King Lear - William Shakespeare

KENT (2.2.13-29 or thereabouts, depends on edition)

A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a
base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited,
hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a
lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson,
glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue;
one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a
bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but
the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar,
and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch: one whom I
will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest
the least syllable of thy addition.

Modern:

A boy; a tease; a low-life eating scraps; a vile, prominent, petty, beggarly, poor, skinny, lewd, and, wool stocking wearing boy; a coward, action-taking boy, a SOB, vain, overly officious finical scoundrel; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that would be a prostitute, in way of good service, and you are nothing but the arrangement of a boy, vagabond, chicken, a pimp, and the son and heir of a crossbreed bitch: one who I will beat into a loud whiner, if you deny your obsession.

I thought that Edmund's scheme to get rid of Edgar shows his cunning and immorality. During the "alltercation" between Edgar and Edmund, Edmund says that Edgar told him that no one would ever believe Edmund’s word against his because of Edmund’s illegitimate birth. Edmund called attention to the fact that he is a bastard and uses it to his advantage to get rid of Edgar. Edmund cuts himself and tells his father that Edgar stabbed him and fled. This quote from the play shows how clever Edmund is:

"To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword, he charges home
My unprovided body, lanced mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits,
Bold in the quarrel's right, roused to the encounter,
Or whether gasted by the noise I made,
Full suddenly he fled."



What do you think about Edmund's scheme?

I thought that the test of the daughters was very different. I thought that the King asking his daughters how much they loved him was about an insecure old man trying to see how important he was in general and to his children.

"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

According to my bond; nor more nor less." - Cordelia



This also shows the loyalty of each child to their father. Cordelia only loves him because she has to because he is her father. 

I think that reading a play is different than reciting a part of the play because when you recite, you get to read aloud the genius words of the author/playwright. Reciting actually lets you feel the emotions that the playwright wants you to feel. When you recite, you are relly understanding the concepts that the playwright/author is wanting you to understand and also they are giving you the go ahead to make presumptions and educated guesses on why the character is doing what they are doing.

When you read a play you have to try to describe the emotions that the character is feeling to yourself. When you read you are basically just skimming through the work and not really paying attention to the words that are basically spelling out the problem and the solution to you.

I am ready to read Shakespeare because I love his work even though some of it is based on other works by different authors. I love reading Shakespeare outloud because I fully understand what he is saying and what the characters are saying. He deals more with plot and characters than with the storyline and the denoument. I also love hearing his work read outloud by other people because I can get a take on what they feel when they read and what they want to bring to each character they play.