Lesson 6

Vocabulary

1. Match the words and the definitions.

1. guard, b. someone who protects a place or a person

2. beggar, e. someone who asks other people for food or money

3. reward, g. money for someone who finds or helps someone important

4. profit, a. benefit from something

5. pretend, c. act in a way that is not true

6. plot against someone, j. make a secret plan to do something that is wrong to another person

7. disbelief, f. the feeling that something cannot really be happening

8. faithful, h. loyal, continue to support someone

9. persuade, d. get someone to do something or to agree with you

10. port, i. a place where ships enter and leave a town or country

2. Find these phrases in the text and choose the correct answer.

1 Gloucester says, “It is a stab in the back” because …

A he didn’t expect his son to be against him.
B Edgar has given Gloucester’s a new knife.
C he doesn’t understand what Edmund means.

2 When Gloucester says to Regan, “my heart is broken,” he is telling her that …

A he can’t breathe properly.
B he is feeling ill.
C he is extremely sad.

3 When Gloucester says, “He won’t change his mind,” he means that the Duke of Cornwall…

A won’t change his behaviour.
B won’t get ill.
C won’t try to make King Lear think differently.

Reading

3. Complete the summary using the names in the box.

In Act II, scene I, 1 Edgar runs away, because he thinks his father, the Duke of 2 Gloucester is angry with him.
His younger brother, 3 Edmund, cuts himself with his sword and tells the Duke that his brother did it. His plan works, and his father says that he will give all his land to him.
The Duke of 4 Cornwall is so impressed by Edmund that he offers him a job.
In Act II Scene II, 5 King Lear finds 6 Kent in the stocks.
It was his daughter, 7 Regan who put him there and now she won’t speak to her father.

4. Work in groups to answer these questions.

1. What does Edmund say Edgar’s plan is?

He says that Edgar wants to kill the Duke of Gloucester.

2. Who does Regan think gave Edgar the idea?

Her father’s soldiers.

3. In what ways have Regan and Goneril changed since the beginning of the play?

In the opening scene of the play they flatter their father but now they are critical of him.

4. Who is Poor Tom?

Edgar in disguise.

5. Who is in disguise in the play at this point?

Kent and Edgar.