King Lear and Extremity

Abstract

This article argues that "extremity" is a useful overarching concept for approaching Shakespeare's designs in King Lear, that instances and concepts of the extreme are built into the text of the play and into the demands it makes on actors, and that these impulses or invitations to extremity have also migrated into the play's critical and performance histories. Specific points explored include the play's pre-eminence in the canon of Shakespeare's work in using certain lexical categories (especially comparative and superlatives of adjectives), the sustained reproduction of extremity in the language of criticism of the play, the orientation of performers of its roles on extreme deployments of the actor's body, the recent fashion for solo-performer adaptations of the play, and the influence of the play on other recent dramaturgies of extremity, particularly of extreme deprivation.