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Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare
Tag Archives: Lear
“Who besides Shakespeare can continue to inform an authentic idea of the human?”
Conclusion to The Play’s the Thing Part One By Dennis Abrams It’s hard to believe it’s been two and half years since we started our journey through Shakespeare’s plays. For me, it’s been incredibly educational, fulfilling, inspiring, and downright fun. … Continue reading
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Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Comedy, conclusion, drama, Elizabethan theater, Falstaff, Hamlet, Henry IV, history, king henry iv, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Macbeth, Prince Hal, romance, Shakespeare, the play's the thing, tragedy, William Shakespeare
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“I am fire and air; my other elements/I give to baser life.”
Antony and Cleopatra Act Five, Part Three By Dennis Abrams ——————— From A.D. Nuttall’s Shakespeare the Thinker: “Antony leaves cold, dry, military-political Rome for the wet, formless, erotic East (and South), for Egypt, much as Gustav von Aschenbach in Thomas … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Antony, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Cleopatra Antony, Comedy, drama, Egypt, Egyptian Cleopatra, Elizabethan theater, Falstaff, George Berkeley, Hamlet, history, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, Prince Hal, renaissance humanism, Rome, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Criticism, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“The oldest hath borne most; we that are young/Shall never see so much, nor live so long.”
King Lear Act Five, Part Four By Dennis Abrams ———————– To continue with Mark Van Doren: “As the third act opens we listen to a gentleman telling Kent that Lear has made the plunge: he has disappeared into a world … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Albany, catastrophe, Cordelia, drama, Edgar, Edmund, Elizabethan tragedy, foul weather, Gloucester, Goneril, Hamlet, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Macbeth, Mark Van Doren, nihilism, politics, Poor Tom, rain wind, Regan, renaissance humanism, scriver, Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud, the Fool, thunder and rain, tragedy, william hazlitt, William Shakespeare, wind and rain, writing
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“The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices/Make instruments to plague us.”
King Lear Act Five, Part Three By Dennis Abrams ————————— From Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare and Modern Culture: “Shakespeare’s King Lear was written and performed at a moment of high volatility and change in the use of mathematics, pictorial perspective, and, … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Cordelia, drama, Edgar, Edmund, Elizabethan tragedy, Gloucester, Goneril, ground zero, history, Kent, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, nothing, philosophy, politics, Regan, Shakespeare, the Fool, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing, zero
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“Men must endure/Their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.”
King Lear Act Five, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ——————————————- To continue with Harold Bloom: “The double plot of King Lear adds considerable complexity to what would already be the most emotionally demanding of Shakespeare’s plays, even if the grim … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Albany, Christianity, Cordelia, Cornwall, despair, drama, Edgar, Elizabethan theater, Elizabethan tragedy, George Orwell, Gloucester, Goneril, harold bloom, history, Kent, King Lear, language, Lear, Leo Tolstoy, literature, meaningless death, nihilism, pessimism, Regan, religion, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, the Fool, theist, tragedy, William Shakespeare, Woody Allen, writing
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“Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, /And thou no breath at all?/Thou’lt come no more./Never, never, never, never, never.”
King Lear Act Five, Part One By Dennis Abrams ————————————- Act Five (Spoiler Alert!): Regan, also in love with Edmund, demands to know whether or not he has any feelings for Goneril, but he denies everything. As Goneril and Albany … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Albany, Cordelia, Cornwall, drama, Edgar, Edmund, Elizabethan theater, Gloucester, Goneril, Kent, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, mysterious knight, politics, Regan, Shakespeare, single combat, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears.”
King Lear Act Four, Part Three By Dennis Abrams ———————————— Before we dive into Act Five, I thought a few “lighter” pieces to start with might be in order… First, from Living With Shakespeare, James Earl Jones’ take on Lear: … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Four, Brian Cox, Communist Manifesto, Cordelia, drama, Edgar, Elizabethan tragedy, Endgame, entertainment, Goneril, grumpy old man, Hamlet, James Earl Jones, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Marxist, philosopher, politics, Poor Tom, Regan, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, The Other Place, Tobias Menzies, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“The worst is not/So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’’’
King Lear Act Four, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————————– From Harold Bloom: “If we could speak of a poetic rather than dramatic center to the tragedy, we might choose the meeting between the mad King Lear and blind Gloucester … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Four, Act IV, Albany, blindness, Cordelia, Cornwall, drama, Elizabethan theater, Gloucester, Goneril, Hamlet, harold bloom, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, mad king, politics, Regan, religion, renaissance humanism, sexual imagination, Shakespeare, sir frank kermode, Stephen Greenblatt, the Fool, tragedy, wild flowers, William Shakespeare, writing
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“When we are born, we cry that we are come/To this great stage of fools.”
King Lear Act Four, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————- Act Four: Edgar finds his blinded father who – not recognizing his son – asks to be taken to Dover to commit suicide. Edmund, Goneril and Oswald enter, discussing Albany’s … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Four, black comedy, blinding, Cordelia, Cornwall, dover cliff, drama, Edgar, Elizabethan tragedy, entertainment, Gloucester, Goneril, heath, history, Kent, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Macbeth, Poor Tom, Regan, Shakespeare, slapstick, the Fool, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are,/That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm”
King Lear Act Three, Part Three By Dennis Abrams ————————————- I’d like to talk a bit more about Lear’s (and my) beloved Fool before we say goodbye to him. In the Quarto the Fool’s role ends with his participation in … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, Albany, antony sher, blindness, Cornwall, drama, Edgar, Edmund, Elizabethan tragedy, Endgame, Gloucester, Goneril, Hamlet, Jan Kott, Kent, King Lear, language, Lear, literature, Poor Tom, Regan, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, the Fool, Theater of the Absurd, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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The Play's The Thing 