Below are the questions asked during class discussion on 3/30. More have been added and are displayed in bold. Meanwhile, feel free to re-examine a question or two below. Write up your response from the perspective of that character and post it to the 4-Plays Discussion blog:

http://s.spachman.tripod.com/4playblog/

Lear

• Why do you think you needed 100 men?
• What do you think led to your ultimate downfall?
• What was your first thought when you realized that Regan and Goneril had betrayed you and you in turn had betrayed Cordelia?
• Did the fool help you realize anything about the decisions you made?
• Did your stubbornness lead to your fall? If not, what did?
• Do any of your flaws qualify as hamartia? Are you a tragic hero?
• Was your madness an act to gain sympathy from those around you?
• How good a king are/were you?
• Did you commit incest with any of your daughters?
• What is/are your flaw(s)?
• Why was it necessary for your daughters to demonstrate their love for you in order to have a piece of your kingdom?
• Is there anything else you could have done (after dividing your kingdom and banishing Cordelia) to avoid all the tragedy?
• If you could go back to right something you did wrong, what would you try to fix?
• Do you think your daughters had reason to treat you poorly?
• Do you believe you utterly failed as a father?
• Why didn’t you control your train of knights?
• What do you think killed you? A heart attack? A broken heart?
  
  

Goneril

• What is your true reason for treating your father so poorly?
• Why wasn’t receiving ½ of his kingdom enough “power?”
• Were you and Regan really a team? Or were you really just looking out for yourself?
• Why did you like Edmund so much? What is it about him that would cause you to turn on your sister?
• Did it occur to you that Edmund, who betrayed his own family, might one day betray you?
• Is there any truth behind the rumors that your father committed incest with you?
• Is what happened to everyone in the play your fault?
• Aside from your desire for power, what else motivated you to betray your father?
• What reasons do you have for being so devious?
• Did you hate Cordelia or did you just dismiss her from your plans to take over?
• Do you have any love for your father? Why or why not?
• Do you think your father is a good king?
• Do you consider your self a good daughter?
• Why wasn’t your father giving you his kingdom good enough? Why did you feel the that you needed to take the rest of his power?
• Did you feel any sympathy towards Cordelia after your father banished her?
• Why would you want to kill your sister?
  

Regan

• What was your agenda?
• Were you and Goneril really a team? Or were you really just looking out for yourself?
• Why did you like Edmund so much? What is it about him that would cause you to turn on your sister?
• Did it occur to you that Edmund, who betrayed his own family, might one day betray you?
• Is there any truth behind the rumors that your father committed incest with you?
• Is what happened to everyone in the play your fault?
• Did you delight in leaving Lear out in the storm?
• What about poking Gloucester’s eyes out? Did he really deserve it?
• Aside from your desire for power, what else motivated you to betray your father?
• What reasons do you have for being so devious?
• Did you hate Cordelia or did you just dismiss her from your plans to take over?
• What were your reactions to Cornwall’s death?
• Do you have any love for your father? Why or why not?
• Do you think your father is a good king?
• Do you consider your self a good daughter?
• Why wasn’t your father giving you his kingdom good enough? Why did you feel the that you needed to take the rest of his power?
• Did you feel any sympathy towards Cordelia after your father banished her?
• Why would you want to kill your sister?
  

Cordelia

• Why did you back down so easily when your father banished you?
• Is there any truth behind the rumors that your father committed incest with you?
• Why did you still help Lear after he banished you? Why come back and fight for him?
• Do you think that you could have prevented the tragedy that occurred in the play?
• How do you feel towards your sisters?
• Did you know at the time you were banished that Goneril and Regan were up to no good?
• If you didn’t love your father more than you admitted, then why try to help him?
  

Gloucester

• Why were you so quick to turn against Edgar?
• Why did you have such loyalty to Lear?
• Did you actually think you jumped off a tall cliff and survived?
• How did you end up listening to a bastard child rather than your legitimate son Edgar?
  
  

Edgar

• Didn’t you have any clue that your brother might be lying to you? Wasn’t the bond you had with your father enough to give you reason not to trust what Edmund said about your relationship?
• Why didn’t you reveal your true self to Lear when you first encountered him in the hovel?
• Why didn’t you reveal yourself to your father sooner?
• Of all the disguises you could pick from, why choose the lowest, Tom O’Bedlam?
• Why didn’t you question Edmund’s accusations?

Edmund

• Were your actions mostly dominated by a desire for power or by your bitterness towards your father? In other words: Is your purpose in the play to gain power through any means necessary and is that why you played the two sisters and your own family, or was it because you were a bastard?
• How do you honestly feel toward Edgar?
• Were you jealous of Edgar? Why did you do what you did to him?
• Did you want to take over your half-brother’s position because of land and wealth or is it because you felt a genuine lack of love?
• Do you really feel that there were no other ways to achieve than doing things that hurt your own family?
• Was your change of heart at the end of the play sincere? Why be good at the end when it was already too late?

Fool

• What do you think about the incest rumors? Do you give them any weight?
• What was your motivation for following Lear, especially since you said that only a “fool” would follow him? Did you follow him out of pity or for a greater purpose?
• What happened to you after Act 3? Where’d you go?
• Did you really think that Lear disrupted the Divine Right by resigning from his position?
• Why do you allow yourself to be bullied and made fun of?
• Do you believe yourself to be wise?
• What do YOU think is Lear’s biggest flaw?
• What do your songs mean?
• Why do you think Lear was blind to the fact that his daughters were going to go against him?

• Why did you decide to disguise yourself and stay with Lear?
• Did you despise Oswald… or rather, why did you despise him so much?
• When you were fighting with Oswald, was that to show loyalty to King Lear or was it for personal reasons?
• What about Lear makes you so loyal to him?

Oswald

• Were you really loyal to Goneril or did you just want something out of her?

Albany

• Why did you stay on the side you did during the war?
• Why didn’t you leave Goneril (if you didn’t like her so much)?
• Why did you give up the kingdom in the end?

Cornwall

• Why are you such a hypocrite?
• What did you think you would get with your cruel behavior?

France

• Why did you marry Cordelia when she had no dowry?

Shakespeare

• What happens to the fool after Act 3? Why does he disappear? Are the Fool and Cordelia more or less the same person?
• What do you think will happen beyond the play?
• Whose fault is it? Who is responsible for this tragedy?
• Why did you include the suggestion of incest in the play?
• What do you think of the idea that Lear loved his daughters too much (hamartia)?
• What is the true purpose of the Fool? (What did you plan to accomplish with the fool? What was his purpose?)
• Is King Lear a traditional tragic hero?
• What message(s) are you trying to convey through your play?
• What was the purpose of the battle between France and England?
• What are your overall judgments about divine right and natural order?