Memory in King Lear

Memory in King Lear

Does Lear find himself as he is stripped of his illusions so that he gains a more authentic understanding of his identity?

Background

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, first performed c. 1605. The text of the First Folio edition (1623) differs considerably from the 1608 Quarto. Shakespeare turned to various sources, including Holinshed's Chronicles for the outline of Lear's story and Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia for the Gloucester sub-plot.

The aged British King decides to share his kingdom between his three daughters and spend his remaining years as a regular guest at their courts. The plan goes away when his youngest (and favourite) daughter, Cordelia, refuses to earn her share by joining her older sisters, Goneril and Regan, in exaggerated public declarations of love for her father. The angry King banishes the Duke of Kent when he defends Cordelia, and divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan. The despised Cordelia is taken, without dowry, as wife by the King of France and leaves the country. Lear finds Goneril's grudging hospitality an outrage and leaves for Regan's castle, but she puts even greater restrictions on his entertainment (Halio, 2001, 89-96). The incredulous King rants against his cruel daughters and is finally driven out to brave the hardships of the heath during a storm. Only his Fool and the loyal Kent, serving him in disguise, go with him. They meet 'poor Tom', apparently a mad beggar but really Edgar, son of the Duke of Gloucester, who has fallen from his father's favour through the plotting of his illegitimate brother Edmund. Tried beyond his strength, Lear goes mad, and, in his madness, encounters his own unprotected humanity.

When Goneril, Regan, Edmund and Regan's husband the Duke of Cornwall hear that a French army has landed, and that Lear is being taken to Dover to be reunited with Cordelia, they blind Gloucester, whose pity for the King has led him to assist his escape to Dover. Edgar, still posing as poor Tom, tends his father until death. Lear finds Cordelia at Dover and is restored to sanity; but the French lose the battle and Cordelia and Lear are captured. Edmund, powerful because he is the lover of both Regan and Goneril, gives orders that they should be put to death. He is defeated in single combat by Edgar but his dying confession comes too late to save Cordelia. Lear dies ...