1.) King Lear dream cast:
I agree with your opinion about Cordelia. Scarlett Johansson circa Lost in Translation would be perfect. Based on what I saw in Her (using her voice alone!), Johansson is skilled at portraying emotion, particularly love of the unconditional variety, a character trait critical to Cordelia.
Regan would be someone like Julia Stiles, someone who can be cunning and deceptive but also sympathetic.
Edmund would be Tom Hiddleston, because Hiddleston played Loki in The Avengers and Loki is to Thor what Edmund is to Edgar. It just works.
Albany would be James Marsden, just because I pictured James Marsden whilst reading it. And I guess he seems noble enough.
The Fool would be Chevy Chase if we're thinking him to be older. The more I think about this, the more I realize that Chevy Chase would actually be the perfect Fool. Actually, Chevy Chase would be the perfect Cordelia too. I change my mind and take it all back: Chevy Chase is every character.
2.) The character I most admire would have to be The Fool. His brutal and unforgiving honesty, while indeed an important facet of his character and arguably an even more important aspect of the story itself, is only one part of his character. His genuine kindness and his wise disposition are what make me admire The Fool.
3.) The scene that, in my eyes, includes catharsis most obviously is Lear's death. The very act itself is truly a culmination of his inner turmoil, his anguish, his madness, his broken state--all of the emotions Lear has felt surface, and together they are strong enough to grant him a final delusion of happiness: Cordelia, alive. Emotion vomiting indeed. The final fleeting "gift" of Cordelia's imagined resurrection is just another stab in the wound, making it that much more heartbreaking.
4.) Aging is a scary concept. I am scared that I will lose touch with my younger self. I am scared that I will decline into passivity, going through the motions but not really living. I am scared that I will become jaded. I don't want to forget that youthful vitality of life.
5.) The part that makes me feel "uncomfortably at home" in King Lear is the idea that good won't necessarily triumph over evil. There will never be an entirely "just" result. Karma isn't necessarily as clear-cut as the idea that those who do good receive goodness, and those who commit acts of evil receive punishment... I think this play exemplifies that. It's a realization that all at once makes sense but is unsettles me. (It runs contrary to everything Disney ever taught me.)
