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We get to know a character through the relationship they have with others

Texts will often show the behavior of a character through interactions with other characters. This is an effective way to help an audience understand the true nature of that given character as it can help give subtle clues to who we’re going to follow. Relationships often show the layers of emotion that is present in that character along side the conflict that presents them as they make decisions. In William Shakespeare’s play ‘King Lear,’ the title character makes chaotic decisions that are driven through his relationship with his three daughters.

Significant Connections

Every piece of literature we consume has one factor in common. Influence. Cohesive texts will have a theme that a reader or audience can make mental connections to other texts with. This may be through how this text makes us reflect on ourselves or perhaps the genre in which the text is presented. A tragic hero is an effective character archetype that helps someone engaging with a text relate to the thought presented. Tragic hero’s were originally formalized by Aristotle. He conceptualized this outline for characters that could classify them as tragic. The most accepted tragic heroes would be those who are once great but during their peak, their excessive pride and other fatal flaws leads to a downfall resulting in all their fortune being lost. A tragic hero must also face a fate that is greater than deserved, this is often death or another calamitous situation. The point of having a flawed character who’s demise is inevitable is so audiences can reflect on their own human nature. As humans we are imperfect by nature through these characters we can see ourselves and understand the fault that we contribute to humanity. This realization creates a cathartic experience which helps us deal with our emotional build. Four texts that exemplify the idea of a tragic hero are King Lear, Citizen Kane, Gladiator and Game of Thrones season one. They are all significantly connected through the use of a tragic hero character.

Shakespeare’s King Lear is one literature’s classic texts that wears it’s influences from Greek Poetics on it’s sleeve. The texts shows it’s Greek roots by using Aristotle’s model of a tragic hero on the protagonist ‘Lear.’ Throughout the play we follow the story of an aging King who we know as Lear. Lear makes an executive decision to divide his great kingdom between his three daughters. In an attempt to satisfy his ego he presents his children with a prompt where they must express who loves him the most. Cordelia is truly the most loving and loyal child however she refuses to feed her father the deceitful affection that her sisters present which results in her banishment. Shakespeare intentionally presents the reader with Lear’s hamartia early on so we can swiftly recognize his hamartia. Hamartia is an essential component of the tragic hero archetype because it leaves audiences to reflect on their human nature. We realize that we could be very true that we are just as vulnerable to deceit as Lear is. The tragic hero character is a reflection of ourselves. We contemplate if we are just as blind. Pride is actually a common trait and often it can be confronting for audiences to follow a character like Lear where his pride is so essential to his downfall. It seems that one day he’s on top but through his wrath, through his pride, all the fortune he once encompassed, “A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows.” Lear loses everything and it’s only once he’s lost it he understands how he fell so far. At the end of the day, Lear just wants to feel like he’s loved. That’s why when Cordelia refuses to falsely express how much she actually love him, “I love my majesty according to my bond: no more, no less” it’s heartbreaking for Lear to hear. He may be too prideful to realize what true love is, but just like us, he wants to feel loved. That’s what a tragic hero makes us do, reflect. We empathize with Lear and when we realize how similar we are to him, it leads to a heavy cathartic experience.

Shakespeare isn’t the only literature figure to utilize the tragic hero outline. Classic cinema’s ‘Citizen Kane’ is a contemporary interpretation of this tragic blueprint. Orson Welles tells a compelling story that reflects how humans can be lead astray with greed and he critiques the “American Dream” that so many people had became fascinated with. Charles Kane can be connected to Lear through his character structure as both of them posses a hamartia which sends them down an unavoidable spiral resulting in their nemesis. For Kane, aside from his hubris has to battle greed as his greatest vice. He always wants more. Even when he’s successful, he wants more market share in the newspaper industry. Even when he has financial power he desires political status. Even when he has the perfect wife he needs a mistress to satisfy him. That’s why during his rise to the top, he cannot maintain it. His greed causes his downfall. It all crashes. Kane is not too different from Lear, their fatal flaw blinds both of them, “there’s only person who’s going to decide what I’m going to do and that’s me.” Kane is so confident in his abilities to succeed, there’s actually irony in the fact that his personality was a key driver to his success but and even bigger driver to his peripeteia. This is why the “tragedy genre” is such an effective structure to present Citizen Kane, an audience will reflect on how fragile of a characteristic pride really is. It helps put the world into perspective, “you know Mr Bernstein, if I had hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man,” here Kane shows self awareness of his excessive pride which in turn, makes audiences think about how there’s so much more to just recognizing our flaws, if we want a different ending to Kane in our own story we have to act upon our faults. So when we see Kane break down we feel pity because we could see it coming for so long and fear because he’s not too different to us.

With tragedy being such a popular genre of literature it ranges and innovates constantly. It’s first popularization came from Greeks and as discussed in Citizen Kane it was adapted into American media. Another sub-genre to create their own brand of tragic hero are the Roman’s. In the year 2000, Ridley Scott made a cinematic adaptation of a roman tragedy. In the film Gladiator we view the tragic rise and fall of Maximus, a once respected general turned slave. His connection to tragedy is true yet unique in it’s own right. The plot that revolves around him shows a rise in fortune and then a sudden peripatetic which comes as a result of his hubris. Maximus is yet again, a protagonist that falls victim of his own excessive pride. When Maximus has lost everything, he actually begins to have a rise in fortune, “Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. Maximus is driven by this vengeance, he knows that he’s a powerful soldier and general, although this is indeed true, it doesn’t mean that he will succeed. At the beginning of the film he makes his crucial decision which causes this spiral to happen, he chooses to resist Commodus instead of join him. His pride outweighs his intelligence. As Maximus continues on his path to vengeance, his pride drives him more than anything, people around believe in him and he becomes delusional to the fact that he is only just one man. It appears that he believes that he can single-handedly take down the roman government. He lives by what Marcus Aurelius tells him, “Death smiles us all. All a man can do is smile back”, here such an enormous amount of pride is displayed and it makes his failure so inevitable. Maximus helps put the world into perspective through his tragic qualities, even someone as remarkable and honorable as him cannot take on the world, this same characteristic is shown in Citizen Kane, as he believes that he can do everything from business to politics to family but they both can’t juggle everything. Audiences feel a release understanding that we’re so insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. If even Maximus is destined for failure, what does that mean for us?

The final tragic hero that I believe to be connected to the texts presented before is Eddard Stark, who was the protagonist of season one of Game of Thrones. Eddard is obsessed with honor, it comes before anything else in his life. Although Eddard possess high moral qualities, he struggles to see beyond them. He believes that everyone acts upon the same moral high ground as he does. Eddard is offered a position as ‘hand of the king’ due to his strong moral compass, just like Maximus, his great morals and pride take him to a place of achievement. But the refusal to compromise these believes both bring them to their peripeteia. With this new position Eddard falls more victim to his pride, “I am the King’s Hand, I was keeping the peace,” honor has been consumed by pride. Eddard believes with his new found power he is just, no matter the situation. However through his pride, he cannot see past his honor, and he gets falsely accused and thrown in prison. Here he is given the chance to spare himself, he is told he can confess to treason and he will be pardoned, the only condition is that he must give up his pride. This is where Eddard differs from Maximus, he actually accepts this offer, ”  I am Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King. I come before you to confess my treason, in the sight of Gods and men. I betrayed the faith of my King, and the trust of my friend, Robert.” The audience feels a sense of relief as Eddard has set aside his ego and can continue to live. That is until ten seconds later where his head is removed anyway. Catharsis here is so strong as our expectations from a tragic hero are completely subverted. We feel lost. Eddard seemed to have taken all the right step yet his fate is inevitable.

What makes literature so compelling is how we can view such a variety of texts that tell their own unique story, yet upon further inspection share many similarities. In King Lear, Citizen Kane and Game of Thrones, these texts consciously craft their protagonists to follow an outline that makes audiences reflect on themselves. We feels sorry, pity and fear when we understand why our heroes have fallen so far. We fear that we can relate to our protagonists so much. It’s scary to understand that we are not so different. That’s what a tragic hero does. Reflects our nature.

3.4 Task 2: Gladiator

Film has become the greatest channel for society to consume art, narratives and information. Motion pictures are remarkably dynamic and well crafted movies will have sufficient detail in every frame of the film. This is used to manipulate how we interpret the story as a whole. Directors can cleverly craft their cinematic experience through cinematic techniques such as effective camera shots and a large variety of sounds in order to expose and bring out the emotions of their audience. Directors want audiences feel a release during while consuming their art. Ridley Scott does this bu manipulating the traditional conventions of tragedy through his compelling use of cinematography and sound design in his epic drama film, ‘Gladiator.’ Utilization of close up camera work and his thoughtful composure of non-diegetic sounds help to encapsulate how our protagonist Maximus fulfills the conventions of a tragic hero which as a result makes audiences reflect on their human nature and undergo catharsis.

Empathy is a social behavior that is fundamental to our human nature, it allows us to effectively communicate and understand other people. It’s an important feeling because it warrants us, as people to want to protect those who may be important to us and vice versa. With empathy being such a vital function in our emotional responses to the world, art is often used as a passage to exploit and imitate our feelings and within the genre of tragedy, audiences are able to put themselves through a cathartic experience. Ridley Scott uses close-up camera shots and non-diegetic sounds to manipulate our feelings while watching Gladiator. We begin in the introduction to Gladiator, right after the exposition the first two camera shots that we are presented with are long cuts of close-up shots. The first close-up displayed is of a hand brushing through a wheat field, this use of close-up shot allows us to quickly establish how we should be perceiving this character due to the focus being on the ring on the hand. This is because traditionally audiences will interpret a ring to symbolize trust and loyalty due to marriage being associated with family values and commitment. This use of close-up manipulates the traditional conversions of tragedy as our Tragic Hero is supposed to be a generally ‘good’ character. Within this one shot we can quickly understand that our protagonist that we will be following will be good. This good character is presented in the next shot which reveals us Maximus’ face, it is brooding and stern. Through this one facial expression, we can quickly see how Scott manipulates the tragic hero conventions. This shot not only highlights his expression but his costume design as well. We soon see that is costume is significantly different, his clothes are more prestigious and rich as he wears well crafted amour and warm wolf fur. Contrasting this design are the other characters that he interacts with as they wear generic plate armor. This gives us a sense that Maximus has authority, this also hints towards his hubris, Maximus display excessive pride through his actions because he talks to his comrades as if he is of higher value than them. It is true that he is still strong, respectful and good in these interactions even if he talks with greater authority. The next film technique used to manipulate the conventions of tragedy is non-diegetic sounds. The moment Maximus visually appears on the screen, our ears are treated to a soft harmony of singing accompanied by gentle guitar picking. Audiences will associate this with tranquility and will release positive feelings to these sounds. Viewers will now associate Maximus with these feelings, this helps to employ the tragedy conventions by once again setting up Maximus as our tragic hero, this once again makes audiences believe our protagonist has good intentions. In the later half of this scene we see some action picking up, accompanying this the music also begin to pick up, we hear some orchestral music that is continuously speeding up in it’s tempo. This is a convention of Roman Tragedy where the story picks up in the middle of the action. In this part of the story Maximus is in the middle of a crusade in glory of Rome. Starting in the middle means we can learn lots about the character very fast through his actions and dialogue. The music elevates this tragedy convention by making the audience realize that Maximus is very capable in battle, it uplifts our perception of him which makes his story so much more cathartic by the time the film end.

Audiences root for underdogs. We enjoy rags to riches stories. It’s in our own human nature to see balance, if a weaker person can overpower a superior than we view it as just. This underdog convention is present in all tragedies because a tragic hero must experience peripetia. Scott presents this convention in Gladiator when Maximus must experience the harrowing event of his family being slaughters on the commands of Commodus. Scott uses the close-up camera angle as a device that accomplishes it’s purpose very succinctly in the film; the close-up effectively shows us the shock, horror and pain coursing through our protagonist. Although this is the beginning of Maximus’ reversal of fortune, it’s also his scene of suffering. There is nothing else that is more valuable to him than his family, not even his own life. The close-up shot elevates the scene of suffering to be so much more heartbreaking. For an audience, seeing every detail of Maximus’ face speaks a thousand work detailing what emotions he’s feeling and this is only over the span of a few seconds. Another cinematic technique that enhances the anguish of this scene is the use of non-diegetic sounds. It’s a powerful device that enhances our empathy for Maximus during this devastating scene. The audio consists of this fast paced, exciting orchestral music with harsh clashing symbols, this is used in order for us to have hope in Maximus’ situation. This is heroic music. We are tricked into believing that Maximus will rescue his family but as he gets closer to the farm house all of a sudden, the non-diegetic sounds are rather eerie. No matter how much the audience believed in Maximus, our hope is futile. The music is near inaudible until Maximus sees what become of his loved ones. The harmonizing voices enter the scene and leave audiences with a feeling of emptiness. These techniques enhance the catharsis that we experience during the scene of suffering and they work in cohesion. When our senses are exposed to the visual element of seeing Maximus’ devastated face whilst at the same time being stimulated by the somber non-diegetic sounds than catharsis is supremely enhanced. Combining these two elements exposes our senses to so much more, as seeing someone devastated plays with audiences’ emotions so much more when there’s music to reflect that. Once the non-diegetic sounds go quiet and we see Maximus’ that’s when the scene is truly the most sad. The scene sounds as empty as the audience feels. The close-up shots shows Maximus wailing in grief but the through Scott’s careful use of non-diegetic sounds we hear nothing. This merge of techniques shows us how little Maximus can do in this situation, that even if he howled in pain, that it cannot undo his loss. Maximus is powerless.

Tragedy is often a reflection of human nature. During discussions of human nature there’s this idea that we are unable to look away from tragedy and Gladiator is no exception of this. The introduction scene and the family loss scene work in union to fulfill the requirements of the tragedy genre. A fundamental part of a tragic story is peripetia and nemesis and the harmony created by the two scenes working together alongside their cinema techniques result in a manipulation of the traditional tropes of tragedy. In both scenes we see close-up shots of Maximus however his facial expressions are completely contrasted. In the introduction we see a bold, stern and powerful man leading one of the world’s most powerful armys. We see many of his positive characteristics such as his leadership skills and interactions where we see how well respected he is. This makes the family death scene so impactful because it’s difficult to see someone such as Maximus be so vulnerable. This contrast helps manipulate the audience into better understanding how far Maximus has fallen during his reversal of fortune. Non-diegetic sounds are also carefully implemented into the film to further play with the conventions of a tragedy. The opening shot of Maximus in the wheat field has nearly identical music to what we hear during the death of Maximus’ family. These two scene work together to help us better understand the journey of our tragic hero, when we first hear these non-diegetic sounds it acts as foreshadowing. The music has a meloncoly feel to it so as an audience we can expect that Maximus might have something grim coming his way. The combination of techniques come together masterfully to enhance the tropes of tragedy. The camera displays a close-up of Maximus’ hand which focuses on his wedding ring but when we later hear this music, it’s a close-up of his face again but the irony it’s during the death of the woman he is married to. Audiences will subconsciously recognize this pattern and it will make for a more compelling cathartic experience.

Tragedy is a compelling genre to present “an imitation of an action” such as human nature. Gladiator cleverly implements it’s visual and audio features to employ tragedy conventions in which these themes become apparent. Upon analysis of the introduction scene and the family death scene we can understand Maximus’ tragic hero traits which are enhanced through close-up camera shots and careful composure of non-diegetic sounds. These techniques consistently compliment each other in order for us to understand how Maximus experiences peripetia and hamartia which are essential to his tragic hero character archetype. These techniques were all intentionally chosen by Scott in order to enhance and manipulate the conventions of tragedy that so many of us are familiar with. Film is a platform where there is so much intentional crafting that goes into every single frame of viewing that something as simple as music may only be something we subconsciously think about however the catharsis and reflection of themes we have is more amplified than if these techniques were not present. Empathy. It’s in our nature as humans and the approach that Scott takes to Gladiator exploits this and as a result of this our emotions are purged. Even a story that’s set as long ago as Gladiator is, still reflects strong themes through its tragic conventions.

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In the film, Gladiator we follow Maximus who is our protagonist. We follow him through his journey from General of an army, to a slave that is treated worse than an animal to his own demise. We begin following Maximus as he leads the Roman army as they storm all the barbarians. This battle is the inciting incident and it helps the audience to become hooked into the action of the movie while simultaneously helping us to understand Maximus as a character. It’s here where we learn him to be a generally ‘good’ character, however because this is a tragedy he is not without flaw. Hubris. This is Maximus’ hamartia, it’s what causes his peripatetic, his reversal of fortune. It’s this defining characteristic that leads to his demise. In medias res we see how how Maximus goes from being the general of an army, to a slave who is worth nothing and we begin to see him rise up again, almost to as great as he once was, then he has his anagnorisis, his recognition. Maximus realizes half way into the story that the empire is greater than him, the society itself is flawed and that no matter what he does, there is nothing he can do to save the day. This helps for a cathartic experience for an audience to indulge in. And that my friends is where we are left with mr gladiator.

In the film gladiator, the story begins in medias res, which means we are introduced to the plot in characters in the middle of the events. This is a deliberate choice made to enhance the effect of tragedy, now why does this have such a potent effect on the audience? Well if this technique is used effectively than we can understand Maximus as a character by how he is acting in this very scene, we don’t need hours of story to tell us that Maximus is honorable and mostly a good character, we can learn this by the way he treats his soldiers and the situation that he in. In the beginning of the film we see Maximus at his best. He is a general in the roman army, he is well liked and respected by his peers and he is considered a fierce warrior. Cinematic techniques reveal this, such as the use of close up camera shots, through out the beginning of the film. We first see Maximus as a brooding figure, he is taking his situation very seriously, as an audience it is very easy to understand the emotions our protagonist. We are given a visual cue when Maximus is sad or upset and that teaches us that he is an empathetic good character.

Yes and no, it is true that Gladiator holds up to Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy. In this story line, we follow one singular plot thread that is explored through a multitude of characters, such as Maximus and Commodus. However, I would not consider this film to be plot driven, the events that occur in this film could only occur because of the characters themselves.

3.4 – The Tragic Hero

Influences are all around us, we are influenced by the people we love, hate and everything in between. Art is an imitation of life and with that, ‘influences’ change the way we create and interpret it. Shakespeare is possibly the most famous writer in our history and his writings still have impacts on the way we tell stories, make characters and even speak on a daily basis. Influence. No one is without it and it applies so someone as significant as Shakespeare himself. Aristotle was a philosopher who “fathered Western Philosophy” and created an outline for how a ‘tragic hero’ character behaves. Aristotle’s Poetics had a strong influence on the work of Shakespeare and he wrote his own ‘tragic hero’ characters. His play ‘King Lear,’ exemplifies this and helps an audience better understand Shakespeare intentions as a writer. The tragic hero archetype of character, helps us reflect on the world around us and lets the audience realize underlying themes such as human nature, blindness to reality and injustice within society. -again- art is an imitation of life.

As humans, we are all flawed to a degree, some more flawed than others. No one is perfect. This is part of human nature and no matter how good or bad someone’s intentions may be, there is no escaping imperfections. Aristotle’s tragic hero is a effective character model to highlight this part of human nature. Shakespeare’s King Lear uses the title character to have what Aristotle refers to as hamartia or as referred to before as a ‘fatal flaw.’ Lear’s hamartia is his excessive pride and wrath, pride is a reoccurring weakness with Aristotle’s tragic hero outline and Shakespeare carefully uses this outline to reflect on how everyone from a begger to a ruler is flawed. Lear’s hubris (Latin for excessive pride) is first seen in the play when he is dividing his kingdom and giving certain areas to his three daughters. In order to decide who would get the “third more opulent” piece of land in the country. Strong demonstrations of Lear’s pride is shown in this scene as it takes a truly proud person to force their daughters to lie about their love in order for you to allow them a prosperous future. This doesn’t make Lear an inherently bad character, he actually is dividing his kingdom because he believes his daughter to be effective leaders, “Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state.” Lear’s pride makes him a more authentic character and display’s Shakespeare’s ideas of human nature. Shakespeare carefully uses animal imagery to show how a character is behaving. Lear is described as a dragon by himself, “come not between the dragon and his wrath,” here we can understand his hamartia being his pride and his wrath. Perfection. The inability to be ‘perfect’ is what comes across as the most prominent theme with Shakespeare’s use of the tragic hero. Lear is not perfect because he is too wrathful and too prideful. An Elizabethan audience would be particularly challenged by this as a King is a divine ruler that was viewed as if God himself has selected them to rule. Lear’s hamartia reflects this and even a modern day audience can appreciate this theme when reading between the lines of the play. 

Every story must come to an end. Just like life itself, a tale must begin and end. Tragic heroes such as Lear must experience whats known as peripeteia or a ‘reversal of fortune.’ Aristotle himself believes that “tragedy is the an imitation of an action,” this action can be of life itself and that’s why we reflect on the art that is theatre. In the world that surrounds us, we are constantly exposed to injustice, society itself is as flawed as the tragic hero characters that we follow. Shakespeare intends to highlight how cruel this world can be because of the injustice imposed on Lear. Shakespeare uses the influence of Aristotle to make his protagonist experience peripeteia or a reversal of fortune. For Lear, his peripeteia begins when his daughter ‘Goneril,’ decides that she will have Lear remove half of his knights, “men must endure, their going hence, even as their coming hither.” This is the first instance of Lear losing his authority to someone who is of lesser power than him. This decision may seem relatively minor however this is just the tip of the iceberg because as the story arc progresses, actions occur against Lear become more severe which ultimately leads into his demise. Lear’s luck diminishes from here. Kicked out of his own kingdom. Losing his authority. Loss of his daughter. Loss of his own life. This is an important part of the ‘tragic hero’ arc because it exposes the reality of life to it’s imperfections, even the highest form of power is susceptible to the flaws of the world. Reversal of fortune is also highlighted through the way Lear articulates himself. When he is in his best mental state, he talks in what’s known as ‘verse,’ this is because of his nobility, this form of speech is very well crafted and well spoken. This is how a king should speak in the universe of Shakespeare, however as the play digresses we begin to see a subtle shift in Lear’s diction. Prose. Lear begins to speak in everyday language that has no rhythm or structure, it reflects how he is beginning to think like a common man, he is less than a king, he has fallen down the great chain of being. This makes his reversal of fortune more harsh to the audience because not only in his actions is he deteriorating, but in his speech. His downfall is so obvious through Shakespeare’s diction shifts. But does Lear deserve this fall? Injustice is a commonly discussed theme across all forms of literature because it will never, not be relevant. A flawless reality is far from us, especially in Elizabethan times, a time where we had inferior genders, sexuality, races and classes. We still discuss this text today because in many ways, we haven’t surpasses these faults in society, however with Lear’s peripeteia we can ponder on this faults. Lear’s fate isn’t deserved, yes, he is flawed and his actions are often a product of his flaws however the loss of lives doesn’t match these short comings, “Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones: Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so, that heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever!” The loss of Cordelia is the most suffering that Lear is capable of receiving, it completely outweighs any of the ill-doings that Lear is responsible for which truly makes his character tragic. This causes us to think about how if Lear is susceptible to such injustice, than what does this mean for the common man? Does injustice plague all of society? These are the kind of reflections that Shakespeare want to provoke in us. It is his intention to make the audience question if we are satisfied with the balance of good and evil in the world.

Through our failures, only then can we discover ourselves. If we constantly achieved what we desired, than we would have no reason to improve ourselves. Why would we aspire to do anything if we had no risk of failure? This is why anagnorisis or recognition is an essential part of the tragic hero’s journey, it helps to teach an audience a crucial lesson, the idea of ‘blindness.’ Shakespeare repetitively uses ‘eye’ imagery to make the audience reflect on how easy it is to be unaware of a painfully honest truth. Shakespeare carefully creates a parallel plot to Lear using Gloucester, he is a man who has also had his children lie and manipulate him in order to exploit his power. During the climax of the play, Gloucester gets his eyes gouged out which reflects how he is unable to see any truth in this world. Ironically once he is literally blind, he is finally able to see the world for how it is, the deception placed upon him is clear. This use of eye imagery and parallel plot is a convention used by Shakespeare to help the audience understand the tragic hero better. Just like Gloucester, Lear is only able to view the truth once he has had all these horrific events happen to him. With his dead, beloved daughter in his arms Lear is finally able to recognize himself. His actions. His ill doings. They all become obvious to him. Lear has been blind to which daughter truly loves him, “No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I’ll not love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.” It’s when he loses what truly matters, he can understand himself. Audiences can see themselves in this aspect of the tragic hero, humans need to understand their where they have gone wrong in order to reverse them, “A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows” Shakespeare intends to show to audiences that reality isn’t always obvious, we should see ourselves in Lear, we should reflect on if we can truly recognize ourselves, possibly, we may not want to recognize ourselves, in fear of the truth being too real.

Flawed. We as humans are destined to make mistakes and have short comings. In Shakespeare’s King Lear we are able to see how vulnerable someone as mighty as a King may be, this further leads us as the audience to see how tragedy is an imitation of life and how a tragic hero is an imitation of your everyday man. Aristotle’s poetics and extracts create the foundation of some of literature’s most famous stories and through that, William Shakespeare can get his intentions across. Aristotle’s infrastructure for a tragic character highlights important themes such as human nature, injustice and blindness to show how something as simple as a flaw can lead to all of your luck and fortune taking a steep turn leading into the demise and it’s only then, when you realize your true self and how flawed you are. This is what Shakespeare wants us to reflect on. There is so much theme and intention hidden between the lines of this script. Through writing techniques, symbolism and imagery, this all comes across to the audience. Shakespeare created this play over 300 years ago and somehow these ideas are more relevant than ever, we are exposed to fake news, injustice and human error every single day. These themes are forever with us, we will never escape injustice much in the same way we will never escape flaw. Audiences after experiencing this text will be left contemplating if society has really changed that much? Are we our own worst enemy?

Bronnie’s Bountiful (B)introduction

Q: The most important characters are those who challenge us

“I am a man more sinned against than sinning” King Lear wails at his only loyal servant. He’s lost it all, how could a man who had it all, lose it all so swiftly? This is how us, the reader are challenged whilst reading William Shakespeare’s famous tragic play, ‘King Lear.’ Here we see how a role model person such as a king can slip up after being so wrathful, prideful and blind to the truth. This is particularity challenging for an Elizabethan audience because the King is the ‘be end, end all’ power outside of god. It’s confronting to see a figure that you have believed to be so powerful your whole life, all of a sudden be extremely flawed and manipulated. It’s important to be challenged bu a character because it’s a mirror into our reality, it helps us reflect on how society and humans tend to act. King Lear displays this.

Me Drama Notes :)))

Hello everyone, I am your director, Bronson Toghill and today we will be presenting the conventions of Bertolt Brecht and how he may apply his style of dramatic theatre to King Leah, a play written by William Shakespeare. The purpose of this is to demonstrate what a play that does not use brechtian conventions turns into when these conventions are applied.

Now before I show off these features I will go through a brief outline of who Bertolt Brecht is and how his life influenced his style of theatre. Brecht’s style heavily focused on the message that the production was trying to present to the audience. The characters were merely crutches used as a tool to present Brecht’s theme and were no means the subject of the performance. The message that Brecht would try to exhibit very topical ideas, ideas that were challenging and showed real world social and political meaning and it was quite challenging.

This concept of focusing on the social context lead to strong alienation within the performance, you weren’t supposed to become invested in a character, you’re not supposed to suspend your disbelief. What you see in a Brechtian style play is not realism. So many of Brecht’s techniques involved this concept of alienation and the features I will be discussing Narration, stereotypes, episodic structure, signs and song. Alienation is an important word to remember as all these features that I have brought up all revolve around it.

Now in this workshop, I would like to demonstrate how Brecht may apply his theatre techniques to the Shakespearean play; King Leah. I have chosen this play to demonstrate Brechtian features because it has very strong overarching themes that are quite hard to grasp onto because unless you truly dissect it, themes, themes such as injustice and blindness to the truth will be what I will be hoping to emphasise today. The characters are what the audience latches onto however with a brechtian style we characters lose focus and we become involved with the the commentary of the play.

Example 1: Narration

The first Brechtian technique I would like to show is narration. Narration is a commentary that directly tells the audience what is happening, it may provide contextual understanding of the setting, maybe give us some insight into what the character is thinking or just literally saying what is occurring in this very scene. Narration is a useful Brechtian tool to enhance the idea of alienation because it constantly reminds us that we are watching a production, we are not to empathise with these characters, we are to observe them for the message of the play. I have chosen this feature as I believe it to be the pinnacle of alienation. I’m going to demonstrate two versions of the same scene. I would now like to ask my volunteers to come up and help me demonstrate this. One version of the scene will be acted regularly using realism and then the second version will be performed using Narration the way Brecht would and hopefully this will help us to understand what a piece may look like with a Brecht style. Here we have a scene where in the play, King Lear is asking his daughters to express their love for him and the most loving daughter will receive the greatest amount of share in the kingdom. Upon asking Cordelia, his most faithful and honest daughter, the interaction goes as follows;

KING LEAR

The vines of France and milk of Burgundy

Strive to be interess’d; what can you say to draw

A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

CORDELIA

Nothing, my lord.

KING LEAR

Nothing!

CORDELIA

Nothing.

KING LEAR

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

CORDELIA

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

According to my bond; nor more nor less.

KING LEAR

How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,

Lest it may mar your fortunes.

Alrighty, now that we’ve seen how this have been performed normally, now coming up we will see a tweaked version of the same scene of the play, here the volunteers will have the same script however between lines I will be narrating everything that happens.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

King Lear stares eagerly at his most beloved daughter, ‘Cordelia.’ After hearing the “grand” praises given to him from his other two daughters, he can only imagine what Cordelia might say

KING LEAR

The vines of France and milk of Burgundy

Strive to be interess’d; what can you say to draw

A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Cordelia stands there disgruntled, knowing how false the worlds coming from her sister’s mouths were. She feels disappointed in her father for having to need her approval this bad.

CORDELIA

Nothing, my lord.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Nothing? Lear is shocked to hear this. How could she be so stubborn? Little does he know that by Cordelia not exaggerating her love, that she is actually being the most loyal and genuine.

KING LEAR

Nothing!

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Cordelia straightens her posture and boldly reinforces her point to Lear as she does not want to hide her true feelings:

CORDELIA

Nothing.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Internally, Lear knows better of Cordelia. He doesn’t want to dismiss her so quickly. He really wants to know how much she loves him. Part of him would prefer if she was dishonest, if it were to boost his ego

KING LEAR

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

She must be honest, there is too much deception in this world. She gracefully explains to Lear why she feels this way

CORDELIA

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

According to my bond; nor more nor less.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Lear just wants to give Cordelia the opportunity to rule some part of the land even though now, he realises it’s futile

KING LEAR

How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech

Lest it may mar your fortunes

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Now thank you for that volunteers, now that you guys have seen how those two scenes have played out, I want to discuss how this technique changed the extract to become more Brechtian. As we discussed earlier, we really want the audience to feel disconnected and alienated from the piece and by adding narration to the extract all of a sudden we lose immersion, we become strongly aware that we are watching a play. All of a sudden, a theme like ‘being blind to the truth’ becomes exemplified. With the use of this tool, we are more perceptive into how these characters think, now the play is telling you that, now the audience is focusing less on the character interaction and more on the themes surrounding them. The idea of Lear being blind to the truth is obvious as the narrator is constantly reinforcing it. This should also hopefully highlight Lear’s Hamartia or Fatal Flaw which is his excessive pride because in the narration, it is claimed that he would be okay with her being dishonest if it inflated his ego, and that is truthful to the original play, we just care less about Lear as a character and more of what he is preaching. The narrator was literally telling you what was happening, even though there was already realistic character dialogue. The characters feel less relatable and you detach from them however in doing so, the theme is presented to you more full on. In a normal viewing of King Lear, it’s so easy to get lost in the plot and characters, that unless explained to you, the themes can easily fly over your head.

Example 2: Stereotypes

The next feature I will be discussing is stereotypes. Stereotypes can be explained as overgeneralization of certain groups of people. This can be displayed through movement mannerisms or dialogue quirks. A lot of the time that you hear about stereotypes in the real world, they are used negatively however Brecht turns stereotypes into a very effective tool to (once again) alienate the audience. Once again we are detaching ourselves from the characters as they feel less realistic and individual characters stop feeling imports and this results in the audience better understanding a theme. Now once again I will get my volunteers to demonstrate how this scene looks normally versus with Brechtian features, the volunteers will be doing their best to exemplify how a Stereotypical old senile man would talk and how a stereotypical noble woman during the elizabethan times would act.

KING LEAR

What place this is; and all the skill I have

Remembers not these garments; nor I know not

Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;

For, as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

CORDELIA

And so I am, I am.

KING LEAR

Be your tears wet? yes, ‘faith. I pray, weep not:

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.

I know you do not love me; for your sisters

Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:

You have some cause, they have not.

CORDELIA

No cause, no cause.

KING LEAR

Am I in France?

Using stereotypes makes these characters feel so unrelatable and distant. The mannerisms used are meant to make audiences feel as if this were unrealistic and that the writer had never met a women and just made up a role based on his knowledge on society. I believe that this application of stereotypes in this scene strongly highlights the injustice that has occured in the play. The fact that Lear’s old and senile acting is more apparent makes us realise how easy it was for his other two daughters to manipulate him, even though it’s Lears fault for having excessive pride, we can see through the stereotype of ‘old men all being clueless’ how easy it was for the people around him to leech onto his own flaws. For Cordelia, we can also see that she experiences injustice by being a victim of her time period, where by being honest and loyal, her sex limits her to being able to really have a place in the world. Only by dishonest means were her sisters able to obtain the land/power that they did. Stereotypes also help display injustice because they within themselves are injustice. What I mean by this is that although the tool highlights that theme, the tool itself is a metaphor for injustice because by portraying these characters in such a way is a disservice to the group of people that identify in a similar manner. The audience better understands the injustice in the play because the portrayal of certain groups of people is injustice in its own right.

Example 3: Freeze frame

It was not uncommon for a Brechtian performance to just go still. This is known as a freeze frame and it was a convention used to highlight a certain moment in a scene that’s particularly important or symbolic. This could be an opportunity to get a character to break the fourth wall and talk to the audience or it could just be a still that really makes the audience reflect what is going on. Freeze frames really break the flow of the piece and is another reminder to the audience that they’re just watching a play. It’s very difficult to become attached to the characters and world of the play when it is starting and stopping. If you were to do a freeze frame on a particular moment it can be quite powerful and makes any theme obvious. The way I will be presenting this is during the final scene where Lear enters with a deceased Cordelia in his arms. At the end of Lear’s harrowing speech.

Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms;

KING LEAR

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so

That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She’s dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives

Now that we’ve seen that, we can see how powerful a still image is. The intent of making this extract a freeze frame acts as a reflection of the events that we have seen. We have a moment to just sit and think about the pain Lear is in right now. We reflect on the innocence lost and what the world has come to while we just sit and observe the grief in Lear’s expression. We may feel distant from the play but the themes hit us harder than ever. The theme of injustice could not come across more perfectly than it does there. And then later after this King Lear dies of grief. This freeze frame can be a symbol of how cold and ‘frozen’ his heart becomes.

Example 4: Signs

Another Brecht concept I will investigate is how he used ‘Signage’ in his plays. Signs are messages/words that were used to tell the audience what something literally was. Like a character might have “farmer” attached to him. Or a scene would be named and an actor would be holding the sign until the next scene. Sign is a very effective tool for alienation because in realism, characters and scene wouldn’t just be wearing a piece of playcard that told us who they were or where they were. We become disconnected by being constantly aware that we are watching a play. I will now bring back my volunteers and I will display a scene where Lear is in the wild during a storm with The Fool and he is taking off his clothes, in this scene I have labelled Lear as “King” but with “Senile old Man” hidden under it. While the Fool is labelled as ‘Truth Wielder” and while this happens there will be a another sign telling the Audience the setting.

KING LEAR

Ha! here’s three on

‘s are sophisticated! Thou art the thing itself:

unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare,

forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings!

come unbutton here.

Take’s off Sign

Fool

Prithee, nuncle, be contented; ’tis a naughty night

to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were

like an old lecher’s heart; a small spark, all the

rest on’s body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire.

Now that we’ve seen that we can see how unnatural it is to have characters with signs on them that tell us their role. Now the reason why I think that this scene is an excellent application of signage is because of how it portrays the characters. King Lear hides behind his title of King but as he strips his clothes off, he symbolises how he has fallen down the Great Chain of Being, which is essentially a hierarchy of power, once a king now the same worth of a peasant. In the real play Lear would have taken his clothes off but here the sign tell us the symbol directly. This is the alienation effect.

Example 5: Song

The final Brechtian tool I would like to show off will the the use of song. Song is traditionally used in theatre as music to help convey emotion, establish a mood or as a storytelling device and Brecht did use song in this sense however when he included it in his work it was used a bit of a more unique way. If you were watching a play that was discussing various social issues that plagued society than all of a sudden the actors burst out into song in dance than that would be extremely alienating, this is what Brecht intended to do however he would add an extra layer of alienation by making the song feel so out of place in the actual context of the play, like maybe if it were a really sad scene he would play cheerful music and then all of a sudden you once again realise you’re watching a play. This can often bring out the message as well through irony or critical thinking. To demonstrate this feature, I have created a video where in the play, the Earl of Gloucester is getting his eyes plucked out and the song “I can see clearly now” by Jimmy Cliff

Now that we have seen that, I will now discuss how this feature changed the narrative of the scene. If we had been watching this play through its entirety we would’ve felt very estranged and then once we had heard the positive sound and lyrics ESPECIALLY during the climax of the play, it would actually be quite humorous. But there’s a reason why I chose this song in particular, is that the lyrics state “I can see clearly now” and in the scene Gloucester is literally having his eyes plucked out and it’s really offbeat to hear during such a serious and disturbing scene. However this tool helps us delve deeping into the meaning of the play. Earlier I talked about how Brechtian features may enhance themes and one of those themes was “being blind to the truth” well in this part of King Lear, the plucking of Gloucester’s eyes is a symbol for how he can finally see the truth and that’s ironic because he can only see now that he’s blind. Originally Gloucester cannot see the deceitfulness that his son Edmund until he full on plucks his eyes out and he realises that his other son Edgar, who Edmund claimed was plotting against him was loyal the whole time. Another lyrics from the song is “gone are the dark clouds that made me blind” and this further highlights the irony that the song gives to us and a once disturbing scene now becomes more impactful and more obvious to realise the themes. This lyrics is particularly insightful as in the parallel plot line with Lear, the storm symbolises his ongoing insanity, the dark clouds for Glocester could be his internal gullibility and now that he is no longer gullible he can see.

Sources: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.html

Lizzy Beth Times

The important thing to consider when considering how an Elizabethan audience would interpret a Shakespeare play is what the common beliefs were at the time. Many followed Protestantism which means they heavily reflected and believed in the religious themes within the play. The great chain being seems unimportant to a modern day audience however the immediate breaking of the chain would have been shocking for an Elizabethan audience as it goes against everything they know. To them, no one shall be greater than the king so when Lear falls down the chain to the same level as plant, it’s really crazy.

People of the time also had very sexist beliefs, it was okay to hit your wife, they were all house maids and the female characters were all acted by males because females couldn’t have a role in society outside of the traditional wife life. This sexism would have influenced the way they interpreted the performance. When they see a female character doing something empowering or outside what they were expected than it was uncomfortable, confronting and off-putting. From a modern day audience’s perspective, our thoughts on Lear turn negative rather soon into the play and even though we know the Goneril and Regan are bad, we don’t see their actions of locking Lear out of the castle as unjustified, however for the Elizabethan audience would think that this is foul play on their behalf.

The reason why a lot of the acting was very script heavy with every line explaining in detail what a character was doing is because the production didn’t have advanced technology or even a large budget. So lighting would have been regular room lighting, actors had to speak loudly as theaters could be rather large and there would be plenty of people talking in the audience.

King Lear: Character

The reason why Lear is true to the ‘tragic hero’ trope is because he fulfills all of the five characteristics. His error of judgement is his inability to judge sincerity within his daughters when he divides his land. This is his hamartia, he would rather be lied to if it meant feeding his ego. His intentions when splitting up his land are good intentions however his error of judgement gets the better of him which has a snowball effect leading to his characters fall. His hamartia leads directly into his peripetia.

His reversal of fortune is when he is kicked out of his castle and is forced to survive in the wild. Here we see how all of actions have lead to him being banished from his own kingdom, then time after another we see him break and reconnect with the world, only to break again. He used to rule England, now we see him completely naked. He was once at the top of the great chain of being, now he’s completely fallen off and is at the bottom, his flower crown symbolises how he percieves himself as less valuable than plant life (which is at the very bottom of the great chain). He’s gone from riches to rags, a complete reversal of fortune.

Lear’s recognition, that helps him fit the tragic hero role, occurs right as Cordelia has died. His most treasured and lovely daughter has fallen at the expense of his own actions and now those actions are confronting him directly. It’s not until he’s lost everything that’s truly important to him, that he can realise how much it meant to him. It is truly painful to see what he has done to Cordelia.
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever! He say’s howl because he is howling in pain at his grief over his lost daughter.

An example of Lear’s hamartia is also his hubris, which is his excessive pride. This is quite a defining fatal flaw