Thursday, August 6, 2009
King Lear
Ok, I am going to be brutally honest here. I did not like King Lear. Not until I read the modern text on SparkNotes. Yes, bad Aida for reading SparkNotes, but it really did help me understand the feel of the play. The play felt like a joke to me at first because it didn't seem really sad. Tragedies are supposed to be sad, right? I was expecting people to die in Act 2. No one did and I was disappointed, but as I read on I felt no connection. I thought that this was just another Shakespeare play I would never fully understand. I then went to read the summaries on SparkNotes of what I read and I found the play to be incredibly intriguing. "What a smart man Shakespeare was!", I thought to myself when reading parts of it. I loved how other characters would basically say what I wanted to say to Lear when he went insane or what I wanted to tell Goneril, Reagan. or Edmund. I despised everyone in the play because of their greediness and felt that the play portrayed every bad human characteristic I have been exposed to in my 17 years. King Lear was a fascinating and well thought out play with fantastic "subliminal" messages that really got me thinking about the world today. Shakespeare's work is truly universal and applies to everyone. The play, King Lear, proved that greed and love sometimes come hand in hand and the ones who can separate them are the truly loved ones. The end of King Lear did not shock me as much because I expected people to die (note my comment above). But the way Gloucester had his eyes ripped out of him because of his loyalty to the King was tragic. So, I guess now I can profess my strong liking of the tragic Shakespearean play, King Lear.
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I don't know but when reading your ideas Aida it seems like King Lear is a mix of Oedipus and Macbeth. However, it seems interesting as well. I think that this play seems to be sort of eye opener to some of the thngs that are so corruptive to our society today (greediness). After reading your review i am actually tempted to go buy the play and read it for myself.
ReplyDeleteAida, quite honestly, if I read a tragedy where no one died by act 2 I'd probably stab my eyes out. I understand using sparknotes to understand the play a little better. I think it's interesting how the characters in Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" and "King Lear" both become insane. King Lear and Katherina I mean. Except in "Taming of the Shrew" she becomes whipped, which is kind of like going insane because she was deprived of food and the necessities until the point of which she broke and became something she wasn't. Which is cruel I might add. I don't know how "King Lear" goes insane, but I would like to know!
ReplyDeleteKing Lear goes insane because he feels as though he has failed in life. None of his daughters truly loved him like his youngest daughter did and he shunned her. He felt alone and betrayed. It was quite confusing at first when he went crazy and it was really sad at the end when everything came all together and the readers really saw the extent to everyone's sadness and hurt.
ReplyDeleteOh and I almost forgot. Jaielle: When I read Oedipus the King I felt a stronger sense of remorse for him because his circumstance was TRULY tragic. I never felt that King Lear's circumstance was AS tragic as Oedipus' but I see your point.
ReplyDeleteThat's not too surprising that many of the characters were greedy. That seems to be a common trait in Shakespeare's characters, or at least the theme of the importance of money. People are definitely greedy today, but in a sense of "My iPod doesn't have a touch screen, so I need the iPod Touch," or "I need a QWERTY keyboard on my cellphone." In Shakespeare's plays, money seems to play the biggest roles when it comes to social status and marriage dowry.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is the same for you, but usually tragic plays don't affect me as much as a sad book or movie. I'm sure it would be different actually seeing the play than just reading it to myself, but for me it is difficult to feel their emotions from a short aside.
Aida, I really like and agree with your comment about how the play proves that greed and love come hand in hand sometimes, and how Shakespeare's work applies to everyone. It seems that maybe in this play tragedy comes from the idea of greed? This play seems like it is very interesting!
ReplyDeleteAida, this play sounds like something I couldn't read ever, ha. I hate tragedies, but it seems like we can take parts of the play and put them into our everday lives.we can use greed for instance.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that a play from so long ago can influence the way you view the world today, and that’s gotten me interested in the play. You said you were actually mad at the characters, and wanted to speak to the King. That level of involvement is something I’ve not experienced with Shakespeare, and would like to. King Lear sounds like a very captivating play, and I was wondering, was it the realness of the characters, or something else, that made it so captivating?
ReplyDeleteAida, this post made me smile. I use sparknotes as well, and I think it's a helpful tool when it comes to understanding Shakespeare. He can make the dialouge seem very monotonous because it's so difficult to understand. But i'm glad that it seems to got into the book, even if you did end up hating all the characters.
ReplyDeleteWell Daniel, crazy characters are always captivating. Especially when they are deeply disturbed. Everyone had their own internal and external battle that intrigued you to find out what crazy thing was going to happen next. The characters were people that will never go away in the literary world and our world. Their will always be that one person who influences hundreds of others to discover who they truly are and their motives behind their actions.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am happy I made you smile, Carla.
Oh and another thing Daniel, the play gets pretty cool when Gloucester gets his eyes ripped out. So I guess the shock factor makes it pretty interesting. For me at least. Well, now it isn't a shock because I told you, but I still recommend it.
Mr. Bruno told me back in June that this story was one of Shakespeares greatest tragidies and that is why I avoided it. Picturing someone getting their eyes ripped out of them is not something i want to sit down and read in my spare time. Aida i agree with what you stated about how Shakespeare is truly a talented man but he writes in a way that is difficult for us 21st centurians to understand. I think a modern version should be written so the world will be enlightened again by such a brillant mind.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what Jaielle said about how this play seems like a combination of Oedipus and Macbeth, especially concerning the family matters. I don't usually enjoy tragedies, but this one seemed interesting enough to read. The characters seemed like they had certain universal traits that you could find even in our society today. I love how Shakespeare had the ability to portray his characters' actions as specific personality traits, such as greed or love. And Aida, it's cool that the play was able to captivate you enough to make you want to personally communicate with the characters. I agree with Tyler in that King Lear, and all of Shakespeare's plays for that matter, should be translated into modern versions in order to spark more of an interest in our society.
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