| What request does Lear make before turning over his divided kingdom to his three daughters? What does he expect them to do? | Lear requests that his three daughters profess their love for him, in order for him to decide who to give his land to. He expects them to rave on and on about him, like Goneril and Regan did. He wants them to flatter him, and whoever does so the best will be rewarded. |
| What are a few of the reasons behind Cordelia’s answer? | Cordelia responds the way that she does because she simply cannot find words to define her love for her father. She also tells Lear that Goneril and Regan do not truly feel the way that they say they do, and that they cannot because their hearts belong to their husbands. Cordelia believed that her response would be effective, both in getting her father’s praise and throwing her sisters under the bus. |
| Explain one example of a parallel within the play thus far. | One example of a parallel is with Edmund and Edgar and Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan. Edmund makes Edgar look bad to his father, in an effort to make himself look better. Goneril and Regan flatter Lear, making Cordelia’s response seem weak. Edmund, Goneril, and Regan are all considered to be the “legitimate children” despite their bad intentions. |
| Explain the significance of the Fool’s relationship to King Lear. | The Fool makes wise comments throughout the play. He serves almost as a conscience / sidekick to Lear, making things deeper. The Fool is with Lear often and is kind of like a best friend to go to for advice. Lear’s reaction? |
| What is Edmund talking about when he says, “This is the excellent foppery of the world: that when we are sick in fortune – often surfeit of our own behavior – we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion…”? | Edmund is speaking about blaming others for our own faults. He says, “we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars,” meaning that we never want to own up for our mistakes. Tie in concept of fate We blame other people for things that they didn’t necessarily do and do not look to improve upon ourselves. “Fools by heavenly compulsion” means as if we were almost put under control of something else, which made us fail. This is not the case and instead we should be owning up to our mistakes. |
| How does Regan respond to Lear’s complaints about Goneril after he leaves her house to go to Regan’s? What happens when Goneril arrives? | Regan says that she will allow him to stay with her under certain conditions (25 nights). However, when Goneril returns, she offers Lear 50 nights, doubling Regan’s offer. Goneril changes mind to 0? Lear concludes that Goneril must love him twice as much as Regan, but refuses to go back with her as he was very unwelcome. Neither of the sisters truly want their father to stay with them, so they aim to make a joke out of it and make him restrictive offers. |
| What news about Albany, Cornwall, and the King of France does Kent reveal to the gentleman? | Kent reveals that Albany and Cornwall have been fighting and now the King of France has gotten involved. This is a big deal because there was already blood being shed in the first place and now it has been spread to another country. The fight is in regards to Lear and how he has chosen to divide his land between his daughters, with each man arguing for the rights of his respective partner. |
| How does the violent storm imagery further symbolize:a. the political situationb. the overall plotc. internal struggle | The political situation relates to the violent storm as it is very tense and two countries are fighting. The overall plot, both with King Lear and his daughters and Edgar and Edmund’s situation, again involves a lot of fighting and family problems. Goneril and Regan are plotting against their father, while he believes that the two of them love him endlessly until he actually goes to live with them. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Edgar, Edmund is making their father think that Edgar just wants to take over his title and doesn’t care about anything else. How? Mostly Lear Internally, many of the characters struggle with the issues that I mentioned before, but also with themselves as far as what they’re doing against their father/brother. |
| Shakespeare writes in: | Early-Modern English |
| What does King Lear seem to value above all else? | word |
| King Lear’s main flaw is his: | pride |
| Whom does Lear initially expect to care for him in his old age? | Cordelia |
| Who says that Cordelia is a dowry all on her own? | King of France |
| When Cordelia says, “…since that respects of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife” to whom is she referring? | Burgundy |
| After convincing his father that Edgar has an assassination plot against him, Edmund gives a soliloquy that states that human beings often blame __________ for their mistakes. | the sun, moon, and stars |
| Why does Kent disguise himself as Caius? | Lear has banished him, he wants to still serve Lear because he respects him, and he wants to honor his promises to protect the King |
| When Edmund states, “‘Why brand they us / With base,’ …Who in the lusty stealth of nature take / More composition and fierce quality / Than doth within a dull, stale, dull-eyed bed…” he is comparing… | passion v. obligation |
| For whom does Oswald work? | Goneril |
| The Fool is an example of: | comedic relief, wisdom, and honesty |
| What token does Caius give to the gentleman to prove his identity to Cordelia? | a ring |
| What does Gloucester want to do for Edmund to reward him for his “loyalty”? | make him heir |
| Which literary device dominates the lines “And let not women’s weapons, water-drops, / Stain my man’s cheeks!”? | alliteration |
| When King Lear goes to Regan to complain about Goneril, what does Regan advise him to do? | apologize to Goneril |
| What course of action does Goneril suggest to her father in order to curb the riotousness of his knights in? | reduce their number by half |
| What does King Lear do in the shelter during the storm that indicates how mad he has become? | He puts his three daughters on trial, with Edgar, the Fool, and Kent acting as jury. |
| The storm is symbolic of all of the following EXCEPT: inciting incident, internal struggle, political situations, and the climax | inciting incidents |
| What does Lear believe to be the most powerful element? | nature |
| When Lear is addressing the storm saying, “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!,” this is an example of what literary device? | apostrophe |
| What is the first small glimpse readers get of King Lear beginning to see the error of his ways? | he asks if the fool is cold |
| What does the word “filial” mean? | children |
| When King Lear runs into Gloucester and Edger (disguised as Tom) while wandering around the countryside, Lear states, “Dost thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid. I’ll not love. Read thou this challenge. Mark but the penning of it.” This is an example of: | allusion |
| Why does Albany agree to fight on the side of Cornwall and Edmund? | he is against a foreign invasion |
| Who reaches an epiphany when he / she says, “‘Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man, That stands your ordinance, that will not see Because he does not feel, feel your power quickly. So distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough.”? | Gloucester |
| How does Cornwall die? | an injury from a servant |
| Why does Lear refuse to go see Cordelia? | he is too ashamed |
| Who kills Oswald at the end of the play? | Edgar |
| Who tells Albany that Goneril wishes to have him killed? | Poor Tom |
| During one of his final soliloquies, what major mistake does Edmund realize he has made regarding his relationships with Regan and Goneril? | he has professed his love to both sisters |
| All of these situations are examples of love leading to death EXCEPT: Lear and Cordelia, Albany and Goneril, Gloucester and Edgar, and Edmund and Regan / Goneril | Albany and Goneril |
| What is the final lesson which can be taken at the end of the play? | sometimes, the good are punished along with the bad |
| “Time shall unfold what pleated cunning hides / Who covers faults at last with shame derides. / Well may you prosper.” | Cordelia |
| “Why brand they us / With “base,”… Who in the lusty stealth of nature take / More composition and fierce quality / Than doth within a dull, stale, dull-eyed bed…” | Edmund |
| “This is the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in fortune – often the surfeit of our own behavior – we make guilty of our disasters the sun…” | Edmund |
| “A credulous father, and a brother noble – Whose nature is so far from doing harms That he suspects none, on whose foolish honesty. My practice ride easy.” | Edmund |
| “Old fools are babes again and must be used / With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused.” | Goneril |
| “Have more than thou showest, / Speak less than thou knowest, / Lend less than thou owest, / Ride more than thou goest…” | The Fool |
| “Briefness and fortune, work!” | Edmund |
| “And of my land, / Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means / To make thee capable.” | Gloucester |
| “…An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth. / And they will take it, so. If not, he’s plain.” | Cornwall |
| “Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it.” | The Fool |
| “When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes…” | Edgar |
| “Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man, / That stands your ordinance, that will not see / Because he does not feel, feel your power quickly. / So distribution should undo excess, / And each man have enough.” | Gloucester |
| “Why I do trifle thus with his despair / Is done to cure it.” | Edgar |
| “When we are born, we cry that we are come / To this great stage of fools.” | King Lear |
| “For this business, It touches us as France invades our land; Yet bold’s the King, with others whom I fear. Most just and heavy cause make oppose.” | Albany |
| “Fie, fie, fie; pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary…” | Edmund |
| “The younger rises when the old doth fall.” | Edmund |
king lear quiz/test questions
July 9, 2019