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7 Jan

Re-Reading King Lear – The Three Daughters

Posted January 7, 2025 by Anokatony in Book Reviews. Tagged: .

 

‘King Lear’ by William Shakespeare            (1606) 

 

I had read ‘King Lear’ a long time ago. I still remembered the main plot, the old King Lear dividing up his kingdom between his daughters. He asks his three daughters which of them loves him most. His two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, flatter him with outpourings of great love for him while his youngest daughter Cordelia says nothing out of the ordinary. Lear gets angry with Cordelia and takes away the portion of the kingdom he was going to give her and splits it up between the two older daughters. Then trouble ensues.

“As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods; they kill us for wanton sport.”

Soon after his two eldest daughters receive their inheritance, their kingdoms, they both cast King Lear out into the stormy night. King Lear’s Fool goes with him.

“Fool: This stormy night will turn us all to fools and madmen.”

The method I used this time for King Lear was to first read the play using the Folger Shakespeare library version which has an explanation or elaboration accompanying nearly every line of the play. Once again I realized that I would require all of these notes to fully understand the various facets of the play. Then, after I had thoroughly read the play with all of the notes, I was able to listen to the entire play on audio and enjoy it.

Soon into my effort, I realized that the first time around I had almost totally missed the subplot involving the bastard son Edmund of Gloucester who is one of the main villains in the play along with Goneril and Regan. Thus I paid special attention to the Edmund story this time around. Somehow it almost seems that Shakespeare blames Gloucester’s fooling around and having an illegitimate son for Edmund’s misbehavior. Apparently Edmund is quite good looking, since both Goneril and Regan want to take Edmund as their lover, much to the displeasure of their husbands.

As in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, good does not triumph in the end as both King Lear and his good daughter Cordelia wind up dead.

After closely studying both ‘Hamlet’ and ‘King Lear’, which do I prefer? Of the two plays, I prefer ‘Hamlet’. ‘Hamlet’ has the two characters, Polonius and Hamlet himself, who are capable of deep thought and thus have more insight into the terrible things that are happening around them. In ‘King Lear’ whatever wisdom there is comes from either fools or madmen. Granted that, although mixed in with both the Fool’s clever banter and the madmen’s ravings, there are deep truths; it is sometimes difficult to tell which is which.

I suppose ‘King Lear’ could be read as a cautionary tale. Don’t divide up your fortune between your heirs while you are still around.

 

 

8 responses to this post.

  1. Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead's avatar

    Posted by Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead on January 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM

    Hi Tony! I’m very impressed with your turn to the classics (LOL). It’s one of my principal regrets that I didn’t take at least one class on Shakespeare when I was in college. I’ve read a few of the plays but, as your review demonstrates, doing so on one’s own can be quite a project & certainly not one for the faint-hearted (or lazy, such as myself).

    Two that I have read are King Lear & Hamlet (actually took an adult Smithsonian class on this one, back in my more energetic days). It’s one of those quirks of taste, that my conclusion is the opposite of yours, i.e., I preferred King Lear! In fact, I really loved it and read it a couple of times, over the years, although not recently. It probably speaks volumes for my character, that I loved the bleak, utter nihilism of it. As you said, the profound truths come from madmen & fools and one can’t always tell the wisdom from the ravings, which IMO is perhaps the point.

    I did like Hamlet, in a more measured way, but got a little impatient with H’s ditherings. I felt like saying, “Oh get on with it! Didn’t you see the ghost?” Have you ever watched the movie retelling (think it’s from around 2000) which keeps the language but places the action in a modern setting, complete with cell phones? Ethan Hawke is Hamlet; Kyle Maclachlan is Uncle Claudius, the CEO of the Denmark Corporation and Bill Murray is Polonius? I found it mildly amusing. On a more literary note, I did enjoy John Updike’s Gertrude & Claudius, a kind of “prequel” to the play (and I’m not normally a big fan of Updike’s novels, although I enjoy his art criticism). It’s interesting, isn’t it, how the story continues to grip the imagination of later generations, almost like one of the old Greek/Roman myths.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Anokatony's avatar

      Posted by Anokatony on January 7, 2025 at 8:35 PM

      Hi Janakay,

      Although we disagree on which is the better play, ‘Hamlet’ or ‘King Lear’, we do agree that we like ‘Gertrude and Claudius’ better than most of Updike’s other work. You probably nailed the reason I prefer ‘Hamlet’ which is “the bleak, utter nihilism” of ‘King Lear’.

      I watched the standard Kenneth Branaugh version of ‘Hamlet’ and also the Lawrence Olivier version rather than the modern ‘Hamlet’ of Ethan Hawke, but you have gotten me interested in this modern version. I wish there was a good version of ‘King Lear’ for me to watch now.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead's avatar

    Posted by Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead on January 7, 2025 at 8:39 PM

    If you decide to give Ethan H a try, don’t expect TOO much! I think it did receive some good reviews, but it’s essentially a mildly amusing gimmick. Still, in the right mood you might find it worth the while!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Lisa Hill's avatar

    Posted by Lisa Hill on January 9, 2025 at 2:36 AM

    I’m with Jana. There are so many fundamental truths in Lear about power and greed and so on, but most of all it shows that family is not all it’s cracked up to be. The foundation on which our societies are (were?) based is not to be trusted because those who should love you best, often don’t.

    Liked by 1 person

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