This is the greatest lecture series on Shakespeare ever! Where else can you get a discussion on King Lear that seamlessly inserts parts on the aristotelian meaning of Crocodile Dundee. I love this so much!
Wonderful lecture…… just discovered….. 60 years after rudimentary/ compulsory reading Lear for the first time in another country and another time, this remarkable scholar opening doors for me. Many thanks for posting. Miss Jenny (humble music theory teacher, Manhattan).
I’ve recently discovered Prof Cantor’s lectures and books after decades of involvement in Shakespeare studies and performances. He’s one of the greatest commentators on Shakespeare imho.
A marvelous lecturer. I listen to everything from Paul Cantor that I can find. He's interesting, entertaining and enlightening. But . . . This play gets off on the wrong foot and the problem is never fixed. The basic premise is that Cordelia is telling the truth in the "love test" scene. She refuses to extravagantly flatter the King like her sisters did. But look at what she *does* say: "I love your majesty According to my bond; nor more nor less. . . You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I Return those duties back as are right fit, Obey you, love you, and most honour you." What kind of daughter would say that to her father? Only a daughter who doesn't love her father very much, or maybe there is some bad history between them, and when her mouth is pried open in public she says the bare minimum. If this is the "truth", then the truth is Cordelia is not a loving daughter. We find out later that she is, but the "love test" scene tells us otherwise. Sorry, but this is just bad playwriting.
Interesting, for me she is a loving daughter precisely because she doesn't say much publicly of how much she loves the ring. The real stupidity, if I'm forgiven for saying so, is King Lear's demand of a public declaration of his children's love. I would have done exactly what Cordelia did.
Tbh king Lear is a pretty good story for back in the day. Back then they didn’t have the internet or tech, so they couldn’t check and edit stuff. Yes there are lots of plot holes, but you can’t compare a story from then to a modern story like Steven King, or Star Wars. They have word documents, that they can easy edit and change stuff, to fix the plot holes. Back in the day they didn’t have the technology we have now.
That’s a terrible comment. This is used as a plot device to drive the story forward and set up the tension between the truth and political manoeuvring/gesturing/hypocrisy, as well as criticise the courtly culture of flattery. Her character is too honest to go along with the pretension and that’s what makes her a tragic figure as she precipitates what follows. To say this to the king in public angers him on two levels: the fact that she dispenses with the courtly flattery which he is accustomed to and that it thwarts the planned marriage to the duke of Burgundy which the king hopes will shore up the kingdom.
This is a very very interesting lecture because I never heard Lear's original plan dissected so precisely (or ever knew there was an original plan). The plan to have a backdoor way to give the kingdom to Cordelia was genius.... undone by his own idiocy a few minutes later. Here's one question I do have about the play though. Why all the fuss about who Lear lives with? I can't believe I'm the only one to bring this up, but doesn't Lear still have a palace to live in? Let him and his 100 followers live at his own residence, he doesn't need to live with his evil daughters, and if Cantor is correct, he knows Gonneril and Regan were bad news why would he change the plan to live with them?
Great lecture. Cordelia sacrificed the correct political decision to Truth, and Lear sacrificed the correct political decision to his passion. I assume Cordelia knew her sisters well and could see the the political result of her father's original plan of succession, i.e. the balance of power he wished to establish. Bottom line: She should have given the old man what he wanted--for the greater good.
Its my favorite, I dont think I'd ever make a statement such as "Shakespeare's best" or "the greatest play", too much opinion. I love it because I read it on my own and not part of any class.
@@Tolstoy111 You got any objective evidence of that? I think if you went on JSTOR and looked at how many articles were written on Hamlet and how many were written on Lear in the last 10 years that would be telling. I haven't done that myself but it would probably be easy to do.
@@sbnwnc Just the Eye and Ear test. I hear it brought up more than any other play these days. In this book it's ranked as the greatest play of all time... www.amazon.com/Drama-100-Ranking-Greatest-Literature/dp/0816060738/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=daniel+s+burt+drama+100&qid=1607887771&s=books&sr=1-1
I always have thought Cordelia was unnecessarily stubborn here--why not just tell her father that her siblings are dishonest, and say she loves him? How is it 'a lie' to tell him the truth about her love? She gets off the hook here.
@@TheWhitehiker not everyone likes to trumpet one's love.. Lear as a father must have known who loves him or not.. it's weird of him to ask that question
A sends to B: "You call that a knife? This is a knife." A receives: "That's not a knife; that's a knife." From whom does A receive? Perhaps the audience is treated to what A is thinking, or as I like to think of as the Post-Modern approach, A hears the voice of the Omnipotent One. It was a thought provoking example.
"King Lear - the greatest of Shakespeare's plays, therefore the greatest single product of human imagination." I disagree, professor. The greatest single product of human imagination is without doubt the Harry Potter series. And I'm speaking as a person who has read all the Harry Potter books and all the Shakespearean plays.
If we are going to read literature as a philosophy treatise then we have completely missed the point of literature. Go study philosophy and engage in real arguments. But literature prods and expands our understanding not merely with ideas but with words. This professor is absolutely of no help.
This is all fascinating and educational, even thought-provoking rambling, but it is all so terribly misplaced when discussing Shakespeare. The great poet-playwright has given us plays, brimming with the human condition and magnificent characterization, The theatre is the place where Shakespeare is dissected and translated for its audiences. Here in the lecture theatre, many contrasting intellectual ideas are drawn into the exercise and then forced into the selected scenes of Shakespeare; just as they have been drawn into politics and heaped upon the heads of the poor devils who inhabit the real world.
What a ridiculous comment. I have watched most of Cantor's Shakespeare and Politics Lectures and they have all been very interesting and enlightening, some of the best on TH-cam.
What a disgusting thing to say -Ted Johnson -obviously doesn't understand pure genius -Paul Cantor is a genius,together with Shakespeare -Has changed my life -Am involved in his lectures every day ,together with the texts -and wonderful dvds-eg-David Tenant -Hamlet -The Tempest -Roger Allam -Prospero -Wonderful!!-Etc etc
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This is the greatest lecture series on Shakespeare ever! Where else can you get a discussion on King Lear that seamlessly inserts parts on the aristotelian meaning of Crocodile Dundee. I love this so much!
Wonderful lecture…… just discovered….. 60 years after rudimentary/ compulsory reading Lear for the first time in another country and another time, this remarkable scholar opening doors for me. Many thanks for posting. Miss Jenny (humble music theory teacher, Manhattan).
I’ve recently discovered Prof Cantor’s lectures and books after decades of involvement in Shakespeare studies and performances. He’s one of the greatest commentators on Shakespeare imho.
That is a very nice POV on the politics behind Lear's plans.
Great lectures. Watch your back, Marjorie Garber. :-)
14:22 for the beginning of the Talk on Lear.
Anyone who skips the intro is an idiot. It's brilliant
I love these Lectures
I love this lecture the most
Fabulous!
A marvelous lecturer. I listen to everything from Paul Cantor that I can find. He's interesting, entertaining and enlightening.
But . . .
This play gets off on the wrong foot and the problem is never fixed.
The basic premise is that Cordelia is telling the truth in the "love test" scene. She refuses to extravagantly flatter the King like her sisters did. But look at what she *does* say:
"I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less. . .
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you."
What kind of daughter would say that to her father? Only a daughter who doesn't love her father very much, or maybe there is some bad history between them, and when her mouth is pried open in public she says the bare minimum.
If this is the "truth", then the truth is Cordelia is not a loving daughter. We find out later that she is, but the "love test" scene tells us otherwise. Sorry, but this is just bad playwriting.
Interesting, for me she is a loving daughter precisely because she doesn't say much publicly of how much she loves the ring. The real stupidity, if I'm forgiven for saying so, is King Lear's demand of a public declaration of his children's love. I would have done exactly what Cordelia did.
She is putting her honesty and modesty in stark relief to that of her sisters.
Tbh king Lear is a pretty good story for back in the day. Back then they didn’t have the internet or tech, so they couldn’t check and edit stuff. Yes there are lots of plot holes, but you can’t compare a story from then to a modern story like Steven King, or Star Wars. They have word documents, that they can easy edit and change stuff, to fix the plot holes. Back in the day they didn’t have the technology we have now.
That’s a terrible comment. This is used as a plot device to drive the story forward and set up the tension between the truth and political manoeuvring/gesturing/hypocrisy, as well as criticise the courtly culture of flattery. Her character is too honest to go along with the pretension and that’s what makes her a tragic figure as she precipitates what follows. To say this to the king in public angers him on two levels: the fact that she dispenses with the courtly flattery which he is accustomed to and that it thwarts the planned marriage to the duke of Burgundy which the king hopes will shore up the kingdom.
This is a very very interesting lecture because I never heard Lear's original plan dissected so precisely (or ever knew there was an original plan). The plan to have a backdoor way to give the kingdom to Cordelia was genius.... undone by his own idiocy a few minutes later. Here's one question I do have about the play though. Why all the fuss about who Lear lives with? I can't believe I'm the only one to bring this up, but doesn't Lear still have a palace to live in? Let him and his 100 followers live at his own residence, he doesn't need to live with his evil daughters, and if Cantor is correct, he knows Gonneril and Regan were bad news why would he change the plan to live with them?
Great lecture. Cordelia sacrificed the correct political decision to Truth, and Lear sacrificed the correct political decision to his passion. I assume Cordelia knew her sisters well and could see the the political result of her father's original plan of succession, i.e. the balance of power he wished to establish. Bottom line: She should have given the old man what he wanted--for the greater good.
Genius
@25:25
It is the greatest play "In his opinion"...?
Its my favorite, I dont think I'd ever make a statement such as "Shakespeare's best" or "the greatest play", too much opinion. I love it because I read it on my own and not part of any class.
Most experts would say Hamlet.
@@sbnwnc these days Lear is the most commonly cited as his best. The Romantics preferred Hamlet.
@@Tolstoy111 You got any objective evidence of that? I think if you went on JSTOR and looked at how many articles were written on Hamlet and how many were written on Lear in the last 10 years that would be telling. I haven't done that myself but it would probably be easy to do.
@@sbnwnc Just the Eye and Ear test. I hear it brought up more than any other play these days. In this book it's ranked as the greatest play of all time...
www.amazon.com/Drama-100-Ranking-Greatest-Literature/dp/0816060738/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=daniel+s+burt+drama+100&qid=1607887771&s=books&sr=1-1
I always have thought Cordelia was unnecessarily stubborn here--why not just tell her father that her siblings are dishonest, and say she loves him? How is it 'a lie' to tell him the truth about her love? She gets off the hook here.
@Janine Agree; the tragedy is his stubborn pride--and she has her own stubborn response--in the crucial first act.
I don't think she's stubborn, and she does say she loves her father but she refused to exaggerate her love as if it's all sufficient..no love is.
@@bellringer929 love him in a lukewarm way, then shuts up.
@@TheWhitehiker not everyone likes to trumpet one's love.. Lear as a father must have known who loves him or not.. it's weird of him to ask that question
@@bellringer929 She knew how significant this moment of truth was--at best her ego deliberately downplayed her true feelings, very foolishly.
A sends to B: "You call that a knife? This is a knife." A receives: "That's not a knife; that's a knife." From whom does A receive? Perhaps the audience is treated to what A is thinking, or as I like to think of as the Post-Modern approach, A hears the voice of the Omnipotent One. It was a thought provoking example.
"King Lear - the greatest of Shakespeare's plays, therefore the greatest single product of human imagination." I disagree, professor. The greatest single product of human imagination is without doubt the Harry Potter series. And I'm speaking as a person who has read all the Harry Potter books and all the Shakespearean plays.
Lol
Thanks for the chuckle, troll.
You sure it's not "Goodnight Moon"?
If we are going to read literature as a philosophy treatise then we have completely missed the point of literature. Go study philosophy and engage in real arguments. But literature prods and expands our understanding not merely with ideas but with words. This professor is absolutely of no help.
This is all fascinating and educational, even thought-provoking rambling, but it is all so terribly misplaced when discussing Shakespeare. The great poet-playwright has given us plays, brimming with the human condition and magnificent characterization, The theatre is the place where Shakespeare is dissected and translated for its audiences. Here in the lecture theatre, many contrasting intellectual ideas are drawn into the exercise and then forced into the selected scenes of Shakespeare; just as they have been drawn into politics and heaped upon the heads of the poor devils who inhabit the real world.
Very dry and rambling. Great for putting one to sleep, you can skip the pill.
What a ridiculous comment. I have watched most of Cantor's Shakespeare and Politics Lectures and they have all been very interesting and enlightening, some of the best on TH-cam.
Go back to pewdipie's channel where you can be more entertained
What a disgusting thing to say -Ted Johnson -obviously doesn't understand pure genius -Paul Cantor is a genius,together with Shakespeare -Has changed my life -Am involved in his lectures every day ,together with the texts -and wonderful dvds-eg-David Tenant -Hamlet -The Tempest -Roger Allam -Prospero -Wonderful!!-Etc etc
Derek Jacobi -Hamlet -
You sir are a fool!