Looking Past Traditions The Timelessness of a Shakespearean Classic

1
Looking Past TraditionsThe Timelessness of a
Shakespearean Classic
2
Shakespeares King Lear

• Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his
  three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia
• He asks them to profess their love to him
• Lear banishes Cordelia, his favorite and most
  loyal daughter because she has not flattered him
• Cordelia marries the King of France
• Goneril and Regan plot to strip Lear of all of
  his remaining power, finally causing him to go
  mad
• Cordelias love is unconditional for her father
  and she comes to his aid
• Lear realizes the cruelty and deception of
  Goneril and Reagan and that Cordelia has been
  true to him
• Goneril had Cordelia hung at the end, and Lear
  dies of a broken heart.

3
Traditional, Yet Modern for his Time

• Shakespeares language and classical reference
  seem archaic to modern readers
• This was common to his
• audiences
• Viewers were from all classes
• Audiences would have been familiar with his
  numerous references to classical mythology and
  literature, since these stories were staples of
  the Elizabethan knowledge base.
• Expanded his audiences' vocabularies
• a great variety and number of words than
  almost any other work in the English language,
  showing that he was quick to innovate, had a huge
  vocabulary, and was interested in using new
  phrases and words

4
Background and Influences

• The story of King Lear and his three daughters
  existed up to four centuries before Shakespeare
• Events, historical considerations, relationships,
  and cultural trends influenced Shakespeares
  writing of King Lear so that it would appeal to
  the audience of the time.
• Borrowed from a contemporary true story of
  a gentleman pensioner of Queen Elizabeth, Sir
  Brian Annesley, whose daughters tried to get him
  declared insane in late 1603 so that they could
  legally take control of his estate. Cordell was
  the youngest daughter and intervened on his
  behalf.
• Shakespeare knew that he would have to perform in
  front of King James I.
• embedded concepts that would appeal to the
  king, such as the dangers of a divided kingdom
  which was often the topic of James' speeches
  because of his wish to unite Scotland with
  England
• Shakespeare took into account the honor and
  wisdom endowed to the elderly as opposed to the
  rash ambition of the young as well as the
  ritualistic reverence showed to royalty.
• Shakespeare moved into his period of writing
  tragedies as he felt they were more respected by
  critics although audiences generally preferred
  comedies
• This is why he utilized the fool in his
  tragedies, to add comic relief

5
Gender

• Lear makes the tragic mistake of banishing his
  favorite daughter and giving his kingdom to
  Goneril and Regan
• These two daughters express their cruel nature
  through the empty words they use to express the
  false love that they hold for their father the
  only love that they truly have is for power

• They make Lears knights leave and
• treat him rudely
• They send their father away without
• a home
• The ultimate desire of the Goneril
• and Regan is for power, which they
• gain by slowly diminishing Lears
• authority
• Their power and heartlessness
• eventually leads to Cordelias and
• Lears deaths

6
Madness

• King Lear loses his identity as King and as
  father through the false nature of his two
  daughters Goneril and Regan
• In stepping down from the throne, Lear has also
  given up all of his formal authority to those who
  do not actually love him. He no longer has the
  power to command anyone to do anything, even to
  give him shelter or food
• Lear begins to question his own identity Doth
  any here know me? This is not Lear. Who is it
  that can tell me who I am? (I.iv.201205).
  Gonerils insistence that Lear is now senile
  makes Lear himself wonder whether he is really
  himself anymore or whether he has lost his mind.

7
Reinventing Lear

• Shakespeares King Lear is still relevant in
  todays society
• His works involve historical figures
• People can still identify with his themes
• His plays continue to entertain and evoke
  emotion
• Shakespeares works can also be adapted to fit
  the modern world and other cultures, which is
  seen through the development of Kurosawas Ran,
  and Ong Kengs Pan Asian Lear.

8

• Lear in Japan
• Kurosawas

9
Background Information

• the second of Kurosawas films based on
  Shakespeare
• the first was Throne of Blood, based on Macbeth
• the title, Ran, means chaos but carries
  additional connotations of revolt, upheaval,
  discord, turmoil, and anarchy
• Key Differences Shakespeares King Lear to
  Kurosawas Ran
• setting feudal Japan during the Warring States
  period
• three sons instead of three daughters
• Character correspondence
• Lear Hidetori
• Goneril Taro first son
• Regan Jiro second son
• Cordelia Saburo third son

10
What has always troubled me about King Lear is
that Shakespeare gives his characters no past. We
are plunged directly into the agonies of their
present dilemmas without knowing how they come to
this point. Without knowing his past, Ive never
really understood the ferocity of his daughters
response to Lears feeble attempts to shed his
royal power. In Ran Ive tried to give Lear a
history. I try to make clear that is power must
rest upon a lifetime of bloodthirsty savagery.
Forced to confront the consequences of his
misdeeds, he is driven mad. But only by
confronting his evil head-on can he transcend it
and begin to struggle again toward virtue.
11
Modernity and Tradition in Ran

• The Modern
• concept of spectacle
• huge, sweeping battle scenes
• focus on detail
• vivid use of color, elaborate staging
• The Traditional
• Noh drama deeply influenced Kurosawa
• uses long shots to achieve objective aloofness
• seamless flow and dreamlike rhythm

12
Identity in Ran

• Gender
• daughters replaced by sons
• Since my story is set in medieval Japan, the
  protagonists children had to be men to divide a
  realm among daughters would have been
  unthinkable.
• strong female characters
• Lady Kaede- described as an amalgam of Goneril,
  Regan, Lady MacBeth, and Edmund
• Lady Sue

13
Identity in Ran (continued)

• Audience Response
• spectacle created for a modern audience
• violent and sensational
• elements unique to Japanese culture
• Kaede compared to a demon fox by the general
  Kurogane
• facial makeup for Kaede and Hidetori modeled on
  Noh masks

14
Identity in Ran (continued)

• Madness
• Hidetori loses his identity and becomes mad when
  everything that defines him is stripped away
• he loses his position, his family, and the
  respect of his vassals
• Hidetoris descent into madness is shown visually
  by his descent from the burning keep
• Hidetori questions his own selfhood
• Who am I?

15
Transcending Borders

• Kurosawa merged the story of Shakespeares King
  Lear with the (inverted) Japanese legend of
  Motonari Mori to create an epic that resonates
  with all audiences
• finds a Shakespearean sense of doom in the
  other, remote, and apparently alien historical
  place.
• questions of identity, belonging, and family
  allegiance are not limited to one county
• as with Lear, Hidetoris death evokes pity and awe

16
Pan Asian LearA New Stage for A New Asia
'As artists we have to continue to produce art
which is rooted in changing cultural contexts.
Old definitions of traditional and modern no
longer seem useful in the new millennium. We must
move beyond the dichotomy of tradition and
contemporary'
17
Background

• Key Differences
• Has 2 daughters instead of 3
• Story focuses more on elder daughter and her
  inner turmoil
• Asian-centered theme of patriarchy
• Setting created by public space of the stage,
  which seems to symbolize modern Asia

18
Modernity vs Tradition

• Traditional theatre
• King Noh Theatre
• Elder daughter Peking Opera
• Younger daughter Thai
• Retainer Javanese/Indonesian (especially in
  dance)
• Post-modern Art
• Delicate balance between the different traditions
  and languages
• Minimalist approach with respects to scenery and
  props juxtaposed to extravagant and colorful
  costumes.

19
Identity

• Gender
• Focuses on the elder daughters quest for power
  (instead of Lear)
• Instead of merely seeing a two-dimensional elder
  daughter, see her internal struggle as she
  ascended the throne
• However, casts her as a stereotypical woman who
  tries to remain in power
• Retainer that seems to act as a manipulator,
  putting thoughts into her head. Who is really in
  control?

20
Identity

• Audience Response
• Combination of cultures applies Lear to
  contemporary audience
• Elements unique to cultures
• costumes explicitly differentiate characters and
  roles
• Different traditional performances
• Peking Opera All male theatre, when emphasis on
  elaborate costumes and face make-up
• Noh Theatre All male theatre, ritualized with
  masks and costumes, simple backdrop and music
• Indonesian Expression through stylized and
  deliberate dances

21
Identity

• Madness
• Elder daughter keeps asking at the end of the
  play Whos behind me
• In the end loses her family and becomes
  paranoid
• Reemphasizes that identity is not defined by
  power
• Kills Retainer in the end when finds out he was
  plotting her death. But without him, seemed to be
  lost

22
Looking Past Traditions

• What is Asia?
• Focus on the course was to study the Diaspora of
  Asian culture through different countries
• Ong frames Asia in a new light with respect to
  the oriental stereotype especially with
  Southeast Asia, which seems to be the forgotten
  East
• Asia leading the new drive towards modernity
  through the power of art