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Lear 3 1:2
Edmund exposed
Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Line s1-22
Edmund’s Credo
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Working with the
text
Try underlining each
separate thought – the
more, the more emotional?
Note the variation in meter
from the standard Iambic
Pentameter for the same
reason.
To Edmund, life is unfair
and has prevented him
from achieving what is
rightfully his – after all,
bastards are better and
more vigorous than
legitimate children.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Comment
There are 16 separate
There are 16 separate
thoughts in these 22 lines
thoughts in these 22 lines
Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My
services are bound
. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
4 in the first 6 lines alone
4 in the first 6 lines alone
Line 4 has 13 syllables
Line 4 has 13 syllables
Line 5 and 6 both have 11
Line 5 and 6 both have 11
This is an emotional outburst.
This is an emotional outburst.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
But at times he
seems
overemotional…
…Only to show great
…Only to show great
clarity of thought
clarity of thought
With base? with baseness? bastardy?
base, base?
A perfect Iambic
A perfect Iambic
Pentameter – he is in
Pentameter – he is in
control of these
control of these
rhetorical questions
rhetorical questions
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
A land grab
In a play which opens
In a play which opens
with the division of the
with the division of the
Kingdom, Edmund
Kingdom, Edmund
reveals his own:
reveals his own:
Legitimate Edgar, I must
have your land:
The imperative suggests
The imperative suggests
his inner need to be
his inner need to be
recognised. This is
recognised. This is
about power (land) not
about power (land) not
love.
love.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Dramatic pause:
out of breath?
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
Notice how the iambic tread propels
this speech to its conclusion, even
with its internal irregularities: A line
of 7 syllables is left hanging after its
dramatic spondaic opening.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
A quick note on
Thou
Thou: 2
nd
person singular for
affection and to children. Can
be used as an insult
You: 2
nd
person plural is formal
and respectful
GL “Find out this villain
Edmund, it shall lose thee
nothing”
First use of Thou between father
and son – indicates trust?
Edmund and Edgar address
each other as “you” throughout-
a lack of affection
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
PLOT
By means of a forged
letter, Edmund
establishes Edgar’s
“infidelity”
He can not see the
forgery for what it is –
Appearance and Reality
Line 76: transfers
“unnatural” to Edgar
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Superstition
Gloucester relates all the
disharmony to the portents
in Heaven
Edmund mocks this
approach
He then engages Edgar’s
thought by copying his
father
Suggests that something
has turned Gloucester
against Edgar
Is left to clarify his plot for
the audience
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Remember
Gl “give me the letter sir”
“Abhorred Villain. Unnatural,
detested, brutish villain”
“These late eclipses in the sun and
moon portend no good to us”
Edm: “this is the excellent foppery
of the world”
An admirable evasion of
whoremaster man, to lay his
goatish disposition on the charge
of a star.
Edg “some villain has done me
wrong”
Edm “A credulous father and a
brother noble…”
Jonathan Peel JLS 2014
Slide Note
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