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CORDELIA, KING LEAR AND
HIS FOOL.
CHAPTER IV
Our interpretation of the couplet at the end of Act 1
depends on an understanding that Lear's world consists of some people who speak
as if the world is soon to end, and an assumption that King James and Jacobean
audiences could have felt this. Scattered throughout the play are numerous
images drawn from apocalyptic literature. Our purpose here is to note a few of
these images, and what they might have suggested in Jacobean times.
Before
we refer to relevant passages in Lear it might be worth having several
apocalyptic passages from the Bishops Bible before us. Matthew 24 reads:
And
Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for
to shewe him the buildings of the temple. 2. Jesus sayd vnto them, See ye not
all these things? Verely I say vnto you, there shall not be left here one stone
vpon another, that shall not be destroyed. 3. And as he sate vpon the mount of
Oliues, the disciples came vnto him secretly, saying, Tel vs, when shall these
things be? and what shalbe the token of thy comming, and of the end of the
world? 4. And Jesus answered, and said vnto them, Take heede that no man
deceiue you. 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ: and shall
deceiue many. 6. It will come to passe, that ye shall heare of warres, and
rumors of warres: See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come
to passe, but the end is not yet. 7. For nation shall rise up against nation,
and realm against realm, and there shall bee famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes in certaine places. 8. All these are the beginning of sorowes. 9.
Then shall they put you to trouble, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my names sake. 10. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shal hate one another. 11. And many false
prophets shal rise, and shal deceiue many. 12. And because iniquitie shall
abound, the loue of many shall ware cold.
13. But he that shall endure vnto the end, the same shall be saued. 14.
And this Gospell of the kingdome shall be preached in all the world, for a
witnesse vnto all nations, and then shall the end come. 15. When ye therefore
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand
in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him vnderstand,) 16. Then let them which
be in Jury, flee into the mountaines, 17. And let him which is on the house
top, not come downe to fetch any thing out of his house: 18. Neither let him
which is in the fielde, return backe to fetch his clothes. Woe shall bee in
those dayes to them that are with child, and to them that give sucke. 20. But
pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day: 21.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor in any wise shall be. 22. Yea, and except those
daies should be shortened, there should no flesh bee saued: but for the chosens
sake those dayes shall be shortened. 23. Then if any man shall say vnto you,
Loe, here is Christ, or there: beleeue it not. 24. For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signes, and wonders: in so
much that (if it were possible) they shall deceiue the very elect. 25. Behold,
I have tolde you before. 26. Wherefore, if they shall say vnto you, Behold, he
is in the desert, goe not forth: Behold, he is in the secret pleces, beleeue it
not. 27. For as the lightening commeth out of the East, and shineth into the
West: so shall also the comming of the sonne of man be. 28. For wheresoeuer the
dead carkeise is, euen there will the Eagles also bee gathered together. 29.
Immediatly, after the tribulation of those dayes, shall the Sunne be darkened,
and the Moone shall not giue her light, and the starres shall fall from heauen,
and the powers of the heauens shalbe shaken. 30. And then shall appeare the signe of the sonne of man in
heauen: and then shall all the kindreds of the earth mourne, and they shall see
the sonne of man comming in the clouds of heauen, with power and great glory.
31. And hee shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his chosen from the foure winds, euen from one end of
heaven to the other. 32. Learne a parable of the figge tree: When his branch is
yet tender, and the leaues sprung, ye know that summer is nigh: So like wise
ye, when ye shall see all these things, be sure that it is neere, euen at the
dores. 34. Verely I say vnto you, this generation shall in no wise passe, till
all these things be fulfilled....45. Who then is that faithfull and wise seruant,
whome his lord hath made ruler ouer his houshold, to giue them meat in season?
46. Blessed is that seruant, whome his lorde when he commeth, shall find so
doing.
Mark's account of the same discussion,
contained in Mark 13, differs in several ways that seem to be reflected in Lear.
Mark 13 reads:
12.
The brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the sonne: and
children shall rise against their fathers and mothers, and shall put them to
death. 13. And yee shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but hee that
shall endure vnto the end, the same shalbe safe. 14. Moreover, when ye see the
abomination of desolation, whereof is spoken by Daniel the Prophet, standing
where it ought not (let him that readeth, understand) then let them that are in
Jurie, flee to the mountains....20. And except that the Lord had shortened
those dayes, no flesh should be saued: but for the elects sake whom he hath
chosen, he hath shortened those dayes....33. Take yee heed, watch and pray: for
yee know not when the time is....35. Watch ye therefore (for ye know not when
the master of the house commeth, at euen, or at midnight, whether at the cocke
crowing, or in the dawning).
Luke's account in chapter 21 adds:
28.
And when these things begin to come to passe, then looke vp, and lift vp your
heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
These
passages have traditionally been interpreted as providing signs for the end of
the world. Historically, when events of the nature of the imagery mentioned in
these verses occur, there have always been people who have interpreted them as
portents of divine visitation and the end of time, even though Jesus stated
that these signs would have their fulfilment during the lifetime of his generation
(Matthew 24:34) in the destruction of the temple. We will introduce evidence to
show that James and Jacobean people believed they were living in the last days
before the end of time. But first let us see the relevance of these passages to
Lear.
Consider
Gloucester's comment (1.2.100-106) after Edmund has deceived him into believing
Edgar has designs upon his life.
These
late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us: though the wisdom of
nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourg'd by the
sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities,
mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked
'twixt son and father.
Whether or not Gloucester is here
supposed to have the biblical passages in mind matters not. It is what the
audience could have made of the language that matters. The reference to
eclipses could well have suggested Matthew 24:29, "shall the Sunne be
darkened, and the Moone shall not giue her light". Matthew 24:12 says "the loue of many
shall ware cold" which seems to be echoed in "love cools", while
the words "brothers divide" and "the bond cracked 'twixt son and
father" seem to "fulfil" Mark 13:12.
Banished
Kent's comment concerning the reason for his disguise - "If thou canst
serve where thou dost stand condemn'd, So may it come, thy master whom thou
lov'st, Shall find thee full of labour" 1.4.5-7, seems to suggest Matthew 24:46, "Blessed is that seruant,
whome his lorde when he commeth, shall find so doing." Although there may
be some question as to which master it is that Kent has in mind at this point,
God or Lear, a connection could have been made between Kent's aside and Matthew
24:46.
These
several allusions to Matthew and Mark create a mood which could lead to an
association of "except things be cut shorter" of the couplet at the
end of Act 1 with Mark 13:20, "And except that the Lord had shortened
those dayes, no flesh should be saued: but for the elects sake whom he hath
chosen, he hath shortened those dayes." James, we will see, could well
have been expected to run over the rest of this verse in his mind, especially
if there were a short break between the Acts. The Folio replaces
"except" with "unless" perhaps because Shakespeare was not
sure that the general public could make the connection. At this point in the
Folio production the Fool might have been tucking her plaited (pleated or
plighted) hair, which has slipped out, back in under the coxcomb and is
contemplating cutting her plaits off. We have already mentioned that James and
Jacobean audiences would have seen Cordelia as being "elect" to the
throne of England from the folklore where she actually returns to reign in
England.
Act
2 begins with Curan meeting Edmund and informing him of the
"whisper'd" news "yet ear-bussing arguments" of
"likely wars ... 'twixt the two Dukes of Cornwall and Albany". This
talk of war might have been expected to suggest the "warres, and rumors of
warres" of Matthew 24:6, and coming immediately after the Fool's couplet,
would tend to confirm any thought that the Fool was in fact Cordelia, the elect
Queen of England, who in the couplet is expressing concern that she might die
except these days of tribulation are cut short.
The
action then proceeds with brother (Edmund) against brother (Edgar), son
(Edmund) against father (Gloucester), and father (Gloucester) against son
(Edgar), which, of course, fits the apocalyptic predictions in Mark 13.
In
the opening of Act 2 Scene 2, when Kent meets Oswald at Gloucester's gate there
is an interesting difference between the Quarto and Folio readings. The Quarto
has Oswald saying, "Good euen to thee....", while the Folio reads
"Good dawning to thee...." The reason for the difference might perhaps
be explained in terms of the language of Mark 13:35:
Watch
ye therefore (for ye know not when the master of the house commeth, at euen, or
at midnight, whether at the cocke crowing, or in the dawning).
This appears to be the only time
"Good dawning" is used by Shakespeare, and as a term of greeting it
seems quite odd. He was able to say good morning, or good morrow. Was this
change from "euen" to "dawning" an attempt to keep the
apocalyptic passage before the audience?
Before
the close of Act 2 we will see the full force of the two daughters' opposition
to their father, so that by the beginning of Act 3 we have the fulfilment of
Mark 13:12 to the extent that a brother is betraying his brother to death, a
father his son: and children have risen against their father. Lear is thrust
out into the "bleak winds" of the winter storm on the heath.
The
prophecy which the Fool speaks at the end of Act 3 Scene 2 finishes with:
Then
shall the realm of Albion
Come
to great confusion:
Then
comes the time, who lives to see't,
That going shall be used with feet.
This
prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time.
Despite the attributing of this
prophecy to Merlin, "Then comes the time" could have been meant to
echo the prophetic "the time is come" of Revelation 14:15, and
"Then commeth the end, when he shal haue deliuered vp the kingdome to
God", of 1 Corinthians 15:24. It
could also have been meant to echo Matthew 24:14 "then shall the end
come." The words "who lives
to see it" keep alive the thought of "Shall not be a maid long"
at the end of Act 1. The situation is becoming so tense that the Fool wonders
how they are going to be able to "endure vnto the end" (Matthew
24:13; Mark 13:13) of time which is coming, and so be "safe" Mark
13:13 or "saved" Matthew 24:13. The thought of enduring is carried
further with Lear's words at 3.4.18 "Pour on; I will endure. In such a
night as this!"
The
image of apocalyptic horror is kept alive by Albany's speech to Goneril
(4.2.46):
If
that the heavens do not their visible spirits
Send
quickly down to tame these vile offences,
It
will come,
Humanity
must perforce prey on itself,
Like
monsters of the deep.
Although this imagery is not Biblical,
yet it reinforces the idea of an early death in the time of tribulation which
the Fool had reflected upon in the couplet at the end of Act 1 -
Shall
not be a maid long, except things be cut shorter
and in the prophecy at the end of Act 3
Scene 2 -
Then
shall the realm of Albion, come to great confusion:
Then
comes the time, who lives to see't....
Cordelia's comment to Kent, at 4.7.3,
"My life will be too short", means of course, that even if she lived
a long life, she wouldn't be able to be as kind as was Kent. But it might also
have been meant to reinforce, "Shall not be a maid long..." and,
"Then comes the time, who lives to see't...."
With
French troops on British soil, and Albany and Edmund mustering up forces to
defeat them, we have a situation where there continues to be rumours of war.
Then, in 5.2, comes the news that the French have been defeated, and Gloucester
can go no further. He wants to rot where he is. But Edgar (5.2.9) encourages
him with,
What
in ill thoughts again? Men must endure
Their
going hence, even as their coming hither,
Ripeness
is all. Come on.
Whatever else "ripeness"
might have suggested to Jacobeans, to many, including James, it could have
suggested the imagery of the judgement scenes of Revelation 14:15,18:
And
another angel came out of the Temple, crying with a loude voice to him that
sate on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reape: for the time is come to
reape; for the haruest of the earth is ripe. And hee that sate on the cloude
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.... And another
angel came out from the altar, which had power ouer fire; and cried with a
loude cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle,
and gather the clusters of the vineyarde of the earth, for her grapes are ripe.
Biblical imagery for the judgement day
at the end of the world is often a picture of a harvest of the righteous and a
harvest of the unrighteous[1].
The words, "Ripeness is all" might have been meant to suggest the type
of person who would be among the righteous who would be harvested by the first
angel, even if Edgar is here not meant to be thinking any more than that one
has to be ready to leave this life. As this final scene progresses we see
sister divided against sister, and brother divided against brother, events that
Gloucester tells us earlier would accompany these "late eclipses".
The
deaths of the two sisters are seen by Albany to be a "judgement of the
heavens, that makes us tremble" (5.3.230), while the death of Cordelia
prompts Kent to ask, "Is this the promised end" (5.3.262). Edgar
wonders whether the events of the time are not an "image of that
horror" and Albany calls for the world to end with, "Fall and
cease." The idea of judgement is kept alive by the earthly rewards
promised by Albany to those who have been friends, while he promises "the
cup of their deservings" to the foes. At the passing of Lear, Edgar says,
"Look up my Lord", which in this apocalyptic scene might have suggested
to some, Luke 21:28:
And
when these things begin to come to passe, then looke vp, and lift vp your
heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
Certainly the idea of redemption and a
place in heaven is in Kent's mind for his final words in the play come almost
immediately:
I
have a journey sir, shortly to go,
My
master calls, and I must not say no.
What the audience might have thought
about this claim by Kent we will consider in a later chapter.
Our
reasoning has been that James and Jacobean audiences would have had such a
knowledge of the Bible, and in particular these passages, that they could
readily make the interpretations we have suggested. A very casual reading of
James' speeches to parliament will reveal the interest that he had in the Bible
and that he expected the members of his parliament would have. Consider for
example, the opening of his speech at the adjournment of the last session of
parliament, the last day of March 1607:
My
Lords of the higher House, and you Knights & Burgesses of the Lower house,
All men at the beginning of a Feast bring foorth good wine first, and after,
worse. This was the saying of the Gouernour of the Feast at Cana in Galile,
where CHRIST wrought his first miracle by changing water into wine. But in this
case now whereof I am to speake vnto you, I must follow the Gouernours rule,
and not CHRISTS example, in giuing you the worst and sowrest wine last.[2]
Or consider his speech in 1605[3],
where after recalling his previous speech to parliament in which he
congratulates them upon their wise choice of himself for the throne of England,
he continues by saying that the recent events of the Gunpowder Plot, and an
earlier attempt on his life, had given him subject matter for his present
speech.
And
now I must craue a little pardon of you, That since Kings are in the word of
GOD it selfe called Gods, as being his Lieutenants and Vice-/gerents on earth,
and so adorned and furnished with some sparkles of the Diuinitie; to compare
some of the workes of GOD the great KING towards the whole and generall world,
to some of his workes towards mee, and this little world of my Dominions,
compassed and seuered by the Sea from the rest of the earth. For as GOD for the
iust punishment of the first great sinnes in the originall world, when the
sonnes of GOD went in to the daughters of men, and the cup of their iniquities
of all sorts was filled, and heaped vp to the full, did by a generall deluge
and ouerflowing of waters, baptize the world to a generall destruction, and not
a generall purgation (onely excepted NOAH and his family, who did repent and
beleeue the threatenings of GODS iudgement:) So now when the world shall waxe
old as a garment, and that all the impieties and sinnes that can be deuised
against both the first and second Table, haue and shall bee committeed to the
full measure; GOD is to punish the world the second time by fire, to the
generall destruction and not purgation thereof: Al-/though as was done in the
former to NOAH and his family by the waters; So shall all we that beleeue be
likewise purged, and not destroyed by the fire. In the like sort, I say, I may
iustly compare these two great and fearfull Domes-dayes, wherewith GOD
threatened to destroy mee and all you of this little world that haue interest
in me.
There seems to be a suggestion in
"now...God is to punish the world the second time by fire" that James
understands that he is living in a time just prior to the end of the world.
That he really did believe this is evident from his ANE FRVITFVLL
MEDITATIOUN CONTENING ANE PLANE AND FACILL EXpositioun of ye 7.8.9 and 10
versis of the 20 Chap. of the Reuelatioun in forms of ane sermone. In this
short work he identifies the Pope as the Antichrist who has sent out his Jesuits
to stir up armies against those who profess Christ truly. He sees the Pope to
be in league with the "awowed enemie of God", the Turk, and asks:
And
quhat is preparit and cum fordwart against this Isle: Do we not daylie heir:
and be all appearance shortlie sall see: Now may ye judge gif this be not ye
tyme quhairof this place that I have maid chois of (Revelation 20:7-10) doeth
meane, and sa ye dew tyme for the reveiling of this prophecie.[4]
Notice his use of "shortlie"
and "dew tyme." That James was familiar with the passages in Matthew
24 and that he regarded them as pertaining to the end of time is also evident
from James' A Paraphrase vpon the Reuelation, published in his Works
(p. 20) in 1616. In paraphrasing
Revelation 6:12, "Then I tooke heed when he opened the sixt, and loe,
there was a great earthquake, and the Sunne-beame blacke like sackecloth made
of haire, and the Moone became all bloody", he makes a marginal cross
reference to Matthew 24:29.
Not
only did James believe he was living at the end of time and that apocalyptic
passages in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 were being fulfilled in his day, it
is also evident from other books, published at the time, that this was the
general belief of many. In 1606 Samuel Gardnier's DOOMES-Day Booke was
published. This work identifies the signs mentioned in these passages as
"the signes of the worlds end."[5]
In 1610 John Hull published a work entitled SAINT PETERS PROPHESIE OF THESE
LAST DAIES. DISCOVERING THE INIQVITY OF THE TIMES AND ATHEISME OF THE AGE.
Prouing the Burning of the world, manifesting the judgement to come, and
confirming the Resurrection of the dead, &c. Among other things,
eclipses of the first decade of the Seventeenth Century, which are detailed on
pages 526f, are seen as portents of the last days.
An
earlier work entitled A most true and Lamentable Report, of a great Tempest
of the haile which fell vpon a Village in Kent, called Stockbery, about three
myles from Cittingborne, the nintenth day of Iune last past 1590 was
printed in London for the widow of Thomas Butter in 1590. The tract sees the
tempest of that year as a warning of the coming of judgement by God and warns
"O England, high time it is to looke about thee and to shake off thy
manifold sinnes".[6]
Revelation 7 pictures four angels holding back the four winds of the earth
which are clearly symbols of judgement. Matthew 24:20 admonishes "pray ye
that your flight be not in the winter." So even the storms, which begin in
Lear at 2.4.282, and the "bleak winds", mentioned in 2.4.298,
could have given a Jacobean audience a sense of the impending judgement of God
and the end of the world.
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[1]. Compare
this passage in Revelation with Mark 4:26-29 and Matthew 13:24-30,36-43.
[2]. His
Majesties Speech To Both the Houses of Parliament, in his Highnesses great
Chamber at Whitehall, the day of the adjournment of the last Session, which was
the last day of March 1607. Compare John chapter 2.
[3]. "A
SPEACH IN THE PARLIAMENT HOVSE, AS NEERE THE VERY WORDS AS COVLD BE GATHERED at
the instant." THE WORKES OF THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE, IAMES BY
THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAINE, FRANCE AND IRELAND, DEFENDER of the
FAITH, &c. (London, 1616) p. 500.
[4]. ANE
FRVITFVLL MEDITATIOUN CONTENING ANE PLANE AND FACILL EXpositioun of ye 7.8.9
and 10 versis of the 20 Chap. of the Reuelatioun in forms of ane sermone. Set
doun be ye maist christians King and syn/ceir professour, and chief de-fender
of the trueth, IA./MES the 6 King of Scottis. (EDINBVRGH, 1588, 1603,
1616).
[5]. S.
Gardnier, DOOMES-Day Booke: OR, An Alarum for Atheistes, A Watchword for
Worldlinges, A Caueat for Christians (LONDON, 1606).
[6]. A most
true and Lamentable Report, of a great Tempest of the haile which fell vpon a
Village in Kent, called Stockbery, about three myles from Cittingborne, the
nintenth day of Iune last past 1590 (London, 1590) p. 4.