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“There’s the sulphurous pit:� Female Sexuality in King Lear

King Lear takes a very negative view of feminine sexuality from the first scene. In line 15 of scene 1 when Gloucester asks Kent “Do you smell a fault?� (Shakespeare, 1110), the editor’s notes indicate that “fault� can refer to either wrongdoing or female genitals. Indeed the speech between them is rife with misogyny. Gloucester goes on to say that there was “good sport,� at Edmund’s conception, and goes on to call him a “whoreson,� (Shakespeare, 1110), thus indicating that Edmund’s conception was fun for him, but bad for Edmund’s mother. It is worth mentioning here that neither Gloucester’s wife, or lover are ever mentioned again, and Lear’s wife is not in the play at all. In fact all of the noblewomen who might temper their respective husband’s anger are killed off before the play begins.
The later parts of this scene reinforce the misogynistic views established earlier. When......

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Approximate Word Count: 1085
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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