:42voice of that King page for that one
26:46Scene one line 38 meantime we shall
26:49express our darker purpose give me the
26:51map there know that we have divided in
26:54three our kingdom and to so fast and
26:56temp to shake all chaos and business
26:57mores conferring them on younger
26:59strengths while we unburden crawl
27:01towards death
27:02our Sun of Cornwall and you are no less
27:05loving son of Albany we have this hour a
27:07constant will to publish our daughter
27:09several towers that future strife may be
27:11prevented now this is not the voice of a
27:14senile old man this is the voice of
27:16someone who has been commanding all his
27:18life and is still in command page 7 line
27:221 11 4 by the sacred radiance of the Sun
27:26the mysteries of Hecate in the night by
27:28all the operations of the arms from whom
27:30we do exist and cease to be here I
27:32disclaim all my paternal care for Piqua
27:35tea and property blood and as a stranger
27:37to my heart and me hold thee from this
27:41forever the barbarous if in or he that
27:44makes his generation mrs. - gorgeous
27:46appetite shall to my bosom be as well
27:48neighbored pitied and relieved as now my
27:51sometime daughter we really need Gandalf
27:54care boys like Ian McKellen and Great
27:58King leaders have to have great voices
28:00he is so much in command at the
28:04beginning of the play he's not senile
28:07and his plan is not simply mistake the
28:12plan he comes up with on the spur of the
28:14moment in Act one Scene one is a mistake
28:18but it's not the original plan
28:22the original plan had problems but it
28:24was not simply a mistake it sorry mother
28:27was a great attempt to solve a very
28:29difficult political problem and so we
28:33really you know the way many people
28:35treat this scene
28:37you would think leer is pitiful not a
28:41tragic hero now here I'm going to turn
28:44to Marxist criticism I've been having a
28:48course on Shakespeare in politics we
28:50haven't had any Marxist criticism
28:53unfortunately for any radicals out there
28:55it's gonna be Groucho Marx not Karl Marx
28:59you guys know who Groucho Marx was good
29:03all right
29:04good if you ever want to understand
29:06politics see the movie Duck Soup one of
29:09the greatest representations of how
29:11politics works anyway you won't believe
29:13this but TS Eliot was a great
29:15anybody know who TS Eliot was now TS
29:19Eliot was a great fan of the Marx
29:21Brothers and quite him probably TS Eliot
29:26Groucho Marx started corresponding and
29:28eventually TS Eliot invited Groucho to
29:31have dinner with him Groucho felt he had
29:36to prepare for this meeting a meeting
29:40over sis Titanic of As Leaders with Tom
29:42Abed looms and so he prepared a speech
29:46on King Lear this is so hilarious he was
29:49gonna meet TS Eliot so he had to say
29:50something about King Lear and and in a
29:53letter to come all the most obscure the
29:57Marx Brothers Groucho wrote reporting
30:00his conversation TS Eliot
30:02I said the king was an incredibly
30:04foolish old man which God knows he was
30:07and if he's and then if he'd been my
30:09father I would have run away from home
30:12at the age of eight instead of waiting
30:14until I was ten I pointed out that King
30:16Lear's opening speech was the height of
30:18idiocy imagine I said a father asking
30:21his three children which of you kids
30:22loves me most
30:24so I Groucho actually speaks for a lot
30:28of literary critics there in saying that
30:31leaders just mistaken in the opening
30:34scene people have said this is just an
30:38old fairy tale beginning we just have to
30:40accept it but all of that misses the
30:43fact that Lear had an original plan
30:46and Shakespeare's very careful to
30:49distinguish it from the one we see him
30:51carrying out in act 1 now where we
30:54should be prepared for this we've seen
30:57this several times in this course in
30:59richard ii we began with a grand public
31:02scene pageant like ceremonial and only
31:06afterwards did we learn what was going
31:09on behind the scenes there was a lot of
31:12machinations going on and we understood
31:15what the real source of the animosity
31:18between Bolingbroke and Mowbray was in
31:21even more to the point in Henry v we see
31:26before the grand public scene in act 1 a
31:31kind of backroom bargaining scene we're
31:35gonna get a grand public presentation of
31:38Henry asking the church without bias to
31:44tell him whether he is the right to the
31:46French learn or not we learn in a scene
31:49prior to it
31:50this this is all prearranged that
31:51Henry's made a deal with the church
31:55so we should be very careful in King
31:58Lear to look at the very opening and
32:01what it tells us about the grand public
32:04scene that follows and here's the
32:07opening so this is page 3 act 1 scene 1
32:11line 1
32:12this is Canton Gloucester talking in
32:15prose in private
32:16I thought the kingdom or affected the
32:19Duke of Albany than Cornwall there
32:21always seem toe to us but now in the
32:23division of the kingdom and appears not
32:25which of the Dukes he values most for
32:28qualities are so weighed that curiosity
32:30and neither can make choice by this
32:32moiety now what this tells us if this is
32:35the deal is done it prepares us to
32:39understand and what's happening in the
32:41second scene is mere show the whole love
32:43test is just a show it's a diversion
32:47in fact Lear has divided the kingdom
32:51already he comes in with maps actually
32:54prepared to show other kingdoms are
32:55divided and moreover what we learn
33:00well first of all we know that Canton
33:03Gloucester are in agreement with this
33:05plan because in the next scene when Kent
33:09doesn't like the new plan
33:11he starts berating Lear about it and
33:14telling him it's wrong he does that in
33:17public where he gets himself banished he
33:20is in private where there's no penalty
33:23for his expressing his opinion and he
33:25and Gloucester are not questioning this
33:27plan at all
33:28presumably they've been on the plan in
33:30on the planning and what they notice
33:33about is the even-handedness of it
33:34indeed they they know that Lea prefers
33:38the Duke of Albany to the Duke of
33:41Cornwall Lear is no idiot he knows these
33:44Dukes he knows Albany is a good one and
33:47corn was the evil one maybe he doesn't
33:49know yet that Cornwall is pluck out
33:52clusters eyes evil but he knew the
33:56difference and he's ignoring it the the
34:02charge against the second plan is that
34:05it's not an anger and in haste and
34:07there's a manifestation of leaders
34:10personal feelings and that what's good
34:13for the kingdom presumably the first
34:15plan was not that way it seems to have
34:19been arrived at in consultation with his
34:23counselors and there they've signed off
34:26on this thing already now it's as we'll
34:30see there are so many details of the
34:32play that point us to understanding this
34:34and nobody did for centuries you get a
34:38few hints in nineteenth-century
34:39criticism that people understand there
34:41are two plans
34:43but the first person ever to work out
34:44leaders first plan a plan a detailer I
34:47know on the man named Harry Jaffa alas
34:49he just died this past January but he
34:53wasn't ninety-five at the time and he
34:56wrote an essay called the limits of
34:57politics King Lear I actually checked it
35:00him find it online it's right right
35:02there online it it appears in a book by
35:06edited by Allan bloom called
35:08Shakespeare's politics I should say the
35:11whole approach to shakespeare grows out
35:13of the work of bloom and jaffa so if
35:15you're interested in studying this stuff
35:17a little more IAM first place to start
35:19will be Alan blooms Shakespeare's
35:21politics which has essays in it on
35:22Julius Caesar and Merchant of Venice in
35:24the fellow and also as jaffers a great
35:26our economy is so much of what I'm going
35:28to say now is gonna be developed out of
35:32jaffers article just to point to one
35:36more thing that that kind of nails this
35:38whole thing's that down and makes you
35:40wonder how no one could have seen this
35:43before Jaffa look at the bottom of page
35:4510 so this is act 1 scene 1 line 195
35:51this moment Lear is called in Duke of
35:55Burgundy the King of France about
35:57Cordelia's marriage and the he has Lear
36:01Lear asked burgandy what I'll take for
36:05you to marry her and he says most royal
36:07majesty I crave no more than hath your
36:10highness offered nor will you tender
36:12less so it is a done deal and burgundy
36:16knows about it
36:20everyone is in on the deal except
36:22literary critics burgundy knows what
36:27he's gonna get ahead of time and he's
36:30evidently the one that's gonna marry
36:32Cordelia page 12 line 244 walking give
36:38but that portion which yourself proposed
36:41and here I take Cordelia by the hand
36:43Duchess of Burnaby
36:45so you see the illusion in the second
36:48scene is that everything is up for grabs
36:51that leader is going to divide up the
36:54kingdom according to the speeches of
36:57love offered by his daughters but no
37:00he's divided up the kingdom already he
37:05knows where everything's going
37:06he's just staging this love test why
37:09we'll get to in a moment to an effect
37:13ratify it but ahead of time Gloucester
37:16and can't know what's going on
37:18burgundy knows what's going on so what
37:20is going on well you have to start from
37:23the fact that leader has a
37:25problem in the issue of succession and
37:29like she's me he understands it was the
37:31first thing we learned about kingship
37:33from Shakespeare succession is the
37:35problem it's too much the luck of the
37:40draw just to hand it over the kingdom to
37:45the first Alliance accession a leader
37:47leader situation particularly
37:49complicated by the fact that he has no
37:50sons but presumably we're we're not
37:58accepting the salic law here presumably
38:01the kingdom should go to general Ghana
38:05rule is his eldest daughter on
38:08primogeniture is a very basic rule of
38:11kingship as we've seen so Lear does
38:15nothing presumably the kingdom goes to
38:18Ghana rule leader knows that's not right
38:21and again this notion that he's somehow
38:24blind to what's going on in this first
38:27scene is just the opposite he knows
38:30exactly what's going on his problem is
38:33that goneril's can inherit the kingdom
38:36if he doesn't do anything about it so he
38:40contrived some very interesting plan now
38:43he's been very cagey about all this one
38:47thing he's gonna do is supervise the
38:49succession he's not gonna wait to die
38:51and then just let it happen by this
38:56turning over power but keeping the name
38:59of King he expects to arbitrate for a
39:01while longer and see that the solution
39:04he's creating really works now again
39:08what he's doing is something you know
39:10really out of the ordinary here the
39:13conventional ordinary thing would be
39:15just die and let the kingdom go to
39:16Conroe he knows that's not right so
39:20first thing he will be there to
39:23supervise the succession
39:25he's been very cagey he's not published
39:29a dowry yet for his two married
39:31daughters got on regan's so that the
39:35dukes of Albany in Cornwall
39:37don't know quite what they're gonna get
39:40well what leaders plan is is to give
39:42them what they've already gotten nothing
39:44more Albany is a territory in the north
39:48of Britain the borders of Scotland and
39:53Cornwall is the southwest of England in
39:58effect now we don't see the maps but in
40:01effect what leaders planning on doing is
40:04giving Goneril in Albany the lands that
40:09they already preside over in their
40:12dukedom and same for Goneril Regan and
40:16Cornwall in the north and then he's
40:19going to give Cordelia the best part of
40:24the kingdom the center of the kingdom
40:27and indeed when she steps up to the
40:30plate he doesn't mince words what he
40:34says her is what can you say to draw a
40:44third more opulent at least this is a
40:46yeah page six Act one Scene one lines 88
40:50what can you say to draw a third more
40:53opulent than your sisters he loves her
40:57most he knows she's the best of the
41:00three daughters now again he may not
41:02know what depths of evil lurk in the
41:05bosoms of Goneril Regan for reasons
41:08we'll discuss in a minute but he knows
41:12that Cordelia is the one that he loves
41:16the most and he's the one this is page
41:21eight on line 125 I loved her most and
41:24thought to set my rest on her kind
41:25nursery original plan was effectively
41:30give Ghana and Regan and their husbands
41:32what they have already give Cordelia the
41:34central part of the kingdom and live
41:37with her that will give her a real extra
41:43power in this relationship
41:48Cornwall and Albany will be on the
41:51extremes of the kingdom Cordelia will be
41:52in the middle and what's more he plans
41:55on giving her a foreign alliance and I
41:58will be with the Duke of Burgundy
42:01and again burgundy knows about it this
42:04has already been negotiated and this
42:08will give Cordelia extra power she will
42:11not only have the central best part of
42:14the kingdom and her father living with
42:16her but she will also have an important
42:20foreign alliance but she will not marry
42:23the King of France now what's the
42:26problem marrying the King of France well
42:28we read a whole bunch of history places
42:29to see that you don't want the King of
42:32France to have a claim to the English
42:33ball and we had in Henry v an English
42:37King trying to marry a French Prince to
42:38the princess he would have the reverse
42:41of the head of French King marrying an
42:42english princess and which would give
42:44France a claim to the English throne
42:46burgundy was powerful but not a kingdom
42:50now we might also look back to Henry v
42:54to give us guidance here I had never
42:57thought of this for many years and then
42:58I realized that that scene at the
43:00beginning of act 5 of henry v is a very
43:03important concluded King Lear because
43:06what we see there is burgundy acting as
43:10the negotiator between England and
43:14France and the sense there that burgundy
43:18was very important in the relations
43:21between King of France and Britain I
43:24must say I four years starting to play I
43:27associate burgundy only with very very
43:30fine French wine quite rightly so I took
43:35me a while to learn that by
43:38Shakespeare's lifetime the Duchy of
43:41Burgundy had been absorbed into the
43:43French Kingdom but for centuries prior
43:45to that Burgundy had been an independent
43:48political humid and one of the most
43:50powerful and unions in Europe because
43:52burgundy was one of the richest
43:54communities in Europe at that time we're
43:58talking 14th and 15th centuries
44:01in encompass what's now Belgium and
44:03Netherlands and was the center of the
44:07European textile industry places like
44:10Brewers and Kent and and it was
44:13incredibly wealthy so much so that the
44:16Hapsburgs married it's the family
44:19the French King coveted and so on
44:21eventually burgundy was absorbed into
44:24France and the Netherlands the lowlands
44:27what's now Belgium in the Netherlands
44:29went to the hops wars in any case though
44:32for much of the late Middle Ages
44:34burgundy was a very powerful force in
44:38Europe and and just what Lear would have
44:42wanted France is in between Britain and
44:46burgundy burgundy is a little distant
44:50burgundy is never gonna rule England
44:52France might the Duke of Burgundy can't
44:56lay claim shipped to the king shall a
44:58claim to the kingship of England the
45:01King of France can so in again Jaffa
45:06works the most of this out in his
45:08article this is a really savvy plan that
45:12leader has sold he's he can't just get
45:19up and announce I'm making Cordelia of
45:21my air screw you got on Regan you're out
45:25of the picture he has no right to do
45:28that no basis on what you can do it and
45:31he'd immediately antagonized the Dukes
45:33moment in Cornwall were quite powerful
45:35he figures out the best he can settle
45:38for is dividing up the kingdom giving
45:41Cordelia the best part of the middle
45:43allowing her with a foreign power that
45:45will give her a greater strength but
45:47will not allow England to come under the
45:50sway of a foreign power so it's really
45:53you know again this may be this plan
45:56would have failed who we see indeed in
46:00Shakespeare's plays the the best laid
46:03plans of Kings gang after clay they
46:05often things often go wrong in the Kings
46:07plan as you can see in the life of henry
46:10v still it was not the plan of an idiot
46:13or a senile old man
46:15it's carefully thought-out and again
46:18well negotiated the major councillors
46:21Canton Gloucester signed on Duke of
46:23Burgundy has agreed France is there
46:26because there's a lot of stake and you
46:27never know what's gonna happen this does
46:29happen in the first scene so why the
46:32love test
46:34why doesn't Leah just come out and
46:37announce I'd come up I've consulted with
46:39Henry Kissinger and I've come up with
46:41this balance of power plan to preserve
46:44the peace in future years well the
46:47problem with that is there's no
46:51conventional justification for that what
46:54he's trying to is utterly unconventional
46:57it's an attempt to solve a legitimate
47:00political problem but there's no way of
47:03justifying it in conventional political
47:06terms and the overwhelmingly
47:08conventional thing to do would be
47:11counter all inherence the whole kingdom
47:13or else just leave it up to war so Lear
47:16comes up with really a rather brilliant
47:18plan I'm gonna make it seem like a love
47:20test this very political plan will be
47:25disguised as a family matter I will come
47:28out here and I will say I'm gonna divide
47:31up the kingdom according to how much my
47:33daughter's love me and this is their big
47:35chance and the wonderful thing about
47:39that is that if he can present it that
47:43way then he's trapped Connell and Reagan
47:47because they will have just professed
47:51all this love for him and they cannot
47:54then turn around say you didn't give me
47:57enough he gets them to say oh and do it
48:00you mean everything to me I would do
48:01anything for you and then what are they
48:03gonna say when they get these portions
48:07now remember they don't know what's
48:11going on John Regan when Goneril steps
48:15up to the plate she doesn't know what's
48:17at stake she has to wonder well how much
48:23if I say enough well I get the whole
48:26kingdom
48:27but by the way the Trevor Nunn's one of
48:30the few directors I know who emphasized
48:32that shows goneril's shocked when she
48:35hears leaders plan and indeed eager to
48:40go for it all
48:44now when Reagan steps up she might be
48:46already a little suspicious
48:49g-got all just got Albany
48:52she had that already am I gonna just get
48:55Cornwall but she can't know that she
48:58still she still has to wonder well I
49:01just up the rhetoric a little more maybe
49:03I'll get London maybe honk at the center
49:07of the kingdom only Cordelia comes up to
49:10the plate with it crystal clear what's
49:12happened
49:13this is hosting one part of the kingdom
49:15left and leader says what can you say
49:19they've draw a third more opulent than
49:21your sisters he's just set it up for her
49:25there and again growl Regan could not
49:31complain if Cordelia got the best of the
49:34kingdom all she had to say was whatever
49:38my sisters said I double it and then
49:43leader can say ah hi you see she loves
49:45me the most she's in the ideal position
49:47number three she can raise the ante all
49:51she wants
49:52now essentially there's a source one of
49:55the sources for King Lear is a play
49:58called The Chronicle history of kingly
49:59here you have very brief excerpts from
50:01in the signal Edition it's rather
50:04interesting to compare it in for example
50:08in this in this source which by the way
50:10was a very popular play though it's
50:13terrible but it was very popular
50:15Shakespeare undoubtedly knew it and his
50:17audience probably knew it so these
50:19comparisons are interesting in the
50:21source a counselor rats out King Lear
50:26and tells Godwin Regan what's going to
50:28happen and the source they know what's
50:30going on and they prepare these
50:32wonderful speeches because they know
50:34it's gonna be a love test
50:35but what's really interesting the source
50:37in this Chronicle history of King Lear
50:39is
50:40it explains the the trap it explains why
50:47you would want to get these daughters to
50:51commit to these big love speeches for
50:53leaders political reasons now in the
50:55source
50:56none of the daughters are married yet
50:58they're all going to be married on this
51:00occasion and Lear one wants to marry
51:04Cordelia to the king of Ireland and she
51:08evidently doesn't want to be married to
51:10the Hibernian King as he's calling the
51:13play and this is what leader says to his
51:17counselors explaining what he's gonna do
51:19then at the Vantage will I'd take
51:21Cordelia even as she does protest she
51:25loves me best I'll say then daughter
51:27grant me one request to show thou lovest
51:31me as thy sisters do accept a husband
51:34who myself will woo this said she cannot
51:37deny my soon although poor soul or a
51:40sense for the senses will be immune then
51:42will I triumph in my policy and match
51:44her with the king of a king of Brittany
51:49hibernated King so in the source Lear
51:53explains the trap get the daughter to to
51:58say how much she loves you and then say
52:00okay if you love me that much it was
52:01really doing this little favour of
52:03marrying this man you don't want to
52:04marry but I want you to marry and
52:06Goneril says something similar as one
52:10she and Regan have found out what's
52:11gonna happen they plan out the whole
52:13course I mean they know they can back
52:15Cordelia into a corner gonoro says I
52:18smile to think in what a woeful plight
52:21Cordelia will be when we answer thus for
52:24she will rather die than give consent to
52:27join in marriage with the Irish King now
52:32again I offer this in the source this
52:37it's clear what the strategy is in a
52:41public a public declaration of love and
52:44then you've got whatever daughter back
52:47into a corner in the case of
52:49Shakespeare's King Lear
52:51Goneril Regan will have to accept the
52:53settlement
52:55they can't leader has taken it out of
52:59the realm of politics and made it a
53:01family matter it's just between me and
53:03my daughter's this has nothing to do
53:05with political considerations now in
53:08fact it has everything to do with
53:09political considerations and again if
53:13Jeff is right this is a very careful
53:15political plan but it can't work if the
53:18politics of it is transparent then we've
53:21heard that argument many times that that
53:25if people if you lay on the table the
53:28politics of it then it becomes a matter
53:30of political dispute if you're crafting
53:33this plan then the same thing will
53:36happen then happened with Glendower and
53:39Hotspur and Henry the fourth oh I'm not
53:41getting enough look how that river of
53:43cuts off my territory I want this I want
53:45that it would open the whole thing up to
53:48negotiation said Lear makes it seem to
53:50try and say it makes the whole thing
53:52seem to transcend the world politics is
53:54a matter of love and therefore you can't
53:57quibble about it
53:59love is not open for negotiation now
54:02again I can't say for sure that this
54:06plan would have worked but it has some
54:11chance of working and in any case is not
54:15the product of someone simply senile or
54:18stupid and once again what some what's
54:21at stake here is whether King Lear is a
54:24tragic hero or not if he's has seen our
54:26old man at the beginning of the play
54:27he's pathetic if he is just blundering
54:33then he's pathetic
54:35there's nothing great about it
54:38I loved the Jaffa thesis because it
54:42suggests something heroic about King
54:44Leah from the beginning here's this
54:45great King towards the end of a very
54:49grand rule and he's trying to solve a
54:51genuine political problem and preserve
54:54most of his achievement through a very
54:57cagey plan here it means that the
55:02tragedy grows out of some greatness in
55:05King Lear and not some failing and it
55:08also grows out of a greatness in
55:10Cordelia and this way we get a tragedy
55:14because what happens this is page six so
55:20act 1 scene 1 again about line 85 when
55:25leader says what can you say to draw 1/3
55:28more open and her sisters speak and
55:30Cordelia says nothing my lord
55:34and you have to try to appreciate what
55:37an insult that is to leader on so many
55:40different levels this is the court
55:46leaders asking her to play along with
55:50this scheme of his by now she should at
55:55least have an inkling of his love for
55:57her that this whole plan has a tribute
56:00to his love for her that he's offering
56:02her everything or as much as he can and
56:05trying to do the best for nothing my
56:07lord she says nothing whereas nothing
56:13nothing will come of nothing speak again
56:17I'm happy that I am I cannot heave my
56:20heart into my mouth I love Your Majesty
56:22according to my bond no more nor less
56:27and he you know Lear is patient he tries
56:32to keep making this work even though
56:34this is already an insult to him
56:38how now Cordelia mend your speech a
56:41little less you may Mar your fortunes
56:43good my lord you have begat me bred me
56:46love me I return these do this back as
56:48our right fit obey you love you and most
56:50honor you why
56:51my sister's husband's if they say they
56:54love you all happily when I shall Wed
56:56that LaRose hand must take my plate
56:58she'll carry half my love with him half
57:01my care and duty sure I shall never
57:03marry like my sister's to love my father
57:06all but goes thy heart with this I might
57:09good lord so young and so on tender so
57:12young my lord and true let it be so thy
57:15truth that be thy dower and here we see
57:18the constant central confrontation in
57:21the play between power and truth Lear is
57:28making a power play in this first scene
57:31it's all about power it's all about
57:32transferring power to the next
57:34generation and especially to Cordelia
57:36Cordelia has other values of mind we
57:40would say and to her truth is the
57:43primary value she would rather have
57:47truth on her side than power there's no
57:51question that Lea's plan involves a
57:54deception and indeed at this point he
57:58would have successfully deceived Goneril
58:00Regan that's what politics is I mean
58:04politics involves a lot of deception as
58:08in this case covering over what is a
58:12very political solution with the
58:17illusion that it's all a family matter
58:19much as Henry v is doing at the end of
58:22his play where he's presenting the
58:24takeover in France as a matter of love I
58:27I love this princess so much I will take
58:30over all of France this is what's
58:32involved in politics often you have to
58:36live Lyon politics or perhaps not tell
58:39the whole truth Cordelia is an effect
58:42saying you have to tell the whole truth
58:45what upsets her is the hypocrisy of her
58:48sisters she knows they're lying
58:53indeed she feels that leaders whole plan
58:56has called upon everyone to lie here and
58:58to flatter him now I don't want to
59:02belittle the personal aspect of this I
59:05have no doubt that Lear is hope to enjoy
59:09this moment I believe the lump test is a
59:14carefully calculated political move but
59:16it doesn't hurt in leaders view that
59:18he'll get these wonderful professions of
59:20love from his daughters and above all
59:22that the daughter he loves most will
59:24tell him that she loves him most and
59:26he'll be a kind of love fest between
59:28leader Cordia I believe that his
59:31emotional investment in the scene is the
59:34source of his enormous anger in the
59:37scene that Cordelia affords his loving
59:42expectations of her also those warts
59:46this whole plan she in effect exposes
59:50the hypocrisy of it she effectively
59:53calls Goneril and Regan Liars which they
59:56are but you've got to accept a lot of
59:59lying in politics it's part of the game
1:00:02if you're gonna play it and of course
1:00:05you see her as is so true to play she
1:00:10embraces the value of truth now I say
1:00:12this so that Cordelia is a tragic figure
1:00:15because again most people like to say
1:00:19she's just a victim and she's this
1:00:22wonderful delicate woman and she is
1:00:26destroyed and anytime you say that she
1:00:32has a part in the tragedy you get
1:00:34accused to say oh so you think it's
1:00:36right that she was hanged at the end I
1:00:38said no I don't think was right that she
1:00:40was nevertheless I think for us to think
1:00:42of her as a tragic figure she must have
1:00:45some agency in the play things must
1:00:47follow from decisions she makes and
1:00:50indeed she is a heroic figure and indeed
1:00:54look at what leader says on page 8 so I
1:00:58can one scene one line 131 let pride
1:01:01which she calls playing this Liris aware
1:01:06that she is her father's daughter Lear
1:01:10as we'll be seeing is so characterized
1:01:12by his pride by his Fuma
1:01:17by his capacity for what he calls noble
1:01:19anger but Cordelia has that too
1:01:24she has great pride in her truthfulness
1:01:27and she refuses to lie she refuses to
1:01:31say anything that might be tainted with
1:01:34hypocrisy and you see this is this
1:01:37problem we've seen with love we've seen
1:01:39in romantic love and here it's familial
1:01:41love love can be tainted by mercenary
1:01:44considerations why is this scene so
1:01:49annoying - Cordelia because it's
1:01:51inviting the daughters to confuse real
1:01:55love with opportunism you know how how
1:02:00can you judge whether someone really
1:02:02loves you if what's at stake is how much
1:02:04you're gonna give them in an effect
1:02:07impeaches the love from the beginning so
1:02:11you can say that both Lear and Cordelia
1:02:14make a tragic choice in that ganyan
1:02:17sense in this opening scene that Lear
1:02:20chooses politics over truth and Cordelia
1:02:23chooses truth over politics and in a way
1:02:27the central conflict the Hegelian tragic
1:02:30conflict this play is between truth and
1:02:32politics we see in this play we've been
1:02:35seeing this all along since the history
1:02:37plays but most tragically realized in
1:02:39this play the tension between truth and
1:02:42politics we see that leaders political
1:02:48plan as brilliant as it may be requires
1:02:51deception not incidentally but in its
1:02:54very nature this goal was to trap Darian
1:02:58and moreover we see the whole problem
1:03:00that we have been seeing since Richard
1:03:03of the second the King's access to truth
1:03:07the King is surrounded by flatterers and
1:03:12is surrounded by flatterers because so
1:03:14much is at stake
1:03:16people will not tell him the truth
1:03:19because if they tell him what he wants
1:03:22to hear even if it's not the truth then
1:03:25he will reward that
1:03:27and we see in the case of Kent when he
1:03:31does talent into the truth he is
1:03:33banished for it
1:03:35leaders I believe a great king in
1:03:38Shakespeare's view we see him as an
1:03:40image of a great king who presides at
1:03:43the end of a long career over a unified
1:03:47Britain and is trying to come up with a
1:03:50way preserving his political legacy he
1:03:54is a great king people I can't worship
1:03:57Him follow him wherever he goes and yet
1:04:03he is so Lehrer so cut off from truth
1:04:07because of this problem of flattery
1:04:09which we'll see come up again and again
1:04:13in the play and he is surrounded you
1:04:21know his fool tries to tell him the
1:04:23truth
1:04:24and look what happens with him page 28
1:04:29this is Act one Scene four so I have
1:04:34line 110 the fool says if I gave them
1:04:36all my living I'd keep my Costco's
1:04:38myself there's mine big another of their
1:04:40daughters and leader says take heed
1:04:42Sarah the whip this all licensed fool as
1:04:48we see him called is made - you know he
1:04:52has the license the freedom to tell the
1:04:55king the truth even he though is
1:04:57threatened with punishment and as he
1:04:59says live on 14 truths a dog must a
1:05:02kennel he must be whipped out when lady
1:05:05the branch may stand by the fire and
1:05:07stink it's the problem we've been seeing
1:05:09the courts all along for Shakespeare
1:05:12that flattery prevails and truth is
1:05:16banished page 30
1:05:17when 182 the fool says privy and uncle
1:05:21keep a schoolmaster that can teach that
1:05:23fool to live I would fain learn to lie
1:05:27that's the fool's way of saying I would
1:05:29fain learn to be political and Lear says
1:05:32annuli sirrah we'll have you whipped and
1:05:35the fool answers I marvel what kin now
1:05:38and my daughter's are they
1:05:39be whipped for speaking truth they'll
1:05:41talk be whipped for lying and sometimes
1:05:44I'm whipped for holding my peace that is
1:05:47the problem of truth tellers in the
1:05:49world of politics punished if they lie
1:05:54they punished if they tell the truth and
1:05:56they're punished if they don't speak at
1:05:58all because not to speak is to speak in
1:06:01political circumstances so we saw this
1:06:07with prince how how he felt that he had
1:06:10to flee the court to get away from the
1:06:16liars and the flatterers here but in the
1:06:21case of leader he has never been out of
1:06:24the court he lives in the court and one
1:06:27of if you turn to page 114 again to jump
1:06:29ahead you will see that one of his great
1:06:32lessons
1:06:33this is act 4 scene 6 we were looking
1:06:38over the next two lectures and all the
1:06:39things lien learns through his
1:06:41experience but this is one of them this
1:06:42is act 4 scene 6 about my 96 they
1:06:45flattered me like a dog that has to say
1:06:48the way dogs do and told me I had white
1:06:50hairs and my beard and the black ones
1:06:53were there telling me I was wise when I
1:06:55really wasn't to say I am no to
1:06:57everything I said I am no to was no good
1:07:00divinity when the rain came to went we
1:07:03went me once and the wind to make me
1:07:05chatter when the Thunder would not peace
1:07:07as my bidding there I found him there I
1:07:10smelt an out go to there are not men of
1:07:12their words they told me I was
1:07:14everything tis a lie I am NOT a hue
1:07:19this is the realization that Henry the
1:07:22fifth came to in a way Richard the
1:07:26second as well what has taught these
1:07:29Kings who they are in Shakespeare is
1:07:32their bodies they have had to learn that
1:07:36they are not these great cards that
1:07:38they're puffed up to be as kings that
1:07:40they are just human beings and they
1:07:42realize that when they realize that they
1:07:45just have ordinary human bodies and they
1:07:47suffer pain and they suffer illness the
1:07:50way other people do remember when
1:07:51Richard of the second
1:07:52that enact fine and when henry v comes
1:07:55to this realization in act 4 i pointed
1:08:00out that what's unusual about henry v is
1:08:02that he can understand this without
1:08:06being kicked out of power
1:08:08leader like richard ii has to be kicked
1:08:12out of power for him to come to
1:08:14understand his limitations as a human
1:08:16being that the king is but a man as
1:08:20henry v puts it again we'll talk about
1:08:24this reduction to the level of body
1:08:26next time though i'm trying to show you
1:08:30how fundamental to the play this whole
1:08:32issue of flattery is which we've been
1:08:34seeing ever since richard ii court so
1:08:38you know leader in anger in shock at
1:08:45Cornelia not going along with what he
1:08:47thought was his greatest expression of
1:08:49love for her as well as the proper
1:08:51political plan for the future of Britain
1:08:54and the future of Cornelia in shock he
1:08:56comes up on the spur of the moment with
1:08:59a really really bad plan again the
1:09:02original plan might have failed but it
1:09:04has a kind of Biz Markie and kiss Gerry
1:09:07and balance of power type thinking to it
1:09:10but the second plan is a formula for
1:09:14disaster split up the kingdom into two
1:09:16halves the three-part plan is a plan for
1:09:21balance of power the two-part plan
1:09:23almost inevitably wars between Albany
1:09:26and Cornwall and indeed very early in
1:09:29the play we hear about potential wars
1:09:31between Albany and Cornwallis if they're
1:09:34just chomping at a bit to go at each
1:09:38other and vie for having the whole
1:09:41kingdom and moreover Lear places himself
1:09:45at the mercy of his daughters gone on
1:09:48and read him now why does he do this
1:09:51it's interesting to examine what his
1:09:54thinking must be so that we see what
1:09:58what what the nature is a mistake is and
1:10:01what it tells us about kingship
1:10:03Lear's assumption is that the power of a
1:10:07father is more fundamental than the
1:10:09power of a king that his family position
1:10:14will maintain the political equilibrium
1:10:18that yes even though he's kept only the
1:10:22name of a king and essentially the
1:10:25armies are now in the hands of Cornwall
1:10:27and Albany that Lear will still be able
1:10:30to rule by ruling through his daughters
1:10:33because he is their father he can
1:10:37control them and through them he can
1:10:40control Cornwall and Albany and now Lear
1:10:44has every reason to think that the power
1:10:49of a father outweighs political power or
1:10:53outweighs any power because Lear has
1:10:56been unchallenged in his power as a
1:10:58father because he is in fact at the same
1:11:01time King every decision we ever made as
1:11:05father was automatically backed out by
1:11:08his power as king because he was the
1:11:10king now every other father in the
1:11:14kingdom knows this is not true that
1:11:18their power ultimately must be backed up
1:11:21by political authority what does
1:11:23Gloucester do when he begins to believe
1:11:26that his son Edgar is plotting against
1:11:29him he says I'll use the authority of
1:11:32the Duke of Cornwall to outlaw my son
1:11:39normally fathers have to appeal to
1:11:43political authorities to uphold their
1:11:45authority that that's what politics is
1:11:49therefore to arbitrate problems in the
1:11:53family and in these kinds of regimes to
1:11:56stand up for the power of the father's
1:12:00leader never had to appeal to political
1:12:04authority because he embodied it you can
1:12:06imagine what an imposing figure this guy
1:12:09was to his children
1:12:10he's pretty imposing to everybody and he
1:12:14is their father but beyond that
1:12:17is king and everything he ever said his
1:12:19father was automatically backed up by
1:12:22his authority as king and indeed his
1:12:25children had no one to appeal to there's
1:12:27not even mrs. leader in the play they
1:12:30can't even play off mommy against daddy
1:12:33in the family so you can say as King
1:12:36Lear was uniquely poised to think that
1:12:39his authority his father was
1:12:41overwhelming and incontrovertible this
1:12:46is if you will the occupational hazard
1:12:48of kingship here or Shakespeare showing
1:12:51the tragic situation the king is in that
1:12:56it's in the it's not just that now and
1:13:01then Kings make mistakes where now and
1:13:05then Kings are misinformed it's
1:13:07something in the nature of kingship
1:13:10which cuts them off from the very truth
1:13:13they need to rule as Kings that the one
1:13:17person in the kingdom who's not in a
1:13:20position to tell the distinction between
1:13:21paternal and kingly Authority is the
1:13:24king himself
1:13:25and moreover always this problem of the
1:13:28king being surrounded by flatterers and
1:13:30not having access to truth and also we
1:13:34see him Lear is so prone to anger this
1:13:38this is our ultimate man of Tomas here
1:13:42he's 80 years old they must still be
1:13:44taking testosterone pills because this
1:13:48guy you know needs anger management and
1:13:54it's everything that makes him a king
1:13:57it's why people respond to him notice
1:14:00how alert he is too far from being seen
1:14:03out he's alerted to everything going on
1:14:05around why is my man in the stocks
1:14:07where's my dinner
1:14:08where are my nights why isn't this
1:14:10happening he's he's currently obsessed
1:14:14with his dignity rightly so is a great
1:14:18king but all of this makes him
1:14:22precipitate and again in this key
1:14:25opening scene with Cordelia he doesn't
1:14:27sit down and think things through unless
1:14:29his anger
1:14:30our rulers judgment comes up with this
1:14:32really lousy second plan after the first
1:14:35plan was so carefully thought-out and
1:14:37vetted with his counselors so when we
1:14:41see here happening in the first and
1:14:48second acts is leader gradually coming
1:14:51to understand the difference between
1:14:53being a king and a father something he
1:14:56did not initially understand so that on
1:14:59page 27
1:15:00for example when he this is act for warm
1:15:03scene 4 line 81 when he's offended by
1:15:09this servant of countless hours walk
1:15:11come you hitter so who am i sir my
1:15:14lady's father no longer the king is my
1:15:20lady's father and the notion is
1:15:24goneril's got all the political power
1:15:26now and he's just her father or if you
1:15:29look at page 58 again his anger well
1:15:35let's start at the bottom of 57 so act 2
1:15:39scene for about line 93 Benjamin's but
1:15:42here's the film of then he's just been
1:15:45told that glasses make excuses for
1:15:47Cornwall why he's not sure him My dear
1:15:49Lord you know the fire requiring the
1:15:50Duke however removable fixes his own
1:15:52course vengeance
1:15:54play death confusion fiery what quality
1:15:58white Gloucester Gloucester I'd speak
1:16:00with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife
1:16:02will my good lord I'll inform or so
1:16:04inform them that's the understanding
1:16:06that I Michael daughter the King would
1:16:09speak with Cornwall the dear father
1:16:12would with his daughter speak commands
1:16:1510 the service it's beginning to open up
1:16:19in his mind there's a gap here between
1:16:22being king and being father and being
1:16:25king is more important to be the father
1:16:28having the command of the troops is more
1:16:31important than ever having any kind of
1:16:33family loyalty here and so what we see
1:16:36happening in the first two acts is this
1:16:38Lear beginning to learn his limitations
1:16:41here as a king and as
1:16:43father the start of the play he's in
1:16:47control of everything and rightly so the
1:16:50whole implication is that he's been a
1:16:52good ruler and people are loyal to him
1:16:54but once he turns over especially the
1:16:58military power to Cornwall in Albany
1:17:01he's in trouble and starts to lose
1:17:05control and that starts to break him
1:17:07down and what we see in him is this
1:17:13division between an King father being
1:17:16played out in emotional terms in the
1:17:19play now this is a little more schematic
1:17:22than it should be but I'm going to make
1:17:24it anyway for the sake of argument that
1:17:25is Lear is torn between two emotions in
1:17:30the first two acts grief and anger and
1:17:34he grieves as a parent and he's angry as
1:17:37a king now he's also angry as a parent I
1:17:41didn't want to deny that but but it's
1:17:43it's as a father that he feels tempted
1:17:48to weep his response as a king is all in
1:17:53terms of his dignity
1:17:55and lack of regard for from people
1:17:59around and this is what starts to tear
1:18:01apart and this is what eventually drives
1:18:03him mad this is something that
1:18:06Shakespeare added to the play there was
1:18:08no madness and the original King Lear
1:18:10play or in any of Shakespeare's sources
1:18:13next time that why Shakespeare makes
1:18:17their man but it's he also suggests why
1:18:21it happens and it is this inner division
1:18:27look for example at page 35 this is act
1:18:331 scene 4 about line 300 what's the
1:18:39matter sir I'll tell the life and death
1:18:41I'm ashamed that I was power to shape my
1:18:44manhood thus these hot tears which break
1:18:48from me before should make me worth them
1:18:50blast and fogs upon me the untainted
1:18:54woundings of her father's curse
1:18:56ever since about the old fond eyes but
1:18:59weep this cause again I'll pluck you out
1:19:01he is ashamed that his daughters are
1:19:04making him weep as a father he is
1:19:07weeping his grief-stricken about how his
1:19:11daughters are treating him and again
1:19:13although I he preferred Cordelia to
1:19:16Carol and Regan there's every sign he
1:19:18did not know and had no reason to know
1:19:21how evil Goneril Regan are his regime
1:19:25was holding them in he was preventing
1:19:28them and Cornwall from expressing their
1:19:30evil now this season it breaks his heart
1:19:33but he's also ashamed that they can
1:19:36shake his manhood and his hope is to
1:19:39regain his power line 3:15 thou shalt
1:19:42find that I'll resume the shape which
1:19:44now does think I've cast off forever
1:19:46some man who's used to power and
1:19:48certainly can't used to be can't get
1:19:51used to being impotent here and he keeps
1:19:54making threats about it but it is what
1:19:59gradually drives a man it is it's
1:20:02variously he knows he's going mad it's
1:20:05part of his problem page 39
1:20:07Act one Scene five about line 46 oh and
1:20:10let me not be mad not mad sweet heaven
1:20:14keep me in temper I would not be mad he
1:20:17understands what is driving him mad and
1:20:20then it happens gradually paid 65 this
1:20:26is act 2 scene for about line 267 but
1:20:30for true need you know heavens give me
1:20:32that patience patience I mean you see me
1:20:35here you gods a poor old man as full of
1:20:39grief as age wretched and both is a very
1:20:43difficult recognition for this man of
1:20:46such great regal dignity a poor old man
1:20:49is full of grief is age wretched both if
1:20:51it be you that stirs these daughters
1:20:54hearts against their father fool me not
1:20:57so much to Barrett Barrett a me touch me
1:20:59with noble anger and there it is fou mas
1:21:03noble anger he
1:21:05anger is connected with his nobility
1:21:08with his kingship and let not women's
1:21:11weapons water drops stain my man's
1:21:13cheeks no you not unnatural hags I will
1:21:17have such revenge's on you both that all
1:21:19the world shall I will do such things
1:21:22what they are yet I know not but they
1:21:25shall be the terrors of the earth
1:21:27you think I'll weep though I'll not weep
1:21:29I have full cores of weeping but this
1:21:33heart shall break into a hundred
1:21:35thousand flaws or ere I weep full I
1:21:38shall go mad and that stage direction
1:21:40their storm and tempest this is the
1:21:42first time we hear the storm and the
1:21:45storm and leaners soul gets this
1:21:47corresponding storm in the heavens here
1:21:50and the center of his madness will be
1:21:52the center of the storm an act 3 you
1:21:55know but you see the whole process play
1:21:58out here in this speech
1:22:01we are torn in these directions to
1:22:05conscious of his dignity as a king to
1:22:08let people see him weep in public and
1:22:10yet feelings so overwhelmed with the
1:22:14with the need to it to weep again just
1:22:17to finish up today on page 75 to 6
1:22:22he explains this when he is going mad
1:22:26this is actually seen for about line 12
1:22:30the tempest in my mind that from my
1:22:34senses take home feeling else save what
1:22:36beats there filial ingratitude is it not
1:22:40as this mouth should tear this hand for
1:22:43lifted food to it but I will punish home
1:22:45so you get part of him wants revenge
1:22:48wants to punish wants to continue his
1:22:50role as king powerful king who publishes
1:22:52punishes wrongdoing but he's impotent
1:22:55now no I will weep no more in such a
1:22:59night to shut me out
1:23:00pore on I will endure in such a night as
1:23:03this a ring in Ghana roll your old kind
1:23:06father who's Frank heart gave all oh
1:23:08that way madness lies
1:23:10let me shun that no more that
1:23:14Shakespeare really what makes us watch
1:23:16this division open up a mere between the
1:23:19grieving father and the key who still
1:23:22has such a deep sense of his dignity the
1:23:26grieving father wants to weep in public
1:23:28the indignant King is ashamed to weep in
1:23:32public has never wept in public in his
1:23:34life and wants to punish home and get
1:23:39his revenge on his doors this is what
1:23:42tears leaders mind apart the thumos
1:23:47working against his grief as a parent
1:23:50and it produces his madness and it turns
1:23:53out to be a kind of platonic madness
1:23:56Plato's Republic when the philosopher
1:23:59goes up out of the cave and sees the
1:24:03idea of the good that bright shining
1:24:05idea that good when he comes back to the
1:24:07cave he's blinded and people think he's
1:24:10mad in the cave his philosophical with
1:24:15the wisdom appears as madness that
1:24:17people never left the cave well it's
1:24:19that philosophical wisdom that
1:24:21Shakespeare explores in the third and
1:24:23fourth acts and that's what we'll turn
1:24:25to on Thursday again the way we're
1:24:27scheduled you got my email I hope next
1:24:29and say two more lectures on Lear two
1:24:32lectures on the tempest and then on
1:24:33April 30th will have that voluntary a
1:24:35review session for those who want to
1:24:37come but we are looks like one to finish
1:24:39up despite the efforts of the winter and
1:24:42the storms okay
1:24:52you

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