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Title: Portrayal of Familial Relationships in 'King Lear'
Description: In depth notes, including key quotations, some context and an essay outline on the familial relationships in King Lear for use at GCSE or above
Description: In depth notes, including key quotations, some context and an essay outline on the familial relationships in King Lear for use at GCSE or above
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Portrayal of Parent/Child and Other Familial Relationships in Lear
Dysfunctional familial relationships are a key theme throughout the play; Shakespeare explores and
subverts traditional roles through Lear and his daughters/Gloucester and his sons
...
Abdication presents as a reliance on children which subverts gender norms (
“To shake all cares and
business from our age, Conferring them on younger strengths
...
Goneril and Regan’s manipulation of Lear, exercising power over their father; i
...
Goneril acting as parent and
Lear as child (
Goneril: "as much as a child e'er did love"
, insincerity and understanding giving her
the power; her flattery like a wearied parent appeasing a child to avoid a tantrum) Regan’s role falls
into sibling rivalry with Goneril, (
Regan: "[Goneril] names my very deed of love; only she comes too
short"
, her quickness to flatter (lie to) her father showing her low moral standard and her comparing
herself to her sister an attempt to place herself as superior in her father's mind)
Cordelia and her loyalty to her father; notable in her honesty, a healthy and natural love for one's
father (
“I love your majesty according to my bond, no more, no less”
)
...
She shares stubbornness with Lear, and her rebuttals
become disrespectful and mocking, and she is banished
...
However his actions and his perception differ Edmund is still an
embarrassment to him (
“His breeding, Sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to
acknowledge him, that now I am braced to it
...
Mirroring/Parallel Plots:
●
Edmund acts as a mirror for Goneril and Regan blames situation on brother and father but is
willing to manipulate them as the sisters manipulate their father for their own means (
“Than death,
within a dull, stale, tired bed, go to creating a whole tribe of fops”
...
why bastard?”
)
●
●
Edmund’s brutal honesty is a foil for Cordelia’s sense of truth (
“We make guilty of our disasters, the
sun, the moon, and the stars”
) though he lies and manipulates, Edmund also excises honesty,
particularly in vicious rants about himself and his breeding
Gloucester and Edgar act as a mirror of Cordelia and Lear, children displaying the more parental
qualities the parents cannot
...
Mention the soliloquy in Act 1 and what it reveals about Edmund
and the relationship with his father and resentment for his brother and the circumstances of his birth
...
This has similarities to Shakespeare’s greatest
example of the Machiavellian villain,
Iago (of Othello fame) and his ability to warp
loving
relationships Othello and Desdemona vs Gloucester and Edgar and the ongoing theme of the
lines between filial love and romantic love being blurred; both embodying aspects of The Spurned
Party, Iago for Love and Rank, Edmund for Entitlement and Respect
Goneril and Regan as the
Femme Fatale
, parallels with
Lady Macbeth acbeth manipulating
(of
M
)
,
their counterpoint (Lear and Macbeth respectively) in order to get power and a throne; implies an
element of the daughters taking the role of istress
M
, or at least an element of sexual power over
Lear in counterpoint to Cordelia’s
“Wife”
...
Lear’s
argument with Cordelia more closely resembles a lover’s quarrel than the scolding of a wayward
child
...
Note that neither
family has a mother, which leads to Cordelia and Edgar having to fill this role, but also that this
leaves both families without a female rolemodel
...
Present dysfunctional parentchild relationships as a theme
...
● Para 2
Goneril and Regan's manipulations of Lear and their atypical roles within the family
● Para 3
Cordelia and her loyalty / her banishment being due to her and Lear’s shared traits
● Para 4
Parental roles/gender roles (include both Lear and Gloucester can mention contextual
similarities)
●
●
●
●
Para 5
The tying of plots through manipulation of a parent, leading onto Gloucester and sons
...
Para 6
Edmund as a achiavellian villain
M
, and how, as in the main plot, favouritism induces the
conflict
...
Para 7
Gloucester and Edgar as a mirror of Cordelia and Lear, children displaying the more
parental qualities the parents cannot
Title: Portrayal of Familial Relationships in 'King Lear'
Description: In depth notes, including key quotations, some context and an essay outline on the familial relationships in King Lear for use at GCSE or above
Description: In depth notes, including key quotations, some context and an essay outline on the familial relationships in King Lear for use at GCSE or above