Reading King Lear: the Intrigue of Madness in Shakespeare
LIT8-5b-Tue3
Avi Mendelson
This course will take place virtually on Zoom. Participation requires a device (ideally a computer or tablet, rather than a cell phone) with a camera and microphone in good working order and basic familiarity with using Zoom and accessing email.
October 15 - November 12
How did Shakespeare imagine madness? His obsession with it appears not only in iconic plays (like Hamlet and Macbeth), but also in lesser-known works (Titus Andronicus and The Two Noble Kinsmen). In this course, we’ll read deeply, together, Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy about madness: King Lear. Though at first glance King Lear links madness to old age – modern actors have even observed dementia patients for research purposes – the play is far less clear about Lear’s ailment. It might be trauma from abusive offspring, it could be the emasculating effect of abdicating monarchical authority, and it’s sometimes attributed to a bite from a rabid dog.
We’ll begin by discussing madness and warm up by reading an early madness-themed comedy – Shakespeare’s raucous farce about twins, The Comedy of Errors. This lighter reading will help us understand expressions of madness that reemerge in King Lear, including demonic possession, waking dreams, and poetic splendor. Next, we’ll ask: When and why is Lear mad? How is madness connected to the play’s many animal references? And how is melancholy, a condition often compared to depression, portrayed? Finally, we’ll inquire about the relationship Shakespeare draws between his own creative arts – poetry and theater – and madness. For historical context, we’ll consult 400-year-old documents about madness, including medical books, exorcism debates, and witchcraft legislation. By reading Shakespeare's renowned madness play, we’ll not only gain a better understanding of mental health in the Renaissance, but we also might, tangentially, get a better grasp on mental health as it’s imagined today.
Please note: This course will not be recorded.
More facilitated discussion than lecture.
The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare. Frances E. Dolan, editor. Penguin Classics (“The Pelican Shakespeare”). 2018. ISBN 0143132237, King Lear, William Shakespeare. Stephen Orgel, editor. Penguin Classics (“The Pelican Shakespeare”). 2016. ISBN 0143128558. Additional readings will be posted on the class web site.
2-3 hours per week.
Avi Mendelson is an Angeleno turned Londoner who finished a PhD in English Literature at Brandeis University; his dissertation focused on madness and mental health in Shakespearean drama. Avi’s scholarship appears in the British Shakespeare Association’s Teaching Shakespeare magazine, as well as in the books Performing Disability in Early Modern English Drama (Palgrave, 2021) and Inclusive Shakespeares (Palgrave, 2023). Avi also has worked in theaters in London; he has acted, directed, or dramaturged, most recently, for performances at the Arcola Theater, the Tower Theater, and the Etcetera Theater.