interpretations of Lear (1 Viewer)

[rightie]

i'm curious - whats your interpretation of King Lear?

 

[Chara]

i think lear is just sick of runing the kingdom so he hands the job over 2 his daughters.
he wants 2 retire and they want power (well at least the oldest 2 do) so he thinks it should work out alright.
also, i think lear wanted his oldest 2 daughters 2 love him because he knew they didn't and the only thing he could give them to make them love him was power.

 

[tomcats 72]

I think Lear just wanted to be flattered. He wanted to live the rest of his "unburdened", yet retain the name of King, in short he didn't wan the responsibility of King but wanted the title. Lear's irresponsible and childish actions in the beggining of the play cause the consequences of the daughters irresponsible use of power later on in the text. Lear is a wilfull ruler and is daughters, in this sense, are also a reflection of Lear in that they are just as wilfull as he is.

 

[exa_boi87]

Based on the context in which im reading it, i percieve it as a family drama .. the cliche' dramatisation of comical domestic events that escalate into epic proportions. Lear plays the immature parent thats "out of touch" with the new generation, Kent, the respectable family friend that offers opinions on situations, however doesnt get emotionally involved in domestic disputes, and the Fool played as a distant relative, shrouded in mystery, the hermit of modern society ...

Needs refining, but thats the sorta thing I plan on incorporating as a contemporary interpretation of Lear

 

[dragon eyes]

i think king lear is about an old king whom when he splits up his kingdom, can't adapt to his role as retired. Lear lashes out and cannot cope with being treated less than what he is used to- a king. his daughters Gonerill and Regan push this weakness and help becoem mad. it's kinda like order turning into chaos in a nutshell because Lear is too set in his ways. his royalty doesn't stay with him and he couldn't stand it- with reason. he expected everyone, even his own family to bow at his feet- so when Cordelia says "nothing" everything falls apart.

 

[Eagles]

Lear is not a man.

He does not even command respect from his daughters. He got what he deserved.

 

[kami]

Lear's greatest flaw was to assume and not perceive, Cordelia got subsumed in ethics rather than compassion and practicality and the 'evil' sisters were greedy harpies. All these character flaws clashed at the wrong place and the wrong time and then the world got decimated so that it could be reborn without the Lear family's 'baggage'. And thats my personal(not academic) interpretation.

 

[revhead.meg]

i ultimately think that King Lear is about his personal development as a person without the glory of being king and that by having the subplot of Glouster and his own domestic problems it sort of parallel's Lear's issues just so that the Elizabetham/Jacobean audience wouldnt get bored. Thats why the two plots eventually met at one point.
Well thats what i think anyway
=)

 

[cb90]

I think the parallel plots have more to do with intensifying the unfolding chaos occuring throughout the play. The audience is starved of seeing any comforting parts of life being enacted elsewhere, ie. there's no light comic relief like in other tragedies (e.g. hamlet), instead, the audience must endure Lear's disintergration, or tragedy, being mirrored in the Gloucester subplot-

This sort of enhances the feeling of an impending doom, heightens the tragedy or the sense of nihilism

 

[cb90]

yes well, my interpretation of lear- I think the play is a sort of critical commentary on humanity, an exploration of our faults/weaknesses.
To me, the play challenges 'natural' authority, ie Jacobean 'great chain of being'.
It confronts us with harsh truths about ourselves, such as mankind's ruthless, brutal nature, and the nothingness of mankind. If that makes any sense..

 

[Magicana]

Lear is a bothersome little shit.

 

[Evercursed]

Feminist Psychoanalytical. Essentially, Lear is affected by a case of the Oedipal complex due to his old age, and to protect himself, he seeks to restore the absolute love of the lost mother by projecting that image onto his daughters. His daughters, being stubborn, free-willed women, reject his misogyny and as a result, get haxxed by the evil patriarchy.

 

[duckz]

I reckon King Lear is too overrated... The only reasons we feel sorry for him is because of Cordelia and Kent's loyalty towards him, yet he is blinded to it. But I agree with family drama. It's his ignorance that pisses me off sometimes. It's quite fun reading King Lear. I love a story where everyone dies.