Three Things About King Lear:

- The Earl of Kent is a bro of inestimable virtue. I don't know how else to do him justice. In every Shakespeare play I've read, it seems that the characters which conspire and take on false pretenses for their own gain or pure evil (Iago, yikes) take center stage. In King Lear, however, I'm delighted with the unwavering loyalty and selfless scheming of the Earl of Kent. He is a true hero, may he stand as one of my favorite characters in Shakespeare. I hold him in higher esteem than his counterpart of sorts, Edgar, because he has no filial interest. His loyalty to Lear, like Iago's evil in Othello, is never really explained. Inexplicable good is beautiful, Kent is just marvelous. In such a disaster of treachery, the amazing virtue and valor shown by Kent, Gloucester, and Edgar is just astounding.

- The image of Lear and his fool on the Heath in the storm (above) is something that really elevates this play among most of the other Shakespeare I've read. It's a daring image, within it lies all the touching tragedy of Lear. It was the turning point for my feelings for Lear. Before, I thought he was simply a bit obnoxious and demanding. Whether or not you think his sorrow and bitter reaction to Goneril and Regan is warranted at first, it's hard not to side with him after these scenes. The Heath is a place of transformation, not only for the characters, but for the reader as well.

- One of my favorite things about Shakespeare is the way he uses very minor characters to stir passion and work you into the play. Oswald is so obnoxious from the minute he appears on stage that you just want to kick him and trip his heels as Kent does. An insolent little bastard, he gets his due. Many minor characters are wonderful in contrast to his awfulness, most notably the Old Man who helps the blinded Gloucester flee from his estate to Dover and fetches better close for Edgar disguised as Poor Tom. Also of note, the First Servant, a character whose swift deed and honorable defense of Gloucester is worthy of a name, but he doesn't get one. In a way, the whole play speaks to how the "lower" classes are so often the most reasonable, keeping duty and their sense about them in troubled times. Meanwhile, most of the nobility concern themselves only in deceit or forgo their sense and simply go mad.