In this essay, I intend to scrutinize a brief etymology of the word issue, using the Oxford English Dictionary. My goal is to provide alternative interpretations to the following line from King Lear, spoken by Kent: “I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it/ being so proper” (1.1.16). The fault, or offense, Kent mentions is the illegitimate birth of Edmund. I then argue that alternative interpretations, derived from various resonances of the word issue, prove Shakespeare’s deliberate word choice to set up the play as a tragedy of masculinity, wherein the absence of a maternal figure causes a lack of counterbalance to male authority.
Kent refers to Edmund himself as an “issue” (1.1.16). Here, issue retains its third Oxford English Dictionary definition (see in-text notation) meaning (3) (formal or Law) children of one’s own. Though illegitimate, Edmund is Gloucester’s own son. Other senses of the word issue include: (1) an important topic or problem for debate or discussion, (2) the action of supplying or distributing an item for use, sale, or official purposes, (4) (Middle English, from Old French) the action of flowing or coming out, and (5) (dated) a result or outcome of something (“Issue”). Combining some of these definitions gives us alternative interpretations to what Kent is saying in the aforementioned quote.
Firstly, the chief sense of the word issue, (1) an important topic or problem for debate or discussion, coupled with (3) and (5) above, provides one such interpretation: the child itself, i.e., Edmund, will be a problem for the parent. King Lear has three examples of children playing the part of doting loved ones but doubling as their parents’ real troubles. All three children – Edmund, Goneril, and Regan – ...
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...es see fit. We see through Goneril and Regan’s self-serving actions (including a mutual pursuit of extramarital relationships) that they resemble their father. Along these lines, one reading of Cordelia is that she is too proudly glued to her principles, stubborn like her father in refusing to give up as she loses everything. While this interpretation describes children as extensions of their parents, it really describes them as extensions of their fathers (as there are no mothers in the play). Again, fathers influence what the children become; and, most of the children fall prey to the tragedy of masculinity. Had the children had mother figures, the outcome of the play would have been different. Even Lear, who knows his days are numbered, seeks a motherly figure to nurse him.
Old age is like a reversion to childishness and he too beckons the mother, who is absent.
Cordelia uses her self-entitlement to create a newfound identity for herself that is stronger and more prominent. The text creator develops her character through a very strong leader who regardless of her gender is able to use her sense of entitlement to empower herself. On the other hand, closely following this concept set out by Shakespeare, he also expands on the other side of this curtain through King Lear. Lear’s fatal flaw is indeed is self-entitlement and this upper status of himself he has built up. It not only leads to the ultimate downfall of himself, but further also causes the destruction of the closely held relationships in his life – causing them to be lost or for the element of complete moral respect to diminish; degrading the value of entitlement. all in all, Shakespeare expands on this key element of self-entitlement and delivers the idea to the reader that when managed it can be a tool that empowers an individual, or when gone out of one’s control can be the singular reason to the ultimate downfall of an
The theme of King Lear is the characters’ search for their “true selves”, the character Cordelia in particular has already found her “true self” through her love for her father, King Lear, but she is also the key to King Lear’s “true self”. In King Lear, Cordelia and her two sisters are asked by King Lear “Which of you shall we say doth love us most” (Brown, Act I Scene i), so that he may determine their shares of the kingdom and money. While the women will gain the benefits of these riches, the actual ownership will go to husband in the form of a dowry. Women are consid...
Shakespeare, William. "King Lear: A Conflated Text." The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York:
... last issue Shakespeare uses in his play is Responsibility. This is shown in Act 4 Scene 1 when Henry goes out pretending to be a Welshman to see what he soldiers think of him. ‘So if a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputations of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon the father that sent him.’
In Act 1, Lear has all this land that he needs to get rid of, and he chooses to divide it between his daughters. Cordelia is the youngest daughter, and she is very independent. Regan and Goneril are the older daughters, and they abuse their power in many ways. The daughters have to show their love for him in order to get land. Regan and Goneril suck up to him and tell him that they love him. In reality, they don’t love him at all. They just want more power. Cordelia is very straight forward with him. She tells him that she loves him but not as much as her sisters. Lear gets mad by her response, which shows that the daughters have enough power to make him feel whatever emotion they want. They can easily get under his skin, and strip him of his power. His power was at an all-time high, but over time it gets taken over.
Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester is not pleased with his status as a bastard. Edgar the legitimate son of Gloucester stands to obtain the lands, wealth and power of his father. Edmund thinks this is unfair and begins a plot to banish his brother and obtain the lands of his father. He begins by writing a fake letter from Edgar saying that he wants to murder his father and wishes to take power by force. Edmund uses his deceiving abilities to make the letter seem genuine. He lies to his father about how he came into possession of the letter: “It was not brought me, my Lord; t...
King Lear had come so accustomed to his praise, that it is the sole thing he lived for, he needed it to survive, his treatment as a king was his Achilles heel in this play. He wanted to step down as king and divide his kingdom into 3 sections, giving them to his daughters to rule. Goneril and Regan were more than willing to accommodate his request to demonstrate their love for their father and king by professing their love to him in dramatic fashion combined with a good bit of exaggeration. While Cordelia on the other hand, found it a struggle to profess what she thought to be known by her father and king, she states, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty / According to my bond; nor more nor less (Scene 1.1, Lines 91-93).
The reason for this might be because Cordelia had always been King Lear's most beloved child and
One purpose for such a violent scene is to define the villains of the story. The play opens with King Lear retiring and deciding to split his land between his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. The size of the land plot each daughter will receive will be proportionate to their love for their father. The older two daughters Goneril and Regan eloquently announce their undying love for Lear, and are rewarded generously. The third daughter Cordelia, who truly does love her father, refuses to participate in such a display of flattery and lies. Cordelia announces, in front of all Lear's subjects, that she loves her father, "according to her bond, no more nor less." Insulted and hurt by Cordelia's harsh denouncement of love, Lear disowns her. And Lear's best friend of thirty years Kent defends Cordelia, Lear banishes Kent too. Having given away his land, Lear decides that he's going to take turns living with Goneril and Regan. To remind him of his kingship Lear kept a hundred knights. But when Lear shows up with his army at Goneril and Regan's houses, his "loving" daughters kick him out.
The tragedy King Lear by William Shakespeare ought to be seen as a lesson on what not to do as a parent. By picking favorites, King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester leave a lasting impact on their children 's psyche, ultimately leading to them committing horrible crimes. The rash judgments, violent reactions, and blindness of both Lear and Gloucester lead to both their and their children 's demise. As a result, all of the father-child relationships in the play begin to collapse.
While reading Eva Turner Clark's analysis of King Lear, in her Hidden Allusions in Shakespeare's Plays, I was struck by the polarity of our interpretation of this supreme drama. Where Clark finds historical and political allusions, especially for the years 1589-1590, I find personal ones. For King Lear is a play of internal, personal tragedy. With this in mind I strongly disagree with her statement, "I consider Kent represents Drake." (P. 869 n.) Therefore I sought another contemporary of Oxford's who would fulfill the characteristics and qualities of the Earl of Kent. In looking tor this prototype, I drew upon J. Thomas Looney's methodology. (See Shakespeare Identified, p. 80.) Simply stated my task was to examine the text of Lear, to draw from it a definite conception of the character and qualities of the Earl of Kent, and then look for a man who fits that description. Once such a man was found it was necessary to connect him with the character of Kent and with the author. Eventually I found that my conception of Kent had been accurately described by S.T. Coleridge,
What makes Cordelia a good character here is not only that she refuses to flatter her father in order to deceive him out of his wealth, but also because she accepts her father's punishment and leaves willingly even though she knows it is not a just punishment. Additionally, she expresses no animosity toward Lear, instead she asks her sisters to care for him. This unwavering loyalty is also exhibited later in the play when Cordelia finds Lear and she realizes he is mad. She cares for him and gives him medicinal herbs until he is well again. Even when Lear begs for her forgiveness she insists that she has no cause to be offended.
Shakespeare’s character, Gloucester, has two sons, Edmund and Edgar. Edmund is the illegitimate son, the result of Gloucester’s affair with his mother. Gloucester doesn’t let this idea rest, as even when he introduces his bastard son to Kent at the beginning of the play, it’s mentioned. “Though this knave came something saucily to the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport in his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged” (I.I.21-24). Gloucester openly denotes Edmund and puts him in his place as illegitimate and unfit to take his crown.
During the 1600s, Europe was standing between the scientific revolution and the the combined power of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolutions. This time was filled with religious confusion fueled by the transitioning monarchs and the desire to divorce that King Louis XIV had. Through the confusion, William Shakespeare sat down and wrote the play, “King Lear” to provide some of the environment he grew up in to the audience. Although the play Shakespeare wrote was fictional, it did comply with the time it was written. It supported the customs and values of the time while it influenced its own milieu.
Regan is one of the strongest female characters who displays a great deal of character transformation throughout the course of the play. Regan shows her strong and powerful characteristics when she does not hesitate to tell her father that; “This house is little: the old man and’s people / cannot be well betow’d” (II, iv, 285-286). This exemplifies how Regan’s character has changed due to the fact that she has now become so powerful that she no longer needs to flatter the King. Regan’s behavior towards Lear shows how she never loved him and just used him to get power over the kingdom. This demonstrates her character development because now she no longer has to worry about having to act loving and caring towards her father, since now she has nothing that she wants from him and he has become nothing to her. Moreover, another action that exhibits Regan’s character change is when she yells; “Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus!” (III, vii, 77). This action of killing the servant signifies that Regan has fully transformed into a powerful person, because during the Shakespearean era women did not hold swords or commit murders. However, when Regan kills the servant, its shows that she has now taken the role of a dominant and powerful male. This comparison between Regan and man shows that Shakespeare is trying to illustrate her total transformation from being a ‘weak, oppressed’ woman to a strong, powerful woman. Therefore, in conclusion Shakespeare uses women to show their character development which is influenced by