The Importance of the First Two Scenes in King Lear
"King Lear, as I see it, confronts the perplexity and mystery of human
action." (Shakespeare's Middle Tragedies, 169) As the previous quotation
from the scriptures of Maynard Mack implies, King Lear is a very complex and
intricate play which happens to be surrounded by a lot of debate. "The folio
of 1623, which was, as is well known, edited by two of Shakespeare's fellow
actors" (Notes and Essays on Shakespeare, 242), contains not only historical
errors, but errors which pertain to certain characters speaking other
characters lines. Amidst all the controversy one fact can be settled upon by
all; King Lear is one of Shakespeare's best tragedies. While being a great
play, the bulk of the plot in King Lear comes mainly from the first two scenes
where most of the key events happen. Along with the plot there is also
extensive amounts of setup that occur within the dialogue which key the
audience in on the morals and values of the characters. Marilyn French is
completely accurate when she states that "Everything about the play hangs on
the first two scenes not just the plot but the values as well" (Shakespeare's
Division of Experience, 226).
The opening scenes of King Lear do an immaculate job of setting up the
plot and forming the basis for all the events which occur in the later scenes
of the play. "The elements of that opening scene are worth pausing over,
because they seem to have been selected to bring before us precisely such an
impression of unpredictable effects lying coiled and waiting in an apparently
innocuous posture of affairs." (Shakespeare's Middle Tragedies, 170) Not onl...
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...ill unfold. The first two scenes of King Lear are pivotal in
influencing every aspect of the play including the plot, and the values of the
characters contained within the plot.
Works Cited
Clemen, Wolfgang. The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery. New York, NY, USA:
Methuen & Co. 1977.
French, Marilyn. Shakespeare's Division of Experience. New York: Summit Books.
1981.
Hales, John. Notes and Essays on Shakespeare. New York, NY, USA: AMS Press. 1973.
Lerner, Laurence. Shakespeare's Tragedies. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd.
1964.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. As reprinted in Elements of Literature.
Toronto: Oxford University Press. 1990.
Young, David. Shakespeare's Middle Tragedies - A Collection of Critical Essays.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1993.
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found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so
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Shakespeare has his way of his plays and knows really well how to try to twist your mind into what's happening and is having you pay attention and really wonder how the end is going to turn out. When you're reading the play you might not comprehend the scenes right away, but as the scenes and acts go on you begin to absorb more and more about the characters and King Lear himself.
A careful analysis on Lear’s descent into madness must be made to properly view signs of his redemption. The opening to the play is the first sign of trouble in the kingdom: the vile conversation between the noblemen Kent and Gloucester foreshadow that something is wrong in the kingdom. Upon first meeting Lear, it can be agreed that he is old and ready to die and he just wants to give his da...
The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare, is often considered to be the Everest of Shakespeare’s plays (Holland, 2007). It is a tragic masterpiece and the summation of its author’s skills as a playwright. This is evident in the thematic complexities and masterful use of the tragic genre to convey a socio-political commentary to the audience. Indeed, it is clear that the genre does support King Lear as a socio-political commentary and that this commentary influences Shakespeare’s manipulation of theatrical and literary aspects of the text. Though King Lear might appear at first as chaotic in this regard as its titular character and the message/meaning of the play therefore uncertain, there is a predominant sense of order in its careful exploration of socio-political issues such as class struggle, tyranny by monarchy, and power-driven relationships. This criticism evidently influences Shakespeare’s manipulation of certain theatrical and literary devices within play, which in turn are used to further support the message of social equality and criticism of tyrannical monarchy. Dramatic and literary features such as plot, character, language and action complement this socio-political commentary and result from the tragic genre that Shakespeare has chosen. In turn, the genre and the devices work together to support the commentary that King Lear is trying to pass on to an audience; to reinforce the idea that Kings are also men and just as flawed, that men can also be Kings and that in death we are all equal.