King Lear Questions

Questions –Dennis
KING LEAR STUDY QUESTIONS
1.1
What does Cordelia’s reference to "nothing" suggest about the use of this motif in the rest of the play?
Cordelia answer was honest in which she stated she loved her father just like how a daughter should love her father she answers this way because of the fact she knew her sister’s answers were just flattery and they did not love their father they only wanted his fortune. Her reference to "nothing" suggest that in the end King Lear had "nothing" family nor fortune.

1.2
What are the two views of nature contrasted in the action and dialogue of this scene?
What parallels do you see between this scene and the first one?
The second scene begins with a subplot, as Edmund the deceitful, untrustworthy son who calls on nature to stand by him and he promises to serve them. Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law. My services are bound,”   The second view of nature is the natural social order view which is viewed by Edgar.
This can be paralleled to Lear’s speech in which he uses the power of the King which he no longer holds to banish Kent, but he also explains why he cannot or should not divide his kingdom, for it goes against both his ‘nature’ and his place’ to divide his power from his ‘sentence,’ which is exactly what he does, thereby attempting to deny his nature and position, foreshadowing the resulting disturbances to the natural order, its seeds evident in the tragic fate of many of the characters involved in the ordeal including Lear himself.

2.3
How is Edgar's disguising himself as a bedlam beggar an example of social criticism in the play? Why is Edgar's comment, "Edgar, I nothing am" important to the meaning of the play?
As both King Lear and Edgar are both highly respected men. In contrast to the bedlam begger which in those days were treated horrendously, that is the social critism. As Lear is the King and Edgar is the son of a wealthy noble Gloucester. Their reduction to a pure elemental form...