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A Comparison of Two King Lear Portrayals

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Different portrayals of King Lear and different uses of colours and costumes in Richard Eyer’s representation of King Lear and Trevor Nunn’s King Lear.

Martin Sasseville
Ms. Sheri McCready
Friday, October 3, 2014
ENG4UBd
The representation of King Lear that was directed by Richard Eyer focused a lot on the motif of madness and deceit. Trevor Nunn’s representation differs as it focuses on the motif of illness instead. Through the characterization of King Lear and the costumes, Richard Eyer’s representation of King Lear portrays the motifs of insanity and treachery while, through the characterization of King Lear and the costumes, Trevor Nunn’s representation of King Lear portrays the motifs of sickness, passion and hidden disloyalty.
The character of King Lear has a massive impact on which motifs are portrayed through the first scene. Both versions had some similarities but they were not as great as the differences. The main similarity is the speech of the Kings. In both versions, King Lear speaks very quickly as he disowns Cordelia. This represents the utter anger of King Lear and how he cannot even put his rage into controlled words. When looking at speech, quick speech is representative of nervousness or rage. Both directors effectively showed Lear’s rage through his quick speech. However, the differences are much greater. In Richard Eyer’s production, King Lear uses his body a lot. He spreads his arms to seem more intimidating and he climbs up onto the meeting table to show how he still has power over the people gathered before him whereas Nunn’s Lear only has to stand up to assert his power. Eyer’s Lear also seems physically healthy. The physical magnitude of Eyer’s Lear is much greater than Nunn’s because Eyer’s Lear moves a lot and has a strong voice, as well as a strong body, thus focusing more on his mental sickness and showing him to be physically healthy. He moves sharply and in strong movements whereas Nunn’s Lear appeared more sickly and frail. His speech was slow and laboured. He appeared physically drained following his outburst. The mere act of standing up and condemning his daughter seemed too much for his body, for he collapsed into the throne right after. This displays the motif of sickness. Finally, Eyer’s Lear seems to have no care for the natural order as he blurs the lines in a father-daughter relationship through lusty actions as opposed to Nunn’s Lear, who just shows fatherly affection for his elder daughters following Elizabethan tradition. Thus, Eyer’s Lear portrays the motif of insanity compared to Nunn’s Lear, who portrays the motif of physical sickness.
The costumes are very important in the portrayal of specific motifs in the first scene of King Lear. The most significant aspect of the costumes, in both representations, is the colours used. In Richard Eyer’s representation, there is a predominance of black. Every character is garbed in black robes excepting three: Cordelia and her sisters. Even the husbands of the two older sisters wear black, as they did not aid the innocent characters, Kent and Cordelia, in the slightest. Yet only Cordelia wears a lightly-coloured dress to display innocence. Her sisters also wear lighter clothes, yet they are of a darker tone than Cordelia’s showing the beginning of their corruption. However, Kent is also an honest and innocent character. Yet he is also dressed in black. This choice of costume is interesting as it depicts how Lear’s upper court is filled with corruption. It also depicts how Lear will see Kent as disloyal and as a traitor, no longer innocent. Cordelia, however, wears a white dress to show how she is not accused of treachery, only of severe negligence and cruelty. This portrays the motifs of corruption and treachery. Nunn’s representation, however, portrays different motifs through the costume choices. King Lear wears red robes in this representation, depicting his rage and passion. More specifically, the robes are blood-red, foreshadowing to all the blood that will be spilled because of Lear’s mental instability. Opposing Eyer’s representation, all three sisters are wearing white in Nunn’s representation, yet Goneril and Regan are only wearing white shawls over black costumes. This shows how they are trying to hide their treachery under masks of love and innocence, whereas Cordelia is wearing a wedding gown, portraying her as the innocent, loving bride. Thus, through the costume choices and colours, Nunn’s representation portrays the motifs of passion and hidden disloyalty.
Both representations effectively depicted the motifs of madness, sickness and treachery, yet Eyer’s version focused more on King Lear’s insanity and mental sickness, whereas Nunn’s version focused more on the physical sickness of King Lear and the hidden disloyalty of his family.
Words: 744
Works cited https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR8ja0N01Os https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrTUW8iz7Gc

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