794712
Description
Mind Map by becca_ward0508, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by becca_ward0508
over 10 years ago
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The theme of Appearance in King Lear
- Disguise/ cothing/ nakedness/ reality
- Two main forms of disguise- the
emotional (when characters lie), or
physical (when a costume/ identity is
worn)
- Two main forms of disguise- the
emotional (when characters lie), or
physical (when a costume/ identity is
worn)
- Concerned with the need for
wisdom to tell the difference
between appearance and reality-
links to the theme of blindness
- Both fathers in the main plot and subplot deal with
children who deceive by appearances. Lear is taken by
false words and appearances just as Gloucester is.
- Goneril & Regan are the
personification of hypocrisy
- Lear believes the saccharine professions of his older daughters and
divides his kingdom between them- rejecting the reality of the truthfully
and devoted Cordelia
- Gloucester too banishes loyal Edgar
and believes the deceitful Edmund
- Goneril & Regan are the
personification of hypocrisy
- Both fathers in the main plot and subplot deal with
children who deceive by appearances. Lear is taken by
false words and appearances just as Gloucester is.
- Clothing vs nakedness =
shallowness vs substance
- Kent & Edgar who utilize physical
disguise (as Caius/ Poor Tom)
have pure and decent motives-
their disguises are made in order
to be loyal.
- However Goneril, Regan, Edmund and
Cornwall hide their true natures through
clothing- Shakespeare's clothing imagery-
a savage critique on aristocratic manners
and affectations
- Lear: "through tattered clothes do great vices appear;
robes and furred gowns hide all". - The theme of
outward show of authority hiding a multitude of sins
- Lear: "we are come to this great stage of
fools"- we are fools if we are swayed by
what we find on the outside of things.
- Lear: "a dog's obeyed in office"- Lear says that the
image of a dog chasing off a beggar is symbolic of
authority- anyone will be obeyed if they hold a position
of power (Goneril /Regan /Cornwall) irrespective of their
true personal wealth or merit (Edgar as Poor Tom/
Kent)- appearance vs reality theme
- Shakespeare here- critisicing society-
expressing dangerous political
sentiments for the time in which he
lived- corruption of the courts; but
Lear's madness acts as a buffer. All
that glisters is not gold.
- Edgar in Tom's near nakedness is the opposite of
aristocratic fashion- in the new order an ordinary
man is more valuable than a banished aristocrat.
Gloucester needs a commoner to help/ guide him
- The naked Tom also helps Lear to see
the naked truth (reality)
- Lear says to Edgar- "thou ow'st the worm no
silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the
cat no perfume"- Lear has lost everything but
in the process has gained a profound insight
that man without his trappings of power &
wealth is a poor, naked animal
- Wishing to emulate the truth embodied in
Tom's nakedness- Lear begins to unbutton.
Previously Lear has identified clothes with
superficial pomp- undressed he is now like
Tom- a free man in a "state of nature"
- Wishing to emulate the truth embodied in
Tom's nakedness- Lear begins to unbutton.
Previously Lear has identified clothes with
superficial pomp- undressed he is now like
Tom- a free man in a "state of nature"
- Edgar helps Lear to unmask the uselessness of
loyalty- which is a "lending" both unnecessary and
"superfluous".
- Lear says to Edgar- "thou ow'st the worm no
silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the
cat no perfume"- Lear has lost everything but
in the process has gained a profound insight
that man without his trappings of power &
wealth is a poor, naked animal
- The naked Tom also helps Lear to see
the naked truth (reality)
- Shakespeare here- critisicing society-
expressing dangerous political
sentiments for the time in which he
lived- corruption of the courts; but
Lear's madness acts as a buffer. All
that glisters is not gold.
- Play's paradox- the Fool appears to be foolish
however in reality he is wise. "The hedge-sparrow
fed the cuckoo so long, that it's had it head bit
off by it young"- the Fool sees through the
apparent loving daughters- compares Goneril &
Regan to predatory birds- traitorous/ selfish in
nature
- Lear: "a dog's obeyed in office"- Lear says that the
image of a dog chasing off a beggar is symbolic of
authority- anyone will be obeyed if they hold a position
of power (Goneril /Regan /Cornwall) irrespective of their
true personal wealth or merit (Edgar as Poor Tom/
Kent)- appearance vs reality theme
- Lear: "we are come to this great stage of
fools"- we are fools if we are swayed by
what we find on the outside of things.
- Lear: "through tattered clothes do great vices appear;
robes and furred gowns hide all". - The theme of
outward show of authority hiding a multitude of sins
- However Goneril, Regan, Edmund and
Cornwall hide their true natures through
clothing- Shakespeare's clothing imagery-
a savage critique on aristocratic manners
and affectations
- Juxtaposition- although Edgar's identity seems
destroyed- in reality his self actually grows
- Kent & Edgar who utilize physical
disguise (as Caius/ Poor Tom)
have pure and decent motives-
their disguises are made in order
to be loyal.
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