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(R) In this passage Edmund is recognizing the irony of his situation. He started off the play with the intention of basically eliminating his brother of his status and taking all of his power, but now Edgar has returned from his exile and has defeated him, causing this storyline to come full circle. In a more generalized way, Edmund could also be referencing the circle of injustice and justice. Edmund knows that his acts throughout the play have been unjust, and now justice has finally come to complete this circle for Edmund, which he recognizes. This realization may be why he attempts to spare Cordelia and King Lear just before he dies, just so that he could have done some good in his life, instead of wasting it all on this circle of justice and injustice.

(R) Edmund’s words present a duality: he is referring to Gloucester’s transgressions ultimately harming him, as Edgar has just informed Edmund of their father’s blinding “because of” is adulterous actions. However, upon closer inspection the “full circle” really refers to Edmund’s rise and fall in social status and in power level. He started as an unfavorable bastard son, and through his deceit was elevated to the Duke of Gloucester--but now, having been struck down by the man who should rightfully be in his place, his brother Edgar, he is returned to his vulnerable and lowly state.

(Motif) When Edmund talks about coming full circle, he could be referring to his belief in nature. He started his life in a metaphorical winter, as he was born a bastard son, and ended in the same place, a dying and horrible person. Throughout the book he has points of strength which would represent his spring and summer months. I think that the capture of Lear and Cordelia is the climax of his success because everything after that begins to ruin his own life. He is slowly revealed as the lying and plotting man that he is. Edmund, not Lear, may be blamed for the deaths of everyone. Like the cycle of life Edmund is born one way and dies the same. He definitely represents nature’s cycle. He is of course the one that really gets the play rolling in the direction of tragedy.

(L) Shakespeare uses a metaphor when Edmund says that “The wheel has come full circle.” Edmund has come back to his starting point in the play. At the beginning, he is just a bastard son that even his father doesn’t seem to care about or want. The shame and embarrassment of this is “killing” Edmund in a way, so he sets plots to take power from his brother and father. Edmund’s scheme ends when his brother Edgar takes his revenge and kills him. This means that he comes full circle and ends up right where he started being killed by his brother, just like how he was being “killed” at the beginning living as a bastard.

*****I think these are all good ideas. Consider again the idea of human responsibility versus fate. Which side has Edmund typically fallen on? What does he seem to be indicating here? Were the influences of the stars or of the gods arbitrary? Or does he seem to indicate that he understands that he brought these outcomes on himself? Consider also the idea of justice being served. As you approach the end of the play, is justice--the natural order of things we might expect--served for the most part? Is there redemption?

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(R)  In this scene, the whole world is crumbling down around Lear, until  he eventually dies.  This is the grand finale of Lear’s tragic storyline.  He descends slowly into madness until this point where he goes out with a cacophony of repetition and screaming, only to fall dead after.   The fool is hanged, which seemed just like a cherry on top because he was mostly a side character that just provided witty commentary to the tragic things happening to Lear.

L - Repetition here is very important. Lear consistently denies what is going on by repeating “never.” He is insane still, but no longer out of anger. He is driven to a new level of insanity out of grief.

He compares the life of his daughter to animal life. The question is, has he finally come to the realization that humans are animals (by comparing the life of his child to that of other animals) or is he still a believer that humanity should raise itself above the basest animals (by saying an animal does not have right to life if his daughter doesn’t).

It is sad that Lear only finds true understanding with death. Maybe the blindness of death is his sight.

*****So does Lear find redemption?  As Edmund said, the wheel has come full circle.   One critic's observation (Donner, H.W. Is This the Promised End? Reflections on the tragic ending of "King Lear" L. Winter, 1969.):

"Shakespeare has deliberately made us feel that justice has not been done, that the sufferings inflicted have been too great for human beings to bear,and the crimes committed too terrible to be condoned--too terrible to forget. I believe Shakespeare wanted us to feel, and so to know, that we must not forget and must not let "new sorrows strike us on the face."  Agree? Consider this: When we read Oedipus Rex, we talked about tragedy. One of the qualifications that separates a literary tragedy from your run-of-the-mill awful suffering event is that the story ennoble or elevate the reader. Application here?

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Edgar:  “…his flawed heart,/Alack, too weak the conflict to support/ ’Twixt two extremes of passion,joy and grief/Burst smilingly.”

(CH) - In this short excerpt of the play, more information is revealed about the all-important character of Gloucester.  Through this expression by Edgar, it is revealed that Gloucester has passed away, specifically from a broken heart. This passing, the dying by way of a broken heart, can further help to characterize and summarize Gloucester as a character. This shows that, all in all, Gloucester was a  morally correct and kind-hearted man. By passing away from a broken heart, coming to the realization that there has been so many problems and unrest that has come about, some of them of which came from him. This shows that Gloucester meant well, and he was so upset with his actions, most likely the most heartache coming from the abandonment of his loyal son, Edgar, that he passed away from a broken heart. Although he was happy that he created ties again with his legitimate son, Edgar, the grief he felt overwhelmed him.

(M) The mood in this scene is very bitter sweet. Gloucester was so happy that his beloved son was still alive that his heart became so full, the bitter part is that as a result of this Gloucester dies. Although there is no description of Edgar and Gloucester last moments together but because of the mood that is set by Edgar that we can only imagine that the two men were content with each other and very happy even in the moment of death. Edgar was aware of how weak his father was and knew that this information would hurt his father, because he would be finding out that Edmund was the one who lied and betrayed Gloucester but wanted to relieve his father by letting Gloucester know that he was still alive and loved him.

(R) It is possible to conclude that Shakespeare is trying to say that as people die they enter a period of both sorrow and happiness. This can correlate to the idea of God, and the possibility that Shakespeare is expressing his belief in God through the fact that as Gloucester dies he is filled with grief, but as he enters heaven and sees God he is filled with joy, therefore bursting his heart and making him smile.

*****In the line "twixt two extremes of passion, joy, and grief," "twixt" means between.  If one extreme is the joy of seeing Edgar alive, what's the other extreme caused by?

Also, consider the implications of his heart smiling. Significance to character development? Theme? The motif of sight and insight? If he ironically is able to see things better now that he is blind, how does the idea of a smiling heart fit in?

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(R) I thought it was rather odd that Albany had the last line in the book. He was never a significant character until the very end of the book, but in actuality he was probably one of the most intelligent characters without any readers even noticing it. He has better vision than many of the characters, and maybe that’s why he ended up on top.

*It is odd. I agree. That Albany would be one of the survivors. Consider the other survivors....the individuals who ostensibly will assume power and responsibility. The end of this post observes the bleak mood at the end. How does my question above (or your answer to it at least) influence your view of the final mood?  Does it reinforce the bleakness?  Or temper it a bit?  Consider justice and redemption....

(R) This text shows that Lear was at his best in this last scene right before death. It is the time in which he showed the most strength and perseverance. In this scene, Albany is saying that this day has taught a lot; specifically the importance of speaking what we need to and want to say instead of what we think we should. Albany is encouraging honesty; a tough subject in this play because of the lack of truth that caused problems in many of the situations.

*****This line "speak what we feel, not what we ought to say," is an important one.  Connect to Gloucester's smiling heart, to the sight/insight motif in the importance of looking beyond the surface in our human interactions and handling responsibility

(L) The motif of old age is also present in this quote. Albany is saying that the oldest people are actually the wisest and know more than the youngest do. This is in contradiction to what has been perceived throughout the entire book. Lear, and many of the other characters believed that old age made you mad, and lesser than other citizens, but by Albany saying this at the very end of the book we see that we have discovered a theme, or moral of the story really: with old age, comes wisdom. Albany also talks about how the young shall never see so much nor live so long, I think in comparison to Lear. Lear underwent many trials, and basically stayed strong throughout all of them before his body gave out on him. Albany is saying that the young, who throughout this play connived and schemed to get what they wanted, never had to work hard and thus will never live so long or so good of a life as Lear.

****Good idea. This bears a closer look.

(Mood) The conclusion of the play seems rather bleak. Albany says that people ought to speak what they feel not what they ought, which would have solved the entirety of this play. If everyone had said what they felt, the true characters of the guilty and greedy would have been revealed at the beginning. It is also about deception.

*****Yes, the mood is bleak--famously bleak.  Why so bleak do you think?  The quotation I included on passage three connects here  I think.