King Lear Reading Log

A log is the record of a journey. Your log, which you will keep in a section of
your notebook, will be the record of your own journey through King Lear.
Each persons journey will be different. You will ha!e specific assign"ents
for your log, but you are encouraged to add to these, to show what interests
you, and what you learn on the trip.
Date each entry, and note the Act and scene to which your entry refers.
For each scene, do a minimum of three of the following prompts#
$!er the course of the play, respond to a !ariety of the pro"pts, so that by the end you will
ha!e considered each pro"pt se!eral ti"es.
%u""ari&e the action of the scene
'o""ent in one sentence on what you think is the significance of this
scene. (hat would the play be like without it)
Ask *uestions about the scene. +as anything in the scene caused you
confusion) Ask one of the character in the scene a *uestion, or ask
"e a *uestion.
E.g. -uestions# Ed"und, whats your proble") Edgar, are you going to take a stand against
Ed"und) . hope you do. /egan, how strongly do you feel about Ed"und) Youd better
a!oid hi" totally before so"ething terrible happens0
-uote lines fro" the scene that you feel are i"portant in the scene
and e1plain their significance.
E.g. .n scene one, Lear says Let thy truth be thy dower. .t is i"portant because it
shows the big di!ision in the play# between those who speak the truth, and those who are
blind to it. .t also shows the audience that those who are true will be punished for it.
2escribe your reactions to a character, action or idea you confronted
in the scene.
E.g. King Lear see"s like an egotistical person to "e. +e wants e!eryone to flatter hi",
but cant see that "ost of it is lies. .t see"s like the only way to get ahead in his
kingdo" would be to lie. ." not surprised that Kent is happy to lea!e in this scene.
Anyone honest should probably get out of there.
3alk about the relationships characters ha!e to one another, *uoting
specific words or phrases to gi!e e!idence for your opinion.
E.g. 4.4, ." not sure how 5loucester feels about his son in this scene. E!en though he
says 2o you s"ell a fault) it is not clear whether he considers Ed"und to be the fault
or whether its hi"self at fault for ha!ing hi" out of wedlock. +e does introduce hi" to
Kent, so it see"s like he is okay acknowledging hi", although he says he has so often
blushed.
6retend you are an actor playing one of the characters in the scene.
5et inside that characters "ind. 3ell how the character feels about
herself, about other characters, and7or about the situation of the
scene.
-uote a line or two that you particularly enjoyed and co""ent about
the".
8otes on a character perfor"ance 9!iewing: or how you would
perfor" a character. (hat sort of person is he7she and how would
you be able to tell by his7her beha!iour, body language and tone)
'o""ent on the i"portance of recurring words, groups of related
words or other patterns of i"agery.