ipl-logo

Storm Motifs In Shakespeare's King Lear

1596 Words7 Pages

Taylor Gerard
Ms. Bradt
English Period 8
March 10, 2017
Storm Motifs in King Lear
Many call Hurricane Katrina the most infamous storm of the 21st century, making it's rank as the third most intense hurricane in the United States of America. With over 1,836 casualties and 700 still reported missing, the hurricane had a devastating effect on the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes can cause lasting and disastrous detriments on communities. In the example of Hurricane Katrina, the immediate impact damaged areas such as roads and businesses, but there were longer-term damages as well. This includes economic disruption, population loss, and broken infrastructure which oftentimes lasts years after the initial incident. Storms leave chaos and disruption in …show more content…

The storm motif continues when Shakespeare alludes to Lear's madness. “Tempest in my mind” (Shakespeare II.iv.15). The physical storm is an accurate reflection of Lear's psychological state. It represents the storm in Lear's mind caused by the splitting of the Kingdom, but it is not limited to the chaos in the Kingdom, but rather the chaos in Lear's own head. The physical storm is very important for the actual plot of the play, however, Lear's internal storm is much more significant. Lear craves the physical storm because he knows the storm in his mind is much more powerful. The meeting of Poor Tom pushes Lear over the edge into a state of true madness.“The extreme weather matches the extreme anger, hurt and disappointment that Lear feels, and this mix of emotions is carried to the audience primarily through the harsh “winds” and “thunder” (Khoza). This author shows how the winds and the thunder relate to the storm in Lear’s mind. In Shakespeare’s time directors were not able to create storm-like special effects. The language used by Lear when referring to the storm tend to turn the audience towards his own inner emotions. “Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a / gentleman or a yeoman?” (Shakespeare III.xi.8-9). "A king, a king!" (Shakespeare III.xi.10). The Fool asks Lear whether a madman is a gentleman or someone of ordinary status. Lear …show more content…

They also symbolized Lear's feelings of invincibility. Just like Hurricane Katrina the storm written about in King Lear had long term effects on many different areas. Not only physical, but psychological and theoretical as well. The physical storm, social storm, and inner storm all connect to each other strengthening Shakespeare's portrayal of madness throughout the play. Works Cited
AbdulRehman. “Storm Scene in King Lear.” Scribd, Scribd, www.scribd.com/doc/19652444/Storm-Scene-in-King-Lear. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.
Khoza, Chantelle. “What Is the Importance of the Storm Scenes in Shakespeare's 'King Lear'.” Academia.edu - Share Research, Academia, 2017, www.academia.edu/10716255/What_is_the_importance_of_the_Storm_Scenes_in_Shakespeares_King_Lear. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.
Maclean, Norman, and O. Alan Weltzien. “Episode, Scene, Speech, and Word.” The Norman Maclean Reader, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2012.
Ottilingam, Somasundaram. “The Psychiatry of King Lear.” Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Medknow Publications, 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2900000/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.
Shakespeare, William, and R. A. Foakes. King Lear. London, Bloomsbury,

Show More
Related
702 Words | 3 Pages

Storms are used in plots to represent a variety of things, but generally show a changing of perspective and allows for a revelation. True to form this is when David becomes the “hero” he is meant to be and finds out Elijah’s villainous scheme. The rain is used as a progressive set to push the hero into self-awareness of what's going on around him. David’s journey ultimately sets polarity between the characterization between hero and monster, since the journey always surrounds the hero in test of morality and heroism and the villain is in the background and

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

The Storm In the middle of the story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, there is a portion noted as “The Storm” where Victor is fighting a storm in his mind after the death of his youngest brother William. “The Storm'' represents the inner guilt Victor feels affiliated with the letting go of his creation, foreshadowing Victor’s future through the use of figurative language and past information. To begin, on page 78, personification is described as, “Night also closed around and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I still felt more gloomily”(Shelley 78). As Victor is approaching his home of Geneva, an uncanny storm begins to develop.

Read More
1010 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet integrates metaphors seamlessly, insuring that they are not overpowering, while also provoking the listener to question and consider the arguments he presents. While Hamlet’s dialogue expresses his own opinion, it also aims to inculcate his ideas on the listener, shifting from beginning with “But to my mind,” to decisively stating From that particular fault: the dram of

Read More
911 Words | 4 Pages

Danny Glover once stated, “When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf and the floodwaters rose and tore through New Orleans, it did not turn the region into a Third World country…it revealed one” (Glover). As the winds reached speeds of 100 to 140 miles per hour, water crashed against the levees, which in turn broke them, and flooded 80% of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina’s peak was a category five, but disintegrated into a category three just before landfall. The third deadliest hurricane is what Hurricane Katrina achieved.

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

Many more books show a usage of weather in their story, this combined to give an audience a profound piece of literature. The weather development predicted many conflicts of the

Read More
1336 Words | 6 Pages

No protagonist’s journey is complete without an antagonist there to reap in their sorrows. One could argue that King Lear there is no protagonist, but there are clear antagonists. Edmund, bastard son of Gloucester, is one of these painfully obvious villains. Every motive he has is to make himself the victor and drag someone else down. The treachery of Edmund’s villainy enhances the meaning of King Lear by putting him in situations that are not only dramatic, but outrageous.

Read More
1337 Words | 6 Pages

This further reveals that the appearance of the castle is related to the reality of the emotions felt between the characters actions. Macbeth’s guilt is displayed as dark and violent acts throughout the kingdom. A storm created by the witches is brewing when the play begins. The witches are speaking to one another saying “When shall we three meet again. In thunder, lightning, or in rain? ”

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

INTRODUCTION Catastrophes affect humanity all the time but two of the most memorable in history are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey. Hurricanes are first seen from the satellite. This means that the hurricanes are spotted right away, it gets predicted where its going to impact first and how strong it can be when it hits the ground. These hurricanes are extremely dangerous because of its high-speed winds it comes with and the amount of rain produced by them, this makes it worst because they can last for days.

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

The use of imagery in "Storm Warnings" conveys the literal and metaphorical meanings of the oncoming physical and emotional storms. Rich uses to imagery show the anxiety she is feeling about the storm in the beginning. For example, "The glass has been falling all the afternoon," and, "gray unrest moving across the land. " Both of these images have negative connotations, which show what she is feeling and what she sees.

Read More
322 Words | 2 Pages

In Frankenstein, on Victor’s way home after being away for six years, a key moment in the novel that weather sets the mood is when “It echoed from Saleve, the Juras, and the Alps of Savoy; vivid flashes of light dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake making it appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant, everything seemed of pitchy darkness, until the eye recovered from the preceding flash” (Shelley 50). The author, Shelley uses weather to describe the murder of his young brother, William. The weather conditions effect Victor’s mood and convey his emotional feelings of Victor as being scared, sad, or depressed. The imagery in the quote relates to the thunder thus a way to broadcast the murder of his younger brother across the land and

Read More
984 Words | 4 Pages

By utilizing the motif of birds both in the original orderly scene, and then in the ultimate chaotic scene, Shakespeare connects the two, showing the reader how order progresses into

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

The common aim of playwrights of any time or location is to capture and hold the attention of their audience; this is what Shakespeare has clearly done. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare 's most renowned plays. Through construction of intriguing characters, exploration of universal themes, use of comic relief and a well-written script featuring a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured the tragedy of Othello would hold the interest of the audience; despite being over four centuries old. It possesses so many conditions that can be accentuated to hit nerves with both a Shakespearean and modern audience. The entire plot of Othello is very much like the attitudes and methods of our modern day society.

Read More
1457 Words | 6 Pages

Using the new historicist perspective, Elizabethan audiences would have believed Hamlet’s madness was feigned. The new historicist perspective is important to prevent an anachronistic psychological interpretation of the play. Authors are respondents to their time period in which they lived. The author’s intent and intentions can be understood by analyzing literature on the basis of historical and cultural backgrond. By understanding the perception of madness during Shakespeare’s time, the new historicist view prevents modern readers from making faulty interpretations by incorporating modern knowledge of mental illness, and thus tarnishing the author’s

Read More
2448 Words | 10 Pages

1. ‘I’ll wrack thee with old cramps, / Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar, / That beasts shall tremble at thy din.’ (1.2.372-74) Interrogate the representation of violence in The Tempest.

Read More
1327 Words | 6 Pages

These metaphors refer to the blindness to the truth. Neither Lear nor Gloucester see the truth in the beginning of the play, but rather regard the truth as lie and vice versa. The constant reference to blindness in the play shows the importance of this flaw of the two characters. The fact that they are blind to the true characters of their children leads them to their tragic

Read More

More about Storm Motifs In Shakespeare's King Lear

Related Topics

Open Document