I was perusing Marjories Garber’s take on King Lear and there was a lot of mention of nothing, bond, and other economic terms. Interesting, but we’ve already been talking a lot about that. In class, there has been a lot of discussion on craziness and madness. In the first couple of scenes, Lear says and prays out several times to not go mad. Then he finally does go mad or so it seems. Garber suggests that Lear’s madness becomes contagious and an emblem or touchstone. “Most evidently, and perhaps most importantly, madness permits the maddened victim to speak the truth, like a licensed fool, and be disbelieved. A madman or madwomen is a sublime version of a fool-in the confines of theater,”(678). So for us to get to the truth or see the truth, everyone has to get over themselves and get mad to do so. In scene IV, Edgar says,”O, matter and impertinency mixed-Reason is madness!”
So even though it seems that they’re all going crazy, they’re actually seeing with clarity for the first time in the play. Lear decides that he can take on the role of the fool himself, and to a point does a pretty good job. The world isn’t as grand as it seems to be in retirement. I’m not sure why I like this line so much, but I do. Lear,”When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” Are we all fools?
To be, or not to be: 