Topic: King Lear Final Notes Dec. 19

Act 5 of King Lear is phenomenal.  The audience is primed for Lear’s restoration to power, but instead is treated to Lear’s defeat.  Lear, however, is happy to be confined with Cordelia for the rest of his days;  he knows that a prison cell with his daughter is paradise compared to loneliness in the storm.  Fate deprives him of even this basic pleasure: Cordelia is murdered and Lear dies of a broken heart.  A dead King and his daughter-this is "the promised end."   It matters little that Edmund, Goneril, and Regan are slain next to the loss of Lear and Cordelia.  Edgar and Albany have a hollow victory to celebrate at the end of this play, a reminder of the human condition.

Preparing for Tuesday’s exam, students should:

1.       Evaluate how they feel about the play.

2.       Be able to discuss the ironic power of Act 1, scene 4 in conjunction with Act 4, scene 7.

3.       Examine the lines that were referred to in class and connect them to the play’s meaning.

The lines will address a variety of themes in the play, therefore I find no need to isolate any more topics.