King lear madness and wisdom
- 1. Madness and Wisdom in Shakespeare’s King Lear
- 2. ►When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools. - Lear, Act IV Scene 4 إنما يبكي اإلنسان منا ساعة يولد حزنا على نفسه؛ إذ يزج به في مسرح الدنيا الفسيح الملئ بالمجانين .
- 4. Dramatis Personae ► Lear – king of Britain ► Goneril – his eldest daughter ► Regan – his second daughter ► Cordelia – his youngest and favorite daughter ► Albany – Goneril’s husband ► Cornwall – Regan’s husband ► Kent – a faithful nobleman ► Gloucester – another loyal nobleman ► Edgar – Gloucester’s rightful son ► Edmund – a bastard of Gloucester ► Fool – a loyal clown who entertains Lear
- 5. Our story begins a long, long time ago, in a place far, far away… ► Setting: England ► Time: BC
- 6. Lear and his three daughters At Lear’s castle…
- 8. Betrayed! The treachery begins
- 9. Lear goes insane ► A storm approaches and Lear and his last servants (Caius and the Fool) walk into a health ► Lear stands in the rain and curses his daughters
- 10. الشخصيات Characters The protagonist: King Lear Hasty Childlike طفولي, passionate عاطفي , cruel قاسي, kind القلب طيب, unlikable بالمحبة جدير غير, sympathetic ودود
- 11. الشخصيات Characters King Lear The greatness of Lear is not in corporal dimension, but in intellectual; the explosions of his passions are terrible as a volcano: they are storms turning up and disclosing to the bottom that rich sea, his mind, with all its vast riches. It is his mind which is laid bare. (Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, 1817)
- 13. الشخصيات Characters The Fool/ Jester: البهلول – المهرج - المنبوذ - األحمق wonderful conceptions / roles, in the play. Court jesters: mental defectives, retarded adults. Alienated Enliven court proceedings. Lears all-licensed fool “ You are nothing” It is the Fool who needles Lear mercilessly about the foolishness of giving up his kingdom. The fool remains faithful disappears from the play after Act II, scene 6.
- 14. The Fool Voice of conscience, social commentator, truth-teller, When he first appears in the play the Fool is extremely critical of Lear. “the fool acts as Lear’s window to wisdom” Jesters were often kept by the monarch to provide witty analysis of contemporary behaviour and to remind the sovereign of his humanity.
- 15. Insanity and Wisdom The play mingles / تمزج insanity with wisdom. Wisest characters are portrayed as making foolish decision: Lear, Cordelia, Glousester, Kent. Cordelia proves herself to have made the wisest decision by remaining true to herself: character. The line between foolishness and wisdom may not always be clear: The fool.
- 16. 1. The fool : Humility إذالل Pride, ignorance and foolishness to insight/wisdom humility. 2. Irony السخرية , as Lear's insanity increases, so does his wisdom until he is able to see wisdom on his own without the fool. Insanity and Wisdom Lear's greatest sources of wisdom: his fool and his own madness.
- 17. 1. The fool : Humility إذالل Pride, ignorance and foolishness to insight/wisdom humility. 2. Irony السخرية , as Lear's insanity increases, so does his wisdom until he is able to see wisdom on his own without the fool. Insanity and Wisdom Lear's sources of wisdom: his fool and his own madness.
- 18. Reversal in Hierarchy “I am better than thou art now; I am a fool, thou art nothing. "There, take my coxcomb المهرج قبعة king he should be the fool due to his foolish acts
- 19. Word Play The Fool expresses his feelings of frustration by playing with the word “fool.” "foolish honesty" The characters who behave foolishly according to the world’s standards… turn out to have real, life- giving, divine wisdom; on the other hand, the characters obsessed with being wise by worldly standards. Edmund uses the phrase "foolish honesty" when he describes the ability to manipulate his brother Edgar and his father.
- 20. Verse الشعر and Prose النثر Disruption of the mind: اضطراب العقل Shift from verse to prose as Lear’s wits desert him Types of Madness/ Foolishness/ Insanity Political insanity: Lear’s rash decision Abhorrent بغيض kind of madness: Goneril, Regan and Cornwall bloodlust. Beneficent madness: Lear finds “wisdom through madness”: Breakthrough. Bitter المر and a sweet الحلو fool Act I, scene iv
- 21. Madness Glossolalia النثر Disruption of the mind: اضطراب العقل Shift from verse to prose as Lear’s wits desert him Types of Madness/ Foolishness/ Insanity Political insanity: Lear’s rash decision Abhorrent بغيض kind of madness: Goneril, Regan and Cornwall bloodlust. Beneficent madness: Lear finds “wisdom through madness”: Breakthrough.
- 22. At Lear’s castle… ► Lear decides to give up his throne and divide his kingdom among his three daughters ► His daughter, Cordelia, has two suitors – the king of France and duke of Burgundy ► Lear asks his daughters how much they love him ► Goneril and Regan flatter, but Cordelia says that she loves him no more than a daughter loves her father “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth: I love your majesty according to my bond; nor more nor less.”
- 23. إن نجاحنا في الحياة يعتمد في المقام األول على حس ن تقديرنا ،لألمور وعلى تمييز الطيب من الخبيث . ف مهما يكن ،األمر علينا ً أوال إعمال العقل؛ ألن فقدانه يعن ي فقدان كل شيء . Shakespeare’s Message Our success in life depends primarily on our appreciation of things, and on the distinction between good and evil. In any case, we must first reason, because failing reason means losing everything.
- 24. ► Angered, Lear disowns Cordelia and divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan ► Kent tries to defend Cordelia, but Lear banishes him from Britain ► Lear gives Cordelia to the king of France, and though Cordelia is not happy about leaving her father with her sisters, she leaves England with her husband ► Lear gives his power to Albany and Cornwall, the husbands of Goneril and Regan
- 25. Meanwhile… ►Edmund shows his father Gloucester a forged letter that said that Edgar was planning to take over his lands ►Edmund pretends to help Edgar, but is actually plotting to have Edgar removed ►He persuades Edgar to flee and wounds himself to make it seem that Edgar attacked him ►Gloucester is convinced and vows to capture Edgar
- 26. Betrayed! ► Kent (Caius) gets into a fight with Oswald ► Cornwall and Regan break up the fight ► The loyal Caius is placed in the stocks for 24 hours ► Lear arrives and demands that Caius; Regan refuses, but allows Lear to stay at her palace ► Regan dismisses all of Lear’s knights, and Lear leaves in anger
- 27. Lear goes insane ► Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall are glad that Lear is gone, but Gloucester is worried for his king’s health ► A storm approaches and Lear and his last servants (Caius and the Fool) walk into a health ► Lear stands in the rain and curses his daughters
- 28. ► Kent brings Lear into a nearby cave, where they meet Edgar, who disguises himself as a madman (“Poor Tom”) ► Gloucester then arrives and takes them to a farmhouse The storm builds up
- 29. Blind Gloucester
- 30. The plot tightens ► On the way to Dover, Edgar and Gloucester meet Oswald ► Edgar fights Oswald and kills him; he finds a letter from Goneril to Edmund, telling him to kill Albany so that she could marry him ► We learn that Cornwall had died from the wound, and the Regan is also in love with Edmund… ► There is conflict between sisters now
- 31. The storm breaks… ► At Dover, Cordelia sends a sentry to find her father ► Father and daughter are finally reunited ► Lear is unconscious when they find him, but when he wakes, he recognizes Cordelia and asks for her forgiveness
- 32. The final battle ►The English and French are at war ►At the English camp, Goneril argues with Albany and fights with Regan for Edmund ►Albany decides to cooperate with Goneril and Regan only because of the French invasion ►The French army under Cordelia loses, and she and her father are captured by the evil Edmund ►Edmund sends them to jail and orders the captain to have both of them hanged
- 33. The ending… ► Edgar brings Goneril’s letter to Albany, and he decides to fight against Goneril and Regan ► Another battle occurs, and in the climactic scene, Edgar fights Edmund and wounds his evil half-brother ► Edmund admits to all his crimes and repents ► Meanwhile Goneril poisons her sister Regan and commits suicide herself after learning of Edmund’s defeat
- 34. ► Edgar and Caius sent people to save Lear and Cordelia ► The save Lear, but they are too late for Cordelia ► Lear enters, holding Cordelia’s body ► Howl, howl, howl, howl! O! you are men of stones: had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so that heaven's vaults should crack. She's gone for ever. I know when one is dead, and when one lives; she's dead as earth. - Lear, Act V Scene 3 ► Edgar reveals himself to his dying father, Gloucester ► Caius reveals himself as Kent to Lear, who in grief over Cordelia finally recognizes his most loyal servant ► Lear though is completely mad and dies of grief over his daughter’s death ► Albany and Kent are left to restore order following the tragedy
- 36. The End