Shakespeare never shies away from the fantastical in his play. Think Macbeth with the witches and the visit with Hecate or the prophetic signs which speak to Macbeth. Julius Caesar is similar too with the soothsayer, and The Tempest... well, what isn't there to say about The Tempest and its insanity. This got me thinking, especially as we concluded Act Two, is there something fantastical or even - supernatural - about King Lear.
There is seemingly nothing about it that appears fantastical. The story is extremely character driven, and there are no witches or soothsayers to be seen here. Largely, we have seen every character the story has to introduce. So the question becomes, what is fantastical? And I think the answer lies in the storm. Now, we have not approached the storm scene yet, but the storm has begun. With all the talking of nature, notice what Lear says right before the storm begins "The terrors of the earth! You think I'll weep, No I'll not weep" (2.2.470-472).
If the storm is a manifestation of Lear's tears, might the entire storm scene that we are soon to read be entirely constructed by Lear (however involuntarily it might be). It is something to think about. None of this is a coincidence (Shakespeare does not work in coincidence). This made me wonder, people often view the storm scene as Lear being out of control, but what if it is the opposite; what if this is Lear in complete control?
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