This play was a paper project assigned in a scene design course. From my perspective, two questions involve in the foremost and the first dilemma facing King Lear: how a thought, which taken to be private, is made external and, therefore, public? How language, which is taken to be abstract, is made concrete and hence observable? The two problems are practically interwoven in the first tragedy of the King Lear. King Lear perceives his daughters' thought about "love" only through their manifestation of that thought into speech.
As we know, linguistic signs, such as "table," "pipe," or "watch," function only because there is a conventional system in society to hold the sign and their images together. Our knowledge about things such as "table," "pipe," or "watch," is actually separate and distinct from the visual images of concrete objects of table, pipe, or watch. Linguistic signs such as "love", "hate" are notions and thoughts. These signs are more abstract and more complicated than objects such as table, pipe, or watch. Objects have visual images that can be associated and encoded in the linguistic signs through learning.
But, what is "love?" The associations of notions and thoughts about "love" differ from one individual's experiences, feelings stored in his/her brain and mind to another's. So, how can we be so sure that one's private thought about "love" can be expressed, understood, and signified through the use of linguistic signs? Cordelia failed to verbalize her love to her father, Lear. It is probably because she doesn't think she can or she has to produce meanings of love through and with language, as the most abstract sign system in human world. She challenges the expressive functions of language. She rather proves her love by acting and practicing love. We cannot deny the fact that language is the most complete and pervasive sign system in the world. However, King Lear believes too much in its symbolic and rhetoric power and made a destructive decision. The discrepancy between King Lear's over estimation of this language sign system and Cordelia's challenge and resistance to it and its symbolic domination in human world causes the fatal tragedy in this play in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to quest for essence of King Lear's tragic moment. As a King, Lear manipulates his power over the meanings of linguistic signs. Therefore, I wanted to create a minimalized space where power and signs can be interpreted through the objects, the "chairs," on the stage. these figures are 1/4" scale model of the final set design proposal. In figure 1.and 3, much of the visual imagery I created for King Lear's first scene presages what is to come in the play. Tall, white, vertical all sections depict a space of solemnity and modernity. The chairs have implications for Lear's power. Through rules of seating in acting, they represent King Lear's symbolic power. The characters, namely attendants, in the huge poster at the background of the stage will create the neutral and white space a solemn and serious sense before acting. Figure 2 is created as the scene that can be used as King Lear's palace, the Earl of Gloucester's castle, the Duke of Albany's palace, the hall, court, the French camp near Dover, etc.
In figure 3, a black piano is set up in stage right. The fool will play this piano. Figure 4 and 5 are created as the scene of heath. In the last figure , the trashed chairs not only create a mad scene, but also symbolize the collapse of King Lear's power. The acting of the destruction of chairs and the destroyed chairs give a visual image of finalization.

 

/ back