Sunday, March 17, 2013
Much Ado About Nothing in Lear
In the very first scene of King Lear Lear asks his daughters the measure of their love. The older sisters try to outdo each other in the hyperbolic humungousness of their lover, but the youngest Cordelia can only manage to assert "Nothing, my Lord." Lear, not quite believing his ears retorts "Nothing?" Cordelia affirms her original "nothing" to which Lear responds "Nothing comes from nothing"(1.1.96-99). In rapid success we have five mentions of "nothing" that begins a veritable feast through out the play. What do you make of the use of "nothing" in this scene? Does it reflect a similar use of "nothing" in other parts of the play? Is nothingness a theme of this play? Why make such a big deal out of "nothing"?
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In William Shakespeare’s King Lear there is a strong fear of “nothing.” Nearly every character in this play is in some way trying to avoid ending up with nothing. Many want power. Others want love. Others still want redemption. Each character wants something to avoid nothing. In many ways, King Lear explores the idea of what we end up with when we leave this world of ours. Despite all of these character’s efforts to try and avoid ending up with nothing, many of their deaths do leave them with nothing. No power, accomplishments, or love can ultimately cross over from life to death. Death leave each of these characters with nothing. In King Lear, one character that pursues power and ends up with nothing is Edmund, the bastard child of Gloucester.
ReplyDeleteEdmund is willing to blind his father, banish his brother, and pursue a married woman all to achieve power. For Edmund, power is his singular want. From our first encounter with Edmund, he tells the audience frankly of his plans to banish his brother and assume his right to power and property. He frankly tells the audience in a soliloquy:
…Legitimate Edgar [his brother], I must have your land.
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to th’ legitimate. Fine word, ‘legitimate,’
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th’ legitmate. I grow, I prosper.
Now, gods, stand up for bastards! (1.2.17-23).
Edmund is the first character to speak directly to the audience with a true soliloquy. This draws the audience into his schemes. We are connected to Edmund. He has put his trust into the audience by telling them his plans. In telling the audience Edmund’s displays his faith in himself, which makes the audience believe that he will in fact gain the power he so desperately wants. It instills a mutual trust that Edmund will achieve his goal. We believe Edmund. We believe that he will become something instead of nothing. We believe that he will gain the power he wants.
Edmund also reveals here his motivation behind this brotherly betrayal. He wants to gain the rights promised to his brother and in doing so also wants to gain the favor of his father.
For a good portion of the play, it seems that Edmund is in fact gaining power as he continues to step on others. After learning of his father’s intensions to aid the banished Lear, Edmund turns to Cornwall, the husband of one of Lear’s bad daughters. Edmund again addresses the audience in saying, “this courtesy [Edmund’s father’s decision to help Lear] forbid thee shall the Duke/ instantly know/… the younger rises when the old doth fall” (3.4.21-25). Like when Edmund betrays his brother to gain his father’s favor, when he betrays his father he does so to gain the favor of the Duke of Cornwall. Cornwall even tells Edmund, “I will lay trust upon thee, and thou shalt/ find a dearer father in my love” (3.6.25-6). Edmund again has gained power and influence, and it would seem that he is getting farther and farther from nothing.
(Continuation)
DeleteAlthough in the final act of the play, Edmund ultimately is slain by his returned brother, Edgar, seeking revenge for his banishment. Now faced with all his evil deeds come to nothing, he expresses a wish to do some good. This act of goodness is a last ditch effort to do something. As he lies dying, he says:
I pant for life. Some good I mean to do
Despite mine own nature. Quickly send-
Be brief in it- to th’ castle, for my writ
Is on the life of Lear, and on Cordelia (5.3.290-294).
Although, even this effort to do some good fails. Edmund’s message does not reverse the order soon enough to save the life of Cordelia. Edmund then dies with nothing. He does not have power or influence or even the satisfaction of doing a good deed. In his effort to gain something in life, he has ended up with nothing.
So, how exactly does the story of Edmund connect to the scene mentioned in the prompt? There are several obvious connections. Perhaps the most telling, is the connection between Cordelia, whose death symbolizes Edmund’s inability to do something, and Edmund. These are the first two characters to address the audience. Cordelia does so in several asides, while Edmund does so in a soliloquy. Both Edmund and Cordelia are then further tied together since they both say the same exact line, the line the prompt actually references. They both say, “Nothing, my lord.” Cordelia does so when she refuses to flatter Lear, while Edmund does so when he his father asks about the letter that condemns Edgar to banishment. This link between Cordelia and Edmund to nothing ultimately expresses how they both become nothing in death. They both die and return to dust and ash, to nothing. Neither Edmund nor Cordelia accomplish what they hoped to achieve in life. Edmund does not gain power and Cordelia does not save her father’s kingdom or her father from madness.
In King Lear, nothing is a theme that runs through the entire play. We see many characters constantly fighting for something and then end up with nothing. Though I only looked at Edmund, this format actual fits for many characters aside from him including Lear himself. King Lear is powerful because it looks at how anything we do in life does not really matter when we meet our deaths. Death forces us all to become nothing. Power in King Lear and in life is a cruel joke because it doesn’t matter in the end. Power is an illusion. Edmund thinks that with power he will become something, maybe even overcome death, but we all know this can never happen. Death is a great equalizer that returns us all to nothingness.