King Lear is losing the sense of himself and who he is, indicated mainly in the part of the play where "Lear's shadow" is discussed. Characters in the play need to hold onto a constructed reality that can sustain them, because the alternative to this life is one of emptiness. The fact that the play has many nouns within the speeches is one of Shakespeare's attempts to prove that one can only be sustained by filling his or her life with language and concrete things, and constructing a world that can act as a shield against the sense of "nothing" that can be prevalent within the characters of the play. The nouns can maintain the illusion by protecting individuals through heavy language.
Lauren Rosenthal
Discussion 1C
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