King Lear

According to  Frye, we nothing of what audience made of King Lear.  What we do know is that it revolves around "a series of legends about the ancient history of Britain, legends that in Shakespeare's day were thought to be genuine history." (Frye, 101)  In fact, KL is the earliest historical setting in all of SP's plays.  An entire chapter is dedicated to King Lear in Frye's book on Shakespeare, but I am going to save his wise words for my next blog.  For now a few of my ramblings are as follows...

King Lear may be my favorite Shakespeare play, but then again I haven't read enough of them to make an informed decision.  In my first blog post I commented about being captivated by the majesty of SP's words (said by Lear) at the end of KL:  Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

                              Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so

                              That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone forever!

                              I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

                              She’s dead as earth.

I don't typically enjoy morbid things, and perhaps our society reflects negatively on those who like something other than a happy-ending, but KL feels more realistic to me than the other plays.  I searched for a video of Act 5 Scene 3 because I was curious if film could give me the same feelings that the lines (written above) persuade me to feel.  I am yet find a film adaptation that I enjoy and now I feel as though I have wasted my time and my brain-energy in doing so.  However, The Tragically Hip produced a song called "Cordelia" and is said to have been inspired by KL. Here is a live video of it:

What do I need in life?  I'm selfish and I can't honestly say that I need "nothing" or just "love" because I don't believe that one thing/feeling/emotion/object is all that I need.  Yes, the older I get the less I need, but I find myself constantly feeling as though I need something.  I need new tires, I need to fix the fence someone drove through on Monday morning, I need my family, and my animals, and everything the body needs for survival.  Last November I suddenly became very ill and after weeks of misery, tests, labs, scans, medications, etc...I still wasn't better.  Doctors were unsure if I had a brain tumor, a virus, or a failing immune system.  I've spent four months now on a cocktail of pills that are suppose to make me "feel" better, but not get better.  I need the medicine because without it my quality of life is rather poor.  (disclaimer: these pills are not dangerous and have no dependency issues)  I need them because all of the love and well-wishes in the world didn't make me feel better.  My body is attacking itself and "very confused" as one doctor said.  I think it's silly to say we need nothing, or just one thing because life doesn't last a day and every hour changes and rewrites our histories.  Face it, we need a lot.