Page 59 - King Lear: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

liv K I N G L E A R
all its complexity, is virtually saying to us that such tragic
accidents do occur through something as trivial as human
forgetfulness; but faith in the ultimate triumph of good
remains nevertheless.
1
Speaking of Othello and of Lear, Dr Tillyard —in my
view rightly—claims that a 'new order' is established
at the end of both. 'True,' he says,' the new order is cut
short in both plays, but its creation is an essential part of
the tragic pattern.' It is enough for Shakespeare to hint
at this new order. His main purpose has been to show
how it comes about that a new order can be established.
The sombre tone at the end is due to a pressing awareness
in the author of the price: but the price has not been paid
in vain.
Mr James declares that 'the play at its end at most
looks dimly ahead beyond itself as, at its beginning, it had
not looked back to what had gone before' (p. 104). The
opening scene, he says, 'cuts away from our imagina-
tions any sense of the preceding life of Lear and his
family', and' Shakespeare gives us very little which helps
to make the scene we see continuous with what had gone
before' (p. 101). I cannot agree with this; and, indeed,
if personal reminiscence is allowable in an Introduction
such as this, I would record my vivid recollection of
James entertaining in his home, years ago, the most
junior member of his Department, as he so often and so
generously did. I remember the tone of his voice as he
quoted, in conversation, the significant words, 'he hath
ever but slenderly known himself. We are told this early
in the play—and told that 'the best and soundest of his
time hath been but rash'. And, later on, Lear himself
speaks of the remote past:

They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had the white hairs
in my beard ere the black ones were there. (4. 6. 95-7)
1
Shakespeare's Last Plays (1938), p. 17.