King Lear- final thoughts 11/6/08

Good afternoon,

Yesterday's class was rather educational. I was very surprised by the number of students who agreed with me that King Lear is not Shakespeare's best play. Although in may look better on stage, I feel that Titus or Hamlet would bring a better source of action and Othello's soap opera plot line is more powerful that Lear's ego driven self and lack of intelligence to understand his family and their lack of leadership. Lear does attempt to prevail in the end, but sadly both he and his daughter die before a true reconciliation could be made. I found King Lear to be one of the more easier reads from his long list of tragedies due to the language. The plot itself is complex enough to please an audience, however, I would be interested to see King Lear in film or stage version. Although Ran was well-made and professed the inner plot lines of Shakespeare's work, a Western / European version may have a different impact on us as students and viewers.

The next play that we are scheduled to begin is Macbeth. I have never been a fan of Macbeth since last year when I read and watch the film version in David Oswald's theatre class. I have a feeling that I will appreciate this classes analysis a bit more due to the literature emphasis rather that Ian McKellen and Judy Dench's performances. For those who have never read this interesting Shakespeare tragedy before, I assume that they will have a lot to say. I have always felt that this is different than other Shakespeare plays. Now, having read Hamlet, I can easily compare the two, stating that Macbeth is taking Hamlet one step further.