King Lear by Shakespeare
I'll be honest, my first two books I featured were softballs. Who doesn't love Narnia and Harry Potter (don't tell me if you don't love them, I live in a world where everyone loves them).
I also mentioned my love of YA and how reading so much adult lit drove me even further into YA. So let me switch it up today: today I'm talking about my favorite play, King Lear.
My first experience with this play was actually as a child--one of my favorite books growing up was Grandfather Tales a collection of folk Appalachian stories collected by Robert Hillerich. I read and absorbed every single one of those stories, and eventually, as I grew up, I started making connections between the stories and their sources. "Whitebear Whittington" had roots in the classic "Beauty and the Beast" stories, for example, and I realized that many of the stories can be traced back to classic fairy tales. The settlers in Appalachia took the stories of their European ancestors and made them their own.
One story, though, was always a mystery to me: "Like Salt Loves Meat." In it, a girl tells her father she loves him "like salt loves meat," a similarity that he doesn't appreciate, and he sends her away. It's not until a clever cook (his daughter in disguise) makes him a meal without salt that he realizes the depth of her love.
When I was in high school, I was assigned to read King Lear. Within the first scene, I realized I had found the source of my favorite folk tale, and by the end I was as in love with the original as with the bedtime story.
One of my favorite things about King Lear is that it touches on all forms of love--and it most definitely IS a love story, even if the main love story is between a father and a daughter. It's about familial love between parents and children, brothers and sisters. It's about the love between friends and strangers. It's about love turned sour by greed and kept pure by sincerity.
There are little moments in the play that I relish. When Goneril smashes out Gloucester's eyes and describes them as jelly, I can't help but laugh. Kent's loyalty and Lear's madness are some of my favorite scenes, as is Gloucester's "aided suicide." But one of my favorite aspects of the play is the fact that it's possible for the same actor to play both Cordelia and the Fool--which adds a whole new layer of meaning to the Fool's words.
Shakespeare's probably most well known for Romeo and Juliet...and that's my least favorite of his plays. I don't think that Romeo and Juliet had love at all. At best they had a manic sort of obsessive attraction, but love? No.
If you want love, look at how Cordelia loves Lear.
She loves him like salt loves meat.
Find out what the other Bookanistas are reading here:
I also mentioned my love of YA and how reading so much adult lit drove me even further into YA. So let me switch it up today: today I'm talking about my favorite play, King Lear.
My first experience with this play was actually as a child--one of my favorite books growing up was Grandfather Tales a collection of folk Appalachian stories collected by Robert Hillerich. I read and absorbed every single one of those stories, and eventually, as I grew up, I started making connections between the stories and their sources. "Whitebear Whittington" had roots in the classic "Beauty and the Beast" stories, for example, and I realized that many of the stories can be traced back to classic fairy tales. The settlers in Appalachia took the stories of their European ancestors and made them their own.
One story, though, was always a mystery to me: "Like Salt Loves Meat." In it, a girl tells her father she loves him "like salt loves meat," a similarity that he doesn't appreciate, and he sends her away. It's not until a clever cook (his daughter in disguise) makes him a meal without salt that he realizes the depth of her love.
When I was in high school, I was assigned to read King Lear. Within the first scene, I realized I had found the source of my favorite folk tale, and by the end I was as in love with the original as with the bedtime story.
One of my favorite things about King Lear is that it touches on all forms of love--and it most definitely IS a love story, even if the main love story is between a father and a daughter. It's about familial love between parents and children, brothers and sisters. It's about the love between friends and strangers. It's about love turned sour by greed and kept pure by sincerity.
There are little moments in the play that I relish. When Goneril smashes out Gloucester's eyes and describes them as jelly, I can't help but laugh. Kent's loyalty and Lear's madness are some of my favorite scenes, as is Gloucester's "aided suicide." But one of my favorite aspects of the play is the fact that it's possible for the same actor to play both Cordelia and the Fool--which adds a whole new layer of meaning to the Fool's words.
Shakespeare's probably most well known for Romeo and Juliet...and that's my least favorite of his plays. I don't think that Romeo and Juliet had love at all. At best they had a manic sort of obsessive attraction, but love? No.
If you want love, look at how Cordelia loves Lear.
She loves him like salt loves meat.
Find out what the other Bookanistas are reading here:
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Shelli Johannes-Wells dishes on Become (Desolation Book #1)
Beth Revis celebrates books for which she’s grateful – with gigantic signed book giveaway
Jessi Kirby applauds Virtuosity
Megan Miranda marvels at How to Save a Life
Rosemary Clement Moore is wild for The Iron Witch
Veronica Rossi is amazed by Shatter Me
5 comments:
I was quite surprised to see King Lear as a favourite book. I wouldn't have thought that it was something most people would admit to liking. Not that I have a problem with it. I read almost all of Shakespeares's plays and love (almost) all of them. I have to agree that Romeo and Juilet is one of my least favourite plays, probably because it's such a silly story, yet everyone raves on about it. Though my least favourite has to be Titus Andronicus. If you've never read it or seen it, count yourself lucky!
I have not read King Lear. Thanks for making a convincing argument as to why I should Beth.
I love this post.
I'm familiar with the Jack Tales, or Grandfather tales, too.
And I totally agree with you about Romeo and Juliet, but the times I have dared to share my opinion, the air in the room has stilled and people look daggers at me. Oh well.
King Lear is my VERY favorite Shakespeare play. I love it SOOOO much!
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