King Lear

“Visage” means “face.” Lear curses Goneril by comparing her to an animal; in this case, her face to a wolf. In doing this, Lear states that Goneril is no better than an animal in her disposition and behavior—she does not have the respect for family ties that a human should.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “whoreson” is a bastard son, and a “cur” is a low-bred dog. Lear uses references to various animals to insult and degrade others. Throughout the play, Shakespeare will use animals to symbolize the lowest status to which humans can descend.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

“Deboshed” is an early variant of the term “debauched,” which means depraved. King Lear’s attendants are again described as being an unruly and rowdy bunch.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “retinue” is a group of attendants accompanying a high-ranking person. Goneril considers King Lear’s retinue extremely obnoxious, and he finds this offensive and disrespectful.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “lubber” is a clumsy, stupid fellow, and to “measure one’s length” means to fall flat on the ground. The disguised Earl of Kent is taunting Oswald here, suggesting that Oswald can “tarry,” meaning stay put, but he will only be further made a fool of when Kent trips him again.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “knave” is a servant or a tricky and deceitful fellow. King Lear uses the term to refer to his Fool, who is both his servant, and a bit of a wise trickster. The Fool can be honest in his clever insights, but any criticism of King Lear is lightened with humor.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

Goneril is outraged by the behavior of her father’s servants. Among many things, she accuses the servants of “epicurism,” which is the philosophy of pleasure-seeking.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “coxcomb” is a fool’s hat, which has a red crest resembling a cock’s comb. As the Fool attempts to place his coxcomb on the Earl of Kent’s head, the coxcomb becomes a symbol of Kent’s foolishness for following King Lear despite Lear’s irrational political choices.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

A “clotpoll,” also spelled “clodpoll,” is a blockhead or dolt. King Lear is using this word as an insult to Oswald.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

To be “attasked” for something is to be blamed for it. Goneril is essentially saying that Albany’s concern for King Lear shows his ignorance, rather than his kindness.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

An “abatement” is a reduction. The knight has noticed that King Lear is being treated unkindly by his servants, the duke, and his own daughter.

— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff

While we spend more time knowing Goneril’s thoughts, Albany’s words here are important to understanding the theme of family relationships in this tragedy. He appears to believe that she should treat her father with more respect due to their familial relationship. He may be committed to Goneril through marriage, and his political position depends on her, but he has a much clearer vision of Goneril’s cruelty towards Lear, which has clearly started to drive him away from her.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Lear appears to believe that he is due respect and authority by virtue of simply being “Lear” rather than the power of his previous status as King. This is what makes him believe that he should be able to give up his power but still demand respect. His repeated questions about his identity suggest that he is slowly discovering that in giving away his authority and wealth, he has given away his previous identity.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

The Fool does not make a direct point here, preferring to convey it through an image. The verb “to pare” means to slice or cut, and so the Fool says that Lear has cut off his intelligence on both sides, which could symbolically refer to Goneril and Regan since Lear gave each of them half of his estate. Having done this, Lear has “left nothing in the middle.” Therefore, the Fool suggests that Lear’s having no power or land of his own is the result of not having any “wit,” or power of reason.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Traditionally, the Fool was able to act outside conventions and even had the unique privilege of criticizing the King. In this scene, the Fool speaks in mad riddles yet makes insightful comments about Lear's current condition. Note that “nothing” is used here again, echoing Lear, Cordelia, Edmund, and Gloucester, which suggests that Lear has become nothing himself by giving away all the power of his kingdom.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Fools are supposed to jest, but here he speaks with clear insight into Lear’s condition. We know that the Fool is sad about Cordelia’s leaving, and so his words are not meant to entertain Lear but to criticize him. The words may be lighthearted but the meaning behind them is strong. Being able to criticize Lear in this way suggests a role reversal: Shakespeare turned the Fool into a wise leader when Lear became a fool.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Lear demands that Oswald acknowledge his presence and his status as king, or at least as the former king. Lear’s insistence on being seen and recognized suggests that they are a part of having authority—leaders and subjects must acknowledge one another for the relationship to operate properly. Oswald’s and Goneril’s treatment of Lear violates not only traditional expectations of hospitality but also subverts the power dynamics between father and daughter and king and subject.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Kent’s decision to disguise himself in order to serve Lear demonstrates how loyal he is to Lear's authority. Lear's failure to see through Kent’s disguise emphasizes his lack of insight and how blind he is to actions around him, providing an insightful metaphor for Lear’s inability to see his daughters’ real motivations.

— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

Kent has decided to come back and serve the King but this time in disguise as he was recently banished from the kingdom due to the King getting angry when Kent tried to confront him with the truth.

— Angel Sleiman

Goneril's ingratitude is "sharper than a serpent's tooth." Lear demands that Nature make Goneril infertile or that she be cursed with monstrous offspring. Lear clearly views either outcome as punishment for her betrayal; however, he doesn't seem to view his own serpent-like children as a potential reflection of his own character flaws (his arrogance, for example).

— Sarah, Owl Eyes Staff

The Fool's jokes are never funny. This is because Shakespeare does not want his audience to laugh. That would be inappropriate. Rather, he shows how bad Lear is feeling and how impossible it would be to revive his former good spirits and rejuvenation. If the audience were to laugh, they would seem to be laughing at the poor King rather than at the Fool's jokes. Still, the Fool must keep trying to cheer his master up. No doubt he feels no better than his master and his heart isn't in his job of being a jester--which partly explains why his jokes are so lame. He knows he is in trouble because Goneril hates him and would like to get rid of him. What would he do to survive in the outside world? He's been there and knows what it's like out there.

— William Delaney

The Fool is evidently referring to one of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes. The first stanza of "Little Bo Peep" is the best known.

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,

And can't tell where to find them;

Leave them alone, and they'll come home,

Bringing their tails behind them.

These nursery rhymes were collected in print around Shakespeare's time, but they date back much earlier and were circulated by word of mouth for centuries.

Evidently what the Fool means is not that Lear is being Little Bo-Peep but like one of her foolish sheep. In the nursery rhyme the sheep are so foolish that they even lose their tails. Little Bo-Peep is foolish herself because she is a shepherdess and should have kept better watch over her sheep.

— William Delaney

King Lear may not have a lot of money but may think he can have all he wants for the asking. By saying, "there's earnest," he appears to be giving Kent a single coin and implying that it is a sort of retainer or down payment and that he will give him more when he gets the money from his daughter Goneril. Lear really has no cash income at all anymore. He is utterly dependent upon his two daughters. He has not only given up his throne, but he has given away all his lands and all his income.

— William Delaney

Oswald is not a likable fellow, but he certainly is clever. This reply is calculated to elicit just the sort of reaction from Lear that it does. Oswald has been instructed by Goneril to be disrespectful to her father, and her crafty servant understands her perfectly. She wants Lear to explode and storm out of her castle with his fool and his hundred knights. That is exactly what happens. As a servant, Oswald know how to be disrespectful without going too far.

— William Delaney

This is an important truth about life and human nature which most people will learn by experience sooner or later, to their regret.

Benjamin Franklin says the same thing:

All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.

An old folk saying expresses the same idea metaphorically:

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

In one of Aesop's fables a dog holding a bone in its mouth looks into a pond and thinks its own reflection is another dog holding a bigger bone. The dog lets go of its own bone, which falls to the bottom of the pond, and is, of course, unable to grasp the other one.

Albany is certainly correct in suggesting that he and Goneril have already done pretty well by getting an entire half of England as a gift and that they should be satisfied with the agreement they have made with her father.

— William Delaney

Having given up his kingdom, Lear is confused about his own identity. He is genuinely trying to understand what is left of him. A moment earlier he asks Goneril, "Are you our daughter?" And a bit later he asks her, "Your name, fair gentlewoman?"

Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another, and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever. Like Wakefield, he may become, as it were, the Outcast of the Universe.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Wakefield" in Twice-Told Tales

— William Delaney

King Lear twice addresses Oswald as "sir" in this line. Lear is obviously being sarcastic. He is, in effect, telling Oswald that he is behaving as if he a person of rank rather than a lowly household servant. A moment later Lear will express his real opinion of Oswald when he calls him

...you whoreson dog! you slave! you cur!

It is noteworthy that Lear keeps asking other people who he is. He is bewildered. He has lost his identity and doesn't know how to build a new one at this late time of life. He is mortified when Oswald answers his question, "Who am I, sir?" by identifying him as, "My lady's father." But this is something that can happen not only to kings but to commoners of the present day. An old parent living in the home of a grown son or daughter can find that his or her only identity consists of their relationship with their child. Maybe our identity is always based on other people's perceptions and opinions of us.

— William Delaney

A brach is a female hunting dog. The Fool is suggesting that one called Lady has come back all wet and muddy and is allowed to stand by the fire and stink up the room.

— William Delaney

John Milton, another great English poet, wrote:

Truth . . . never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.

— William Delaney

Here Kent says he is forty-eight years old. This may have been old age in Shakespeare's day. Of course, Kent could be lying, but only if he were older than forty-eight. Later Oswald will claim that he spared Kent's life "at suit of his gray beard" (2.2).

— William Delaney

That is, a zero without a numeral in front of it to give it any value, and therefore a nothing. This seems to recall the exchange between Lear and Cordelia in the opening scene when he asks her:

...what can you say to draw/
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speakl

Nothing, my lord.

Nothing!

Nothing.

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

— William Delaney

While "crowns" literally refers to gold coins that have the likeness of the king imprinted on them, the Fool uses this word to pun on other meanings, such as the crown a king wears on his head (also called a crown) and the crown of an egg.

— Owl Eyes Reader

King Lear

Act I - Scene IV

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Act I - Scene IV

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