A Shady Exchange

         (1) The distinction between “shady” and “shadowy” at line 64 nuances the mercantile exchange reading of King Lear, in which Lear’s bequest of land to his daughters is seen as an exchange for a performance of filial love. The choice of shady emphasizes the act of exchange and the confidence that Lear has in the “goods” he has to offer, while the choice of shadowy hints at the loss of control—over the land, Lear’s status, and his sanity—that Lear will experience through the course of the play.

         In the exchange reading of Lear, the speech from lines 63 to 68 could be thought of as a sales pitch. The language is bloated and rides on the energy of Lear’s surprise “darker purpose [or purposes, depending on one’s interpretation of that line].” (36) Lear is pleased to be able to give away such splendid land, which features “plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,” (65) and assumes all the confidence of a salesman that knows he has a unique and high quality product to exchange.

         But the variance of shady/shadowy throws into question Lear’s supreme confidence. While there is some overlap in the two words’ definitions (the first definition of shady, “affording shade,” [OED, 2nd ed. s.v. “shady,” 1] is identical to the tertiary definition of shadowy), the primary meanings show a high degree of variance between the two words. The usage citations of shady in the OED (under the primary definition) almost all pertain to trees or forests: “You naked trees, whose shady leaues are lost,” “Shady trees,” “Shady Forrest,” “shady wood.” Not until 1879 is shady used in conjunction with something other than trees. The first few definitions of shady listed in the dictionary refer simply to the ability of trees to provide shade. In the context of a market exchange, this is an important aspect to emphasize; after all, a tree that provides shade is a quality tree. A more recent meaning of shady, and one that undercuts the quality-goods reading—“Of questionable merit or prospects of success; uncertain, unreliable” (OED 2nd ed. s.v. “shady,” 5a)—didn’t appear until 1848.

         Shadowy has a much more sinister meaning and connotation. Its primary definition is “Resembling or of the nature of a shadow; Unsubstantial, impalpable; transitory, fleeting; unreal, imaginary.” (OED 2nd ed. s.v. “shadowy,” 1 and 1a) That part of the land might be transitory brings to mind other elements of the play that are transitory: reign, sanity, senses, favor. And, likewise, the insubstantiality of a shadowy forest points to other insubstantialities.

         In the end, though, that interpretation seems a little far-fetched. I think that if I were staging the play I would choose to use shady, since it is more in line with the other adjectives of Lear’s speech at line 63—“plenteous,” “wide-skirted,” “riched”—which seem to be simply fulfilling the role of an advertisement.