ENG 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Goneril, Raphael Holinshed, Shakespearean Tragedy
13 Jan 2017
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Geoffrey of monmouth- first historian; wrote historia regnum britanniae (1135). From here shakespeare gets his basic description of lear and his three daughters. From here, he also gets the love test. King lear was the 8th king, making it take place around 8 bce. Raphael holinshed- wrote the second book of the historie of england (1577) Anonymous- the true chronicle of king leir (c. 1594); this was a play that shakespeare was familiar with. King lear has a plot and a subplot: plot is king lear and his two daughters, subplot is gloucester and two suns. Bare bones of subplot comes from arcadia. Samuel harsnett- protestant propagandist; a declaration of egregious popish impostures (1603) Helps in dating the play because shakespeare uses terms and names from this book. One character will pretend to be a victim of demonic possession in the play and the idea of exorcism is used.
