между Лиром и Макбетом

[queyntefantasye]

У меня случился некоторый затык: создаю курс по Шекспиру, и не могу выбрать между Королем Лиром и Макбетом. Обе трагедии, обе о британской истории. Я вписала было Лира, но потом вспомнила, что обязательно хотела Макбета: его так в последние годы везде ставили - явно он как-то соответствует историческому моменту. Но Лир, но Корделия... "My poor fool

Comments

[mme_n_b]

Я - Лира, потому, что фильмы круче. И еще потому, что интересно было бы вообще поговорить о шутах и их месте. Например о том, что смерть шута в Лире очень легко вообще не заметить.

[queyntefantasye]

Да. Причем там ещё от версии зависит. Ну и вообще, про смерть шута - это уже мы сами додумываем. Может, он плюнул на все это и подался куда-то ещё в услужение.
И про то, что смерть Корделии описывается словами "my poor fool is hanged."
И вообще - конец пьесы как апокалипсис...
Эх.

[mme_n_b]

Erm... can you explain why it's her death that's so described? I always thought it was a build-up: Caius is dead and rotten, poor fool is hanged, and last and worst, he suddenly discovers there's no life in Cordelia.

[queyntefantasye]

Oh, sure. Well, for one, at this point we haven't actually seen the fool on stage since Act 3. His last words in Act 3, scene 2, are "And I'll go to bed at noon," when Lear and his companions are staying at Gloucester's (often interpreted as a prophetic reference to his own early death), and then of course they have to flee. Kent says to him at the end of the scene, "Come, help to bear thy master. / Thou must not stay behind," and that's the last time we have any reference to the fool's presence

[mme_n_b]

Yes, I realize Kent isn't dead - he says so :)

Why isn't Lear saying that the fool has been hanged evidence that the fool is dead? I mean - he's been following Lear, it makes sense that they would have been captured together and there's no reason not to hang him if hanging Cordelia. Assuming that "fool" is suddenly Cordelia and not Fool just seems like an unnecessary complication.

[queyntefantasye]

Again, the fool had not been on stage since act 3 by that point. We see Lear and Cordelia in captivity. There's no fool there. In fact, they explicitly talk about only the two of them being held. The fool is not there even when Cordelia takes Lear into her possession. We can obviously create a back story or place the fool on stage as a silent presence, but that's the director's choice. Early modern drama just doesn't do silent presences that last for two acts.

In the play, Lear brings out the hanged Cordelia in his arms and says: "And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life?" So yes, it does make sense to assume he is talking about her (after all, other people in the play are addressed or spoken of as fools). Or he is rambling. But it's definitely very clear that the fool was not one of the captives.

[mme_n_b]

Got it, thank you!

[queyntefantasye]

That's why I like talking about Lear: because there are some things in it that can be resolved only in performance...