Answer TWO of the following as a comment below:
1. What obvious or significant changes do you notice between the graphic novel's 'Act 1' and the play's Act 1? Consider passages/lines that are dropped, or other language that the play emphasizes that the novel did not. What makes the textual experience so different? Or do you feel, in general, it was an effective translation?
2. As always, note when blank verse becomes prose in this play. Who speaks prose and when? Why might it be a significant change for us to see/hear? Also consider that the graphic novel can't really capture this shift of language, which could seriously change what we understand (or are meant to understand) in the play.
3. In Act 1, Scene 1, Regan notes that Lear "hath ever but slenderly known himself" (13). Based on this reading, how might Lear's madness stem less from age or illness than a simple lack of identity? How is his identity challenged in the first act, and how does he respond to these challenges? What does he think "he" is? Why do others disagree?
4. Much of Act 1 seems to be about the stagecraft of society: that is, the "ceremony" of functioning in society, and how little room we have to improvise our own lines. This is a lifelong concern for Shakespeare, seen notably in Sonnet 23, when he writes
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burden of mine own love's might.
How might this Sonnet echo other lines/passages in the play and help us understand why his (apparently) most loyal subjects refuse to obey his will? Conversely, what might it mean to be too eager to play one's part, even for the 'right' reasons?
2. One the most significant changes in the language took place between the test scene and the private conversation between Regan and Goneril. While reading the comic I has assumed that the test would have been spoken in verse, but I didn't think to speculate on the sister's language. The fact that they speak prose together ads a whole new level to their relationship that wasn't present in the manga; perhaps they were closer than the comic let on.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that Edmund speaks verse to both Gloucester and Edgar. This implies an intimacy that the comic didn't really pick up on. This is the reason Gloucester and Edgar are so ready to believe Edmund's lies--they're close to him.
4. Cordelia choice not to take part in her father's game directly echoes Shakespeare's sentiments in Sonnet 23. Had she answered, whether her words were truthful or not, it would have been an empty ceremony. She, like the poet, "forget[s] to say the perfect ceremony of love's rite," and is therefore cast out or looked down upon because of it. Truly, the only person who seems not to be controlled by what society expects of them is the fool, and even he's not permitted to cry.
1. The graphic novel moved so quickly and at such a fast pace that it was hard for me to keep up. The graphic novel made it seem like the first scene with Lear and his daughters happened very quickly, where as in the play it is 11 pages long and a lot of dialogue. Cordelia explains herself more in the play, that dialogue was important to understanding what was going on, for me. Lear explains himself more as well, and though banishing his favorite daughter and writing her out of his life forever is still utterly ridiculous, it makes more sense to me in the play, with the drawn out dialogue, than it did in the graphic novel with the short tid bits of dialogue.
ReplyDelete3. Maybe Regan is meaning that since Lear doesn’t know himself, he needs constant reassurance from others to be satisfied. As we saw from the ridiculous scene he made of banishing his favorite daughter, this could be a common occurrence in the Lear household. If someone doesn’t know themselves, they are constantly looking to others to tell them who they are, which seems very similar to what Lear is doing in Act 1 Scene 1 by demanding that his daughters tell him how much they love him.
-Tori Watson
Melissa Williams
ReplyDeleteDr. J. Grasso
Shakespeare
February 27, 2014
1. For starters, rather than being a Native American chieftain like he was in the manga version, King Lear was King of England which makes a lot more sense to me. Immediately after that we see two sets of lines missing from the manga King Lear but present in the actual play. “Kent: ‘I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.’ Gloucester ‘It did always seem so to us, but now in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most, for qualities are so weighed that curiosity in neither can make choice of either’s moiety (Shakespeare 4).”
3. In Act I, Lear is losing his daughter to the King of France, which means that he is losing his flesh and blood to France, which of course England and France were bitter rivals. Not only is Lear about to lose his daughter to France, but now her worth is beginning to drop on her own.
“Burgundy: ‘Royal King, / Give but that portion which yourself proposed, / And here I take Cordelia by the hand, / Duchess of Burgundy (11).” Without his daughter, he is losing part of himself to France his enemy, along with being seen lower because more money is being demanded now for the Duke of Burgundy to take Cordelia as his wife.
3. Lear seems to be unable to understand what it means not only to be king (as a wise and just ruler, which he is not), but to be a father as well. Throughout the Act, he has a large, choleric, personality, like he thinks whatever his whims, a king must be obeyed, whether or not he makes any sense at all. As a father, he has surrendered his authority to be taken care of, but keeps trying to take back that same control. I get the feeling that, based on his actions, he was never denied anything, never admonished for a poor choice, never corrected, and so ruled (probably) as a stereotypical warrior-king or dictator. He may have heard that fathers control the family, and that in old age children must take care of their parents, but he never had that explained to him in terms that would aid in good judgment. He's questioned by Kent and refused by Cordelia. Kent's questioning debases his rationale for rulership. Cordelia's refusal to play his games turns his notion of fatherhood on its head. His response is banishment and disownment, which mark a poor king. He seems to think all of his actions are wise and just--but he's really poor at managing anything. Goneril is angry at his treatment of her servants, and his demands try her patience. She thinks he's really an idiot; the reader is inclined to wonder--was the queen really the power behind the throne?
ReplyDeleteJessie Randall
1. When Gloucester reads the contents of Edmund's forged letter from Edgar. The first line is omitted in the manga, and the address goes from short and abrupt ("...your brother. Edgar.") to ("Your brother, Edgar"). In the manga we see the words on the page instead of having them read aloud. In the play, Gloucester is more questioning, as if he can't quite grasp what Edmund is trying to get him to believe. It takes him more time to convince Daddy of "Edgar's treason," explaining how he first found the letter. In the manga, it's shortened to Edmund telling Gloucester something he has "oft maintain[ed]" which gets Gloucester riled up really quickly. The set-up is swifter, but the effect is more or less the same. It's a good translation because it lets the emotions of the characters more easily show.
ReplyDeleteJessie Randall
ReplyDeleteNikki Ennis
1. One passage in particular that the Manga translation left out was the scene in which Lear is trying to marry Cordelia off to either Albany or France. Without her dowry, Albany clearly had no intention of taking Cordelia as a queen. France however, sees Cordelia as a dowry in herself, and not only agrees to still make her queen, but actually seems to really want to. This is important because it makes us question if Lear, Cordelia, or both are actually playing a much different game than we initially thought from reading the Manga translation first.
2. One surprise we get with prose and verse in the original play comes from Regan and Goneril. They speak prose to eachother, which insinuates a level of intimacy that we don't get in the Manga version-not only because that particular translation doesn't allow is to see prose or verse, but because the sisters are portrayed as sinister in the Manga version. Seeing them speak prose to eachother causes us to rethink our previous assumptions we made from reading the Manga translation first regarding their character and feelings.
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2. One difference between reading the Norton edition and the Manga version I noted was with the Norton version there were distinct differences in relationships. Evident in the two sisters’ Goneril and Regan depicted as clearly full of flattery to justify their means and in competition to show their love the more superior than the others to their father for a greater inheritance. In the manga version they did not seem to even have feelings for each other yet, in the Norton version they are speaking prose to one another, which signifies respect and love. In the Manga version Goneril and Regan seemed heartless and cold to everyone including each other money and society seemed to be their only love.
ReplyDelete3. Regan is basically claiming that King Lear has never really known himself or scarcely seems to have his own identity. This test he proposes his children do in order to inherit riches signify he clearly not only does not know himself but that he is clueless of his children’s love for him as well. Cordelia challenged him by refusing to play his game. Him being the King he clearly assumed that all would graciously play along and indulge him.
Lisa Edge