So, today we're going to talk about King Lear. It's one of my favorite plays by Shakespeare and... I mean... it's so for a variety of reasons... for its difficulty in being staged properly... um... also for the incredibly violent and horrible things that happen to it... in it, but also... I think... also really because it talks about the nature of love, of true value of people... and public image versus private... and sort of... um... external and internal value of a human being, I guess. So I... I think what we'll start with is talking really about love... and... the interesting thing about King Lear himself is that he has no idea what love is... and...uh... he... he believes somehow that love is connected to things and that love is connected to things you give to people, and love should be measured by how much you can give people, and, because he has everything, he thinks that everyone should love him to the sum total of everything, and, indeed, the way he feels about love is validated by his oldest two daughters who... you know... tell him with all sorts of words that they love him... that they love him this much, and it's really a great question if love is about grand gestures and pretty words or... if it's about public show... or if it's... uh... about what you can give people. So, at the beginning of the play, Lear divides his kingdom into 3 parts for his 3 daughters and his idea is that this is somehow going to ... quote prevent future strife, so it's going to solve any problems that might happen later when he's dead... And so he asks his three daughters to come in. It's a great court occasion and he says to the first one, you know, "How much do you love me?" And to what he says, and I'll quote it here, she says, "Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter; Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty; Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; As much as child e'er lov'd or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable. Beyond all manner of so much I love you." So, in essence she says she loves him absolutely more than anything and, for this, he gives her a third of the kingdom. And the next sister, Regan, um... says... you know... you know, my sister stole my words. I love you even more than she does and, you know, she spoiled my speech, and of course Lear looks at this and he gives her a whole bunch of his kingdom as well. The third daughter is... standing by listening to all this and she... she's the one who truly, truly does love her father... and, as she's listening to it, she's thinking, you know I can't say this stuff. It may be true, but she says my heart is heavier than... than my tongue. I... I can't go through with this stupid show. So when he comes to his turn to talk to her.. um... he says, you know... what... what do you have to say? You know, speak... speak and get something better. Because she's actually his favorite... and he says "Say something" and "What have you got to say?" and she says, "Nothing. I have nothing to say." And he says," Nothing?! What do you mean 'Nothing'?" And because she says nothing, he believes that she doesn't actually love him and cuts her completely off... um.. gives her absolutely no property and divides her property among the two sisters. So, in essence, what happens here is love is what you say, not love is what you do. And if you say everything, you get everything, and if you say nothing, you get nothing. And... this is what the world is like according to Lear. But, of course, the world that starts this way doesn't go anywhere nice. So what he discovers... um... in the end is that... his two daughters don't love him at all, and he ends up with little things being taken away from him... um... and he discovers eventually that real value is not in what you say to someone, or love is not what you bestow on anyone. Real love is actually what you DO. And... there's a moment during... this little... well, after this little conversation. There are two men who want to marry Cordelia, the youngest one that says nothing, and they're the lords of France and Burgundy and... King Lear announces to them that he's totally cut her off, that she doesn't have any money or any wealth, and... um... Burgundy immediately goes "Oh... well, then. I'm not having her." And France says one of the most romantic things I think I've ever heard. He says, "She is herself a dowry," meaning that all of her worth is intrinsic and inside of her and he takes her and he marries her, and this whole thing is lost on Lear. He thinks that France is an idiot.... And... really... I mean, the whole thing's lost on everyone in there who's focused on greed and materialism. But, you know, later on in the play, Lear finds himself without anything and, if you remember this scene, he ends up completely mad, wandering dressed... dressed in leaves and stuff on a beach. He's completely lost his mind, and Cordelia finds him wandering mad on the beach, and she takes him in, and she... helps heal him... and it's at that time when he sort of regains his sanity that he realizes what true value is, and he realizes who really loves him, and... it's the one who he didn't give anything to. And... um... he realizes at that point that really saying nothing meant everything, and having nothing is really having everything because he finds love and he finds happiness. of course, you know, all of this finding love and finding happiness and discovering the true nature of love doesn't really help anyone in the play because... at the end of the play... you know... yes, Goneril and Regan both die because they're evil and they have no good feelings or anything, but Lear and Cordelia also die too. And I suppose what the whole lesson of the thing is supposed to be is that... you know... we need to pay attention to what true love is and take it away from materialism.