KING LEAR

ACT 1 SCENE 1

• Inflated ego
• "Which of you shall we say doth
• love us most."
• His pride and vanity cause him to set
• a love test for his daughters.

RASH/POOR JUDGEMENT

• "Here I disclaim all my paternal care"
• After mis-understanding Cordelia
• Lear rashly banishes Kent as well asCordelia and
• disinherits her.

ACT 1 SCENE 4

• Lear is ignorant / possessive of power
• "Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go
• get it ready"
• He is still issuing orders like a king, he has
• not accepted his loss of power.

TRICKED / DISILLUSIONED

• "I am ashamed that thou hast power
• to shake my manhood thus."
• He is struggling with the fact that he
• has given Goneril power.

DEFIANT

• "Thou shalt find that I'll resume the
• shape which thou dost think I have cast
• off for ever. Thou shalt, I warrant thee."
• Lear threatens that he will return to power
• and make Regan pay.

ACT 1 SCENE 5

• Remorseful
• "I did her wrong."
• He admits that he was wrong
• to banish Cordelia.

ACT 2 SCENE 4

• Lear is losing his mind.
• "O, how this mother swells up toward
• my heart! Hysterica passio?"
• He feels he is being pushed to the brink
• of his sanity.

DESPERATE

• "[kneeling] Dear daughte, I confess
• that I am old; Age is unnecessary: on
• my knees I beg."
• Lear pleads for mercy from Regan.

LEAR DOES NOT UNDERSTAND LOVE

• "I'll go with thee. Thy fifty yet doth
• double her five-and-twenty,
• And thou art twice her love."
• Lear still gauges love in material
• terms.

LEAR HAS GONE MAD

• "O Fool, I shall go mad."
• Lear is losing his grip on reality
• and slipping into madness.

ACT 3 SCENE 2

• Lear is egocentric.
• "Crack nature's moulds, all germens
• at once, that make ungrateful man."
• Lear only recognises his own
• suffering.

BELIEVES HE IS FLAWLESS

• "Unwhipped of justice. Hide thee, thou
• bloody hand; thou perjured, and thou simular
• man of virtue that art incestuous."
• He believes that the storm is only targetting
• corrupt people, like his daughters.

BECOMING COMPASSIONATE

• "Poor fool and knave, I have one part
• in my heart that's sorry yet for thee."
• He is beginning to recognise the
• suffering of others.

ACT 3 SCENE 4

• Lear is ashamed.
• "O, I have ta'en too little care
• of this."
• He admits that he was a neglectful
• king.

"That burning shame detains him from Cordelia"
Lear is too ashamed of what he has done to contact Cordelia.

ACT 4 SCENE 6

• Lear acknowledges the emptiness of flattery.
• "They flattered me like a dog and told me
• I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones
• were there"
• Does not understand why they felt they should flatter him

ACT 4 SCENE 7

• Lear is understanding.
• "I know you do not love me; for your sisters
• have, as I do remember, done me wrong. You
• have some cause, they have not"
• He understands if Cordelia hates him.

ACT 5 SCENE 3

• Recognises meaningless of the life he led.
• "So we'll live, and pray, and sing, and tell old
• tales, laugh at gilded butterflies, and hear poor
• rogues talk of court news."
• He realises what is really important.

PATH TO WISEDOM

• "I might have sav'd her; now she's gone
• for ever! Cordelia, Cordelia!"
• Lear apportions the blame for Cordelia's
• death on himself.

VALUES HUMAN LIFE

• "No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a
• horse, a rat have life and thou no breath
• at all?"
• Lear has completed his path to wisedom.