King Lear...

King Lear is by far the most interesting play we've read so far, because it deals with a King who willing gives up his land to his daughters. By giving up his land, the King is also giving up his title and status. Both concepts seem pretty strange considering we've learned in class so much about society and the rules both, written and unwritten, in Shakespeare's era.

What is most intriguing about this play, is the fact that the daughters of Lear have so much power. He makes an agreement with them that they can have his land if they tell him how much they love him. The second part of the contract was that the daughters must take care of him and his knights while he stays with them. Lear gives up his property and shortly after both daughters are rude and start arguments with their father. The reader gets the feeling that the daughters are already plotting against their father. Which is strange because they already have the land and are married, so why be mean to their father? How does being mean to him benefit them? Lear's daughters completely strip him of his land, his dignity and even his title. In later parts of the play we find out that the daughters do not even want to deal with their father and tell him that if he wants to stay with them he must limit or completely get ride of his knights. To top it all off, as it was mentioned in class, the play does not even give Lear the title of King Lear for his parts.

What surprises me the most is that Lear kept his end of the deal yet his daughters did not. We know from the reading that Lear has faithful followers and over one hundred knights. Why doesn't Lear take back his land? Why does Lear let his daughters walk all over him? Would Lear be able to take his land back? I do not remember reading that Lear and his daughters signed a written contract about the land. This also raises questions. Would he really just stop being King because he divided the land verbally? Doesn't not being king anymore have a ceremony like in Richard II? Would Shakespeare's audience believe any of this is realistic, especially since a group of women have complete control over the play at this point? I can't wait to see if any of these questions are answered in the next couple of acts!