School of Languages

Department of English

Teaching English Literature

Spring 2021/2022

Tripoli-Libya
 Presented by:

Reema Dhw Alfihri

Submitted to:

Act 1 Pro.Dr. Muna Gashout

Scene 1
 Outline
 Overview.
 Background about the Playwright.
 Video.
 Background about the Play “King Lear”.
 The Literary Elements of the Play ‘King Lear’:
 The Plot.
 The Theme.
 The Setting.
 The Characters.
 The Conflict.
 Point of View.
 The Analysis of Some Quotes.
 Activity.
 References.
 Full Title:
“The Tragedy of King
Lear” Overview
Author:
William Shakespeare
Time:
Around 1605 to 1606 CE. (early 17th
Culture: century).
English Published in 1608.

Genre:
Names to know:
Drama (Tragedy)
Lear, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia,
Place: Edmund, Kent, Gloucester, Cornwall

England
 About the Playwright
• William Shakespeare was born and raised in
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616).

• At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, and he had

three children: Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith.

• Spent most of his life in London, England.

• An English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as

the greatest writer of the English language, and the world’s
preeminent dramatist.

• Shakespeare’s types of drama are: tragedy and

comedy.
 About the Playwright (cont.)
• Shakespeare’s writing can be divided into
two time periods:
 1592- 1603: Elizabethan Period- Wrote mostly
comedies and histories.
 1603- 1612: Jacobean Period- Wrote mostly
tragedies and romances.

• Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets and

other poems.

• Shakespeare authored King Lear around 1605-06,

between Othello and Macbeth, and it is usually ranked
with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare ‘s greatest plays.
https://youtu.be/lAHA1GAYOtw
About the Play “King Lear”

“King Lear” is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It

describes the story of a king falling into madness, after he
disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three
daughters based on their flattery of him, but not to the one who
actually loves him, which brings tragic consequences for all in
the end.
(Lear's actions end up destroying his family, tearing apart the
kingdom, and causing a big old war, leaving just about everyone
dead by the play's end)
 The Literary Elements of the Play “King Lear”

Short Summery of
the Plot

King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes
the third one who loves him. His eldest daughters both then reject him at their homes, so
Lear goes mad and wanders through a storm. His banished daughter returns with an
army, but they lose the battle and Lear, all his daughters and more, die.
 The Plot
Act 1, Scene 1:

 King Lear begins as the Earl of Gloucester introduces his illegitimate son, Edmund, to the Earl of Kent.
Lear, King of Britain, enters with his court.
 Lear has decided to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The division will depend on the
quality of each princess' declarations of love for her father before the court.

 Goneril, Albany, and Regan, Cornwall, both speak enthusiastically and earn their father's praise.

 Cordelia, the youngest, says nothing because she cannot voice her deep love for Lear. Misunderstanding
his daughter, Lear disowns and banishes her from the kingdom. He also banishes the Earl of Kent, who
had taken Cordelia's side against the King.

 Cordelia's suitor, Burgundy, rejects her once she is dowerless, but the King of France values her honesty
and takes her as his wife.

 Lear's kingdom is shared between Goneril and Regan and their suitors (Albany and Cornwall,
respectively). Lear plans to alternate living with each of them.
 The Theme
Act 1, Scene 1

The Sadness of Old Age:

• Age and the process of aging is a significant theme of the play “King Lear”. When a person
starts aging, he starts losing his significance. As King Lear starts aging, he decides to step
down from the throne and divides his kingdom evenly among his three daughters, also makes
a bet on the person’s expressing their profound love for them. Consequently,

• Lear makes a big mistake - he gives up his basis for power, but still expects to be treated as
powerful.
 The Setting

The action takes place in Ancient Britain. The places include:

 The Castles of King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester.

 The Palace of the Duke of Albany,
 A Forest, a Heath, a Farmhouse near Gloucester‘s Castle,
 A French Camp near Dover, a British Camp near Dover, and Fields near Dover.

Act 1, Scene 1:
Place: England in the King Lear’s Palace
(Throne Room)
Time: Around 1605 to 1606 CE (early17th
century).
 The Characters
1) The Major (Main) Characters are: 2) The Minor (Secondary) Characters are:

 King Lear: The aging king of Britain and the  Gloucester: A nobleman loyal to King Lear.
protagonist of the play.  Edgar: Gloucester’s older, legitimate son.
 Goneril: Lear’s ruthless oldest daughter and the  Edmund: Gloucester’s younger, illegitimate son.
wife of Albany. (Antagonist)  Kent: nobleman of the same rank as Gloucester who
 Regan: Lear’s middle daughter and the wife of is loyal to King Lear.
Cornwall. (Antagonist)  Albany: The husband of Lear’s daughter Goneril.
 Cordelia: Lear’s youngest daughter.  Cornwall: The husband of Lear’s daughter Regan.
 King of France: A suitor and later husband of
Cordelia, he is honorable and willing to support
Cordelia's efforts to rescue her father.
Characters in Act 1 Scene 1 are:
King Lear, Goneril, Regan (Dynamic)  Fool: Lear’s jester.

Kent, Cordelia, France (Static)

 The Conflict
Act 1, Scene 1

(Lear versus Cordelia) (Lear versus Kent)

• Lear: What can you say to draw a third

more opulent than your sisters? Speak. • Kent says: “See better, Lear, and let me still
remain The true blank of thine eye”.
• Cordelia: Nothing, my lord.

• Lear: Nothing?

• Cordelia: Nothing. Lear: Nothing can

come of nothing. Speak again.
 Point of View
Act 1, Scene 1

 King Lear is a play rather than a novel or other kind of prose fiction, it
is not written in a specific point of view.

 Lear is the only one of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes to have no

soliloquies at all, which, along with the unflattering conversations other
characters have about him, make it hard for the audience to sympathise
with him.
 The Analysis of Some Quotes

• Lear: “With my two daughters' dowers digest this third; Let pride, which
she calls plainness, marry her.”

• Literary Device: Irony (Dramatic Irony)

• At this point King Lear is disowning his youngest daughter and giving everything he has
to his two eldest.

• Therefore, this is an example of dramatic irony because the audience knows that his
youngest daughter, Cordelia, is the one that loves him the most, but King Lear doesn’t
realize this and therefore banishes her because she refuses to confess her love.
 The Analysis of Some Quotes (cont.)

Kent: “See better, Lear, and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye”.

 Literary Device:

Imagery (Visual Imagery: imagery of sight) “see”

• Kent knows that the king is making a bad decision and confronts him about the situation.
Lear needs to realize the conflicts in front of him. Kent is banished for trying to be loyal to
the king, because Lear was blind to the people that care most.
 The Analysis of Some Quotes (cont.)

• Lear: What can you say to draw a third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
• Cordelia: Nothing, my lord.
• Lear: Nothing?
• Cordelia: Nothing.
• Lear: Nothing can come of nothing. Speak again.

 Literary Device:

Repetition of the word “Nothing”.

• Lear means that as long as she says nothing to flatter him, she will receive nothing from him.

• Cordelia is punished, since she said nothing, she got none of the Kingdom, so by doing nothing
you get nothing.
 Activity

• Who is the writer of “King Lear”? William Shakespeare

• What type of drama is “King Lear”? Tragedy

• Where does the play “King Lear” take place? Ancient Britain/ England

• Lear is king of what country? Britain

• Which one of Lear’s daughters is sent into exile? Cordelia

• Which one of Lear’s counsellors reprimands the king for exiling his daughter?
Kent
 References

1. Merpandderp. "SparkNotes: King Lear: Act 1, scenes 1–2." SparkNotes: Today's Most
Popular Study Guides. Sparknotes, 26 Mar. 2005. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear/section1.rhtml

2. http://capoldi.weebly.com/uploads/8/5/7/6/8576560/intro_to_king_lear.pdf

3. https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-
plays/king-lear/

4. Video: https://youtu.be/lAHA1GAYOtw
 What did you enjoy………..?
 What did you find out ………..?
 What did you find very useful………?