Acts 3 and 4 of King Lear are some of Shakespeare’s most
interesting writing. As he continues to invert everything about this play we
finally get a glimpse into the mind of Lear. We can see that his mind is as
restless and chaotic as the storm in the play. The storm, which has carried
over from Act 2, represents Lear’s mind. In the very first scene of Act 3 we
see Kent ask where is the king and the gentleman answers out in the storm “with
eyeless rage/ Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;/ Strives in his little
world of man to out-scorn/ the to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain” (8-11).
The storm’s conflicting wind and rain mirror Lear’s mental conflict as he slips
deeper into his madness; his mind and his life have become as turbulent as the
storm he is in. As Lear willingly stays out in the storm we see him begin to
talk to it He is using the storm as a stand in for his daughters. Lear
understands that Nature does not care about anyone; its force cannot be
altered. When he addresses the storm, he tells it, “Spit fire! Spout rain!/ Nor
rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:/ I tax not you, you elements, with
unkindness/ I never gave you kingdom, called you children,/ You owe me no
subscription” (3.2.13-17). Lear does not blame the storm for its seeming hostility
toward him because Nature does not care about man. Nature owes Lear nothing,
unlike his ungrateful daughters; Regan and Goneril. This speech also
illustrates Lear’s slipping mind. He claims that Nature owed him nothing, he
seems to understand that Nature and the Natural world are above all the chaos
in human life, but he contradicts himself in the next breath saying, “But yet I
call you servile ministries/ That have two pernicious daughters joined/ Your
high engendered battles ‘gainst a head/ So old and white as this.” (3.2.20-23).
Lear seems to believe that Nature has allied itself with his daughters; that
Nature is now picking sides and getting involved with human affairs.
Shakespeare is using Natural imagery to illustrate the
unnatural state of Lear’s mind. This metaphor is extended into the unnatural
state of affairs the play is in. All the characters in this play are inverted
from what they should be. Regan and Goneril are women who have all the power in
the kingdom, they are also playing the ‘parent’ role (albeit an abusive parent)
to their father. Lear is the King who has no power at all; he is reduced to a
flower crown. His power is stripped away and he is left a virtual beggar.
Edmund, the bastard son, is slowly but successfully making a play for power. He
gets Edgar to hide and not show his face even though Edgar is the legitimate
son. Instead of being a controlled kingdom, we see that England has become a tumultuous
tempest; where all the power lies with the villains, making it an easy target
for France.
In Act 4 we finally see the return of Cordelia, one of the
few characters not motivated by dark ambitions or villainy. She wants to use
her new power as the Queen of France to help her afflicted father. In scene 4
we see just how mad Lear has become, “As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud,/ Crowned
with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,/ With hor-docks, hemlock, nettles,
cuckoo-flowers,/ Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow/ In our sustaining
corn” (2-6). Cordelia’s use of Natural imagery is quite a contrast to the
darker storm imagery, but it still alludes to Lear’s unnatural state of mind.
It also echoes another character from a different Shakespeare play; Lear’s
singing and wearing a flower crown is eerily similar to Ophelia’s strange
behavior as she slips into madness. And the fact that Lear wears a flower crown
is reminiscent to the crown he wore when he was King, it’s almost as if he trying
to reclaim some of that power that was unnaturally usurped from him by using
the Natural world.
Acts 3 and 4 are really when we can see the extent of the
damage; Regan and Goneril are truly evil characters and now they hold all the
power. We also see just how far Lear has slipped. Shakespeare juxtaposing
Nature and the Natural world with the unnatural occurrences in this play cement
that damage and easily make these my 2 favorite acts so far.
3 comments:
Your analysis of the storm within the play is very effective in that it addresses just how vital this aspect of the play is. We can definitely parallel the conditions of the storm with Lear’s mental state, which has become a jumbled mess. As you mention, Lear claims that Nature’s callousness is expected and should not be interpreted as a personal attack against him. And yet, he almost immediately contradicts himself and claims that Nature has sided with his two malicious daughters, Goneril and Regan. I’m so glad that you made a reference to Ophelia’s madness as demonstrated by the flowers, which Lear makes into a crown. The image of Nature (especially in the form of flowers) seems to be a heavily used indication of mental breakdown. And while the restless chaos within his mind is very easily represented by the storm, it also represents the disrupted state of civilization. As you state, Gloucester’s legitimate son Edgar has been forced into hiding and has assumed the life of a beggar while Edmund, the bastard child, has inherited the name Gloucester, and with it, all the power and wealth! And the king’s state of utter debasement truly represents the pandemonium of the storm. The storm, in itself, is a motif for the shattered state of order within this play.
I enjoyed reading your post on King Lear’s madness and the natural/unnatural occurrences seen in this play. Acts 3 and 4 are definitely two sections of Shakespeare with very interesting lines. I loved how you mentioned “the to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain” which help to illustrate Lear exquisitely. The blatant contradiction when the king pardons nature and then immediately blames it was something that popped out to me as well. This makes the previous “to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain” line make sense to the readers, as it further supports Lear’s mental decline. The comparison you made between Ophelia and Lear was great! I definitely can see the contrast as these two embrace nature in the madness. It is interesting how the flowers are placed on the head, as that is where all the tumultuous thoughts and madness stem. I see these flowers representing a certain wildness in Lear, as they grow wild in nature.
I like your comparison of Lear's mind to the storm and it is definitely true. His mind turns mad very quickly, which is very likely to happen with a storm. Your statement "Regan and Goneril are women who have all the power in the kingdom, they are also playing the ‘parent’ role (albeit an abusive parent) to their father. Lear is the King who has no power at all; he is reduced to a flower crown. His power is stripped away and he is left a virtual beggar." is very true. King Lear is so upset with his decision to step from the throne and give his daughters the power. He regrets this decision simply because of his two eldest daughters' relentless abuse towards him. He is so regretful of his decision that he finds the need to wear a flower crown, which also shows how his mind is turning mad. Very nice blog post!
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