More on the final project and a bit on King Lear and biology

Hey, sorry for not posting this on time again, I'm going to really try and commit to putting my posts together the night before so that I'm SURE that I will post on time. Sorry for the inconvenience and the inconsistency.




So seeing the sound booth yesterday was VERY exciting! I reserved it for this evening so that I can tinker around with the hardware and whatnot in it and figure out how everything works. But there's definitely some hard-core awesome microphones. The major thing is just figuring out how to turn everything on. Once I can do that, the sound should be golden. I also think I'll record a few things and play around with various effects on human voices, so stay tuned for some fun samples on Friday.



Also, our rough cut in the googledoc posted here is finished. Thursday in class, we'll be going over the whole thing, reading through and getting the general feel of the script, possibly do some more cutting, possibly put in more lines.

Children betraying the father is a major theme throughout King Lear, seen both in Gloucester's sons and Lear's daughters. There is a very distinct biological, hormonal bond that ties the father to the child's well-being during gestation. In fact, some sources, like this article, say that the hormonal change causes parenting behavior. Then when the children are born, they form an instant tie with their mother and father, who provide social acceptance and emotional nourishment as well as food and shelter. Then as the child grows older, they can find social acceptance and emotional fulfillment elsewhere, illustrated in Cordelia's line, "Why have my sister's husbands, if they say/ They love you all?" Lear's daughters have by this point found love outside of him and no longer need him, while Lear has given everything to his daughters and is now reliant upon them for his well-being. The parental-child role here has been flip-flopped, and without that spike in hormones, his daughters feel very little obligation to actually take care of Lear, especially when he continues to treat them like his children.

Then in Gloucester's case, he has a rather good relationship with Edgar, who greatly loves his father and, along with Cordelia, is one of the only characters that actually exhibits love for his parent. However, Edmund, whose major difference from Edgar is the identity of his mother. Yet this difference drastically changes the Edmund's place in society as well as his mental health and connection with his father. It is highly unlikely that Gloucester really cared very much for the whore that bore him a son and probably did not spend a lot of time with her during the pregnancy, significantly weakening that hormonal tie. As he says, "I have so often blushed to acknowledge him... and the whoreson must be acknowledged." Due to the expectations of society and his position in it, Gloucester is forced to act as Edmund's father, although I doubt that he was treated with the same love and affection that Edgar was. Edmund's plots against Edgar is less an actual ploy for power as it is a sad, misguided attempt to take Edgar's place and earn his father's love.

Edmund has daddy issues and an inferiority complex

How would you like it if your dad always introduced you by saying that he was slightly embarrassed of you, but that your mother was a good whore? That's pretty much the way Edmund feels. At the very first, Gloucester seems to be emphasizing the fact that Edmund is his illegitimate son who "must be acknowledged" because his mother was pretty and "there was good sport at his making." Seriously, how could you grow up like that and NOT want to implement some crazy scheme to get your dad to notice you? 

Edmund isn't the only younger brother
living in the shadow of his elder sibling.

So according to this article by Timothy Lin, there are four major causes that can aggravate an inferiority complex: physical defects, mental limitations, social disadvantages, and parental attitudes. These last two are both very applicable to Edmund's situation, especially the latter of the two. Constantly being compared to his older, legitimate brother, who will inherit his father's lands and power, he is forced to face and re-confront the reality that he will never be politically powerful or rich, despite the fact that his father is a powerful earl. Simply because of his illegitimate status, he is socially inferior to his elder brother. Indeed, that is what Edmund focuses on when he gives his initial speech detailing his plans.


Symptoms of inferiority complexes fall into one of two categories: withdrawal tactics and aggressive tactics.  Edmund does not exhibit many withdrawn tendencies, but does show many of the more violent tactics of criticizing others and seeking for attention. In the absence of truly being able to find fault and criticize his brother, Edmund is framing him, making up things to criticize him for. In successfully doing so, he will not only gain what he sees to be his rightful inheritance, but also the love and appreciation of his father.