Vanessa Christensen

King Lear, the comedy?

Online I found a comic depiction of Shakespeare’s play King Lear, it obviously is much different than the actual play itself, but it adds a twist of humor. King Lear is a tragedy that ends in almost everyone either killing themselves, being killed, or just dying. Here I will review the portion of the comic depicting Act 5, as well as compare it to Shakespeare’s play.

King Lear’s Act 5 begins with Regan eloquently declaring her love for Edmund, but also questioning his feelings towards her sister Goneril. She tells him to “speak the truth,” to which he replies a couple lines later with “no, by mine honor, madam” (Lines 7 & 14). The comic keeps the same plot, but changes the conversation into a significantly shorter and more modern version, adding small pictures too. Unlike Shakespeare’s long eloquent speeches and formality in his play, the comic goes as far to have Regan refer to Edmund as “Eddie” (good tickle brain). This creates a comedic affect that fits perfectly into a comic, yet would be vastly inappropriate for a tragic play.

Later in Scene 3 of Act 5 of King Lear Edgar and Edmund finally have the brotherly duel that was bound to happen, and Edgar defeats Edmund. This is starts the domino effect of deaths. The comic makes fun of Edgar’s disguises that he changes between throughout the end of the play by depicting it as a “Phantom of the Opera mask” which draws attention to how no one in the play could see through any of Edgar’s disguises, even though they’ve known him for years (good tickle brain). In the comic Edgar himself even draws attention to this through his sarcastic dialogue when he calls them “cunning disguises” (good tickle brain). In the play there are also loud trumpets that signal a battle, which would have been very brave and noble as a Herald has to give the order to “let the trumpet sound” (Line 107); however, in the comic the sound the trumpets make is a small “toot” noise (good tickle brain).

At the end of the play when Lear enters the scene with Cordelia’s dead body in his arms he has a moment of hope as he thinks he sees her breathing, “Lend me a looking-glass; / If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, / Why, then she lives” (Lines 261-3). This moment that shows a father’s hope that is youngest daughter is still alive brings the audience to an emotional state. The comic includes this moment by having Lear exclaim, “Look on her! Look, her lips! Look there!” which also shows this emotional father, except it is abruptly interrupted by an “urk!” once he discovers her to surely be dead (good tickle brain). This comedic relief breaks the tension, and is something that is not in Shakespeare’s play.

Overall, the comic kept the basic plot elements of Shakespeare’s King Lear, but made it original by simplifying and making it laughable. The comic maintained the themes of family and loyalty that are present throughout the play, specifically by including the main parts of the dialogue between characters.

Comic

Thomas Godfrey & King Lear

Mary Honywood’s narrative accounts follow a very similar path as the Shakespeare’s play King Lear. In the beginning of the first excerpt of Honywood’s narrative is the discussion of “eternal inheritance,” which creates a parallel to King Lear because of the issue of distributing land and property once the father dies. Another parallel that comes into play is the “law of nature and of nations,” similar to King Lear, the father is debating which laws he should follow when passing down his land as inheritance. King Lear had only three daughters, the commonly followed law of inheritance at the time for a man with no sons would have been to divide his land equally among his three daughters, which Lear had planned to do. That is at least until his pride got in the way and he gave them a ‘love-test’ to see who loved him the most. This prideful moment eventually leads to Lear’s later death as he quickly loses both power as well as his sanity. What distinguishes Thomas Godfrey from Lear is that he has three sons and one daughter, so following the most common laws of inheritance of the time, Godfrey’s oldest son should inherit everything after his father’s death. Rather, Godfrey decides to give Mary’s “elder brother two parts, & the third he divided betwixt his two younger sons,” which did not follow any law of the nation during that time.

Additionally, the key part of inheritance is that it is given away once the owner is dead, in these cases once the fathers of the families, Lear and Godfrey, pass away. Yet, neither King Lear nor Godfrey wait until that point, they both distribute their property how they want among their children. This decision makes them vulnerable as it leaves them at the will of their children until they do actually pass away. Perhaps they both thought that their children would be overwhelmingly grateful and shower them with love; however, in this case it dod not happen because not only did they give up their children’s inheritance, but they gave up their power. Both of their decisions left them without homes or money of their own.

Shortly after Lear banishes Cordelia and gives his land to Regan and Goneril his mental health begins to rapidly diminish, leading to him dying very soon after. Mary Honywood’s father “continued not long after these discontentments, the whole tyme of his lyfe after the passing a way of his estat was but nine mooneths,” meaning that only nine months after distributing his land among his children, Godfrey also died. When left in the hands of their children to take care of them Lear and Godfrey would soon face their deaths as their children show little to no interest in taking care of them. In both the play King Lear and Mary Honywood’s narrative accounts of her father’s will, the leading men of the stories begin with lots of power, but giving away that power leads to both their deaths.

Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Intro & General Prologue

The Canterbury Tales were written sometime between 1386 and 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer came from a family that ascended from the merchant class to aristocracy within three generations. Although he wrote poetry he was never known for it. Instead, he was known for his official job in the courts. It is possible the poem is unfinished because the tales are supposed to recall the accounts of pilgrims coming to and leaving Canterbury, which would add up to ten, but there’s only twenty-four stories. During this timeframe, literature is expanding from just religious works to including more popular works. The Canterbury Tales entails one broad frame tale, with smaller tales that branch out from it. It is written in the English vernacular in iambic pentameter with many rhymed couplets. The story begins as any story typically does: by describing the setting. The April showers have signaled the beginning or spring in England as many make their pilgrimage to the city of Canterbury. Then the poem continues into the first story, the story of the knight. The knight is exactly what a knight should be: he is humble, noble, and honorable. The narrator describes him as very experienced at war and that he has remained loyal to his lord’s over the years. Next, Chaucer transitions into describing the squire. He is the son of the knight yet these two characters contrast each other in many ways. While the knight seems stern and traditional, his son is youthful and spends his time singing and dancing. Then there’s the Yemen, who carries around many weapons since he is an independent commoner who works as a knight’s servant. After the Yemen Chaucer introduces the Prioresse. Through vivid descriptions there is a sense that she is more concerned with what society thinks of her and how she appears rather than her religious duties as a nun. She is very idealistic and wears a broach that reads ‘love conquers all.’ Unlike the Prioresse, the monk does not care what society thinks of him as he spends most of his time hunting. The theme of corruption in the church continues as the Friar uses the church to his benefit, using people’s money to spoil himself. Then there is the merchant who sits a little too high on his horse than he should, especially considering he’s in debt. Also, low on money is the clerk, who is a philosophy student at Oxford. While the clerk is very arrogant, the Sergeant of the Law is very humble and quiet. All these characters are described very well in a way that allows readers very easily to understand the true nature of each character.

Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Intro, and General Prologue

The Canterbury Tales were written sometime between 1386 and 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer came from a family that ascended from the merchant class to aristocracy within three generations. Although he wrote poetry he was never known for it. Instead, he was known for his official job in the courts. It is possible the poem is unfinished because the tales are supposed to recall the accounts of pilgrims coming to and leaving Canterbury, which would add up to ten, but there’s only twenty-four stories. During this time-frame, literature is expanding from just religious works to including more popular works. The Canterbury Tales entails one broad frame tale, with smaller tales that branch out from it. It is written in the English vernacular in iambic pentameter with many rhymed couplets. The story begins as any story typically does: by describing the setting. The April showers have signaled the beginning or spring in England as many make their pilgrimage to the city of Canterbury. Then the poem continues into the first story, the story of the knight. The knight is exactly what a knight should be: he is humble, noble, and honorable. The narrator describes him as very experienced at war and that he has remained loyal to his lord’s over the years. Next, Chaucer transitions into describing the squire. He is the son of the knight yet these two characters contrast each other in many ways. While the knight seems stern and traditional, his son is youthful and spends his time singing and dancing. Then there’s the Yemen, who carries around many weapons since he is an independent commoner who works as a knight’s servant. After the Yemen Chaucer introduces the Prioresse. Through vivid descriptions there is a sense that she is more concerned with what society thinks of her and how she appears rather than her religious duties as a nun. She is very idealistic and wears a broach that reads ‘love conquers all.’ Unlike the Prioresse, the monk does not care what society thinks of him as he spends most of his time hunting. The theme of corruption in the church continues as the Friar uses the church to his benefit, using people’s money to spoil himself. Then there is the merchant who sits a little too high on his horse than he should, especially considering he’s in debt. Also, low on money is the clerk, who is a philosophy student at Oxford. While the clerk is very arrogant, the Sergeant of the Law is very humble and quiet. All these characters are described very well in a way that allows readers very easily to understand the true nature of each character.