Harvard ENGL E-129 - Lecture 5: King Lear

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2024
  • Recorded on Oct 17, 2007.

ความคิดเห็น • 125

  • @chrissie1066
    @chrissie1066 7 ปีที่แล้ว +66

    My way of learning during a rainy Vancouver winter. Missed so much during education, so as a senior, I'm lapping it up!

  • @aoifegrimes5984
    @aoifegrimes5984 8 ปีที่แล้ว +142

    Wonderful lecture! Thank you so much for sharing. Analysis of drama begins at 17:02 for all my fellow last-minute-before-an-exam students ;)

  • @lizardpeoplepoetry
    @lizardpeoplepoetry 4 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    there's nothing more aesthetically pleasing and practically unreadable than a professor writing on a chalkboard.

    • @henrih3080
      @henrih3080 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      That is indeed very true !

    • @Laocoon283
      @Laocoon283 ปีที่แล้ว

      As if they are just playing the part

  • @okaytoletgo
    @okaytoletgo 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    The lecturer is the literary theorist Marjorie Garber, who has written many books and a chapter in "The Lives of Animals" J.M. Coetzee'.

  • @toniasay2249
    @toniasay2249 6 ปีที่แล้ว +51

    She has infinite patience and grace. I would love to just hear her explication of the play without interruption.

    • @Howler
      @Howler 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Her patience and the respect she gives to her class is what draws me back to her lectures. She's like a teacher most of us never had. But it's also these qualities that allow too many interruptions in her flow by well meaning students who need to "Speak too" this or that point that often doesn't really need to be spoken to.

    • @eswyatt
      @eswyatt 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      What you're calling "interruptions" were repeatedly invited by her.

    • @lost524
      @lost524 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@eswyatt nobody said they weren’t, champ

  • @Shadowfan2ladygaga
    @Shadowfan2ladygaga 6 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    currently revising KL for my exams in Paris La Sorbonne University and this is more than jelpful, thanks for sharing online.

  • @fazbell
    @fazbell 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Brilliant lecture. I would expect no less.

  • @paulshowers8688
    @paulshowers8688 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    My recent reading of Lear suggests that there is so much here about Identity. Eg “Edgar I am nothing now.” Almost every character in the play shows two sides, two personnas. Lear goes crazy. His daughters are two faced. Obviously Edmund is trying to be another. Edmund makes it plain that his birth is not related to the Zodiac, he wants to be anything but illegitimate. And the Fool simply is the student of the various identities.

    • @paulshowers8688
      @paulshowers8688 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Kant changes his identity. Gloucester loses his vision. Cordelia stands alone w a secure identity.

    • @zapify6999
      @zapify6999 ปีที่แล้ว

      great observation

  • @criticalcookie2579
    @criticalcookie2579 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Really appreciate these lectures.

  • @mickstan24
    @mickstan24 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    love these lectures and this professor.

  • @sherlockholmeslives.1605
    @sherlockholmeslives.1605 8 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    "ALAS! The Duke and Duchess of Dalhousie are dead and buried at last,
    Which causes many people's hearts to feel a little downcast."
    From 'The Death And Burial Of The Duke And Duchess Of Dalhousie'.
    William Topaz McGonagall ( c.March, 1825 - 29 / 9 / 1902 ).
    This is about my intellectual level!

  • @pasqualified
    @pasqualified 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks for sharing the insights!

  • @newworld4203
    @newworld4203 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Brilliant lecture

  • @Wolf.88
    @Wolf.88 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Excellent lecture! Thanks for posting.

  • @nandinibhattacharya9876
    @nandinibhattacharya9876 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Brilliant!

  • @shameerali5003
    @shameerali5003 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    brilliant lecture

  • @myusername6595
    @myusername6595 7 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    she did say that the family drama interpretation was a modern extrapolation. she totally walked it back when someone asked her a question about it.

    • @myusername6595
      @myusername6595 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      but i still liked the lecture and lecturer.

  • @charlychips
    @charlychips 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    So good. Thanks so much.

  • @thetacopunch
    @thetacopunch 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    1:43:50 why does cordelia have to die question. interesting answers given

  • @ciaranj1992
    @ciaranj1992 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Mature student vibes from every speaker

  • @markcavanaugh9920
    @markcavanaugh9920 6 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    That's Marjorie Garber, a Harvard professor and author of Shakespeare After All.

  • @AsdAsd-ui6uh
    @AsdAsd-ui6uh 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Excellent lecture

  • @Only1INDRAJIT
    @Only1INDRAJIT 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Why no lecture on hamlet??

  • @theone3559
    @theone3559 5 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I found the fools end scene the most profound when he sometimes she says something about being Christian before Christianity and a
    How the wizard Merlin is some sort of precursor

  • @dakotamatrix850
    @dakotamatrix850 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    Over all a good lecture. Would have been better if the prof had just done a lecture without interruption, with questions/comments at the end. Prof did have insightful things to say, seemed to have more very excellent things to say, but the interruptions rarely were helpful, and most often lead the lecture in unhelpful directions. Too many students wanted to be part of the show by making too frequent comments, etc. Sometimes student participation enhances a class, but as in this case, sometimes not. There were a few good insightful comments and questions, but not many.

  • @johnboger6
    @johnboger6 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    The discussion of Edmund's character around the 1:30 mark is interesting. One thing, though. No one really knows Gloucester's intentions towards Edmund, that is, whether Edmund stood to inherit anything. Gloucester seems not to have ignored his bastard son.Which make Edmund even more interesting because, not knowing himself, he is not going to leave anything to chance but rather grab the bull by the horns and take what he feels is rightfully his.

  • @stevenv6463
    @stevenv6463 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Wow, I saw a production of King Lear where Cordelia was played by the same actor as the fool. I was really confused and it seemed strange to me until the professor mentioned that many thought they were played by the same actor.
    Also the play seems so biblical to me. For example King Lear begs for his knights from his daughters like Abraham (as) in the Bible asks for God to spare the sodomites for a certain number of righteous men.

  • @thomasscottwilliams6672
    @thomasscottwilliams6672 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I wonder if you looked at it as a modern president with dementia/altzheimers how we would interplay the themes, it is both a historical and tragic play

  • @RobertLeutwiler555
    @RobertLeutwiler555 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I have read very much about Shakespeare along with Father Walter J. Ong SJ who puts things in a context of Orality and Literacy beginning with early man up to his death. (Has a lot to do with Marshall McLuhan.) Great lectures! It is fascinating to see how different ages dealt with his writings and how his plays compare one to another.

  • @syedabdulbari82
    @syedabdulbari82 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Her accent is excellent

  • @teganohara5171
    @teganohara5171 9 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    What is her book called/ what is she called? I want to read it!

    • @renatoandwill
      @renatoandwill 8 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      +Tegan O'Hara Shakespeare After All

    • @leneballantyne2932
      @leneballantyne2932 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      +Josh Skinner Great Thank you Josh

  • @suhasinisrinivasaragavan9447
    @suhasinisrinivasaragavan9447 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Loved the lecture, bit bothered by the finger licking, but that's okay. It's worth sitting through it for the lecture.

    • @matthewcaffoe7890
      @matthewcaffoe7890 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Omg i was watching at 1.5 speed and it was really distracting. 😂

  • @testosteronic
    @testosteronic ปีที่แล้ว

    The person bringing up that the word mad can be used to mean insane or angry--that's an American English thing. Mad isn't used to mean angry in British English. It's a coincidence you could do something w in a modern staging of King Lear in the US but it isn't something intended by the text.

  • @christineclaiborne3139
    @christineclaiborne3139 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    "We don't have foul papers..." Sure we do. Just pick up a newspaper.

  • @geoffJG1
    @geoffJG1 8 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    What a "Polymath" "Shake-speares" was indeed ,all that education and greatness from just 6 years if that at a backward ,village school with no more than 80 books to choose from allegedly, wow.

  • @shoshannaweinstein8182
    @shoshannaweinstein8182 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    She sounds just like my grandmother. I wonder if she is from Nebraska.

    • @jamesraymond1158
      @jamesraymond1158 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      No, she has a NY city accent. Just like my 9th grade English teacher Mrs. Rubman.

  • @Stalley75
    @Stalley75 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I heard that King Lear was written in the 1600s.

    • @leguide66
      @leguide66 9 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Pill Box 1605-1606

    • @sirminiwuji
      @sirminiwuji 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      +Pill Box 1592 apparently, according to my prof.

    • @paulcarmichael2368
      @paulcarmichael2368 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Your Prof is wrong and 16065-1606 is as near to accurate as we can be.

  • @mitcomz6827
    @mitcomz6827 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    quality

  • @vetha_litlov
    @vetha_litlov 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    34:00 ~ contemporary reference

  • @christineclaiborne3139
    @christineclaiborne3139 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Conformity vs. Nonconformity

  • @webspecific
    @webspecific 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    To the not so "sublime music channel" critic. I assume as a grad student at Harvard you were exposed to much poetry and can find it yourself in any text, especially that of Shakespeare. Rather than decide what the professor should/should not include in a lecture, why don't you enlarge on the parts you deem missing. Otherwise, you become a rather dry snipper. Write your own lecture. As an Antioch and Rollins alum, I can find the poetry.

  • @Muguetsu
    @Muguetsu 7 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    What is the name of the professor, please? I need to cite this lecture in my paper.

    • @Jennboi
      @Jennboi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@TeenFoodChef you were 2 years too late lmao

  • @on_shooting_star4781
    @on_shooting_star4781 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    1:24:21

  • @yenden6822
    @yenden6822 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    there are many citations from the coran in shakespeares plays i guess thats why we dont know who "shakespeare "was..

    • @billykersh7061
      @billykersh7061 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yen Den, you need your head examined.

  • @hopelessstrlstfan181
    @hopelessstrlstfan181 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I see this is Harvard, but the voices sound much older than 20 somethings. Is this part of Harvard extension school/adult education program? Either way, i like listening 2 her insights.

    • @sbnwnc
      @sbnwnc 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes, it's adult education through Harvard Extension School. They still have online courses for about $2000 for each class.

    • @hopelessstrlstfan181
      @hopelessstrlstfan181 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sbnwnc , thanks. Just curious, are you responding from US or somewhere else. I'm in US & things here are not going well. I am curious if things are better where you are, if you are lucky enough to be in a place where folks are doing better than we are.

    • @sbnwnc
      @sbnwnc 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@hopelessstrlstfan181 I am in New York. Things aren't great here but other places have it worse. At least we have cool Shakespeare lectures to see us through

    • @hopelessstrlstfan181
      @hopelessstrlstfan181 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sbnwnc , yes, others do have it worse. NYC? I used 2 live there. Went to Columbia University & lived in Manhattan during my year off from College. I had Bike messenger & fun 20 something jobs during that era. I was going thru my Beat Poet influenced phase & I was playing in a Band. Those were the days. Are you actually living in NYC or NYS , I'm in Upstate NY for time being.

    • @sbnwnc
      @sbnwnc 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@hopelessstrlstfan181 NYC born and bred and I still live in Manhattan. I grew up right near Columbia. My parents met the West End bar on 114th. I guess I'll never leave.

  • @michaelgameel5584
    @michaelgameel5584 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What is "Leir" she wrote on the board?

    • @christopherthiesen1158
      @christopherthiesen1158 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      She says that atleast the name "Lear" could be based on a real king, "Leir" from 800 BCE.

    • @michaelgameel5584
      @michaelgameel5584 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Christopher Thiesen
      Thanks a lot...I'm not a native speaker of English,so I could've easily missed that part in which she explained that point due to the speed of her talk...Thanks once more,sir.

    • @christopherthiesen1158
      @christopherthiesen1158 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      No problem! Actually King Leir is an anonymous Elizabethan play about the life of the ancient Brythonic king Leir of Britain. It was published in 1605 but was entered into the Stationers' Register on 15 May 1594.[1] The play has attracted critical attention principally for its relationship with King Lear, Shakespeare's version of the same story.
      (Wikipedia)
      So it's both a real king and the original name of the play before Shakespeare's adaptation :)

    • @YortOK
      @YortOK 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Could someone explain? Legend explains it.

  • @jejstestwo
    @jejstestwo 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Who is She? And what’s the name of the book she talks about?

  • @rebeccak5753
    @rebeccak5753 9 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    finger licking

    • @surejack5
      @surejack5 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      give her a break - it's called eccentric !

    • @fazbell
      @fazbell 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I missed the KFC reference.

    • @jonnylocks
      @jonnylocks 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      barf

    • @MaartenVHelden
      @MaartenVHelden 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Arghhh, not again !!!

  • @LondSergio
    @LondSergio 6 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I really wish I could make some intelligent observation but, boy, that finger licking habit is so weird! why does she do that? It got me curious. she's great anyway.

    • @MaartenVHelden
      @MaartenVHelden 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It's killing me. I can't watch it.

    • @raj_poorman
      @raj_poorman 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Obsessed with trivial externals- never learned how to ‘listen’

    • @Paulkazey1
      @Paulkazey1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It may be linked to 'fishy finger.' She may have earlier 'flicked her bean.'

  • @RF-mc8cx
    @RF-mc8cx 20 วันที่ผ่านมา

    23:37

  • @filipegomes3451
    @filipegomes3451 ปีที่แล้ว

    It disturbs me a little bit, that she is constantly licking her fingers

  • @santosh99samuel
    @santosh99samuel 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Why she randomly licking her fingers @40:03

  • @Only1INDRAJIT
    @Only1INDRAJIT 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This lecture is nearly not half as good as the one on Othello

  • @georgejackson956
    @georgejackson956 9 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    She loves to lick her left hand. Wouldn't want to be the next person to use the chalk...

  • @grey8478
    @grey8478 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    bro's dressed like miles edgeworth LOL

  • @kkkn3635
    @kkkn3635 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    wonderful but I wonder why she keeps licking her fingers ? cause it's kinda annoying to see

  • @forida_aa6929
    @forida_aa6929 8 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    She's not answering questions

  • @ccgamedes33
    @ccgamedes33 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Cordelia as a wimp?!? What's wrong with this profs (prof. Cantor in his lecture bursts "Why can't she find some good words for her father like the other sisters?" Almost saying 'so nuaghty of her!'). How these come to teach Lear without understanding the key to the play?

    • @Tolstoy111
      @Tolstoy111 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      She was bringing up a contrary point to what the person was asking; she was refuting the idea that Cordelia was merely loving; a one dimensional character easy to understand etc.

  • @b.alexanderjohnstone9774
    @b.alexanderjohnstone9774 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Oh my goodness, 'problematic' in first two minutes! Impressive woman, of course, but my goodness.

  • @riccileggio
    @riccileggio 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Notice how long she talks about textual uncertainties without once actually talking about the play. Why? A showy display to substitute for anything worth discussing. The plays the thing!

  • @dantean
    @dantean 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Still waiting for someone apart from Harold Bloom to find the actual poetry in Shakespeare--or anyone else. Glad I gave Marj a pass when I was a graduate student.

    • @simonstephenson6764
      @simonstephenson6764 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      In two hours with a play like Lear (or any Shakespeare play!) you have to make choices. If you look at her book, Shakespeare After All, which is both part of the title of this course and text for it, you will find close readings which discuss the poetry of different parts of the plays.
      At least one assignment for the adult education course, from which this lecture is part, required students to explicate a close reading of a passage. It is hard to imagine a graduate level version of this course would be less demanding in that regard.

    • @plekkchand
      @plekkchand 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Good point. The reply of SS is off the mark, and merely "begs the question" as to why it is the poetry which should be sacrificed to exigencies of time limits rather than textual issues, which are the in domain of preparing more professors rather than an extension course anyway.

    • @Tolstoy111
      @Tolstoy111 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@plekkchand Because focusing on the poetry would get her lost in talking about one passage for the entire two hours. This is analysis from further away.

  • @jonnypaulhus8025
    @jonnypaulhus8025 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Ce cours est nul. À peu près le niveau qu’on s’attendrait pour des étudiants de 15 ans, mais pas pour Harvard.

  • @Harlan_Ferguson
    @Harlan_Ferguson 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was not helpful

    • @rebeccak5753
      @rebeccak5753 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Harlerino what were you looking for?

    • @CoolThisIsMyUsername
      @CoolThisIsMyUsername 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      +Rebecca Kilpatrick probably a 2 page essay

    • @rebeccak5753
      @rebeccak5753 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      haha had an essay due?

  • @tripp8833
    @tripp8833 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Brilliant lecture