Critical Study of Shakespeare's King Lear

Critical Study of Shakespeare's King Lear

In this production of Shakespeare's King Lear, a feminist reading of

the play has been chosen to be presented to the audience. Certain

important factors must be taken into consideration as to how this

reading will be reflected on stage. Thus, we will examine, in detail,

two important scenes: Act I, scene i, and Act IV, scene iv, their

impact on the action and main issues of the play (ambition/ greed,

power, corruption, appearance versus reality and growth through

suffering) and how the characters, specifically the women roles, are

to be portrayed to reflect this particular critical reading.

Act I, scene i, is worthy of our attention as a valid representation

of the major issues within the play, an impetus for the play's ensuing

conflict and a display of the nature of the characters. The scene

opens with Gloucester and Kent discussing Lear's plan to retire and

partition his kingdom amongst his daughters. The king's public drama

of the love test denotes the insecurity and fear of an old man who

requires reassurance of his importance, blindly accepting his elder

daughters' seditious falsehoods. As opposed to a genuine assessment of

his daughters' love for him, the test seems to invite, rather demand,

flattery. Goneril and Regan's professions of love are banal and

insecure, 'I love you more than word can wield the matter,' however

Lear unreservedly welcomes these trite remarks. Regan echoes her

sister by saying, 'I find she names my very deed of love; only she

comes too short.' In contrast to her sisters, Cordelia, the youngest

and favourite daughter responds to Lear's emotional demands by

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...th the character's emotions. When Lear fears that she

cannot love him 'your sisters…done me wrong/ you have some cause, they

have not,' Cordelia demurs 'No cause, no cause.' Here, the spectacle

of suffering eradicates past action so that the audience, along with

Cordelia, will murmur 'No cause, no cause.' Rather than a resolution

of the action, their reunion becomes an emblem of possible harmony,

briefly glimpsed before the tragic debacle.

The portrayal of Cordelia in IV vi is of particular significance in

facilitating a feminist reading of the play. Here she acts as a

feminine catalyst for the purgation of her father's evil doings. An

actor portraying the role of Cordelia in this particular scene would

need to make evident Cordelia's compassion and exhibit the virtues of

patience, forgiveness and familial loyalty.