Parents and Children

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In Lear, Bond portrays a family that has disintegrated. From the opening scene, Bond highlights the hostility between Lear and his daughters. Bodice and Fontanelle inform their father of their intention to wed his enemies, the Duke of North and the Duke of Cornwall, and aim to dismantle Lear's wall. Lear responds by stating he has always been aware of their wickedness. After Lear leaves the stage, Bodice and Fontanelle reveal their plan to attack their father's forces. Lear and his daughters are literally at war; Fontanelle eagerly signs his death warrant. During his trial, Lear seems to completely reject his daughters, insisting he has no daughters.
However, while imprisoned, Lear desires to reconnect with his children. He asks the Ghost to bring them to him, now hoping they will help him. Visions of his daughters as young girls appear, offering the audience a glimpse into happier, more peaceful times. The daughters express fear of being in prison, but Lear offers them comfort. When they say they must leave, Lear implores them to remain. He realizes his daughters were once kind and lovable. Later, when Fontanelle is killed and her body examined, Lear discovers that she is merely flesh and bone, not a malevolent being disguised as human.

Lear is moved by the beauty and purity of Fontanelle's internal body. He sees no malice, only basic human essence. He mourns that, had he realized Fontanelle's beauty earlier, he might have loved her. "Did I make this—and destroy it?" he questions. It is only during the autopsy that Lear understands he is accountable for the evil within his daughters. He shaped their personalities and actions. They inherited all their cruelty, greed, and hunger for power from him. There is a fundamental bond between the children and the parent who influenced their growth, and Lear can no longer view himself simply as a victim of his daughters' malevolence. Lear and his daughters are inextricably linked. Unfortunately, by the time Lear acknowledges this, it is too late. Both daughters are dead, and he cannot change the past. The fractured family cannot be repaired. Lear must live with his regret.

Violence and Power

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In the preface to Lear, Bond notes, "I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austen wrote about manners." For Bond, violence is a fundamental component of modern life; to discuss contemporary culture is to address violence. Lear both starts and finishes with violent events. The play opens with Lear shooting a worker who accidentally kills another, and it concludes with a soldier shooting Lear. Throughout the play, numerous acts of brutality unfold. Warrington has his tongue cut out, endures torture, and has knitting needles driven into his ears. The innocent Gravedigger's Boy is shot, and his wife is raped. Even as a Ghost, the Gravedigger's Boy meets a second violent demise, this time attacked by pigs. Fontanelle is shot, and Bodice is gored by soldiers. Numerous minor characters also suffer violent deaths.

Aside from the violence, the play features scenes of graphic gore. The autopsy of Fontanelle and Lear's blinding rank among the most horrifying scenes in recent literature. Although witnessing such violent scenes can be distressing for the audience, it is important to understand that they are not intended for mere shock or sensationalism. Bond employs the violence in Lear, as well as in his other works, to highlight the brutality inherent in modern society. His focus is not solely on the violence itself but also on the circumstances that provoke such brutality in both reality and fiction.

Much of the violence in Lear is intricately linked to the...

(This entire section contains 370 words.)

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pursuit of power. When the worker is shot in Act I, the audience immediately perceives a connection between Lear's authority and the violence used to establish his dominance. Bodice and Fontanelle, who claim to be appalled by Lear's violence, revolt against him. However, once they assume power, they become just as violent as Lear. One might expect Cordelia, initially part of the oppressed, to rule without violence, but once in power, she proves to be as ruthless as Lear and his daughters. Although the leaders change, the practice of governing through violence endures. This society is deeply rooted in violence. Bond aims for the audience to view the violence in Lear's society as a reflection of their own. By acknowledging its own brutality, society might be inspired to change.

Transformation

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At the beginning of the play, Lear is portrayed as a harsh and merciless ruler. His brutality is immediately showcased when he shoots a worker who accidentally causes another's death. For Lear, the real offense isn't the loss of a life but the setback in constructing the wall. While he claims to uphold his duty to protect his subjects in a general sense, individual lives hold no significance to him. As the play unfolds and his situation evolves, Lear's perspective begins to shift. After his daughters successfully revolt, he escapes to the countryside and meets the Gravedigger's Boy, who kindly provides him with food and shelter.

Lear learns about the human ability to forgive when the Boy tells him about the hardships people face because of the wall's construction, yet they still permit the dethroned king to remain with them. Lear's journey through adversity continues as he witnesses the Boy's murder, his wife's attack, and the killing of their animals. His daughters' imprisonment of him further educates him about suffering. While incarcerated, Lear becomes protective of the Ghost. Furthermore, witnessing Fontanelle's autopsy in prison deepens his awareness of the damage he has inflicted. Just as he begins to understand, Lear is blinded.

Upon his release, the now blind Lear meets a farmer, his wife, and their son. He finally grasps their suffering and wishes to ease it. He starts living among the people, endangering his own life by providing refuge to those in need and speaking out against Cordelia's rule. Lear's final act is his attempt to tear down the wall, an effort doomed to fail, and he dies during this symbolic act. Despite the persistence of violence and evil, Lear's transformation and his noble final gesture serve as an example of positive change.

Suffering and Enlightenment

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Edward Bond's play Lear has often been labeled as "a very grim play," a description that underscores its exploration of darkness and suffering. Yet, the play’s significance extends beyond its tragic elements; it is the story of a man’s relentless quest to transform his world. Lear, the protagonist, embarks on a journey toward enlightenment, enduring immense adversity along the way. Bond articulates this process of development through struggle, asserting that "we develop through our problems, not just solving them, but through clashing with them."

The concept of friction, frequently depicted through violence, is central to Bond's narratives. While some critics argue that the violence in Lear is excessive and gratuitous, Bond defends its necessity. For him, the play mirrors the dire outcomes of power abuse, serving as a reflection of societal ills. By portraying both individual acts of violence and the broader violence of wars and political conflicts, Bond highlights the pervasive sickness within an unjust society. Through this lens, Lear becomes a powerful commentary on the destructive cycles of violence that result from entrenched systems of power and oppression.

Violence and Society

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The exploration of violence within society is powerfully illustrated through the imagery of Fontanelle’s autopsy. As Lear observes the doctor’s examination of his daughter’s body, he questions, “Where is the beast?” This inquiry reveals Lear’s belief that a monstrous entity resides within her, driving her violent actions. Much like the tragic figure Oedipus, Lear gains insight only after experiencing metaphorical blindness. He comes to understand that these violent impulses are not inherent to the individual but are shaped by external influences and societal structures.

Lear’s realization about the futility of constructing walls to protect his lands further highlights his newfound awareness. Such barriers, he acknowledges, do nothing to address the underlying societal issues that give rise to conflict and violence. This recognition underscores a critical theme: the roots of violence extend beyond individual malice, deeply embedded within the societal fabric.

Throughout the play, the nature of Bodice and Fontanelle’s actions becomes more apparent to both Lear and the audience. The sisters’ plots, manipulative behavior, and thirst for power are not merely personal flaws but symptoms of a broader cultural condition. They reflect the societal norms and values instilled in them, unknowingly propagated by Lear himself. Their appearances as ghosts in the play coincide with the poignant return of soldiers’ coffins, symbolizing the perpetuation of violence and the unyielding cycle of power and death that Lear’s daughters have been raised to uphold.

Resistance and Change

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Cordelia struggles to fathom the Gravedigger’s Boy’s optimistic outlook on life, even as she grapples with her own skepticism about his overflowing charity. Her doubts gain weight when tragedy strikes—her husband is brutally murdered, and she endures the horrors of rape and miscarriage. These traumatic experiences harden her resolve, transforming her into an unyielding guerrilla leader. Driven by her vision for a fair and just society, Cordelia channels her grief and anger into a fierce pursuit of change, believing that through forceful action, she might reshape the world around her.

Pastoral Life and Reality

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The Gravedigger’s Boy represents an idyllic existence, cultivating a life of self-sufficiency alongside his wife on their farm. This tranquil lifestyle captures Lear's imagination, drawing him into a fleeting aspiration of becoming part of it. However, this vision is short-lived, as Bond quickly dispels the illusion that such an escape from reality is attainable for Lear or the Gravedigger’s Boy. This destruction serves as a poignant commentary on the inescapable reality crafted by a society Lear himself has established, yet is powerless to control.

Bond's narrative does not censure the pastoral way of life itself, but rather highlights its incompatibility with the entrenched societal structures. The presence of the Gravedigger’s Boy’s ghost, appearing when Lear cries out in desperation to forget, underscores the futility of his desire to detach from the world. This spectral figure serves as an urgent reminder of Lear's inevitable connection to the world he must return to. It is only by confronting and dismantling the existing order from within that Lear can hope to contribute to the inception of a new societal paradigm.

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