Something DOES come from nothing

There is a very specific tone that I've tried to capture in my last two King Lear posts:  "The beginning of nothing," and "The meaning of nothing."  King Lear is full of anger, and is beyond reason at this point.  I am reminded of a verse in Proverbs:  "A soft answer turneth away wrath," (Proverbs 15:1).  But Cordelia's soft answer has not turned Lear's wrath away, it has escalated it.  I have found that this verse, perhaps ironically, applies more to the Prince of France than to King Lear.  I think that this verse is usually interpreted as a means to disarm the anger in another person.  However, perhaps it will most usually apply to a third party--someone who is not engaged firsthand in the argument.  King Lear is the one dealing out wrath; Cordelia is the one receiving it.  The tone of anger is painful, and while all efforts to recover what the king is losing have failed, there comes another voice that we haven't heard much yet.  The Prince of France steps forward, and changes the tone.  The onslaught of angry words feels like a loud waterfall; no real order, just loud and crashing down.  The Prince of France changes that not only with a soft answer, but the way in which he speaks:

France:  Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken, and most loved, despised.
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon, Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.
'Tis strange that from their cold'st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes of waterish Burgendy
Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind.
Thou loses here a better where to find.

King Lear is like a loud, crashing waterfall

You'll notice that this is the first time for a while that anyone has spoken in prose.  This totally changes the tone of the scene.  If I were directing this scene, I would have the Prince turn to Cordelia, and speak softly for near only her to hear.  Because a soft answer may not always turn off wrath, someone can always turn it away from someone they love.  That's what the Prince of France did here, as spoke in contrast not only to the torrential onslaught of the king, but in measured words of kindness.

The meaning of nothing

In taking a break from working on the final project, I wanted to refresh myself on the thoughts I had while reading King Lear.  If you remember from two posts ago, I uploaded a clip from "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."  I would like to take that thought a step further.  The video clip depicts a conversation between a father and his son, and the way this father feels his place in his son's life should be.  In essence, the conversation between Cordelia and her father is the same.  

Elder Maxwell; who spoke in parallel
terms with Cordelia.  

Last Lear post I focused on the theme of "nothing."  Lear said to Cordelia, "Nothing will come of nothing, speak again," (Act 1, Sc 1, 92).  The nothing that Cordelia was referring to I believe is akin, or even exactly alike, to how we feel about the gospel.  Elder Maxwell once said of the things that matter most to us, "we realize that we [feel] more than we can tell, for the language used is not that which the tongue can transmit," (Patience).  I think that Cordelia felt this way; she said in a voice only for herself:  "Poor Cordelia!  I am sure my love is more ponderous than my tongue," (Act I, Sc 1, 79).  (If you would like to listen to this talk, which has been a special favorite of mine for many years, you can click the download mp3 portion from this page.  You might need to reload the page that is supposed to play it comes up.)  It is very interesting that King Lear didn't understand why Cordelia couldn't find words for her love; that can only mean that he didn't love her as much as she loved him.  


Later in this exchange between Lear and Cordelia, after Lear has risen in his anger, he casts Cordelia out of his life with many harsh words.  Among these heartless words are these:  "Let it so be, thy truth then be thy dower."  

"Truth shall be thy dower," (King Lear's words to Cordelia)

It it amazing how often words spoken in anger are ironically true.  Truth would be Cordelia's dowery.  She held to truth, and truth was sufficient.  The following is another quote from Elder Maxwell.  The entire quote has application to "King Lear," but the part that I have italicized is directly pertinent to the ironic truth that King Lear spoke to Cordelia:  "Another thing we must make no mistake about is this.  we constitute each others clinical material.  We're in the same laboratory with each other.  Agency and all.  This means quite frankly that we endure each others immaturities.  Which when compounded, produces considerable perplexity and frustration as to what is happen about us, and to us.  Therefore there are times when we cannot be sure, and we must give the response Nephi gave when he was perplexed.  'I know that God loved this children, nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things,' (1 Nephi 11:17).  There will be times in each of your lives, have been, will be, when that must be the bottom line.  You don't know what's happening to you or around you but you know that God loves you and to know that for the moment is enough," (If Thou Endure it Well).


To know that for the moment is enough.  

The beginning of nothing

Where in the play do you think Lear's
expressions would fit this picture?

There seems to be a recurring theme of "nothing," that began in the first scene when King Lear said:  "Tell me, my daughters, which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extent.  Goneril, our eldest-born, speak first," (Act 1, Sc 1, 52).  

Soon, after Goneril and Regan have had no trouble "heaving their hearts into their mouths," it is Cordelia's turn to wax eloquent.  Lear bids her speak:

Lear:  What can you say to draw a third more opulent than your sisters?  Speak.

Cordelia:  Nothing, my lord.

Lear:  Nothing?

Cordelia:  Nothing.

Lear:  Nothing will come of nothing, speak again.

Cordelia:  Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth.  I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more nor less.

This is a clip from the movie, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."  This depiction of the scene is about 4 minutes long, and shows a relationship with some similarities to King Lear and Cordelia.  

I have spent time thinking about this scene since first I saw it; the son, Dr. John Prentice, played by Sidney Poitier, is in his way telling his dad that he can say nothing of how much he loves his dad beyond their bond as father as son. It is a poignant scene very nearly follows the theme of where nothing has a place in the closest of relationships.