Shakespeare's King Leare

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ESSAY CRITICAL STUDY "King Lear has meant different things to different people depending on the time and place"King Lear is widely regarded by many scholars as Shakespeare's greatest tragedy. Shakespeare took his main plot line of an aged monarch abused by his children from a folk tale that appeared first in written form in the 1th century and was based on spoken stories that originated much further into the Middle Ages. In several written version of the story, the king does not go mad, his good daughter does not die, and the tale has a happy ending. This is not the case with Shakespeares Lear, a tragedy of such consuming force that audiences and readers are left to wonder whether there is any meaning to the physical and moral carnage with which King Lear concludes.

College papers on Shakespeare's King Leare

Since Shakespeare first created The Tragedy of King Lear in 1604, the play has been reproduced countless times in many modern and contemporary productions. Because the themes of family, justice, chaos vs. authority, gender roles, love and forgiveness, redemption & retribution are relevant even today, the play can be interpreted to raise issues and present morals to a modern audience. How the play is 'read' or understood is dependant on the 'lens' it is viewed through. This is affected by the political and social values of the time and place. Different people present different interpretations, which vary drastically according to circumstance. For Example some common readings of Lear include Marxist, Feminist, Gender Roles, Christian and Absurdist readings of the play.Different productions of King Lear are used to convey meaning to an audience within the relevant context of the time and place. To a director different directorial approaches imply different social and moral values. For a production of Lear to be critically analysed we need to understand the intent of the director displayed through various devices in stage and film. The traditional or Elizabethan reading of King Lear focuses on how Lear's actions upset the natural order. His folly in banishing Cordelia and dividing his kingdom is the cause of a situation where chaos reigns and nature is violently disrupted "Kings turned paupers; daughters and sons rule, abuse and betray fathers; truth is spoken only in riddles or in disguise and evil, madness, violence and blindness supplant good order and stable government.""Unhappy that I am, I cannot heaveMy heart into my mouth. I love your majestyAccording to my bond; no more nor less."Cordelia speaks these words when she address her father, King Lear, who has demanded that his daughters tell him how much they love him before he divides his kingdom among them (I.i.0). In contrast to her the empty flattery of Goneril and Regan, Cordelia offers her father a truthful evaluation of her love for him she loves him according to my bond; that is, she understands and accepts without question her duty to love him as a father and king. Although Cordelia truly loves Lear more than her sisters do, she is unable to heave her heart into her mouth, as her integrity prevents her from making a false declaration in order to gain his wealth. Lears rage at what he perceives to be her lack of affection sets the tragedy in motion. Cordelias refusal to flatter Lear, then, establishes her virtue and the authenticity of her love, while bringing about Lears dreadful error of judgment around which the play revolves. Darkness and unhappiness pervade King Lear, and the devastating final act represents one of the most tragic endings in all of literature. Nevertheless, the play presents the central relationship between Lear and Cordelia as a dramatic embodiment of true, self- sacrificing love. Rather than despising Lear for banishing her, Cordelia remains devoted. Lear, meanwhile, learns a cruel lesson in humility and eventually reaches the point where he can reunite joyfully with Cordelia and experience her forgiveness. We see Lear's redemption even if only fleetingly, amid the horror and chaos that engulfs the rest of the play.The Tragedy of King Lear has reproduced for theatre and film by many different directors who use different readings of the play to convey different meanings. Instead of simply replicating a Shakespearian traditional reading, in production Shakespeare's text can be manipulated to focus on one or more themes or morals evident in the play. Peter Brook's production of Lear (created in 171) has been criticized by some, who found his selective cutting of the script disgraceful and thought it to betray Shakespeare's aim. Despite these inhibitions the production has been hailed as "the most widely discussed and influential post-war production of King Lear so far" By editing sections out & modifying scenes Brook's effectively molded the script to dramatize the absurd nature of man. Brook considered Lear not only Shakespeare's greatest work but a play very much in the vein of the Absurdist drama of Ionesco and Beckett, a work in which the blindness of man was thrillingly dramatized.Absurdism was the most popular and influential nonrealistic genre of the 0th century. As Ionesco puts it "man as lost in the world, all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless" This sense of having no control over your own existence can be found in Lear.King Lear is a brutal play, filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters. The plays succession of terrible events raises an obvious question for the charactersnamely, whether there is any possibility of justice in the world, or whether the world is fundamentally indifferent or even hostile to humankind. Various characters offer their opinions As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; / They kill us for their sport, (IV.i.78).Gloucester says this, realizing it foolish for humankind to assume that the natural world works in parallel with socially or morally convenient notions of justice. Edgar, on the other hand, insists that the gods are just, believing that individuals get what they deserve (V.iii.16). But, in the end, we are left with only a terrifying uncertaintyalthough the wicked die, the good die along with them, culminating in the awful image of Lear cradling Cordelia's body in his arms. There is goodness in the world of the play, but there is also madness and death, and it is difficult to tell which triumphs in the end.Brook's Screenplay conveys this sense of absurdism through his costume, set, character expression and selective use of dialogue. His assistant Charles Marowitz commented on the production saying "The world of King Lear like Beckett's is in constant state of decomposition." This is very true of Brook's production; tattered worn-out costumes (even for court members), sets made of rusted metal and decaying timber with beat-up furniture gave the set a hollow, decaying appearance reflecting Lear's collapse into madness and his decay of vision. Trying to differentiate his production from any classical or traditional interpretations Brook's made sure to avoid 'authenticity' in his set design. He eventually decided on windswept North Jutland in Denmark as a locale for its barren abstract landscape. This adds to the meaningless of the play and the senselessness of Lear's actions. Paul Schofield who plays the role of Lear in this production provides a bleak, mundane reception to his decaying world. Although he could be criticised as sometimes seeming unenthusiastic his performance ties in well with Brook's harrowed, nihilistic vision of Lear.Instead of directly adhering to the text Brook's slightly modified it in creating his own screenplay. Although most of the play's text is preserved it has been cut, rearranged, disembodied even going as far as to swap lines with other characters. Above anything else Brook places most emphasis on Lear's violent speeches while playing down some of his more rational favourable ones. In doing this Brook's creates a nihilistic and unrelentingly bleak view of Lear's tragic descent and presents a more modern interpretation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy.As critic Robert Moore puts it "Like the noble Kent, seeing a mad, pathetic Lear with the murdered Cordelia in his arms, the profound brutality of the tale compels us to wonder Is this the promisd end? (V, iii. l.64). That very question stands at the divide between traditional critics of King Lear who find a heroic pattern in the story, and modern readers who see no redeeming or purgative dimension to the play at all, the message being the bare futility of the human condition with Lear as Everyman."Sydney director Tanya Denny's theatre production of Lear again presents a more contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare's great tragedy. The Denny production (starring David Ritchie as Lear) focuses on family betrayal and gender roles as themes in a modern context."Shakespeares version of this age old tale is by far the bleakest, unsparing in its description of cruelty and corruption. The world of King Lear is a malnourished landscape, controlled and stagnant. Ironically, this society highly values fertility, yet it is decidedly barren. Nothing female can survive. The unmitigated assertion of patriarchal authority drives the drama to its tragic ends. Old men abusing their power is not a new concept. The History of the world tells us we are dealing with familiar territory Ypres, Dresden, Hiroshima, Grozny, Bosnia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Israel, Japan, Britain, The United States, Russia... Women who abuse their power are usually denounced by history as tigers, not daughters. All Lears daughters die but their greatest punishment is that they die childless. The absence of the maternal underpins Shakespeares images of seeing, feeling and weeping." Tanya Denny DirectorLear's descent into madness is shown well in this production by David Ritchie's strong performance and Lear's costume, which goes from furred gown to tattered rags, as he is turned mad by his actions and his daughter's cruelty.In Denny's production colour is used extensively in costume to show the contrast between good and evil. For example, the sisters, Goneril and Regan, are dressed in black with red shoes and scarf. These colours bringing up connotations of evil and the devil, whilst Cordelia is completely dressed in white bringing up connotations of purity and good. This use of colour also simplifies these characters making them more comprehensive to a younger audience.An interesting change is made in the character of the Fool not being gender specific. The fool is dressed in a skirt with both male and female characteristics (breasts and male genitalia). Because the fool is ironically the character with the most insight and wisdom Denny chose to make the character not identifiable as being of either sex. This is to show that "knowledge and wisdom transcend the sexes". This is important, as gender roles are a theme especially relevant in this productionSexual innuendo is used to strongly portray some of the perverted traits of the 'evil' characters. This is noticeable particularly in the scene where Regan is straddling Gloucester and the scenes involving Edmund and the controversial relationship with the two sisters. These scenes make the sisters seem animalistic. Hence Lear's quote "tigers not daughters"In various sections of the production comic relief is used to break up the more serious undertone of the play. Denny uses humour in both a subtle manner, for example the fools scenes and in a more exaggerated manner (Lear dropping his trousers, Kent's dramatic change of clothes whilst becoming Kias). Although sometimes this can seem out of place in such a dark tragedy it does provides a strong contrast to the brutal nature of the play and in doing so also highlights the cruelty of Lear's daughters. By providing humour Denny also targets a younger audience.Keeping with traditional Shakespearian productions Denny uses minimal sets to allow direct focus to the characters, it also allows the production to evade any sense of time or place leaving it to be interpreted by the audience. Modern and classic themes are contrasted in both costume and the set to not show the play in any particular time frame. Denny uses this to show that the morals presented in Lear transcend their time and are relevant to a modern audience.Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear has a strong textual value because it can be viewed by itself as a stand-alone text or interpreted through many different classical and contemporary readings. The themes of family, justice, chaos vs. authority, gender roles, love and forgiveness, redemption & retribution are universal even today. Social, ethical and political values affect the way we 'read' a text. In this way King Lear has been perceived as meaning different things by different people according to circumstance. Please note that this sample paper on Shakespeare's King Leare is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Shakespeare's King Leare, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on Shakespeare's King Leare will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.

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