Wednesday, March 22, 2006
LEAR! You Choose
Lear can't be seen as a microcosm of ingratitude, though, one could easily choose this depiction. Lear is so textured with humanity that mere ingratitude would be disingenuous. Who inhabits the landscape of Lear's mind? Is it Lear-the Royal and all his knights? Is it Lear-the loving father? Is it Lear-Father of his land? Is it Lear-the madman? All these incarnations of Lear are truthful, but by laying out these manifestations limits the vast complexity of Lear. He is at once a man that stands for everything and nothing. Sounds like the human condition.
If we are stripped of all our luxuries, our Ipods, our TV's, our autos, our very life that we have come to depend on-I think we'll find just what were made of, or not made of. Who is a philosopher and who is a fool? Does life depend on predetermined capabilities? As Shylock could not see past the law, the letter of law, nor can Lear see past his rigid invocations of himself. But, just to contradict myself-Lear finds himself, less rigid, less concerned with formality and ingratitude-naked and base. The lines between Lear and Poor Tom are, I think, the most precious of the play. Lear is at his most sane in an utterly insane setting. He is not drowning himself in self-pity, nor cursing his family, but he is at a place of child-like awe. The surface of things tell us that Lear has lost his mind, but the humor and "play" in those lines show depths of Lear's humanity. He may be mad, or he may be sane in a mad world. You Choose.
If we are stripped of all our luxuries, our Ipods, our TV's, our autos, our very life that we have come to depend on-I think we'll find just what were made of, or not made of. Who is a philosopher and who is a fool? Does life depend on predetermined capabilities? As Shylock could not see past the law, the letter of law, nor can Lear see past his rigid invocations of himself. But, just to contradict myself-Lear finds himself, less rigid, less concerned with formality and ingratitude-naked and base. The lines between Lear and Poor Tom are, I think, the most precious of the play. Lear is at his most sane in an utterly insane setting. He is not drowning himself in self-pity, nor cursing his family, but he is at a place of child-like awe. The surface of things tell us that Lear has lost his mind, but the humor and "play" in those lines show depths of Lear's humanity. He may be mad, or he may be sane in a mad world. You Choose.
# posted by Collin @ 11:08 AM 
