A few final words on Lear

“The winds and persecutions of the sky.” Act 2 sc. 3. What a way to say Storm, with a good deal of subtext. Was this a foreshadowing of The Tempest? Funny how symbols pertinent to a writer evolve over time. They appear, flicker, disappear and then emerge again, full-flamed.
On Lear’s reckoning: “O, that way madness lies: let me shun that. No more of that.” Psychologists have a word for this, it’s called Thought Stopping. Sometimes it’s necessary to take control over thoughts or they will take control of us. Lear, teetering on the edge of madness, knows this.
I was so relieved when he finally gained compassion. Though it took a bit of process. Reminded me of King Nebuchadnezzar. He was brought low by madness, ate grass, like an ox, for seven years. Finally he came to his senses. He had a lot of counselors. And he listened to them. His ending was not nearly so tragic as Lear’s. Shakespeare’s via negativa is bleak indeed.

One of my favorite lines came from Edgar,
“When that which makes me bend makes the king bow.”
It’s sometimes harder to watch someone suffer than to suffer oneself. We see the King’s vulnerability here, so poignant in his puffed-up, fragile self. He’s supposed to be the strong one, the high and mighty. But he cannot take life’s cruel arrows. Edgar is moved with pity.

Curing despair by creating a fiction? Hmm…that principle does work at times. If you think you have it bad, sometimes even hearing about another’s serious trouble can give much needed perspective. But I’m not sure about the whole ‘creating a false crisis’ thing. When people are despairing, they usually need to be heard, not tricked. It angers me if people try to show me it’s not as bad as I think. It’s insulting. But sometimes Life itself enacts this ‘trick.’ When things naturally worsen, then the worst may turn to laughter.

And lastly, Act III sc. 4: Lear says, prophetically, “First let me talk with this philosopher. What is the cause of thunder?” I hear echoes of Job.
Lear’s question wraps up the entire play in a nutshell. The philosopher, God, the thunder–the suffering he has to endure to find his true self.