Et ouais, comme nous les options anglais on est des VIP (selon Moffett ...), et ben je vous livre en avant-première mon explication de demain (en plus ça fait vraiment avant-première puisque les films sortent le mercredi et les avant-premières sont le mardi ... waaaa !)

Donc, demain la scene 21 starring (normalement) Géraldine as Cordelia, M-Axelle as Kent, Audrey as the Doctor, Me as King, and Catherine as the First Gentleman...

Voici la "chose" ...

King Lear – Scene 21

Introduction :
- This scene takes places right after scene 20 in which Edgar has found his father Gloucester.
- We also have seen King Lear, no longer a real king since he has gone completely mad, wearing a crown of weeds and flowers. He left the stage running, being pursued by Cordelia’s men, who wanted to take him to his fair daughter.
- This passage is between two opposing passages : scene 20, when Edgar finds his father and helps him, and scene 22, where Regan learns about Gonoril betrayal.
- This scene 21 is a very plain passage, where sincerity is present, as opposed to scene 22 where all the characters lie and are deceptive.
- READ
- There are plenty of themes and issues that are intertwining here.
o Issue of recognition (Kent, Cordelia ; Cordelia, Lear)
o Issue of Lear’s wakening, the most important here
o Theme of fate, which is spread in all the other issues
- I wanted to explain the passage with a thematic outline, but then I realized that a thematic outline and a linear one were almost the same here.
- So I divided the text into 3 parts :
o From l.1 down to l. 22 (“Very well.”) : reunion of Kent and Cordelia, the banished.
o From l. 23 down to l. 83 (“Exeunt all but Kent and First Gentleman”) : Lear’s awakening
o From l. 84 down to the end : the fate of the Kingdom

I. Kent and Cordelia : the two banished, the outcasts

. Since the moment when he chose to disguise himself, here is the first time that Kent appears as himself, not as a servant.
. => Recognition, end of illusion for Cordelia and Kent. They know they can trust each other from now on, and this is a token of hope. Unfortunately, we readers know that this hope will be useless at the end of the play.
.=> l. 4 “to be acknowledged” : acknowledgement is indeed one the great issues in this play.
. However, Kent refuses to renounce to his costume : he has other things to do with it. So this acknowledgement is limited. Only a few people will know who he truly is.
. Cordelia, I think, may be pleased to see that Kent didn’t abandon her father, but reading this passage I felt that she was worried about her father.
. The fact that Cordelia wants Kent to change of clothes is related with the fact that she thinks it’s over.
. In Cordelia’s mind, the nightmare is over : “those worser hours” l. 7 makes us feel that she might think everything is fixed. But she doesn’t know what fate will be : a tragic fate. We readers know that the play is going to end tragically. But she doesn’t know, she is innocent and fair : her hope is all the more tragic because of that.
. For this reason, we can say that Kent is more realistic than Cordelia, he seems to be more aware of what is going to happen. The fact that he refuses to get rid of his “weeds” shows that the play is not over, there something else and something not necessarily good since he has to keep his costume : even if the “lie” is over with Cordelia, it is not with other characters. See third part, “the fate”.
. Cordelia’s anxiety is really perceptible : as soon as the Doctor enters the stage, she asks for news. And she prays the Gods to help her father.
. From the beginning the Doctor plays an important part, the part of a reassuring character. He makes the link between the first part of the text and the second part.
. Before going to the second part, let’s notice the Gentleman’s words : “We put fresh garments on him” : it underlines the importance of costume and clothe in the play : clothes can help you to lie, but also, as Kent, help you to be faithful and to help. So here, Lear has lost his King suit : he’s a mere human being, as we will see it in the second part.


II. Lear’s Wakening

1. A soothing atmosphere which makes Lear’s wakening easier

. Music plays an important part in this scene : the stage directions show us that some music is played from the beginning : “soft music”.
. + part of the Doctor : a reassuring, soothing character who tells Cordelia what she already knows, but has the role of a reassuring agent : Cordelia needs confirmations to her thoughts.
. Sometimes the Doctor seems to be the very consciousness of Cordelia : he says aloud what she might secretly hope : l. 22 “I doubt not of his temperance”. Cordelia answers immediately, in the same line, as a complement : they are complementary.
. l. 39-40, Cordelia asks the Doctor to talk to Lear. This may be a little far-fetched but I think that the fact that she wants the Doctor to talk instead of her is symbolical of their special relation, that is they are like the same character. The Doctor is the self-confident part of Cordelia.
. When Lear awakes and seems to be still mad, Cordelia addresses the Doctor : like a dialogue with herself.
. All the more we can feel a special atmosphere, because of the music, which is referred in the text by the Doctor (“Louder the music there !”), which conveys the idea of relation between the two elements (music and Doctor). The Doctor asks to put the music louder in order to prepare Lear’s wakening.
. This soothing atmosphere enables Cordelia to take the role of a mother and to gently awake the King.

2. Cordelia as a protective mother

. Cordelia’s kiss represents her love for her father, but here she almost act like a mother : she hopes, she’s worried, she’s waiting for his waking.
. From the beginning we felt her anxiety.
. Cordelia believes in the power of love : by her kiss, she hopes her father will awake (l. 24-25, “restoration hang / Thy medicine on my lips”).
. Immediately in her mind her father’s health is related with her sister’s wickedness : right after “thy medicine”, we find “repair those violent harms that my two sisters …” => we start to feel Cordelia’s anger, which is going to explode.
. Cordelia expresses her anger against her sisters who have almost killed their father.
. Theme of old age : first lines of her monologue : her sisters had to respect their father’s old age.
. Then she remembers the episode of the thunder, when Lear spent the night in a hovel, sleeping in the straw : not a decent place for a King to stay. Alliteration in “d” : she tries to make her speech lifelike.
. She acts like a mother who tries to defend her son, harmed by other children. We can feel her indignation in front of this lack of respect.
. The rhythm in her speech is very important : “quick cross-lightning” for example : lifelike, and wrath too.
. But as soon as Lear awake, she calls him “royal lord” and “majesty”.

3. Lear’s wakening

. Doctor, l. 16 : “He hath slept long” => refers to Lear’s blindness, a kind of sleep of the mind.
. Lear’s about to awake “physically” and “spiritually” : he’s going to see the truth.
=> highly symbolical waking.
. There is a reversal of the roles, Cordelia is at her father’s side. It should be the contrary, it should be the father waiting for his ill daughter’s waking.
. Earlier in the scene, Cordelia said “this child-changèd father” : enforces this reversal.
. She appears as a new guide for her father => Edgar who leads Gloucester in scene 20. We can notice that she calls her father “father” here (l. 24), and later she calls him “royal lord” and “your majesty” (l. 42) : as long as Lear is sleeping, he is her father to her ; then when he is about to awake, she tries to take him back to his royalty => guide.
. When Lear awakes, he first thinks that he’s dead and in hell. He talks about images of hell and apocalypse – that’s what he has been through : the perdition of his royal power, of his mind, and his daughters’ betrayal.
. l. 45, “a wheel of fire” is particularly violent and striking.
. Lear thinks he’s in hell, and takes Cordelia for an angel : “Thou art a soul in bliss”, l.44.
. => refers to Cordelia as the fairest character in the play, the embodiment of Goodness.
. Issue of fate : “I am bound” : fatality, as if he cannot be rescued. Lear feels guilty of his own misfortune.
. Alliteration in “b” : bliss, but, bound : striking (maybe bliss but cannot be rescued).
. Lear recovers his mind very gradually.
. First questions, about place and time : he has lost all points of reference. He doesn’t know where he his, who is around him … => Cordelia’s “poor perdu”, l. 33.
. l. 50 : “Fair daylight ?” : conveys the idea of dazzling light, the light of truth, which blind Lear at the beginning : he will first think that Cordelia doesn’t love him.
. l.51, “I am mightily abused” : as if a supernatural power was misleading him, as his wicked daughters have misled him. Illusion, disillusion : that’s what he suffered with Gonoril and Regan. He should say “I’ve been mightily abused”.
. Here, Lear doesn’t appear as a king, but as a man : he lost royalty but gained humanity.
. “I know not what to say” : aphasia ; not the behaviour of a king, a king has to know what to say, whatever the situation.
. Humanity, not royalty : when Cordelia curtseys, he wants to kneel too : as if he forgot he were the King. And l. 66 “For as I am a man”.
. L. 60 “I fear I am not in my perfect mind” : beginning of lucidity.
. His memories could help him (l. 61), but as he doesn’t know where he is, he is doubtful : he needs confirmations to recover plainly.
. Lear mentions his garments : theme of the costume : he doesn’t recognizes himself as a King, he’s not in his usual position of King. => becomes lucid.
. Fear of the world : twice he asks Cordelia not to laugh at him.
. Finally he recognizes Cordelia : theme of recognition.
. But he is misled by his memories (“as I do remember ”l.71) : he remembers having banished his daughter for not loving him (he didn’t know the truth then). => asks for poison, if she wants to kill him.
. The fact that he leaves his fate in Cordelia’s care shows once more that he doesn’t behave as a king. Cordelia seems to be more powerful than him, in his mind.
. Doubtfulness : “abuse” is repeated a second time l. 75.
. Weakness of the “King” => no longer a king, but an old man, cf. As you like it : the seventh age of humanity : decaying, etc etc … Lear repeats “old” and “foolish” : he is convinced that he is useless in this world.
. He finally realizes his mistakes and prays Cordelia to forgive him. “forget” : theme of oblivion, related to old age.

III. Fate in this scene

. We are at a turning point : no one can say what is going to happen next.
. Future, and fate, are dark. Nobody can say if Lear will manage to get his kingdom back.
. Fate – or maybe fatality – is threatening the characters.
. The third part of the text is really important when fate is concerned. Lear and Cordelia are gone, and Kent remains on the stage, and talks with a gentleman.
. in this dialog, the fate of the kingdom is at stake. This conversation announces a battle that is going to happen. A violent battle : “bloody”.
. The gentleman helps us to spot the different parts of this war, and warns the audience of the violence that is going to take place.
. Kent’s words are meaningful : “’Tis time to look about. The power of the Kingdom approach apace” : those words make us understand the importance of this turning point : the moment when the destiny of Lear’s Kingdom will be judged is approaching.
. The last two sentences, l. 93-94, are a rhyming couplet : a very formal type of speech.
. This conveys the idea of turning point, Kent appears like an oracle which announces in grave words what is going to happen.

Conclusion :
This passage is highly important because of Lear’s wakening, which means a lot of things, but especially – we hope- the end of his blindness, thanks to Cordelia who stays beside him and leads him in the dazzling light of truth.
However, though the whole audience is pleased by this reunion of Lear and his two more faithful fellows – Kent and Cordelia -, Shakespeare does not let us enjoy it very long : very quickly, the image of a threatening fate arrives and spreads its shadow on the end of the scene.
Thus Shakespeare manages to keep the suspense down to the end.
We can notice that this scene of recognition and reunion is opposed to scene 22, where Regan and Gonoril part because of their jealousy and lure of gain.
This is a plain scene, there is no detail which could help us to see what is going to happen. The whole thing hang by a thread, it is an unbearable balance , because although the daughter found her father, we feel that there’s something wrong. The suspense is at its climax, we’re hold our breath before falling into the tragedy.

tu mettras aussi en ligne un enregistrement de la scène jouée par les différentes acrices de demain? lol... ca va, tu as l'air au point... bon je m'éclipse, fin de l'incursion chez les anglicistes...

wouaaaaaaaaaa, la claaaaaaaaaasse!! ca motive pr les 3h ac patriiiiick
merci!

Ouais je sais c'est la clâsse !!!