Powerpoint Presentation

To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

•Sense of ceremony present; flowing blank verse of Lear and lack of cadence suggests rehearsed performance. Symmetrical lines and parallel images suggest this further: ‘with shadowy forests…with plenteous rivers…’

•Elevated, lofty speech (often visually represented by looking down at the map) suggest his dominion over the kingdom

•Verse form suggests he is not a single private individual (amplification of landscape/ imagery of boundless landscape supports further)

Juxtaposition of language styles
Language used to conceal and reveal the truth- styles set against each other, arguably revealing an overall truth

Taciturnity of Cordelia  V hypocritical rhetorical excesses of Goneril and Regan

Blunt speech assumed by the courtier, Kent, in his role as a servant V Fool’s wise nonsense – both
 forms of truth

 Lear’s controlled purposeful verse in first scene V linguistic emptiness of ‘Howl, howl, howl.’
 Arguably, he regains some form of linguistic truth with the blank verse line (although reversed),
 ‘Never, never, never...’

Edgar’s linguistic play: madman, dialect of a Somerset peasant and speech of a countryman. He 
reflects the chaos but his ability to adapt to the landscape also stabilises the chaos via localisation 
with the landscape. V Edmund’s fixed utterances and reliance on a stable universe (where ‘gods 
stand up for bastards’) which jar with the increasing chaos that surrounds him.

Edmund’s forged letter V Goneril and Regan’s deceptive words; both fool their fathers


“Shakespeare, in Lear, is savage. He doesn't give us catharsis; he gives us entropy. And he rips the 
arse out of the moment of tragic insight.” 

Schema/ Schemata 

In psychology and cognitive science, a schema (plural schemata or schemas), describes an organized

pattern of thought or behaviour.

It can also be described as a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.

Schemata have a tendency to remain unchanged, even in the face of contradictory information

Donald Freeman applies the theory of conceptual metaphor in an analysis of King Lear's opening

 scene, and shows that the scene's figurative language depends upon metaphoric projection from 

the contradiction of two schemata: BALANCE (e.g. money, power, land, love) and CONNECTION

 (e.g. between family members, father and daughters, king and subject, between all humans)

Filial love and family relationships (and therefore balance and connection) for Lear are 

defined within a financial/ accounting framework. Cordelia’s ideas directly oppose this:

she recognises the ‘bond’ and the ‘duties’, but cannot ‘heave’ her ‘heart into (her) 

mouth’. The two frameworks are simply not compatible.

Nature

Beatriz Ródenas Tolosa argues that conflicting concepts of nature between characters, particularly

between Lear, Gloucester and Edgar, cause much of the chaos in the play

Lear – nature as great chain of being

Gloucester- nature and astrology; extended chain where heavens control the earth

Edmund- nature as something animalistic, predatory and almost lustful