Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?
In 2.4, at the height of the storm, Lear decides that, since he is clearly no longer a King, he must be the opposite, ie. a beggar. He has just met Edgar, posing as Poor Tom, and he seems to think that this mostly naked lunatic has some wisdom to impart to him (he calls him "philosopher"). He says:
No, no, no life?
Why should a Dog, a Horse, a Rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never.
Pray you undo this Button. Thank you, Sir.
Do you see this? Look on her—Look—her lips,
Look there, look there.
And dies. Since nothing in this play is a coincidence, there must be something special about the button business. One comes right at the moment when Lear abandons the idea of kingship (he toys with it again later in his madness, but in a cynical, ironic way. He knows it's no longer his identity, but merely a mask). The other comes when he's lost everything. Some critics read the latter line as an indication that he feels death coming upon him. His soul is escaping, or his throat is tightening, or something like that. But that seems awfully Method-y to me.
Since I like visual symbols, and since we already have a lot of modular props and costume bits floating around, I think I'd like to give Lear a "button" which symbolizes his authority. It may not be an actual button, but rather some sort of broach or pin. Something gaudy, or seemingly valuable. Maybe it's got a Lear insignia on it (a dragon?). Before 2.4, Lear could touch it unconsciously whenever he refers to his power, or whenever he feels it becoming unstable. In the storm, when he decides he's going to become a beggar, it isn't just a gesture of disrobing. He is taking off his badge of office. He's already renounced his kingship publicly--now, he does it privately as well.
But the button is recovered. Gloster picks it up at the end of that same scene. Later (in 4.1), when (the now-blinded) Gloster meets up with Lear again, he gives it back--but now, as I said, it has no real meaning for Lear. He uses it as a prop to demonstrate the profound arbitrariness of power:
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: See how
yond Justice rails upon yond simple thief? Hark, in thine ear: Change places, and handy-dandy, which is the Justice, which is the thief?
Maybe, in the course of that little demonstration, the button gets passed off to Edgar. He will need something at the end of the play when he grudgingly accepts responsibility for ruling the nation.
And what about "Pray you, undo this button"? I'm not sure. But in a play full of "nothings", it seems intriguing to see Lear request, and then fumble himself, for a button that isn't even there. If he thinks, even for a moment, that he might have the power to bring Cordelia back to life, this is the last tangible reminder that he is not "everything." He is not "fever-proof." He is a foolish, fond old man, and there's an end.
Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Here's three of us are sophisticated. Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare animal as thou art. Off, off you Lendings: Come, unbutton here.
No, no, no life?
Why should a Dog, a Horse, a Rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never.
Pray you undo this Button. Thank you, Sir.
Do you see this? Look on her—Look—her lips,
Look there, look there.
And dies. Since nothing in this play is a coincidence, there must be something special about the button business. One comes right at the moment when Lear abandons the idea of kingship (he toys with it again later in his madness, but in a cynical, ironic way. He knows it's no longer his identity, but merely a mask). The other comes when he's lost everything. Some critics read the latter line as an indication that he feels death coming upon him. His soul is escaping, or his throat is tightening, or something like that. But that seems awfully Method-y to me.
Since I like visual symbols, and since we already have a lot of modular props and costume bits floating around, I think I'd like to give Lear a "button" which symbolizes his authority. It may not be an actual button, but rather some sort of broach or pin. Something gaudy, or seemingly valuable. Maybe it's got a Lear insignia on it (a dragon?). Before 2.4, Lear could touch it unconsciously whenever he refers to his power, or whenever he feels it becoming unstable. In the storm, when he decides he's going to become a beggar, it isn't just a gesture of disrobing. He is taking off his badge of office. He's already renounced his kingship publicly--now, he does it privately as well.
But the button is recovered. Gloster picks it up at the end of that same scene. Later (in 4.1), when (the now-blinded) Gloster meets up with Lear again, he gives it back--but now, as I said, it has no real meaning for Lear. He uses it as a prop to demonstrate the profound arbitrariness of power:
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: See how
yond Justice rails upon yond simple thief? Hark, in thine ear: Change places, and handy-dandy, which is the Justice, which is the thief?
Maybe, in the course of that little demonstration, the button gets passed off to Edgar. He will need something at the end of the play when he grudgingly accepts responsibility for ruling the nation.
And what about "Pray you, undo this button"? I'm not sure. But in a play full of "nothings", it seems intriguing to see Lear request, and then fumble himself, for a button that isn't even there. If he thinks, even for a moment, that he might have the power to bring Cordelia back to life, this is the last tangible reminder that he is not "everything." He is not "fever-proof." He is a foolish, fond old man, and there's an end.
posted by Scott Sharplin at 2:30 p.m.
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