Visual Elements In Ian Pollock's King Lear

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Ian Pollock 's adaptation of King Lear is an attempt to bring the visual elements usually present in stage performances of the play to the graphic novel audience. It strives to present critical elements of the play, such as dystopia, in panes and strips form present in comic books. As argued by Gauntlett and Holzwarth, presenting stage performances into visual art in the form of comic books limits the perspective an audience is exposed to in all the events unfolding in the story (86). However, a well written comic strip can provide emphasis to certain elements in a story that an audience in a stage performance may miss. In this regard, explication of a graphic novel in relation to the dominant themes portrayed by both the literary forms and stage performances provides insight into how an author uses the visual elements to bring out the themes. This essay will explicate King Lear 's graphic novel by Ian Pollock to determine visual elements in Act 3 Scene 4 of the …show more content…

The King strives to convince himself that all his past actions were honorable, and it is only the ungratefulness of her two daughters that has caused him misery. This duality in the King 's character is well presented by the lack of proportion in his body, which serves to expose the theme of human misery in the scene. The King 's bald head with hair protruding from the sides may also be explicated to show misery suffered by the King. In both present and past culture, rubbing one’s head in times of great trouble and despair is considered a convention. Men when thinking hard about their current difficult situation are known to scratch their heads. In King Lear 's character depiction, lack of hair, especially on the middle part of the head, serves to emphasize the inner turmoil he is experiencing and the possibility of him scratching his head to the point of losing hair. In the scene, it is evident that the King spends much of his time in contemplation of his current predicaments and whether he deserves

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