Birds, Birds, Birds!

I have noticed so many bird references in King Lear. Seriously it's nuts! There's at least 2 references in every Act! Anyways I posted once on a bird reference already, but I just want to put up a few more. I mean its interesting to see them scattered in the play, but I also really like the meaning behind each of them!

Act One

• "The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,/That it had it head bit off by it young." - This one I actually already went into great depth talking about already (see above link), so...yeah.

• "Detested kite!" - The kite being spoken of here is not the children's toy. No a kite is actually a bird that is found in many parts of the world. What you many not know is that kite's typically eat carrion, so in many ways they can be compared to vultures. This line is also addressed to Goneril, after Lear has discovered part of her sinister nature. Just another way Shakespeare portrays the relationship on a deeper level!

Act Two

• "Renegade, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks/With every gale and vary of their masters." - Now I actually got more insight on this one from my Dover Thrift Edition of the play. In the footnotes it told me that a halcyon is another name for a kingfisher. See it was a common belief that if a kingfisher had a cord tied around it's neck and was then suspended, that it's beak would face the direction that the wind is coming from. I honestly have no idea how this could have come about because there is no scientific proof to support this but it does make an interesting point. By using this comparison Kent is talking about how those people around him are very flaky and easily persuaded by anyone who comes their way! They simply want to follow and support those who will bring them the most profit in the end, even if it means betraying their current employers.

• "Winter's not gone yet if wild geese fly that way."

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    "Oh Regan, she hath tied/Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture here." - In the script it has Lear point to his heart right after this line. In some ways I wonder if Lear is trying to say that after discovering his daughter's true natures that his heart has died and they are mercilessly feeding on it. They are showing no mercy to his aching soul, and instead they keep battering it. (Just a thought)

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• "To be a comrade with with wolf and owl."

Act Three

• "Judicious punishment! 't was this flesh begot/Those pelican daughters." - Not going to lie, when I read this one I was really confused. I couldn't figure out what this meant. But once again my footnotes helped me out. According to Medieval legends and myths, the pelican would stab itself when food was scare and thus allow its young to drink its blood. Some other sources say that the pelican young would stab the mother with there own beaks. However this is only a myth. Pelicans do not in fact drink the blood of their parents, but once again this common misconception adds much to Lear's new view of his daughters. I think is is one point where he finally sees just how little his daughters care for him and just how much have been using him. He sees the reality of their nature and how they are like the cuckoo and the pelican. They only want him for what he has to materially give them, and if he dies in the process they could care less.

• "The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale." - I don't understand this one at all simply because the song of nightingale is actually quite beautiful! Any ideas?

Well there you go! All the bird references I have found so far in King Lear! I'll admit I love them. I think in general they really add to the vibrancy of the story. But it might just be the nature lover in me. It also makes me really excited for my Ornithology class this upcoming semester!