King Lear quotes Cronin

25. “When we our betters see bearing our woes,/ We scarcely think our miseries our woes “ EdgarHe starts to compare the hardships he has endured seem small compared to Lear’s, and he counts himself lucky that something like that didn’t happen to him.
26. ” Villan take my purse,/ If thou wilt thrive, bury my body, /And give the letters which thou find’st about me to Edmund Earl of Gloucester” OswaldCalls him traitor for blocking his way and killing him, but before he dies he tells Edgar, still disguised as Poor Tom, the letters he has contain the information that would lead him to Edmund, who was in the British side.
27. ” When we are born, we cry that we have come/ To this great stage of fools” LearHere Lear speaks about coming into the world as a frail innocent being, but as life goes we start to cry because if the hardships that surface in our lives.
28. ” Methinks thy voice is alter’d, and thou speakest/ In better phrase and matter that thou find’st.” GloucesterHere Gloucester starts to recognize the voice of his son, Edgar still dressed as Poor Tom, and this is important because even physically blinded he is able to start to ‘see’ the truth behind darkness and he begins to recognize how many mistakes he made against Edgar his loyal son.
29.”My dear Gloucester./ To thee a woman’s services are due;/ My foot usurps my body.” GonerilShe expresses the lust she starts to feel towards Edmund and even though she has a husband and he is a bastard she can help but act on the situation brashly and not think about the consequences that might be caused in future events.
30.” ‘Tis the infirmary of his age; he hath ever but slenderly known himself.” ReganRegan speaks about her father as if he were a fool, he is, but here she implies that because of Lear’s foolishness he never really knew who he was and the only way to identify as someone was his kingdom, his Kingship, and his knights; and as he gets older the more foolish he has become.
31.” ‘Tis the times plague when madmen lead the blind” GloucesterGloucesterhas finally developed as a person who has learned, like Lear, the errors in his life and of the things he has not given enough of his attention.
32.” Ten masts a-length make not the altitude which thou hast perpendicularly fell./ Thy life’s a miracle.” EdgarIt pained Edgar to see his father want to take his life, and he was wanting to give him the will to live. And he tried to convince Gloucester that he had really fallen from a high cliff and that if it was really meant to be Gloucester would be dead, and that means that his time to die isn’t now and he must find the strength to continue.
33. “Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile;/ Filths savour but themselves” AlbanyPeople who are evil (vile) cannot appreciate beauty and intelligence. He finally grows as a character and scolds his wife Goneril for her deplorable treatment of King Lear. She dismisses him for being too preachy, and this is his response.
34. “The world I do renounce, and in your sights/Shake patiently my great affliction off!” GloucesterThese are his “final words” before he attempts suicide by jumping off the supposed cliff. In reality, his son, Edgar has devised a plan to rid Gloucester of his dark thoughts and instill some hope into the blinded man.
35. “Shut up your doors./ He is attended with a desperate train,/ and what they may incense him to…” ReganRegan orders Gloucester to shut his doors so that Lear can’t come back into the shelter from the storm even if he wants to.
36. “My tears begin to take his part so much/ They’ll mar my counterfeiting” EdgarEdgar is filled with pity for Lear, whose pathetic situation makes Edgar feel better about his own. He proclaims that there’s no greater suffering than mental illness. Edgar also comes to the conclusion that his life will be okay just as soon as the truth comes out that he’s been plotted against and wrongfully condemned by his brother.
37. “My face I’ll grime with filth,/ Blanket my loins, elf all my hair with knots/ And with presented nakedness outface/ The wind and persecution of the sky” Edgar/Poor Tom Desperate to escape, he decides to disguise himself as “Poor Tom,” an inmate of Bedlam hospital and the kind of guy who roams about the country “roaring” like a madman, driving sharp objects into the flesh of his arms, and begging for charity from his cruel and abusive countrymen.
39. “Child Roland to the dark tower come,/His words was still ‘Fie, of, and fum;/ I smell the blood of a British man.” EdgarThe young knight Roland came to the dark tower.He said, “Fee, fie, fo, fum,I smell the blood of an Englishman.”Edgar further conveys his disguise as Poor Tom by speaking nonsense and reciting this poem.
40. “Humanity must perforce prey on itself, / like monsters of the deep? AlbanyAlbany scolds Goneril for the evil she has committed against her father, King Lear. Albany is so upset by their misdeeds that he is convinced that heaven must send down their “visible spirits” to right the wrong that have been done against the King. Albany believes if heaven does not take action to restore the balance between good and evil, then the result will be utter chaos.
38. “Why, this fellow hath banished two on’s daughters and done the third a blessing against “ FoolThe Fool makes fun of the King’s folly, calling him a fool and making clear that he values Cordelia above Goneril and Regan, who are bad seeds.
July 29, 2019