Category: King Lear

Part 1 Reading Responses Week 5. Describe the character of Lanvals lady and the character of Queen Guinevere in Lanval by Marie de France. Compare and contrast them, commenting on their different characteristics, social standing, relationships with other characters, and roles/functions in the unfolding of the narrative. Gender role is at the heart of Maries…

How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man thats wise (Sophocles, line 316, Oedipus Rex). People often mistake blind people, or people labeled as somehow flawed, for being ignorant. Whether the blindness is literal, like Teiresias in Sophocles Teiresais in Oedipus Rex, or blindness as transparency, like the Fool in Shakespeares…

Introduction Appearing in many of Shakespeare’s plays, the clown or fool figure is one of the most intriguing stage characters in the Shakespearean oeuvre and continues to capture the interest of modern-day critics and contemporary audiences. Although unique to each play, the character of the Shakespearean fool can generally be divided into two categories: the…

Thomas Edison, an American inventor, and businessman, once said, Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time (brainyquote.com). In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lear is guilty of being quick to give up on others, one of them being his daughter, Cordelia. In a…