Summer Reading and Shakespeare

This summer, I only managed to work through a small portion of the books that I wanted to read. This list included: Le Petit Nicolas et Les Copains, for AP French, Was ist Liebe? to accompany the German lessons I took this summer, Postmodernism for Beginners by Jim Powell, and King Lear (one of Shakespeare's tragedies) in preparation for viewing said play at the Globe Theatre in London. Finally, I reread Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (an old favorite) and chose Life of Pi by Yann Martel as my additional reading.

My favorite Shakespearean works will always be those that involve love, or, at least, an interesting relationship or two (ie, the now stereotypical star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet; the comedic antics that occur in the woods of A Midsummer Night's Dream; or the sick and twisted relationships of Macbeth and Othello). King Lear, although involving neither a central couple nor comedy nor magic nor Scottish accents, was one of my favorite reads of the summer.

The basic synopsis of King Lear is rather basic and almost fairy-tale like: an old king has three daughters; the youngest is the nicest and most clever and truthful, while the older two are nasty and deceitful. The themes of Lear as well as the subplots were, to me, much more interesting than the basic and straightforward plot. The intrigues of the Gloucester family, for example, with the twists and turns provided by the evil Edmund and his brother, the far more righteous but confusingly similarly named Edgar, were particularly captivating.

From Edgar's first speech, in which he asserts that man should be judged on his personal qualities and capabilities instead of such uncontrollable limitations as legitimate conception or relative age to siblings (both issues that stop Edgar from getting an inheritance), I was drawn to his character. Especially as a modern American, believing in the country of the self-made man and in the land of second chances, I identified with Edgar's frustration. However, as the play goes on, it becomes clear that Edgar is actually the bad guy.

As one wronged by appearance and superficial values (ie, the state of his birth, his status as a second son), Edgar sees no wrong in using deceit and flattery to right these injustices for himself. His scorn for some people's belief in the ability of the stars to tell the future (he calls these superstitions "the excellent foppery of the world" (Act 1, Sc. 2, Ln 125) ) echoes his opinion that things and people should be judged only on plain, straightforward merits. This idea is ironic, considering that Edgar spends most of the play lying to his brother, his father, and his two potential mistresses.

Furthermore, Edgar drags the upright brother Edmund into this theme by convincing their father that Edmund is evil. Consequently, until Edmund can persuade the world of the truth of his innocence, he is forced to live in disguise as a dirty, crazy, homeless madman. Others in the play are forced unfairly to take disguises as well; Kent, the reliable advisor that Lear banishes, changes his dress and manner of speaking in order to continue helping the king he loves. This theme of appearance versus reality, of deception and the inability of the main characters to see the truth is compounded by many other elements: the Fool, who is supposed to be silly and dimwitted, speaks truths that Lear, the wise king, is loath to understand; the awful, immoral Regan and Goneril gain Lear's love and possessions through deceitful exclamations of love, whereas Cornelia, the true and honest daughter, is banished. Gloucester, father of Edgar and Edmund, is, ironically, only revealed the truth of which son is actually good after his eyes have been blinded. He can only see when he cannot see. Other themes are also bounced back and forth between the plots; for example, in both storylines siblings try to kill each other and in both a foolish father misplaces his trust. In these ways, I found the themes of King Lear fascinating.

As with any Shakespeare play, the story is much easier to understand and appreciate after reading when it is also seen performed. Seeing King Lear at the Globe Theatre was a very amazing experience. Many intricacies and subtleties lost in my struggles to understand the very vocab of the text were brought out through the performance.

King Lear was certainly different from any other Shakespeare play I had read before. I greatly enjoyed my high-brow theatrical experience of the summer.

(759)