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Caralyn King Lear
I too was ravished by Lear when I did A-Level. And in time after, I had the joy of beckoning others into its magic.I always enjoy In Our Time - this one was exceptional. I wish I could have been there, I wanted to be part of it.
Moyagh Reid on King Lear The programme on Lear wa
The recent programme on King Lear was superb. Thank you again Radio 4 and Melvyn Bragg. You suggested that King Lear merited a further programme. Have you considered viewing Shakespeare generally, and Lear specifically, from the point of view of Clare Asquith's excellent and very readable book, Shadowplay. She suggests that much of what Shakespeare was writing was in response to the contemporary religious conflicts. Indeed the Reformation was apparently known as The Tempest. How many tempests are there in Shakespeare's plays? It also explains why Cordelia refuses to take an oath she could not believe in - despite the obvious appalling cost. Whilst there are very many ways to 'read' Shakespare, I have found that this perspective resolves many of issues which I have found problematic in many of his plays. I have recently written an essay on the 'secret voices' in 'Antony and Cleopatra' (which I would be happy to forward to radio 4) - but these secret voices are less ambiguously to be found in King Lear. Again many thanks to you all.
King Bragg -- the fool calling
As I live on a blasted heath, and not in London, where can I get see a modern production of Lear? Why doesn't some BBC producer spend a little of the license money and film a production for us all to see? Maybe King Bragg can make it so? Then again, we can't have Bragg as the only 'dumber up' at the beeb, what if he goes senile? Find your Cordelia. Save her!
Rosemary Hamilton - Lear
The context of the opening scene of 'Lear' is no more than as in a fairy tale, for (a similar, not identical) example 'Cinderella and the two ugly sisters', and any wish to 'explain' any further a back-story, relationships, and so on, would not be relevant because a post-Cartesian attitude. The basic traditional tale which is the play's origin occurs simply in the realms of 'once upon a time': things are as they are. Also: the discussion emphasised the prominence of animals in the play. I suggest Goneril and Regan are portrayed as uncontrolled, cruel and lascivious as wild animals, wolf-like.
Violet .....King Lear
The language in the play King Lear is foremost in illustrating Shakespeare'streatise that what seems is not necessarily what is. The psychologicalstructures of family life and the forceswhich develop individuals are played outin extreme cruelty which illustrates theconflict in all societies.The programme was positive in its coverage of text, language and subplots.The audience being given the compliment of appreciating this vast complex play.Having listen to the previous week's discussion regarding the Big Bang theories, Shakespeare's wordcraft seems to illustrate some of the aspects of theCopenhagen theory.
Anthony - Lear's language
A very enjoyable programme, with so much packed into half an hour. Liked that three word summation of why Lear still mattered so much in modern times - maybe programme could be edited further as an aural cribsheet for students? One mild gripe, probably just a question of semantics, but I got the impression that one commentator was saying that Lear loses the power of language at the end. I've always felt it's bettered viewed as the reverse: he has begun to feel language for the first time, to know the weight of individual words ("never") as opposed to the easy phrasemaking of his earlier imperious mode, and the result of having tested language to its limits during his experiences on the heath. Re the differences between Nahum Tate's version and Shakespeare's, Tate's may appear neater (Edgar gets Cordelia) but the original has surely won out because, however painful the ending, there is something very satisfying structurally in Cordelia, and then Lear, dying (though I do remember the Tate version as an easier read): if Lear's journey is to find out what it means to be human then he has to know loss as well as love; having done so, he has no other function to perform onstage. Actually, maybe I should retract my earlier statement: maybe the point is that at the end Lear is forced into a recognition of the limits of language when it comes to communicating emotions - which, again, is structurally neat as once his utterances led to immediate obedience, then language offered at least the illusion of comfort (the imaginary "trial" of the stool-cum-daughter) until he is finally confronted with a pain which cannot be assuaged by words.
Mark Ogilvie / KING LEAR
I thought this was one of the very best programmes - the experts were very clear and illuminating, and the structure of the programme brought to life a play that I don't know at all, apart from by repute. Having fallen into the science side of CP Snow's two cultures, I really enjoy programmes like this. Personally, I got a lot from the context material, and look forward to the follow-up programme!
John Sharman: King Lear
An extremely good discussion aided by excellent speakers on the subject and Melvyn's evident enthusiasm and ability to move the subject along. I loved it too as I had studied it at 'A' level.I think 'Hamlet' proved to the world Shakespeare was a genius,an extremely wordy long play.However 'Lear' was the play that proved to me that Shakespeare had pushed language to it's utmost limit. It is a passionate exploration of the very nature of our humanity or it's lack in a world without values.'Nature' and 'nothingness' are the two great words that echo through the play.We see a world stripped down from elaborate courtly rituals and language and behaviour to the' bare forked animal' beneath,scurrying on the heath.Lear's 'darker purpose' allows him to' crawl unburthen'd towards death'.What is love,can it be demanded or summoned on request to declare itself?Cordelia's honesty is her undoing,her language is plain and uncouched in diplomacy,yet she is the daughter who really loves her father.The cruelty of his two other daughters knows no bounds.I feel Melvyn you could do another program which goes more into the nature of the language and the language of nature:'Blow winds and crack your cheeks hurricanoes..how can your houseless heads and unfed sides protect you from seaons such as this'.Also the use of repetition:'never,never,never,never,never' or 'Nothing?' 'Nothing','Nothing will come of nothing,speak again.'I was particularly pleased at the way you set the precursors to the play and the play in it's context.
Rich - Lear
Incidentally, if you ever see Cordelia and the fool played by the same young actor it's obvious that's what happened originally and Shakespeare is making petic virtue of theatrical necessity. Again.
Rich - Lear
Covered a lot of ground excellently but disappointing on the ‘nothing’ theme which is surely the biggie considering the dominant note of the play is the absence of beneficent providence. Void, abyss, vacuum where God should be. Metaphysical stuff: why are lit crits so loath to visit philosophy?
June Harwood: King Lear
What a fantastic programme on Lear, (despite Melvyn's jet lag)! If only we could have more - as the newsletter suggests - on the language, on the other roles. I found the discussions utterly fascinating but too short! Then of course there is Bond's Lear and what that might reflect etc etc and so it could go on. More please, Melvyn!!
Lear (akfarrar)
Enjoyed the programme.Pleased to hear Hamlet dethroned - and the idea of Lear as the play for the 21st century.When are you going to tackle Falstaff?
anna on Lear
The furious,fast phrasing of seemingly unconnected facts and feelings in some of the scenes from Lear which were compared to Elliot s Wasteland by one of the speakers, seem to me to be more like a Quartet in an Opera--seemingly separate but joined together ,in a bigger picture, by a marvellous harmony.
David Laturner
I'm surprised no mention was made of the anachronism at the heart of King Lear. Lear is quite clearly a Feudal monarch (and a pagan, by Jove). Shakespeare judges him, as always, by Christian/Divine Right of Kings standards.Splitting a kingdom as Lear did might not be wise, but it was acceptable in a feudal monarchy. By Divine Right standards, to remove a monarch is a crime against God, always punishable by death - even if, in the case of Lear, it was Lear who removed himself from his throne.
christine stribling -Lear
I enjoy In Our Time because the subject matter usually initiates a study by me.I wonder if mr bragg would not interrupt his guests SO much. I have very little knowledge of the play (Lear) and i would have liked to hear the experts' views. I shall keep listening.It is wonderful to learn more.
Fred Holland King Lear
I cannot help feeling that the opening of this excellent programme was time wasted in suggesting that the interests of King James were important in the form and formulation of the play.As the drama develops it gives rise to its own dynamic - 'why it is so and not otherwise'. Its Seventeenth Century context is a distraction from the human problems at its (and Shakespeare's) heart.
david benedictus
one of your contributors this morning muttered that 'we don't know what happened to the Fool'. But surely there is a line: "And my poor fool is hanged" which couldn't be much clearer. Or am I missing something? There used to be a sentimental myth that he had tried to swim across the channel to be with Cordelia whom he loved and had of course drowned.I have always seen the play as reductive, by which I mean reducing from a king giving away his kingdom to a father and daughter curled together foetally. I should love to see a production which illustrated this by playing it in a huge globe, gradually diminishing to a bubble.
Paul Strohm/King Lear of my childhood
We were compelled to perform this particular Shakespeare play in my 9th grade class. It was a private school composed of randy boys. Those who had the female roles had a wonderful time as it seemed the women had the best parts. Oh, we really didn't understand the King speeches very much. However, we understood how children loved to get back at their parents! Great stuff.
jamila Gavin
may I correct the last sentence of my submission below?I should read: "Shakespeare's audience would have known the vesrion of the story so well,he wouldn't have needed to do more than just give the opening."
Ned - Lear
Keats's poem, mentioned in the programme, shows the trepidation needed to approach the play: 'once again, the fierce dispute / Betwixt damnation and impassioned clay / Must I burn through'. He knows he will be 'consumed in the fire' and anticipates begging a means of escape with 'Phoenix wings'. A great poem - such a modern take on the play.
King Lear
Well done again IOT - this is probably the finest programme on R4. But, please, could the producers set a good example for academics and presenters of history everywhere and proscribe the use of the narrative present tense when discussing past events? It smacks of popularisation and condescension. Even the least attentive GCSE history student knows the difference between today and yesterday and understands the universality of experience. This practice merely cheapens history and weakens expression. Regards, J. Stitch.
Maggie & Harvey Cox about King Lear
This was wonderful. It was like being back at university again, thought seminars rarely contained such a wealth of information and thought. To move from the historical background through folklore, Christianity, kingship, Naham Tate and various interpretations to the play's relevance to the ecological concerns of today was so stimulating. Well done and thank you
Peter Bolt : King Lear
As ever ; WonderfulThe very pertinent question why has it replaced Hamlet as totemic. My opinion : To the modern mind Hamlet is a indecisive,dithering,mommys boy,afraid to challenge his father (even though dead), a loser who manages to losea sword fight after killing his adversary.Well intentioned by ineffective.Lear is the modern world : Unable to distinguish bewteen lying sycophancy and true admiration. Incapable of leadership but given that role by accident of birth. WS was right, in that kind of world, as now, there is no happy ending.
Dave - Lear etc
Clever chap that Bill the Dutchman. He was perhaps the original psychologist. He could certainly justify a place on many undergrad. psychology reading lists.One half-related question: I remember a book at school many years ago, a Shakespeare reader, which had the story on one page and the interpretations, etymology, social context and other notes, on the facing page - a sort of early Tutor Text. Can anyone tell me the reference, author or something similar, by which I could locate it please?
Jamila Gavin King Lear
I have wondered whether the "folk story" is a version of perhaps THE most famous story in the world, "Cinderella," which goes back nearly two thousand years, and of which there are many varied and overlapping versions. An "English version," is "Cloak O'Rushes" - which one of your speakers told as the version "As Meat Loves Salt," has elements of an incestuous love from which his youngest daughter is forced to flee. Could another layer to this play be that King Lear was incestuously attracted to Cordelia, hence her response, "I love you according to my bond," and his resulting fury? And that much of his own self-inflicted punishment is a reflection of his guilt? Cloak O' Rushes includes the "meat loves salt" comparison and the banishment,as well as the Cinderella type ball scene, at which she wears her mother's ball dresses on the three days of the festivities. Her disguise has been a cloak of rushes while in the kitchen, which cover her mother's dresses.Yes - lear is indeed about the ferocity and need of family love.Re: the fool. Might the fool have been played by a dwarf? In those times, dwarfs were considered closest to God of all beings - and were thus given huge licence to speak honestly - and be respected for being linked to God.Shakespeare's audience would have known the play so well, he wouldn't have needed to do more than just give the opening.
Henry Marsh - 'King Lear'
May I say, first, that this programme has given me great pleasure over the years.Towards the end,the discussion touched on 'poetic justice'- but justice is an almost obsessive theme in the play - think, for example, of Lear's mad arraignment of Goneril and Regan. (Act III)Again and again the possibilities for justice are destroyed. On the other hand, Lear and Cordelia are reconciled - the power of this is displayed rather than articulated in the denouement. Justice, agonisingly, is never manifest - but there is love. Justice and grace - the age-old dialectic cf. Kafka et al. To resolve the play with 'poetic justice' is to destroy its meaning - as does discussion which sees the conclusion as nihilistic.Congratulations on another super episode.
King Lear
This was one of the most fascinating and relevant programmes I have ever heard. More, more more of this kind of thing, please. Elizabeth Nathaniels
guy garvey on the king lear episode
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!I punched the air at that ladies valiant final comments on why Lear is relevant now more than ever.It closed a roller coaster of a program. My favourite to date!
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