I found a very interesting video about King Lear. The speaker says that his favorite play to teach is King Lear because for him the play is a family drama and how is it like to be part of a family with all that it involves.
He also mentions the concept "extreme" and all this feelings related such as sorrow, pity, hatred, and anger. All this concepts seen as bad and negative. I must say that I agree with him and I think that the play shows us all these bad things and more; it shows us all the bad things that we can find in families.
However, he also mentions another feeling: Love. And for him, love is expressed through compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Here is where I agree the most with the speaker. I think that King Lear is a play about love. For the Cambridge Dictionaries Online, love is "To have a strong affection for someone...". And sometimes love can be extreme.
It might seem that King Lear is a play of contradictions, but for me it is a play that shows us the truth. To have a family is not always a perfect experience; sometimes there are bad moments, but overall, to have a family is to have love.
There are always lessons that can be learnt from our families, we can be better people if we think about the others.
What I personally think is the meaning of King Lear, and what I would love to teach my students when reading the play: Family means love.
What do you think?
Cheers!
Video
Sources:
Cambridge Dictionaries Online http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Edu:
ResponderEliminarI loved the relation between the play and your personal view, I personally believe that love is something even bigger than having a strong affection to others. It can even be catastrophic and also we as imperfect beings are not able to do something so perfect as love really is and implies.
Regarding the video I just can say that we need to be cautious, because even though all the topics in the play are importants and pretty normals to us, extremes are not good. As we saw in the play, Lear's affection to Cordelia was so big that it blinded him to see reality and the true behinds her silences.
Anyway, I liked the personal touch and way of presenting your idea