Anyway this thing happened today where I was supposed to come up with reasons why Goneril was Wrong to tell her servants to be rude to Lear, and I Couldn’t, and I was just trying to get the answer the teacher wanted,
so I was like “… because he was the king? But he’s barely the king now??”
And she was like “and why else?”
And I was like “…I guess he’s her father so she has some obligation to be polite to him??”
And she was like “and Why Else??”
And I was like “?????? I don’t know?”
And she was like “because he just gave her land and she should be grateful!!”
And I was like “??????????????”
Like. Yeah. Who else would he have given it to?? He wants it to stay in the family, right? So he’s not gonna give it to anyone other than his daughters?? It was his choice to retire?? They never asked for land he just handed it to them?? Unless you count praising him as asking for land, but praising a vey unstable all powerful ruler just seems like a common sense thing to do if you dont wanna die or get banished??
Today’s new and improved version of this was
Teacher: Edette, how does Goneril speak to Albany?
Me, knowing good and well the sort of answer she wants, but also wants to say something that I actually think is true: She.. speaks to him in a very strong way that was probably not common for women of the time..?
Teacher: Goneril’s very dismissive of Albany and couldn’t care less about him. She’s very rude and disrespectful to him
But like?? He’s dismissive first?? Goneril made a pretty reasonable request (that Lear cuts down the size of his entourage), and Lear curses her out, and then Goneril’s obviously upset about that, and Albany’s like “well this is such a complicated situation, I’d rather not comfort my wife because I might be choosing the wrong side here”. I mean. Albany. Your wife was just cursed out by her father for asking him nicely not to wreck her house.