docmadson.files.wordpress.com · Web viewThe spirit turns out to be Edgar in his disguise as Tom O’Bedlam. ... He is unimpressed by Lear’s companions and tries to bring Lear

Name______________________________________________King Lear Act III: Madness and Unnatural Acts

ContextThis week we will be completing close reading of King Lear’s character. We will repeatedly ask ourselves how he continues to change in response to the crisis enveloping Britain. Keep in mind that while our focus will be on examining King Lear’s development, other characters in the play (i.e. Kent, Fool, Edgar, etc.) influence these changes and consideration must be taken of their roles.

Big Questions for the Week What changes about King Lear? How has King Lear changed from Acts I and II? Explore how and

why. At what point in the play does King Lear hit bottom? At what point does he begin to repair himself and find a clearer sense of purpose? How does this

happen?

Final Writing Assignment In-Class FridayAt the end of the week you will apply what you’ve learned from in-class reading and homework assignments and write a critical analysis of Lear’s progression. How has his character evolved from earlier in the play (compare and contrast)? What has motivated Lear to make the decisions he has? What are his desired intentions, in other words, what is he hoping to achieve?

Key Terminology We put on our psychological criticism hats while reading The Metamorphosis. This week we will shake the dust off our white coats and once again play the part of the doctor.

As we analyze King Lear this week – he is our patient – consider the following diagnoses. Please work to use these terms and medical definitions as we diagnose our ailing monarch.

Depression A persistently low mood; debilitating sadness. Psychosis A break from reality and or/unusual thinking. Symptoms include: auditory and visual

hallucinations, paranoid thoughts, disorganized speech. Psychosis can be a temporary or permanent condition.

Mania People who suffer from mania exhibit manic behavior which can include: talking all the time, great excitement, euphoria, going several days with little sleep, racing thoughts, impulsive behavior, grandiose thinking about oneself. This can be brought on by drug use or naturally.

Melancholia A deep depression. Displacement Taking out one’s aggression on something that is less threatening than the original

intended target.

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3.1 – 3.3 Summary

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Directions (3.2-3.3)Read each of the following passages and consider the following: How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand? How does careful reading of diction, syntax, and detail inform your conclusions? What, if any, of the key terminology can you apply to explain these developments?

3.2King Lear is walking through the countryside with the Fool. He has lost everything and yells at the Gods topunish his daughters for the crimes they’ve committedagainst him.

KING LEARBlow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!You cataracts and hurricanoes, spoutTill you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,That make ingrateful man!

FoolO nuncle, court holy-water in a dryhouse is better than this rain-water out o' door.Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters' blessing:here's a night pities neither wise man nor fool.

KING LEARRumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,You owe me no subscription: then let fallYour horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:But yet I call you servile ministers,That have with two pernicious daughters join'dYour high engender'd battles 'gainst a headSo old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul!

1.1 After Cordelia fails to give Lear the respect he thinks he deserves, the king disowns her. Kent steps in and tries to convince Lear to understand what Cordelia actually meant.

KING LEARLet it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;By all the operation of the orbsFrom whom we do exist, and cease to be;Here I disclaim all my paternal care,Propinquity and property of blood,And as a stranger to my heart and meHold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,Or he that makes his generation messesTo gorge his appetite, shall to my bosomBe as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,As thou my sometime daughter.

KENTGood my liege,--

On a separate sheet of paper…

1. Summarize the passages2. Create a character profile for

King Lear for each passage. If possible, use psychological terminology.

3. Who has power in each of these scenes?

4. Compare and contrast the scene from 3.2 with that from 1.1. How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand?

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3.2

KENTAlas, sir, are you here? things that love nightLove not such nights as these; the wrathful skiesGallow the very wanderers of the dark,And make them keep their caves: since I was man,Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder,Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I neverRemember to have heard: man's nature cannot carryThe affliction nor the fear.

KING LEARLet the great gods,That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads,Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,That hast within thee undivulged crimes,Unwhipp'd of justice: hide thee, thou bloody hand;Thou perjured, and thou simular man of virtueThat art incestuous: caitiff, to pieces shake,That under covert and convenient seemingHast practised on man's life: close pent-up guilts,Rive your concealing continents, and cryThese dreadful summoners grace. I am a manMore sinn'd against than sinning.

KENTAlack, bare-headed!Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel;Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest:Repose you there; while I to this hard house--More harder than the stones whereof 'tis raised;Which even but now, demanding after you,Denied me to come in--return, and forceTheir scanted courtesy.

KING LEARMy wits begin to turn.

1.1

KING LEARPeace, Kent!Come not between the dragon and his wrath.I loved her most, and thought to set my restOn her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!So be my grave my peace, as here I giveHer father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.I do invest you jointly with my power,Pre-eminence, and all the large effectsThat troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,With reservation of an hundred knights,By you to be sustain'd, shall our abodeMake with you by due turns. Only we still retainThe name, and all the additions to a king;The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,This coronet part betwixt you.





4. Compare and contrast these passages. How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand?

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Making a PredictionRead the Fool’s prophecy. This is a puzzle, a little riddle, meant to give the audience some hints at what may happen next. Use the same close reading strategies you’ve used throughout the play to decode the Fool’s prediction.

FoolThis is a brave night to cool a courtezan.I'll speak a prophecy ere I go:

When priests are more in word than matter;When brewers mar their malt with water;When nobles are their tailors' tutors;No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors;When every case in law is right;No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;When slanders do not live in tongues;Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;When usurers tell their gold i' the field;And bawds and whores do churches build;Then shall the realm of AlbionCome to great confusion:Then comes the time, who lives to see't,That going shall be used with feet.This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time.

The Fool predicts that…

Homework1. Read 3.4 – 3.52. Complete reading questions3. Write a one-paragraph analysis of King Lear’s development as a character using evidence from

today’s readings and email to Madson no later than 9 pm tonight ([email protected])

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3.4 – 3.5 Summary

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3.4King Lear speaks to Kent after they enter the hovel (cave). Here, Lear resolves to take controlof his emotions and the situation he finds himself in.

KING LEARThou think'st 'tis much that this contentious stormInvades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee;But where the greater malady is fix'd,The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'ldst shun a bear;But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea,Thou'ldst meet the bear i' the mouth. When themind's free,The body's delicate: the tempest in my mindDoth from my senses take all feeling elseSave what beats there. Filial ingratitude!Is it not as this mouth should tear this handFor lifting food to't? But I will punish home:No, I will weep no more. In such a nightTo shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril!Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,--O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;No more of that.

KENTGood my lord, enter here.

KING LEARPrithee, go in thyself: seek thine own ease:This tempest will not give me leave to ponderOn things would hurt me more. But I'll go in.

1.4Goneril tells her father that his knights are debauched and shameful. She requests that King Lear remove at least half of his men. She also says that the men he does keep should be older and more manageable.

KING LEARI'll tell thee:To GONERILLife and death! I am ashamedThat thou hast power to shake my manhood thus;That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee!The untented woundings of a father's cursePierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out,And cast you, with the waters that you lose,To temper clay. Yea, it is come to this?Let is be so: yet have I left a daughter,Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable:When she shall hear this of thee, with her nailsShe'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt findThat I'll resume the shape which thou dost thinkI have cast off for ever: thou shalt,I warrant thee.Exeunt KING LEAR, KENT, and Attendants






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How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand? How does careful reading of diction, syntax, and detail inform your conclusions? What, if any, of the key terminology can you apply to explain these developments?

3.4 King Lear responds to Edgar – dressed as Mad Tom. Edgar tells Lear that he – Edgar – is a man who sinned. These sins are what led him to madness and homelessness. Edgar is parodying Lear’s situation in hopes of teaching Lear a lesson.

KING LEARWhy, thou wert better in thy grave than to answerwith thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thouowest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheepno wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here's three on's are sophisticated! Thou art the thing itself:unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare,forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings!come unbutton here.Tearing off his clothes

FoolPrithee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty nightto swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field werelike an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all therest on's body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire.

1.1Here, Kent attempts to convince Lear to understand why Cordelia has said what she did. Lear will not listen to reason.

KING LEARPeace, Kent!Come not between the dragon and his wrath.I loved her most, and thought to set my restOn her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!So be my grave my peace, as here I giveHer father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.I do invest you jointly with my power,Pre-eminence, and all the large effectsThat troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,With reservation of an hundred knights,By you to be sustain'd, shall our abodeMake with you by due turns. Only we still retainThe name, and all the additions to a king;The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,This coronet part betwixt you.Giving the crown






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How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand? How does careful reading of diction, syntax, and detail inform your conclusions? What, if any, of the key terminology can you apply to explain these developments?

Your group will need to locate a pairing passage for this scene.

3.4

KING LEAR Prithee, go in thyself: seek thine own ease:This tempest will not give me leave to ponderOn things would hurt me more. But I'll go in.To the FoolIn, boy; go first. You houseless poverty,--Nay, get thee in. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.Fool goes inPoor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend youFrom seasons such as these? O, I have ta'enToo little care of this! Take physic, pomp;Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,And show the heavens more just.

Homework1. Complete your analysis of the two scenes on this page (the

scene I assigned and the one your group found). You will submit answers at the start of class tomorrow

2. Read 3.6 and 3.73. Answer reading questions

Act _____ , scene _____ , lines ______ - ______






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3.6 – 3.7 Summary

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Here is the catch. Today, we will turn our attention to other characters while still considering King Lear and his position in the world – mentally, physically, and politically.

Read the following passage. Answer the same reading questions (in the corner box). But, consider how Edgar’s words inform our understanding of King Lear’s evolving character.

3.6

EDGARWhen we our betters see bearing our woes,We scarcely think our miseries our foes.Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind,Leaving free things and happy shows behind:But then the mind much sufferance doth o'er skip,When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.How light and portable my pain seems now,When that which makes me bend makes the king bow,He childed as I father'd! Tom, away!Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,In thy just proof, repeals and reconciles thee.What will hap more to-night, safe 'scape the king!Lurk, lurk.Exit



King Lear from this character’s information. If possible, use psychological terminology.

3. Who has power in this scene?4. How does this passage

reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand?

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Read each of the following passages and consider the following: How does this passage reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand? How does careful reading of diction, syntax, and detail inform your conclusions? What, if any, of the key terminology can you apply to explain these developments?

Here is the catch. Today, we will turn our attention to other characters while still considering King Lear and his position in the world – mentally, physically, and politically.

Find a passage from 3.6 or 3.7 and explain how it reinforces, contradicts, or complicates our understanding of King Lear.

Homework1. Complete reading questions2. Complete any unfinished close-reading work3. Complete your Reading Logs and Behind the Curtain

assignment for the week



King Lear from this character’s information. If possible, use psychological terminology.

3. Who has power in this scene?4. How does this passage

reinforce, contradict, or complicate something we knew about King Lear beforehand?

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Act Three – Writing Assessment DUE MONDAY DEC 22

Big Questions from the Week What is changing about King Lear? How has King Lear changed from Acts I and II? Explore how

and why. At what point in the play does King Lear hit bottom? At what point does he begin to repair himself and find a clearer sense of purpose? How does this

happen?

Writing PromptWrite a two-page paper analyzing King Lear’s development throughout Act III. You will compare and contrast the King Lear in Act III with the Lear we encountered earlier in the play. How do these changes reinforce, contradict, or complicate our understanding of this character?

Apply what you’ve learned from in-class readings and homework assignments in your analysis.

As you write, you may consider various questions asked throughout the week: What types of madness afflicted Lear? What were the effects? What has motivated Lear to make the decisions he has? What are his desired intentions, in other words, what is he hoping to achieve?

Criteria for SuccessA successful response papers will include…

__ a thesis paragraph that provides a specific, debatable claim

__ at least two quotes from Act III

__ at least two quotes from Acts I and II

__ an analysis of each quote

__ specific references to Lear’s development and the ways his behavior in Act III reinforces, contradicts, or complicates what we knew about Lear at the start of the play

Questions to Ask About a Thesis Statement… The Elements of a Strong Thesis Paragraph

Is the thesis debatable? Could you prove this thesis with evidence? Is the thesis is precise (i.e., you only need a few

pages to totally prove the claim) Is this thesis substantial? Does it include a “so

what?”

Opening sentences that introduce the broad topic or tell a related story

Context or summary of the topic or text A thesis statement which is the precise,

provocative A road map explaining how you will organize and

support your argument.

King Lear

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Act 3 Summary (from Sparknotes)

Summary: Act 3, scene 1

A storm rages on the heath. Kent, seeking Lear in vain, runs into one of Lear’s knights and learns that Lear is somewhere in the area, accompanied only by his Fool. Kent gives the knight secret information: he has heard that there is unrest between Albany and Cornwall and that there are spies for the French in the English courts. Kent tells the knight to go to Dover, the city in England nearest to France, where he may find friends who will help Lear’s cause. He gives the knight a ring and orders him to give it to Cordelia, who will know who has sent the knight when she sees the ring. Kent leaves to search for Lear.


Meanwhile, Lear wanders around in the storm, cursing the weather and challenging it to do its worst against him. He seems slightly irrational, his thoughts wandering from idea to idea but always returning to fixate on his two cruel daughters. The Fool, who accompanies him, urges him to humble himself before his daughters and seek shelter indoors, but Lear ignores him. Kent finds the two of them and urges them to take shelter inside a nearby hovel. Lear finally agrees and follows Kent toward the hovel. The Fool makes a strange and confusing prophecy.


Inside his castle, a worried Gloucester speaks with Edmund. The loyal Gloucester recounts how he became uncomfortable when Regan, Goneril, and Cornwall shut Lear out in the storm. But when he urged them to give him permission to go out and help Lear, they became angry, took possession of his castle, and ordered him never to speak to Lear or plead on his behalf.

Gloucester tells Edmund that he has received news of a conflict between Albany and Cornwall. He also informs him that a French army is invading and that part of it has already landed in England. Gloucester feels that he must take Lear’s side and now plans to go seek him out in the storm. He tells Edmund that there is a letter with news of the French army locked in his room, and he asks his son to go and distract the duke of Cornwall while he, Gloucester, goes onto the heath to search for Lear. He adds that it is imperative that Cornwall not notice his absence; otherwise, Gloucester might die for his treachery.

When Gloucester leaves, Edmund privately rejoices at the opportunity that has presented itself. He plans to betray his father immediately, going to Cornwall to tell him about both Gloucester’s plans to help Lear and the location of the traitorous letter from the French. Edmund expects to inherit his father’s title, land, and fortune as soon as Gloucester is put to death.


Kent leads Lear through the storm to the hovel. He tries to get him to go inside, but Lear resists, saying that his own mental anguish makes him hardly feel the storm. He sends his Fool inside to take shelter and then kneels and prays. He reflects that, as king, he took too little care of the wretched and homeless, who have scant protection from storms such as this one.

The Fool runs out of the hovel, claiming that there is a spirit inside. The spirit turns out to be Edgar in his disguise as Tom O’Bedlam. Edgar plays the part of the madman by complaining that he is being chased by a devil. He adds that fiends possess and inhabit his body. Lear, whose grip on reality is loosening, sees nothing strange about these statements. He sympathizes with Edgar, asking him whether bad daughters have been the ruin of him as well.

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Lear asks the disguised Edgar what he used to be before he went mad and became a beggar. Edgar replies that he was once a wealthy courtier who spent his days having sex with many women and drinking wine. Observing Edgar’s nakedness, Lear tears off his own clothes in sympathy.

Gloucester, carrying a torch, comes looking for the king. He is unimpressed by Lear’s companions and tries to bring Lear back inside the castle with him, despite the possibility of evoking Regan and Goneril’s anger. Kent and Gloucester finally convince Lear to go with Gloucester, but Lear insists on bringing the disguised Edgar, whom he has begun to like, with him.


Inside Gloucester’s castle, Cornwall vows revenge against Gloucester, whom Edmund has betrayed by showing Cornwall a letter that proves Gloucester’s secret support of a French invasion. Edmund pretends to be horrified at the discovery of his father’s “treason,” but he is actually delighted, since the powerful Cornwall, now his ally, confers upon him the title of earl of Gloucester (3.5.10). Cornwall sends Edmund to find Gloucester, and Edmund reasons to himself that if he can catch his father in the act of helping Lear, Cornwall’s suspicions will be confirmed.


Gloucester, Kent, Lear, and the Fool take shelter in a small building (perhaps a shed or farmhouse) on Gloucester’s property. Gloucester leaves to find provisions for the king. Lear, whose mind is wandering ever more widely, holds a mock trial of his wicked daughters, with Edgar, Kent, and the Fool presiding. Both Edgar and the Fool speak like madmen, and the trial is an exercise in hallucination and eccentricity.

Gloucester hurries back in to tell Kent that he has overheard a plot to kill Lear. Gloucester begs Kent to quickly transport Lear toward Dover, in the south of England, where allies will be waiting for him. Gloucester, Kent, and the Fool leave. Edgar remains behind for a moment and speaks in his own, undisguised voice about how much less important his own suffering feels now that he has seen Lear’s far worse suffering.


Back in Gloucester’s castle, Cornwall gives Goneril the treasonous letter concerning the French army at Dover and tells her to take it and show it to her husband, Albany. He then sends his servants to apprehend Gloucester so that Gloucester can be punished. He orders Edmund to go with Goneril to Albany’s palace so that Edmund will not have to witness the violent punishment of his father.

Oswald brings word that Gloucester has helped Lear escape to Dover. Gloucester is found and brought before Regan and Cornwall. They treat him cruelly, tying him up like a thief, insulting him, and pulling his white beard. Cornwall remarks to himself that he cannot put Gloucester to death without holding a formal trial but that he can still punish him brutally and get away with it.

Admitting that he helped Lear escape, Gloucester swears that he will see Lear’s wrongs avenged. Cornwall replies, “See ’t shalt thou never,” and proceeds to dig out one of Gloucester’s eyes, throw it on the floor, and step on it (3.7.68). Gloucester screams, and Regan demands that Cornwall put out the other eye too.

One of Gloucester’s servants suddenly steps in, saying that he cannot stand by and let this outrage happen. Cornwall draws his sword and the two fight. The servant wounds Cornwall, but Regan grabs a sword from another servant and kills the first servant before he can injure Cornwall further. Irate, the wounded Cornwall gouges out Gloucester’s remaining eye.

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Gloucester calls out for his son Edmund to help him, but Regan triumphantly tells him that it was Edmund who betrayed him to Cornwall in the first place. Gloucester, realizing immediately that Edgar was the son who really loved him, laments his folly and prays to the gods to help Edgar. Regan and Cornwall order that Gloucester be thrown out of the house to “smell / His way to Dover” (3.7.96–97). Cornwall, realizing that his wound is bleeding heavily, exits with Regan’s aid.

Left alone with Gloucester, Cornwall’s and Regan’s servants express their shock and horror at what has just happened. They decide to treat Gloucester’s bleeding face and hand him over to the mad beggar to lead Gloucester where he will.

Reading QuestionsAct 3

3.11. Where is the king and what is he doing, according to the Gentleman's description?2. In addition to the split forming between Albany and Cornwall, what other event of military

significance is happening? What does Kent/Caius ask the Gentleman to do, and what does he give him? Where will Kent/Caius go?

3.21. What is Lear doing when we first see him on the heath in the storm? What is Lear asking from this

version of nature? How is the Fool responding?2. What does Kent/Caius try to get Lear to do in 3.2?3. In 3.2, Lear says "My wits begin to turn." Does he mean to madness or from madness?

3.31. What news and opinions does Gloucester confide to Edmund? Is it a good idea to do so? Why? What

will Edmund do, and what does he expect to get as a result?

3.41. Where is the scene set? What has Lear learned so far? 2. Once Lear has spoken in general about the "poor naked wretches" out in the storm, who appears?

(Remember his disguise from 2.3.) What does the Fool think he is?3. What sort of person does Edgar/Poor Tom pretend to be? What does Lear immediately assume was

the cause of Edgar/Poor Tom's madness? What does Edgar/Poor Tom say he was before his madness?4. Why has Gloucester come? What problem might his presence create for Edgar/Poor Tom? And what

might Edgar/Poor Tom learn from Gloucester that he did not know before? Why won't Lear go with Gloucester? Whom does Edgar/Poor Tom seem to be replacing in Lear's attention?

3.51. What does Edmund give to Cornwall? What does he get in return? Whom are they trying to apprehend?

3.61. Now that they are inside, what does Lear in his madness attempt to do? What problem does

Edgar/Poor Tom have?2. What happens as soon as Lear finally gets to sleep? What warning does Gloucester bring?

3.6 (continued)

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3. What is the effect of Edgar/Poor Tom's formal speech in rhymed couplets at the end of the scene? How does his language here sound after everything else we've heard in the scene?

3.71. What letter is Cornwall sending to Albany with Goneril? What is the military situation now? Who will

go with Goneril? Why?2. Where is Lear reported to be? Why have the knights only caught up with him now? (Remember that

this is still the night after the day that dawned at 2.2.1. Lear left Goneril's hastily the night before (1.4.287.1), and the knights he left there [100 or possibly 50] have now caught up with him. The action from 1.3 through at least 4.1 occurs over no more than 36 hours.)

3. What happens in the trial and punishment of Gloucester? Why does the servant intervene in 3.7? What does Gloucester learn in? What is his response?

4. How do the other servants respond to what has happened? Whom will they get to help Gloucester? Why is this ironic?

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Documents

docmadson.files.wordpress.com · Web viewThe spirit turns out to be Edgar in his disguise as Tom O’Bedlam. ... He is unimpressed by Lear’s companions and tries to bring Lear