Questions and activities for exploring Act 3 of King Lear

2. ACT 3: THE STORM AND LEAR’S GROWING MADNESS
In Homer’s Odyssey, Zeus says: “Ah how
shameless - the way these mortals blame the
gods. From us alone, they say, come all their
miseries, yes, but they themselves, with their
own reckless ways, compound their pains
beyond their proper share. “
How can you relate this to King Lear?
What did we discuss last class about the
storm and its symbolism?
What is pathetic fallacy and why does
Shakespeare use it?
What do you think of the critical theory
that Cordelia disguises herself as The
Fool?

3. Listen to Ian
McKellen
discussing his
view of Lear’s
character.
Make relevant
notes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahFtoCq6CHw Ian McKellan Understanding King Lear, the character

4. What does McKellen
mean by a ‘priest-like’
king?

5. What ‘understanding’
as Lear reached by
he end of Act 3?

6. How does McKellan explain Lear’s actions at
the beginning of the play (‘retirement’)?

7. What event in McKelland’s personal life made
playing Lear all the more poignant?

8. What curious (and rather taboo)
aspect of Lear’s personality does
McKelland comment on?

9. How does he explain Lear’s
closeness to Cordelia?

10. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ACTIONS
OF GONERIL AND REGAN IN THIS ACT?
Below is a true story from C16…..
Shakespeare’s inspiration?
Aa lawsuit that occurred not long before King Lear was
written, in which the eldest of three sisters tried to have
her elderly father, Sir Brian Annesley, declared insane so
that she could take control of his property. Annesley‘s
youngest daughter, Cordell, successfully defended her
father against her sister.

11. ACT 3: EDMUND’S EVIL PLOT COMES TO FRUITION…

12. •“Edmund is another Iago” (Barker)
•Dirty Rotten Bastards – Edmund, Class
and King Lear (Bruce)
•Marxist perspective??
Edmund
sets up a
new, more
natural
order.

13. The critic Barker views Edmund as “another Iago” – a purely evil villain - but this
perspective ignores a valid political reading of the play. It can be argued that, like
Goneril and Regan, Edmund is a kind of revolutionary anti-hero who can’t be blamed
for wanting to tear apart old structures of heredity and inheritance. Having a father
who had ‘so often blushed to acknowledge him’, the most notable characteristic of
whom, according to Edmund, is his ‘goatish disposition’, Edmund’s anger and lack of
compassion towards his father is understandable, and only a reflection of the
treatment he has had to endure. Despite being labelled with ‘base’ and ‘bastard’,
Edmund views himself very differently – with a ‘mind as generous’ and a ‘shape as
true’ as his legitimate brother, meaning it is only ‘natural’ and fair that he stands to
inherit just as much of his father’s fortune as Edgar. Susan Bruce views Edmund as a
character who challenges the old order, attempting to usher in a meritocratic
society. This desire for a new way of thinking is revealed in Edmund’s first soliloquy,
where he questions the very idea of legitimacy, proclaiming ‘Thou, nature, art my
goddess’, and makes it clear that he does not accept the old bonds of heredity – a
shocking idea for a Jacobean audience to take on, but one a modern audience with a
greater acceptance of individualism would be more likely to embrace. A Marxist
reading of Lear might view Edmund as the play’s hero – a character wronged by old
systems of power who has decided he will be oppressed no longer.
Edmund sets up a new, more natural order.

14. STICHOMYTHIA - A fast exchange of alternate
lines, passionate/angry.
LADY ANNE: I would I knew thy heart.
GLOUCESTER: 'Tis figured in my tongue.
LADY ANNE: I fear me both are false.
GLOUCESTER: Then never man was true.
LADY ANNE: Well, well, put up your sword.
GLOUCESTER: Say, then, my peace is made.
LADY ANNE: That shall you know hereafter.
GLOUCESTER: But shall I live in hope?
LADY ANNE: All men, I hope, live so.
GLOUCESTER: Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
LADY ANNE: To take is not to give.
In pairs, create a dialogue
using stichomythia,
featuring Goneril and Regan
discussing their father. Feel
free to use insults!

15. ACT 3 SCENE 7: WATCH THE BLINDING OF GLOUCESTER. HOW
DO THE TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS PORTRAY THE HORROR OF
THIS SCENE?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycpkkEfNsBc

17. How has the blinding of Gloucester been
FORESHADOWED from the beginning of
the play? Bullet-point examples in pairs.
Consider physical and
metaphorical blindness
Kent: “see better, Lear.”
Gloucester’s ironic
blindness when reading
the ‘letter’ from ‘Edgar.’
Moral blindness?

20. Homework for Monday: Read Act 4 and read
‘Kingship’ notes.