King Lear themes (and very brief plans)

King Lear themes (and very brief outlines of plans that may not make sense to anyone else)

TRAGEDY OF KINGSHIP/ MADNESS 

(kingdom/family hamartia, blindness to corruptness, realisation) 

• love test and division of kingdom,  how G+R+Fool realise his madness - hubristic, oed. hubris and good intentions on city 

• loss of power/ corrupt kingship leads him to madness, G+R take away knights, reversal of power with Cordelia, sennet = asleep on chair - Oed. adresses people as "friends" ALSO setting to reflect this madness (storm) - Oed. "bloodshed...whipped up a strom thats destroying us"

• realisation at end of errors in kingship, "my poor fool is hanged", "I am a fond foolish old man.", BUT arguably still mad, Cords death "look here" - Oed "The children?..." 

TRANSFORMATION/IDENTITY 

(Lear's kingship/power, storm to mirror madness, good/evil transformations due to blindness) 

• trans of language, sennet to asleep on chair, plain clothing, proxemics, hubris, etc. 

• setting to mirror Lear's madness, storm  

• Edmond's transformation through deceit, G + R transformation of language, also Edgars forced identity and manipulation - all at the hands of blindness   

REDEMPTION 

 (Lear's foolishness/ending with possible redemption, impossible redemption, divine justice = no redemption) 

• Initial foolishness and hamartia with ending and cordelias death - pity, redemption? 

• edgar, g + r evil injustices shows impossible redemption, their fate 

• no divine justice and nihilistic ending shows no redemption "all cheerless, dark and deadly" 

BLINDNESS/TRUTH 

(blindness as a tool of manipulation, lears hamartia and anagnorisis?, blindness to insight with gloucester) 

• Edmond and Edgar, with Goneril and Regan using blindness  

• Lear's blind to the corruption he causes, anag. at end 

• yet insight is too painful, Gloucester  

SOCIAL/POLITICAL  

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