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"When the mind's free,
The body's delicate. This tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there." (3.4, 13-17).
Context: Lear is outside in the storm, talking to the storm about his daughters and their betrayal. He is agonizing over why they have turned against him even though he has given him so much.
Lines on their own:
When the mind is not troubled by anything,
The body is sensitive. The storm in my mind
Takes all the feeling from my senses
Except for the feelings in my mind.
Lines together in context: In this statement, Lear is saying that when a person is not troubled by anything in their mind, their physical body is more sensitive to pain. But when the person's mind is troubled, they are too pained by that trouble to be sensitive to physical pain any storm can inflict on them. For example, Lear does not mind being outside in the violent storm because he is too focused on agonizing over his daughters than he is aware of the discomfort inflicted on him by the storm. If he had nothing weighing down his thoughts, he wouldn't be willing to stay out in the storm.
Personal Response:
To me, this passage shows a surprising side of Lear. For one thing, I'm not used to hearing him share pieces of wisdom like this one. Usually he speaks much more bluntly and non-poetic, but these lines are surprisingly flowy and meaningful. After reading this passage, I also see a different side of Lear that I had not before. Previously, it has seemed to me that Lear was just being selfish and stubborn in insisting he be accompanied by 100 knights at his daughters' houses. However, this passage makes me see that part of Lear actually feels hurt by his daughters' unwelcoming attitudes towards him. He is an old man with no power or land left, and he only wants to spend time with his daughters; however, they are shunning him (and possibly planning to overthrow his kingdom). I didn't expect to ever change my perspective on him so much, but this passage actually makes me feel a little sorry for Lear, who just needs family to fall back on and is being let down by his daughters whom he thought loved him but are not welcoming him in to their homes.
The motif I have been tracking is the idea of keeping secrets and withholding information. Two passages that show this motif are:
"Edmund: I do serve you in this business.
A credulous father and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms
That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy. I see the business.
Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit" (1.2, 186-191).
In this passage, Edmund reveals his secret plot to turn his father against his brother, Edgar, so that he will get the land inheritance instead of Edgar. Since Edmund is an "illegitimate" child, this seems to be his only chance at gaining the inheritance. I chose this quote because it is an example of the motif of secrets. Edmund keeps his plot a secret because of course it would not work if anyone knew what he was up to. In this case, it seems that Shakespeare is highlighting a person's willingness to keep secrets for self gain, not to help anyone else. It's not possible to fully assess Shakespeare's intentions, however, without knowing how Edmund's plan works out.
"Kent: If but as (well) I other accents borrow
That can my speech diffuse, my good intent
May carry through itself to that full issue
For which I razed my likeness. Now, banished Kent,
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand
condemned,
So may it come thy master, whom thou lov'st,
Shall find thee full of labors." (1.4, 1-8).This quote also shows the motif, because it is when Kent reveals his secret plan of disguising himself so he can go back and work for King Lear, who has banished him. I think that he is keeping his plan a secret because he is going to do something harmful to the king that can only be committed from the "inside". Also, there have been clues that maybe Cordelia knows about Kent's plan, and that would give the motif more insight regarding who keeps a secret, who they choose to tell, who they choose not to tell, and why. I'm not completely sure, but I think that like Edmund, Kent is keeping his secret for self-gain.
I need to find more examples of secrets to really assess their purposes, and also need to see how the secret plans created by Edmund and Kent turn out in order to come to a conclusion. So far, it seems like the secrets being used are secret plans of single characters created to somehow help the one character who created the plan. It also seems like the secret plans are harmful to others....that is why they have to be kept a secret in the first place - so no one finds out and prevents the plan from being executed.
Respond to the character of the Fool - what characterizes his role/relationship to Lear? How do you perceive him?
I like the character of the Fool, because he brings humor to otherwise serious scenes. However, he is not only full of jokes - he also has good insights into the events happening in Lear's life and the decisions he makes. It almost seems like through the Fool's rhymes and songs, he is trying to give Lear advice, even though Lear doesn't pick up on much of it. An example of this is found in 1.4:
"Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest [...]" (122-124).
Lear's attempts at advice suggest that he is at least a middle-aged man, if not old. He speaks of life lessons that were likely gained from experience. His advice to the king also help the reader understand his relationship with Lear. The Fool is not afraid to tell Lear outright what he thinks, and he even goes so far as to plainly insult the king to his face, calling him a fool (several times). The Fool is a unique character because he actually gets away with it. I think Lear doesn't get seriously upset at the Fool for insulting him because he has had a long relationship with him, and realizes that Fool's actions are just part of who he is - an entertainer. If any of his daughters or kingsmen called him a fool, Lear would probably be much more upset, because he expects them to respect and honor him. However, the Fool is not expected of much, and the king takes what he says as jokes, not as anything serious. That is one of the reasons why Lear does not absorb the valuable advice the Fool tries to share with him. Likely, the advice that Lear ignores will end up hurting him when he does not follow it later on in the play.
In King Lear, Lear asks that his three daughters each profess their love to him before he gives them their inherited land and power. The first daughter to speak, Goneril, uses a language of flattery to profess her love for Lear. She includes flowery words and is in general overly dramatic and exaggerated. She compares her love for her father to many things, such as "grace, health, beauty, honor" (line 64) as well as "eyesight, space, liberty" (line 62), saying that she values her father's love over everything she has mentioned. Her overly exaggerated profession of love shows her selfishness as well as desperation. She only speaks with such flattery in hopes that she will receive the best piece of land her father is offering, and apparently does not think that a truly honest answer will earn it for her. Regan is the second sister to speak, and like Goneril, she also uses language filled with flattery. She also takes the approach of trying to appear better than her sister. At one point, she says: "I find she names my very deed of love; / Only she comes too short" (lines 78-79). Her attempt to one-up Goneril shows not only her competitive nature, but her similar desire to win her father's good graces and recieve the best land. In a clearly overlydramatic last statement, Regan even goes so far as to declare herself "an enemy to all other joys" (line 80) besides her father's love. Again, this ingenuine statement highlights her desperation and selfish desires. Cordelia is the last of the three sisters to speak. Unlike her sisters, she uses few words to profess her love for her father - however, what she says appears to actually be genuine. She does not take the approach of overexaggerated flattery, because she knows that whatever she says will not be able to compete with her sisters' over the top proclamations. Instead, she gives her father an honest answer by saying that she cannot give her father all of her love, because when she marries, her husband will receive half of her love too. "Haply, when I shall wed, / That lord whose hand must take my plight shall / carry / Half my love with him" (lines 110-113). This earnest statement shows that Cordelia is more honest than her sisters. They likely love their husbands as much as or more than their father, therefore their claims that they only love their father are simply empty compliments. Cordelia is honest and genuine, because she is willing to express her true feelings, unlike her sisters. In addition, Cordelia's declaration highlights her bravery - her opinion is sure to be rejected, and she will likely be punished for insulting her father the king, but she speaks her mind anyway.
Themes and Ideas
It seems to me that through Blood Wedding, Lorca is trying to express his belief that true love does not last. Even if it exists for a little while, eventually one of the people in the relationship will find someone else and move on to them. In the book, we see this idea clearly through Bride, Bridegroom, Leonardo, and Wife. Bride and Bridegroom are getting married, and Leonardo and Wife are already married; however, at her own wedding, Bride runs away with Leonardo because she still has feelings for him (as he still loves her). We see Leonardo's feelings for Bride when he says: "To keep still while we're on fire is the worst punishment we can inflict on ourselves. What good did it do me to have pride? - and not see you? - and leave you lying awake, night after night? No good at all!" (Lorca 47). In their action of running away, Bride and Leonardo break up two marriages, therefore causing Bridegroom and Wife to see that their ex lovers no longer love them. This theme is also confirmed through Lorca's own personal life that influenced the writing of this play. In 1928, Lorca became involved with Emilio Aladren, a young sculptor. A year later, Emilio left Lorca and became involved with a woman who he would eventually marry. This event caused Lorca to fall into a depression, and it makes sense that his personal life experiences would bleed into his writing, therefore portraying the same belief about temporary love that he went through himself.
"What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?" To what extent do you find this statement applicable in at least two plays you have studied?This statement can only de determined true or false by looking at individual plays. In Ibsen's Wild Duck, the statement is not applicable. The play was written to involve more common aspects of life, rather than only high intenstiy scenes. Since Wild Duck is a work of drama, this statement does not hold true to it. Ibsen wrote this play during a period of time when plays were moving from romanticism to modernism, and in modernism, it was more common for the "tragic hero" to be low or middle class. Therefore, a lot of the moments in Ibsen's book just revolve around dull, ordinary parts of life. For example, in Act 2, Gina and Hedvig dicuss the dull, simple matter of finances and budgeting: "Gina: Do you remember how much we spent for the butter today?Hedvig: It was one sixty five.Gina: That's right. It's awful how much butter gets used in this house" (Ibsen 138). This scene is just one of many that showcase the ordinary aspects of life represented ni Wild Duck, proving that drama can also be life with the dull bits left in.However, in Lorca's Blood Wedding, the statement proves to be applicable for the most part. There are not a lot of very dull scenes portraying common parts of life. Instead, the play shows life without the dull parts. There always seems to be some action going on, or if not extreme action, then at least something that would not be classified as boring or ordinary. One scene in Act 2 that represents the truth of the statement (what is drama but life with the dull bits cut out) is when the families realize that Leonardo and Bride have run off together:"Mother: What is it? Where is your daughter?Wife: They ran away! They ran away! She and Leonardo! On the horse! They rode off in each other's arms, like a bolt of lightning!" (Lorca 76).This scene proves the statement true because it is definitely not dull or ordinary. It is not a common thing for a bride to run away from her wedding with her ex-boyfriend, especially without telling anyone. This moment of intensity does in fact show that Lorca's kind of drama revoloves around portraying life with the dull bits cut out.
"Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech." How far do you agree with this claim? Refer to two or three plays.
I agree with this claim. Visual action is not always as important as speech, but it can be as important sometimes. In Oedipus The King, visual action is not as important on the stage as speech. The dialogue is very detailed and expressive, and shows the reader exactly what the characters are feeling. In this case, visual action is not necessary to understand the exact meaning of the play - the audience easily picks up on it based off of dialogue alone. It is not extremely significant to know where the actors are on the stage, the props they use, or the gestures they make, because the dialogue alone tells the story. The only stage cues in the play are when someone enters or exits a scene. Here is an example of the expressive dialogue used by Sophocles in the play, when Oedipus is upset at Creon for "scheming against him".
"You - here? You have the gall
to show your face before the palace gates?
You, plotting to kill me, kill the king -
I see it all, the marauding thief himself
scheming to steal my crown and power!" (lines 594-598).
With this dialogue, Oedipus' anger is very obvious simply by the language he uses, and visual action is not essential to understand his feelings.
However, in Blood Wedding, visual action is as important as speech, if not more. This is because the dialogue Lorca writes in is very simple. He uses short, to-the-point words that create a huge sense of ambiguity in determining characters' true feelings and meanings of their conversations.
Here is an example of the dialogue in the play:
"Bridegroom: I'll come tomorrow.
Bride: At what time?
Bridegroom: At five.
Bride: I'll be waiting for you." (Lorca, 34-35).
In this case, it would be very helpful to have visual action to aid in understanding. It is extremely difficult to tell what the bride and her groom are thinking and feeling. It seems like there is no feeling involved in their brief exchange; however, if there was visual action to refer to, there might be a hint of something, such as a certain facial expression, a wink, a hug, etc. that would give the reader more of an idea about what is going on. When speech is so plain and emotionless, it is necessary to have visual action to pick up any sort of meaning.
