Okay so this whole time I thought she was saying that Demetrius ruined Athens for her because of how much she despises him, and how their relationship is just to make peace. BUT now I realize that's if she were to never meet Lysander she wouldn't have found true love or wanted to leave and be with him. which makes me wonder how different would this story be without Lysander?

So I would just like to make a comment about this whole mock trial in general. I think it can easily be looked at two different ways, sad, or funny. Sad because Lear has lost everything, has been crying AND hanging on to his mental state by a thread, and this part is where he looses it all, he can't come back from this and we almost loose hope for Lear. OR we can see this as being funny. Lear has been through so much already and it could be seen as Shakespeare giving a break to the audience by adding humor in Lear's lost mind. Because it is kind of absurd that he's having this whole trial with. his daughters in his mind. I just think this is a good place where productions can really have a lot of creativity and guide how they want their audience to think.

So this speech as kind of confusing for me. because I was thinking why would half of the Fool's prophesy be the present? Is it just because he's a fool and he's trying to be funny? But I looked it up in a podcast I sometimes listen along to (chopbard) and he said that the point of this is to understand that "when the world is what it is right now, there will always be great confusion" because our real world is never like the one we idealize.

I think this shows that Lear is being ridiculous. Because earlier it seemed that whoever gave him the most praise would get the biggest piece of the kingdom... but here it's obvious he was planing on giving it to Cordelia all along! This "game" he's made is seriously rigged.

So this is one of my favorite speeches the king makes. I mean it's just to the audience so I guess it's not really a speech? anyway, I love this because henry is pouring his heart out to the audience. He is telling us everything that is on his mind and how conflicted he is which shows how human he is! This entire time everyone has been putting him on such a high pedestal and now all the sudden he brings himself down! We can see his pain in this speech and really the only conclusion we come to is that the king will never sleep as soundly as a peasant.

So I always thought it was interesting he said "guest" I look at Henry as a good guy and a hero, but when he said all that stuff about letting the real horrors of war show it's not under his control because then his soldiers will just be running wild and that's hard to keep them under control. But I really think that was all talk. Henry was trying to win the french over with words since they were loosing with soldiers. LETS NOT FORGET HIS MEN STILL HAVE BLOODY FLUX AND THAT WAS HONESTLY HELL. And historically, this was a 5 day truce, if the Dauphin didn't send help with in the 5 days, the French would surrender. this was not a victory. Henry lost about 1500 to flux alone and I think around 2000 were sent home??? Henry is a good guy and he'd doing anything he can to win, and taking a neutral stance you can notice how anyone might say something like that during that time. It's not right but I get it. so saying guest makes it less mean? you can almost tell henry is tired and wants his men to rest.

This is about to get pretty graphic and I'm so sorry but it needs to be said. During this speech, Henry's men were dealing with Dysentery, AKA bloody flux, which consists of a fever, and horrific diarrhea and obviously lost of dehydration. which is pretty curable, but at the time was a big deal and Henry lost about 1500 hundred men just from flux. so that's a huge factor on why this speech is so great. Henry's men are already in so much pain and torture and he's just praying they still have some life left in them. I'm trying to keep this so brief but it's a huge deal to why he must be so convincing. it was a ROUGH time.

I like to think the Canterbury and Ely are not just listing what they love about the King, and putting him on such a high pedestal right off the bat, but listing what could be an obstacle to get the king on their side. Also we don't have much Idea what they're talking about, only some clues so it's fun to think that they need something from Henry.

Earlier he says that truth and beauty coexist, so I think that is part of the them? in order to be beautiful, you must have trust, and in order to have trust and for others to trust you, you must have beauty?

I think end means death in this case.

Is he saying that even though they stayed true to their character, they still gave themselves away?

I like that he talks about hair turning silver, and then 4 lines later he talks about the beard changing. Why are the lines not back to back? Is this to show how nature and man intertwine? like how between these two human changes are the changes of nature?

I think this line helps with what Lizzie is also talking about. I think it's also a very clear line. It's easy to read and very straight to the point which I think also shows how much Shakespeare wanted beauty to last forever? or if he didn't want it to last forever, how sad he is to see it leave.

Again we see time compared to beauty. But I think it's interesting that brave and hideous are combined. I have always thought the opposite of brave was cowardice? Although I think using hideous for night is because during the night you can't see very much? so the lack of vision makes it hideous.

But I think this is what the wished to say but couldn't? (the person wishing is the one who is no longer "beautiful")

I think someone being asked this would be offended... why would you ask someone why are they no longer beautiful!