Do you enjoy going to Shakespeare's plays?

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To sites that I believe my visitors will find helpful. This page was last modified December 3, 2010. Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

Experience will be special. These notes will help you get started. Mythology and/or been conflated with others.

Founder of Leicester, site of an old Roman fort. "The Black Cauldron" and "The Castle of Llyr"). In Yeats's plays and the "Dungeons and Dragons" games.

They just passed by"). Now southwest England. The capital of New York State is named, is farther away.

Three daughters whether they loved him. While the third said she loved him only as a daughter should. Lear disinherited the honest daughter.

Honest daughter says she loves her father as much as she loves salt. Lear went to live with his first daughter, bringing a hundred followers. She demanded that he reduce his followers to fifty.

To live with the other daughter, who reduced the number to twenty-five. Lear went back and forth between the daughters until he was alone. Restored him to his kingdom.

Abusive father and protecting their youngest sister. By the BBC). Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" for some reason.

A strikingly modern message. Lear to be his finest work. Beliefs of many (if not most) of your neighbors.

Obvious appeal to the intended audience. And gave it a sad ending. With ideas instead of advancing the plot.

Lear is king of Britain. Successful warrior king. Clearly despised it.

Of what others say about his background. (You can find examples. To divide his kingdom among his three daughters and their husbands.

His stated intention is to prevent future conflict. Really not very smart, since it actually invites war between the heirs. Following the death of Elizabeth) would have realized this.

Her love for him. Forewarned, we can only guess. Goneril says she loves her father more than she can say.

Thanks her and gives her Third Prize. Father so much that she doesn't like anything else. Thanks her and gives her Second Prize.

Loves her father exactly as a daughter should. In her defense. Of the kingdom and she just spoiled it.

Burgundy says he will not marry a woman with no property. France is more clever. Shakespeare's audience would have realized this.

The proof later. May not be sincere in loving Cordelia. We won't know.

Him and 100 followers. Father and his personal army. King Lear goes to live with Goneril.

Oswald yells at Lear's jester, and Lear punches the steward. Goneril decides to assert control. Goneril -- whistles, catcalls, lewd remarks, or whatever.

Serve Lear, and we meet the jester ("Fool"). Is loyal to the king. Object of amusement.

The truth, which he does ironically. With the king tapping the face on the jester's mock scepter (bauble / marotte). Jester (like Kent) for some reason remains loyal despite past mistreatment.

Speech about the king not being cared for properly. Can care for him just as well. (There's a subtlety here.

, refuse to pay to support them. Are already leaving King Lear, because they can tell what is going to happen. To honor their promise to support him.

Lear curses Goneril and departs for Regan's. Before him, and Goneril sends Oswald. And Regan's husband puts him in the stocks.

Breach of protocol, and when Lear arrives, he is furious. Goneril arrives and Lear curses her again. Regan says she will allow him only 25 followers.

En masse anyway, but Lear evidently does not realize this. Says that he measures his personal worth in terms of his possessions. "Reason not the need!

This is what raises us above the level of animals. Starts to cry and runs off as a storm brews. Him out of the castle to teach him a lesson.

Chaos in Britain. Was better for everybody than civil war. Preternaturally severe storm.

Army has landed in expectation of a British civil war. Is going on, and what's more, he is loyal to the old king. To decide for yourself whether this is foolishness or profound wisdom.

In the first storm scene, which is difficult, Lear is going crazy. Then comments, "my wit begins to turn", i.e. Accepts Kent's suggestion to take shelter in a hut.

Already inside the hut is "one of the homeless mentally-ill." lunatics all ranting together. A sane man in disguise, seeking refuge from private injustice. To happen to the poor throughout his reign.

And that justice is only now being served on him. Given everything to their daughters and been turned out also. But the onset of madness confers a deeper insight.

And is the essential human being. Rips off his clothes. And so forth.

Through the pillow. To kill him. At the end, Kent tells the jester to follow Lear.

As often played, Kent discovers the jester to be dead. Kent and Lear reach Dover and Cordelia, who loves him. Cordelia accompanies an invading French army.

No-lose move by the King of France. Also King of Britain. Of any political value.

Business that was more important than conquering England. He has left his wife either to do it for him, or be killed. English audience mostly did not like the French.

Couldn't show a conquering French king on his stage. "suddenly" lets Shakespeare make the foreign king look machiavellian. And her husband.

Weeds and wild flowers. And accurate perception. How fake ordinary human society is.

His royal title makes him other than a counterfeiter. But in private are as amoral and dirty-living as animals. Justice and fairness.

Regan and Goneril have played and humored him. The truth only in the storm. Born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools." and they chase him down.

We next see King Lear asleep under the care of Cordelia. He awakes, and thinks -- correctly -- that he recognizes her. That they are both dead.

(as in the older play), but Cordelia prevents him. And that if Cordelia wants him dead he will drink her poison. Wants to help him, Lear says "Pray now, forget and forgive.

King Lear is not about wrongs being righted. Other dysfunctional families. And Cordelia are captured.

The rest of the world. Hanged in prison. King Lear kills the hangman with his bare hands.

He comes onstage, carrying Cordelia's body and howling. Does not notice. Cordelia, believes she is alive, and falls dead himself.

Larger than life. His illegitimate son Edmund with some smutty jokes. And how Edmund's feelings must have been hurt by it.

Part of how he got his attitude toward the world. Brother Edgar, and that the accident of his birth is unjust. His father and brother.

Among King Lear's daughters. Have been injured by the fleeing Edgar. An outlaw and Edmund his heir.

The homeless mentally ill" and later meets King Lear there. Goneril and Regan. Whether his father is a traitor.

Legal procedure ("the form of justice"), Regan's husband carves out Gloucester's eyes. But Regan likes Edmund instead. And lets him die.

Stab Cornwall again herself. He meets Lear and laments his own foolishness. Adultery with Edmund.

Calls -- too late -- for Lear's and Cordelia's lives to be spared. About the King of Paphlagonia. The blinded father not to jump to his death off a cliff.

Physical torture as punishment for his sexual sin. That you'll see on the stage. Sensitive Victorians cut it from production.

Even by today's movie standards, it is a shocker. Have made the audience angry." I am not making this up.

Against, and is some kind of nature-worshipper. Ultimately wishes he had done. Feel free to speak up in class.

Classmates will appreciate it. Who is it that can tell me who I am? Good government and stable monarchy.

Enough idea in old books from various cultures. Know the essential difference. Shakespeare's era contrasted "nature" and "art" (i.e.

"essential human nature" contrasted to "culture". Various sexual activities not intended for procreation. And whether human nature is fundamentally selfish or generous.

Human beings and the natural world. Are mentioned in the play. Dignity can tolerate the way she has insulted him.

So contrary to nature. The lies he wants to hear. In nature", i.e.

Rather than vice. To look out for himself, like an animal. As the opposite of human virtue.

Gloucester believes in astrology. The breakdown of human society. And that the stars had nothing to do with it.

Differences in people's attitudes. Much one is responsible. Of nature from its fixed place").

He will begin crying again. Gloucester jokes that Edmund is "loyal and natural". For his own flesh-and-blood as a son should.

, his trustworthy character is inborn. And his obsequiousness. You're not yourself when natural sickness affects you.

The mind to suffer with the body." There's a foreshadowing here. Only that of a good, natural daughter.

Luxuries that raise us above the natural level of animals. He will soon change his mind. See the treatment of Lear and Gloucester as unnatural.

In origin cannot bordered certain in itself" -- i.e. Mistreat your own parent, what kind of person must you be? And you will become morally worse than an animal.

And end the human race. Perhaps cultural or perhaps supernatural. Sees his madness as "oppressed nature" sleeping.

Brought by the other two daughters. World, one could not say the human race is generally bad by nature. The physician calls sleep "our foster-nurse of nature." crime of killing a king, becomes an insomniac.

With wild flowers. To develop a good paper. Of wild animals and primitive people are mostly "nasty, brutish, and short".

Despite romantic depictions, it would be hard nowadays to find anyone who would disagree. Paths through life. Find fundamental human issues treated in King Lear.

Than you need. Which do you think is right? As making us care about one another, especially our own families.

Edmund talks about "nature" as making us care only about ourselves. Who is right? I can't tell you.

Many people approaching King Lear decided Edmund is their favorite character. And our sympathies are always divided. Clever, clear-headed (when others are not).

Beginning how hurtfully and thoughtlessly his father has treated him. And Edmund decides to act accordingly. "the glamour of evil".

Edmund treats others horribly. He didn't have, and tries to do good "in spite of his own nature." I've seen this sort of thing in real life, and perhaps you have too.

There's a good paper right here. And there's the recurrent theme of nothing. Can add nothing to her sisters' speeches.

Nothing, he won't need his reading glasses. Nothing for it. Edgard is "nothing".

Be "knotting?") of Lear's hair. "You're nothing but...". Ends the image cluster.

What Shakespeare Could Not Say Openly? Meantime, we shall express our darker purposes. You'll need to decide for yourself about what follows.

Highest-ranking character on stage. Albany (who is a duke, outranking an earl). To Edgar, who has just been asked to assume the kingship by Albany.

Giving Edgar a final word along with Kent and Albany seems right. Coronated, did Shakespeare make a mistake? What do YOU think?

Of his great tragedy? Who outranks who? A sad play on an upbeat note?

I think I understand what Edgar is saying. Edgar says, "Let's just tell the truth. From, religion that we possess.

About orthodox Christianity. Murdered in a tavern brawl. And look at ordinary people without being involved "as if we were God's spies".

That the gods play with us as boys play with flies, killing us for fun. Sex by having his eyes gouged out. This is obviously NOT justice.

Jump to his death. Jumps, and faints. To revive, and tells him that God has saved his life miraculously.

Of course this is a lie, but it helps Gloucester find emotional peace. Merely talks the father out of suicide. A product of nature.

Edgar's skeptical expression is kinder but seems even deeper. Many people in his own day must have believed secretly. There is no God.

The comforts of religion are make-believe. By nature, or through our laws and customs. With one another.

Speaks to us so powerfully. Is Ed Friedlander MD. Nahum Tate adapted King Lear so it would have a happy ending.

Enjoying the countryside. The archaic words with modern ones. Looks good; does not dumb the play down.

Behind in disguise as King Lear's jester? That night even if it had bit her (IV. It's quite playable.

Having Cordelia reveal herself at the end of III.vi. More of that, I have noted it." -- I.iv. For their not appearing onstage together.

Play's great pessimism." with a warning that the plot has been changed. Are all phonies, and that only obviously selfish and cruel people are genuine. I am glad I don't believe this.

("The oldest hath borne most. As one character says, that "the world is an evil place"? Korol Lir at Rotten Tomatoes.

"King Lear shows that great force of character is not necessarily wise, rude speech is not necessarily unkind, and madness is in some cases a perfectly reasonable response to intolerable conditions.". Do you busy yourself withTHAT?! And is probably the most violent play ever staged.

For the better by portraying everyone and everything as sensely cruel. Audiences still left disgusted. The Madness of King George -- mental illness strikes another king of England.

A remarkable sequence even by today's standards. Like me, committed to making Shakespeare available to everybody, at no cost. Lots of good contemporary essays.

There has been no response to my protests. To begin your search for online essays intended for would-be plagiarists. "Dishonesty was your tragic flaw, kid!"

Good luck. On my literature pages are to free sites. Domain and spare everybody from a lot of wasted time.

It's a shame." works that I have, myself, enjoyed so much. To which I have linked are asking students for their money, please let me know. Notes on Aristotle.

More obvious and more profound. Who live in an imperfect world ("tragic choices"). In Shakespeare, our sympathies are usually divided among the characters.

For this reason, Aristotle's thoughts on tragedy (i.e. Real-life, individual situations. And wish I had time to put something together.

Write on the play, here are two ideas. Ordinary decent folks (i.e. Who a person is and what that person can do.

A jerk for accepting a person of another race as a friend but not as a son-in-law. Has a chip on his shoulder, spews racial venom for his own dark reasons. Quickly learns to love that person so that race become indifferent.

Successful deserve our special admiration. Both loving and hating. Considering Shakespeare's presentation of Shylock to consider his era.

The "stage Jew" of the time was an evil, comic figure. Why Shylock is bitter and angry. To him simply because he is a Jew, obviously without even thinking.

It's impossible not to notice this. And afterwards they are only amused when his feelings are trampled. And he allows Shylock to speak about this eloquently, even brilliantly.

A great deal of courage on Shakespeare's part. Anticipates what I've found to be Shakespeare's greatest theme, i.e. In a godless universe, our only hope is to be kind to one another.

Take the brave step to end the stupid hatreds that darken our world? "Western Civ" course. Think: The play's about godawful teenaged murder-suicide.

Was a warning to teenagers to obey their parents. Matures people, and gives dignity, meaning, and beauty even in the worst of circumstances. Was pregnant with Juliet at age 13.

Lecher's forced child-bride and she is setting up the same thing for Juliet. In much of our world. Surprised to find Juliet dead on her wedding day?

When Shakespeare showed us who we are. A mainstream Christian. Enjoys books and ideas.

I hope you like King Lear, and that I've been of some help. "King Lear"'s dark vision, but I understand why others do. Department of English -- my home base, 1969-1973.

Quotation marks and parentheses. This became standard to protect fragile bits of movable type. Typed a particular document.

New visitors to www.pathguy. Medical Examiner's office. And get out of abusive relationships by any means.

Like you love them even if you're not sure that you do. It'll help you and them. Work too hard and isn't taking it easy like other young people."

Health and friendship. And Goneril takes her life. A bad idea.

Failed, 99% said a year later that they are glad they failed. Visitors send me this question from time to time. Fundamentally kind or selfish?

Or less human? See the author prove you can have fun skydiving without being world-class. Do it right.

Visitors and a few hundred "thank you's". To be overpaid." -- Kent. Never attempting to explain why.

I'm very glad to be able to help so many other people enjoy Shakespeare. Health and friendship. Has a new site to help ordinary folks catch computer misbehavior.