English 433G/633
Dr. Desmet
Summer 1996
For this third paper, I'd like to give you the option of concentrating either on an imagery pattern or on a particularly rich speech.
1. Analyze any of the speeches in Tuesday's exercise in important speeches or in Wednesday's Wordcruncher exercise to show its significance to the play as a whole, in terms of theme and characterization. If the speech uses the word "nature," for instance, how does the use of "nature" in this instance relate to the overall pattern of references to "nature" in the play? How does this speech fit in to a particular character's intellectual and emotional progress in the play?
2. Analyze the significance and development of any of the following important image or word clusters that we addressed with Wordcruncher:
3. Using Wordcruncher to follow the appearances of Cordelia and the Fool, discuss these two characters as symbolic doubles of one another.
4. Concentrating on the heath scene (3.2-4.6), analyze Lear's changing attitudes toward the king's relation to individuals (both victims and criminals) in his kingdom by analyzing Lear's changing concept of Justice. Consider the following speeches:
3.2.124 "Blow winds"
3.4.28-36 "Take physic, pomp"
3.4.99-106 "poor bare, forked animal"
4.6.96-131 "Centaurs"
5. Following the theme of poverty, analyze the importance of Poor Tom's symbolic presence on the heath.