Page 46 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

INTRODUCTION xli
hardly help recalling the temptation of Christ by the
Devil-
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth
him on a pinnacle of the temple.
And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down....
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain.... (St Matthew iv. $-6, 8)
The biblical circumstances are quite different from those
of Lear. It is no case of close parallelism. Nevertheless,
the mere fact that, in a play with so many other scriptural
references, Edgar's fiction is of Gloucester being
tempted by a fiend to cast himself down from a height
to his destruction, makes us conscious of a Christian
atmosphere enveloping Gloucester as he learns patience.
It is certainly Christian, not Stoic, patience that he
learns; for he dies a man who assuredly has not abrogated
emotion- Bu( . ^ flawed hear t
(Alack, too weak the conflict to support)
'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly. (5. 3. 195-8)
There are similarities between the story of Gloucester
and that of Lear. There are also obvious differences.
Thus, for instance, the fact that Edmund exists at all is
a result of sin in Gloucester—and his jesting about it in
the opening passage of the play may well prejudice some
against him. Now in his book The Dream of Learning
Mr D. G. James says this (p. 93):
There is a feature of Lear's personality which has always
impressed me and which I cannot fail to feel is at the centre
of Shakespeare's intention in this play. It is the sense, which
Lear frequently conveys, that the source of his children's
evil is in himself,
we recall Lear saying, for example,
Judicious punishment! 'Twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters. (3. 4. 73~4)
N.S.K.L. - 3