Author: Tana Early

Pathetic Fallacy of Lear’s Daughters in the Storm Scene

The most symbolically notable part of Wednesday’s reading for me was the diction and pathetic fallacy present in act 3 scene 2.

Lear has just been cast out of his daughter’s castle in a great storm, and the scene in which he describes the storm is also applicable to his two conniving daughters

Diction-wise, although this could also be considered a syntactic move, Lear describes the storm   in each line in groupings of two; these adjectives display his opinion of his daughters as well as the storm. For example, beginning in line 3 of 3.2 Lear exclaims “You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout/ till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!”. Both lines include two elements describing the storm as over-powering and hellish as it “drenched our steeples” and “drowned the [weather vanes]”. Similarly, Lear’s two daughters overpowered him in their negotiation of his lodging, first allowing him half his men, then a quarter, then none, then hellishly forcing him out into the storm. He goes on with this theme in line 4 “You sulfurous and thought-executing fires,” again describing the storm and his daughters as evil, and quick to act on their evil thoughts. Lear solidify his analogy in line 16 by saying “you elements” and continuing on to describe the reasons his daughters should be grateful to him as though he were speaking to them through the storm.

As far as the pathetic fallacy, the storm Lear suffers though personifies his daughters. both the storm and his daughters are over-powering, deadly, and out of his control. Lear must suffer through the rathe of both, and find a way to survive through their burden.

Why Did Spenser Choose to Write a Medieval Allegory?

One question I had after doing the reading for class last Wednesday was, why did Spenser choose to construct a pastoral and chivalrous allegory, written in a diction imitating middle English, in a time of an advancing rhetorical culture? I think Spenser intentionally sets his epic in an era before kiss-up courtiers to reminisce simpler times, and express his opinion through allegory to avoid the danger of violating the strict sanctions on freedom of speech.

 

The Elizabethan era marked a time of an amorous court and considerable political maneuvering; I believe much of Chaucer’s pastoral writing influenced Spenser’s perception of the past, creating a “grass is greener on the other side” effect. Spenser’s reminiscence may also be responsible for many of the personifications in his stories, such as knights representing Holiness, Temperance, and Chastity, most of which the courts were lacking in his time. Chaucer’s was also a time before Catholicism and Protestantism competed for worshipers in England, and the lack of Catholicism would have appealed to Spenser, who spent a lot of time debasing the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Queen Elizabeth was an extremely tough ruler, who effectively repressed literary works that were considered scandalous. An allegory was an essential form of writing for Spenser to convey his opinions about his time, because though certain aspects of his stories represented a dangerous concept (such as his veiled criticisms of the queen), they were not blatant enough to be punishable.