Ignorance is Bliss: Rejecting Reality
Life is a struggle and may not always go the way and one plans it to. At times, one may wish to forget about reality to avoid the pain associated with it. Technology is a means for individuals to sense an alternative reality to avoid the harsh reality of life. Through technology, one may deceive others, isolate oneself from the real world, or be deceived his or herself. One’s sense of reality is affected as he or she wishes and chooses the reality he or she lives in whilst using a technological device over the reality he or she lives in real life. When one deceives others, the personas and identities one pretends to have become one’s perception of oneself and his or her reality. The alternative reality
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Due to this, individuals completely reject reality and only accept the reality they get from technology as their reality. As one’s reality changes from the real life to what he or she observes on social media and the internet, one loses the ability to identify truths and lies, making one susceptible to obtaining misinformation and being deceived. Similarly, characters in King Lear also reject reality by having false senses of reality. Lear perceives himself as a great king with power and authority when actually, he is a senile king whose ignorance to reality leads to his downfall. Kent and Cordelia do not accept the fact that Lear is no longer the great king they believe him to be as they fail to acknowledge and accept reality, and Lear and Gloucester are victims of deception from their evil children. The similarities in the way humans behave with technology between the characters in King Lear demonstrate how humans are vulnerable creatures who choose to be ignorant in order to protect themselves from the consequences of being aware, resulting in …show more content…
To sexually groom their victims, predators pretend to be whom they are not. According to American forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner, there are six stages of sexual grooming. Welner’s article “Child Sexual Abuse: 6 Stages of Grooming”, states that the second stage predators undergo in successfully grooming is gaining the trust of the child: “The sex offender gains trust by watching and gathering information about the child, getting to know his needs and how to fill them” (Welner). In order to successfully gain the trust of their victims, online predators pose as young adults or children to allow the victim to feel more comfortable with sharing information. Predators are often much older, unattractive individuals and so if the children are aware of the true identity of the predator, they will not be willing to trust them as they would be too afraid to. Online sexual predators can pretend to be whoever, or whatever, he or she wishes to be. The results of creating fake personas online for predators are much more effective than if the predators are to approach children in real life. The idea of being able to obtain what one desires through deceiving others is attractive and can become
The play of "King Lear" is about a search for personal identity. In the historical period in which this play is set, the social structure was set in order of things closest to Heaven. Therefore, on Earth, the king was at the top, followed by his noblemen and going all the way down to the basest of objects such as rocks and dirt. This structure was set up by the people, and by going by the premise that anything that is man made is imperfect, this system cannot exist for long without conflict.
In The Tragedy of King Lear, particularly in the first half of the play, Lear continually swears to the gods. He invokes them for mercies and begs them for destruction; he binds both his oaths and his curses with their names. The older characters—Lear and Gloucester—tend view their world as strictly within the moral framework of the pagan religion. As Lear expresses it, the central core of his religion lies in the idea of earthly justice. In II.4.14-15, Lear expresses his disbelief that Regan and Albany would have put the disguised Kent, his messenger, in stocks. He at first attempts to deny the rather obvious fact in front of him, objecting “No” twice before swearing it. By the time Lear invokes the king of the pagan gods, his refusal to believe has become willful and almost absurd. Kent replies, not without sarcasm, by affixing the name of the queen of the gods to a contradictory statement. The formula is turned into nonsense by its repetition. In contradicting Lear’s oath as well as the assertion with which it is coupled, Kent is subtly challenging Lear’s conception of the universe as controlled by just gods. He is also and perhaps more importantly, challenging Lear’s relationship with the gods. It is Kent who most lucidly and repeatedly opposes the ideas put forth by Lear; his actions as well as his statements undermine Lear’s hypotheses about divine order. Lear does not find his foil in youth but in middle age; not in the opposite excess of his own—Edmund’s calculation, say—but in Kent’s comparative moderation. Likewise the viable alternative to his relationship to divine justice is not shown by Edmund with his ...
The first flaw in King Lear is his arrogance, which results in the loss of Cordelia and Kent. It is his arrogance in the first scene of the play that causes him to make bad decisions. He expects his favorite, youngest daughter to be the most worthy of his love. His pride makes him expect that Cordelia’s speech to be the one filled with the most love. Unfortunately for King Lear’s pride, Cordelia replies to his inquisition by saying, “I love your majesty/According to my bond and nothing less';(1.1.100-101). Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia and splits the kingdom in half to the two evil sisters, Goneril and Regan. This tragic flaw prevents King Lear from seeing the truth because his arrogance overrides his judgement. Lear’s arrogance also causes him to lose his most faithful servan...
Scene i: Set in the royal court, the first scene of Shakespeare's King Lear pivots upon the refusal of the aged monarch's youngest daughter, Cordelia, to follow the suit of her sisters Goneril and Regan in professing love for their father, and Lear's wrathful decision to disown Cordelia. Nevertheless, Act I, scene i of Lear begins with a parallel subplot about the bastard Edmund's treachery toward his father Gloucester and his brother Edgar. At the start of the scene, we first see the loyal gentlemen Kent and Gloucester discussing Lear's intention to leave the realm to his daughters and their sons-in-law. The dialogue is interrupted by the appearance of Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester. In due course we learn that Edmund is not only a bastard but also an inveterate villain, the male counterpart to Lear's "evil" daughters, Goneril and Regan. Trumpets blare as a majestic Lear arrives with his retinue and announces that his "darker purpose" is to hand over his kingdom to his three daughters. He proceeds to ask each of them to express their love for him in words. Goneril tells her father that he is dearer to her than "eyesight, space and liberty" (l.56); the second daughter Regan answers that she is "an enemy of all other joys" (l.73). But Lear's youngest daughter, Cordelia, responds that she can add nothing to what her older sisters have said. Cordelia refuses to go beyond her own heart and conscience; she loves her father, but not to the exclusion of all else. Lear becomes infuriated, and then disinherits and disowns his youngest daughter. The goodly Kent's efforts to restore Cordelia only provoke Lear's wrath and lead to the nobleman's banishment. When two suitors for Cordelia's hand in marriage, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France appear, Lear tells them that they must take her without a dowry. The Duke of Burgundy refuses but the King of France takes the fair and true Cordelia with him. In the scene's final exchange, Goneril and Regan reveal themselves as the coming villains of the tragedy, with the bastard Edmund lurking in the background
Shakespeare's King Lear is a play which shows the consequences of one man's decisions. The audience follows the main character, Lear, as he makes decisions that disrupt order in his Kingdom. When Lear surrenders all his power and land to his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him, the breakdown on order in evident. Lear's first mistake is to divide his Kingdom into three parts. A Kingdom is run best under one ruler as only one decision is made without contradiction. Another indication that order is disrupted is the separation of Lear's family. Lear's inability to control his anger causes him to banish his youngest daughter, Cordelia, and loyal servant, Kent. This foolish act causes Lear to become vulnerable to his other two daughters as they conspire against him. Lastly, the transfer of power from Lear to his eldest and middle daughter, Goneril and Regan, reveals disorder as a result of the division of the Kingdom. A Kingdom without order is a Kingdom in chaos. When order is disrupted in King Lear, the audience witnesses chaotic events that Lear endures, eventually learning who truly loves him.
The theme of a person's perceptions versus how the world actually is, is a common theme in literature across the ages. Shakespeare was particularly fond of playing with his audience and making them question if all his characters see is an illusion. In Shakespearean plays two types of illusion are manifest: the active deception of one character by others; and the inherent flaws in the perception of the viewer. The audience in King Lear bears witness to how characters can fail to perceive the world as it exists and instead only see an illusion; this idea is demonstrated in three different ways. The first is the relationship that exists between Lear and his three daughters, and his inability to perceive their true intentions; second, the parallel story of Gloucester and his two boys, where he is unable to see the slimy nature of Edmund only seeing the illusion Edmund creates for him; finally, the deception and false pretences the exist around the characters of Kent and Edgar, who for most of the play creep about in disguise. Essentially, Lear and Gloucester view the world and the people around them through a flawed lens.
Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” does not lack wicked characters. Throughout the play, it is evident that most characters only care about themselves and their status in England. Such characters as Goneril and Edmund will do anything to improve their standings in society such as killing and betraying family members. In contrast, The Duke of Albany cares about King Lear and England, but he takes no action to prove that he cares for them. However, the character Albany goes through a metamorphosis as the play evolves. At the start of the play, Albany is dismissive and lacks drive, but he quickly transitions into a dynamic character ready to right wrongs. The character of Albany, as developed by Shakespeare in “King Lear,” showcases a round character
Every situation in life has an appearance, and a reality. The appearance of a situation is usually what we want to see. The reality, what is really going on, is not always as obvious to the observer. People who cannot penetrate through the superficial appearance of a situation will see only what they want to believe is true; often, the reality of a situation is unappealing to the perceiver. These are the circumstances surrounding the conflict that occurs in William Shakespeare's King Lear. As an audience, you find that there is a major character flaw in the characters King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester. In the story, neither of these two men are able to establish the difference, in their minds, between what people are saying and doing, and what these people's true motives are behind their actions. This enables Lear and Gloucester to be betrayed by their own blood, and become isolated from those who have their interests at heart. It is the inability to differentiate between appearance and reality that causes Lear and Gloucester to fall.
“King Lear” is one of the most complicated of all Shakespeare's plays. It is about political authority as much as it is about family dynamics. It is a ruthless play, filled with human cruelty and awful, nonsensical disasters.
The human condition can ultimately be defined as the positive and negative traits and characteristics that frame the complexity of human nature. This concept has been widely incorporated into many pieces of English literature throughout time, especially in William Shakespeare’s Jacobean tragedy, King Lear (hereafter Lear). More specifically, Shakespeare’s portrayal of the human condition in Lear depicts the suppression of one’s morality and/or rationality, triggering one’s downfall, as being due to unrestrained pride, gullibility and strong ambitions. Moreover, through studying the extract from the love scene/ Edmund’s soliloquy, I have gained a deepened understanding of Shakespeare’s representation of the human condition.
King Lear, the protagonist of the play, is a truly tragic figure. He is driven by greed and arrogance and is known for his stubbornness and imperious temper, he often acts upon emotions and whims. He values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to fulfill a king’s obligations of governing for the good of his subjects.
A turning point is a significant point in life in which a person is provided an opportunity to reason with their fundamental values. In order for an individual to experience a valid turning point, they must look back on who they were and agree with who they would like to be. This is a process of self-reflection. In Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, Lear is initially presented as a character that is consumed by his ego. His ego, in turn, gives the audience a sense that Lear enjoys flattery and dominance parallel to a powerful authority of protecting Britain. The author develops the idea that King Lear experiences turning points through a mighty storm and the loss of a loving daughter. Lear does not carry his arrogant demeanor, which he possessed at the beginning of the play; in its place he is now indulgent and frightened. The finale of the play is the death of Lear due to a bounteous amount of grief and sorrow following the passing of his dearest daughter, Cordelia.
...n them and their friends. Online predators mainly exist on the Internet, because they take advantage of the anonymity that social networking sites provide. They usually treat their victims with kindness, attention and even gifts. Once the predator build trust with their victim, they will try to meet them in real life in hope that they can fulfill their fantasies of having sexual encounter with underage kids.
In Shakespeare's classic tragedy, King Lear, there are several characters who do not see the reality of their situation. Two such characters are Lear and Gloucester. Both characters exhibit a blindness to the world around them. Lear does not see clearly the truth of his daughters mentions, while Gloucester is also blinded by Edmond's treachery. This failure to see reality leads to Lear's intellectual blindness, which is his insanity, and Gloucester's physical blindness that leads to his trusting tendencies. Each character achieves inner awareness at the end as their surreal blindness is lifted and they realize the truth. Both Lear and Gloucester are characters used by Shakespeare to show the relevance of having a clear vision in life.
The Tragedy of King Lear King Lear is a tragic story by William Shakespeare is a story of a man King Lear and his decision that led to his fate and the fate of others. With every tragic story comes a tragic hero. The tragic hero of the story is King Lear. According to the definition of a tragic hero one must be born into nobility, endowed with a tragic flaw, doomed to make a serious error in judgement, fall from great heights or high esteem, realize they have made an irreversible mistake, and faces and accepts death with honor meets a tragic death. King Lear meets all of these qualities.