| “Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon” (75) | Edmund to Gloucester.After Edmund stages a fight scene with Edgar, Gloucester comes in and wants to know who the villain is that cut him. Edmund appeals to Gloucester’s superstitions to make sure Gloucester believes him. |
| “I’d turn it all to thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice. And thou must make a dullard of the world If they not thought the profits of my death Were very pregnant and potential spirits to make thee seek it” (79) | Edmund to Gloucester.Edmund setting up a story saying edgar will probably blame the whole thing on Edmund and make it seem as though edmund is the villain. He is addressing this possibility before it happens so that if edgar does say edmund is the villain that no one will believe edgar. EVIL |
| “And of my land, Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means to map ether capable” (79) | Gloucester to Edmund.Gloucester will find a way to give all the land to edmund-what edmund wanted. yay. |
| “A tailor made thee” (87) | Kent (in disguise) Oswald.clothing indicated a level in society. Calling oswald the lowest of society. Clothing later becomes important- Lear’s stripping of clothing = stripping of pride |
| “His countenance likes me not” (89) | Kent (in disguise) to Cornwall and Oswald, but talking about oswald. means that kent doesn’t like the way Oswald looks. They are in a serious fight and this was something foolish to say. He has nothing better to say than that he doesn’t like the way he looks. no idea why this is important. |
| “Fetch forth the stocks. You stubborn ancient knave, you reverent baggart, We’ll teach you” (91) | Cornwall to Kent (in disguise).Cornwall thinks he’s in charge now even though the king is still alive. He is putting one of the king’s servants in the stocks without the king’s approval. Abuse of power and disrespectful. Shows Cornwall’s selfishness and thirst for power. (took oswald’s side because oswald is goneril’s servant and is loyal to her, therefore loyal to regan bc both against lear) |
| “Till noon? Till night, my lord, sand all night, too” (91) | Regan to Cornwall.Regan increases the amount of time she wants kent in the stocks because she’s a bitch and that’s really the only reason. Also showing abuse of power and shift from king being in charge to girls being in charge. Disrespect to lear as a father and a king. |
| “If I were your father’s dog, You should not use me so” (93) | Kent (in disguise) to Regan.Kent telling Regan that she would not treat even an animal like this. Meanwhile this is all taking place in Gloucester’s castle who is loyal to the king. Gloucester wants lear to approve and take care of all this, but Regan and Cornwall take control outside of their own home. bc they selfish & crazy. |
| “Fortune, good night. Smile once more; turn thy wheel” (95) | Kent (in disguise & in stocks) talking to himself holding a letter from Cordelia.wheel of fortune/fate. He has received a letter from Cordelia explaining that she is aware of the situation and wants to know if there is anything she can do. Kent is still in stocks. After reading the letter, he asks for the wheel to turn in his favor. He wants to be on top where the fortune/ good fate is. We see the image of the “wheel of fortune” several times. Kind of a theme “what goes up must come down” and vice versa. Later, edgar comes to the realization that if you can say “this is the worst,” it’s not actually the worst. |
| “Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers, Enforce their charity. “Poor Turlygod! Poor Tom”” (97) | Edgar to himself.Edgar needs a disguise because he is vein chased. He decides to take on the identity of “Tom from Bedlam.” He will act insane so that no one pays attention to him. Compare Edgar’s fake madness to Lear’s real madness. |
| “Having more man than wit about me, drew” (99) | Kent (in disguise) to Lear.Kent is admitting he acted foolishly towards Oswald, but that Oswald was being treated with more respect. |
| “All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking” (101) | The Fool to Kent.If you lose a sense, another/other senses become better. Blind man can’t see, his nose becomes better. Later will become relevant when Gloucester has no eyes. He wants to kill himself by jumping off of a cliff at Dover, but edgar guides him incorrectly. Edgar tries to appeal to Gloucester’s other senses to convince him he is at Dover and pretends to wonder why Gloucester’s other senses did not improve when he became blind. |
| “Infirmity doth still neglect all office whereto our health is bound. We are not ourselves when nature, being oppressed, commands the mind to suffer with the body” (105) | Lear to Gloucester. maybe they’re sick and I’m being impulsive. King seeing the error of his ways with cordelia and trying to hold back, but this is the one time he shouldn’t because he has right to be angry. Ironic-he should be acting on it. |
| “I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope You less know how to value her desert Than she to scant her duty” (107) | Regan to Lear.After Lear admits to Regan how heartbroken he is that Goneril treated him so terribly, he expects a comforting response. Instead, Regan defends Goneril and says that she does not think Goneril would act in such a way. |
| “You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself” (107) | Regan to Lear.Regan telling Lear that he’s too old to be ruling and that others should be in charge, so he should forgive Goneril because she was right to take control. |
| “”Dear daughter, I confess that I am old. Age is unnecessary. On my knees I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food”‘(107) | Lear to Regan. mockery. Lear gets on his knees, He is being sarcastic to mock her. obviously does not agree. |
| “O, the blest gods! So will you wish on me When the rash mood is on” (109) | Regan to Lear.Regan warning to Lear that he will soon turn on her just as you did to Goneril. Not gonna treat him any better. |
| “Make it your cause. Send down and the a part. Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? [regan takes goneril’s hand] O Regan, will you take her by hand?” (111) | Lear to Regan and Goneril.First part-praying to the heavens for helpSecond Part- Regan grabs Gonerils hand to say that they stand together and they are both against him. lear has no one. sad face. |
| “No! Rather I abjure all roofs, and choose to wage against the enmity o’ th’ air, to be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Necessity’s sharp pinch” (113) | Lear to Goneril and Regan.He would rather live outside with the elements than return to Goneril’s. Ironic because he will soon have be with the “fretful elements” in the storm, which is where completely loses his mind. |
| “I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad” (113) | Lear to Goneril. Regan in room.double meaning: make him angry and make him insane. She does both. |
| “I gave you all” (115) | Lear to Regan.He’s given them everything and they keep stripping him of his dignity-cutting down amount of knights he can have. treating him terribly. This line is tragic, but still his ego won’t let him release his knights. trying to preserve any sense of dignity he has. Regan responds “and all in good time you gave it” which is a ruthless thing to say. He gave them the land just in time for them to turn on him. |
| “Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favored when others are more wicked. Not being the worst stands in some rank of praise. I’ll go with thee” (115) | Lear to Regan and Goneril. Addressing Goneril when saying “I’ll go with thee”You’re both terrible, but Goneril is less terrible so i’ll go with her because she offers me 50 knights instead of 25. so that’s better. but then Goneril is like why do you need that many knights and Regan is like why do you even need one annnddd the next quote happens. |
| O, reason no the need!…Thou art a lady; if only to go warm were gorgeous, Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’s, Which scarcely keeps thee warm” | Lear to Regan and Goneril.It’s not about the need, it’s about preserving principle. Then talks about how a lady wears gorgeous and excessive outfits even though they serve no purpose; they just show a place in society. Back to what kent said about “a tailor made thee.” Just as clothing shows a ranking, knights do too. Lear has lost all love and is now losing all pride. |
| “No, you unnatural hags, I will have such revenges on you both That all the world shall- I will do such things-What they are yet I know not, but they shall be the terrors of the earth!” (117) | Lear to Goneril and Regan.Empty threat. Saying he will get revenge, but doesn’t have anything to do to them. they own all the land, so he can’t take that away. He has nothing on them. Eventually, the two will get revenge on each other which serves the same purpose. But this is an empty threat from Lear. |
| “O Fool, I shall go mad!” (117) | Lear to Goneril and Regan.he’s losing it. he’s gonna go out into the raging storm now, which is comparable to him losing his mind. Chaos everywhere. the storm just represents what’s going on in real life. |
| “‘Tis a wild night. My Regan counsels well. Come out o’ th’ storm.” (119) | Cornwall to Gloucester.He instructs Gloucester to lock Lear outside in the storm. aw:’) |
King Lear- Act 2
July 17, 2019