William Shakespeare’s King Lear is a tragedy in which all principles of ethics and morality are attacked: the loyal are exiled, children betray their parents, the elderly are tortured, and sibling murders sibling. The play details the stories of two fathers, Lear and Gloucester, who foolishly banish their loyal children in favor of their ruthless and treacherous offspring, who in turn exploit their fathers’ fallibilities. The chaos that ensues ravages the lives of Lear and Gloucester. Their stories arc together and ultimately meet tragic ends, however, not without hints of redemption. Shakespeare intentionally structures narrative parallels between the stories of Lear and Gloucester, as well as their children, to complement each other and strengthen …show more content…
Goneril professes she loves her father “more than words can wield,” and Regan declares she “alone is felicitate/ [i]n your dear Highness’ love” (I.i.57,77-78). Cordelia refuses to flatter her father with such empty words and ridiculous exaggerations. Instead, she states that she loves him “according to [her] bond, no more nor less” and that she will “obey [him], love [him], and most honor [him]” as is fitting of a daughter (I.i.95,99-100). Unfortunately, Lear mistakes Cordelia’s modesty for disloyalty. Unappeased and furious, Lear orders Cordelia to get “hence, and avoid [his] sight” (I.i.126). Kent, however, recognizes authenticity of Cordelia’s love and the hypocrisy of her sisters. He functions as a voice of reason in this moment and counsels Lear to “[s]ee better,” imploring him to look past his pride (I.i.160). Lear responds as a petulant child might, by exiling Kent as well. Lear’s ego renders him incapable of acknowledging the wisdom of Kent’s advice and from discerning the genuine love his daughter Cordelia has for him from the blatant insincerity of her two devious sisters, Regan and Goneril. Lear casts reason aside to satiate his ego, revealing his human frailty. Without reason as a guide, Lear unsurprisingly lacks the foresight to predict what will inevitably come next, …show more content…
With only a fake letter and a bit of acting, Edmund manipulates Gloucester into believing Edgar is plotting to kill him. By nature, Gloucester “is so far from doing harms/ [t]hat he suspects none,” so he is unable to recognize Edmund’s deceit (I.ii.162-163). However, without any concrete proof of Edgar’s treachery, Gloucester rashly declares him to be an “unnatural, detested, brutish villain” (I.ii.74). Like Lear, Gloucester pays far too much attention to the superficial aspects of appearances. It is perhaps because of this flaw that soon after condemning Edgar, he fails to recognize him as the beggar, Poor Tom. Gloucester’s naïveté is truly astounding. He does not even question Edmund’s loyalty after learning that his other trusted son had supposedly betrayed him. If Gloucester truly trusted Edgar, surely he would have given him the benefit of the doubt before declaring him a villain. However, he does not. Gloucester’s gullibility makes him a slave to his emotions, particularly fear and anger. These emotions clouds Gloucester’s judgement and reveal another human frailty, the common inability to perceive the truth when emotionally involved in a
Even after his clouded judgement, Gloucester admitted that “the grief hath crazed [his] wits” (III.iv.180). Due to Gloucester being a “credulous father / Whose nature is so far from doing harms / That he suspects none” (I.ii.187-189), he was deceived by the craftiness of his illegitimate son and believed that his good son Edgar was evil, thus proving that retributive justice did not win in this case. Gloucester was loyal to King Lear and wanted to help him despite Regan advising him not to do so. Gloucester, unfortunately was concluded to be a spy for France by Edmund to Cornwall. Instead of being sceptical and making a correct judgement, Cornwall immediately believed him and decided to arrest him. Edmund handed him a letter for further proof, but even without reading it, Cornwall proclaimed, “True or false, it hath made [Edmund] Earl of / Gloucester” (III.vi.18-19), and right after decided to arrest the true Earl. Even without his knowledge, his status was handed over to one who did not deserve it, a situation that Nemesis would never have allowed. Finally, after all of this chaos ensues, Gloucester comes to his own home where he is tied to a chair and was cruelly
They each have an excess of pride which proves to be their fatal flaw. They each end up abandoning the one child that truly loved the all along. They each follow Aristotle’s tragic hero archetype with very little difference. Their stories, however, are not entirely the same. To understand the difference between these two characters, one must first consider the question of the meaning of tragedy. Aristotle defined tragedy as, “a self-contained action of a certain grandeur in scope written in a language that is more elevated more concentrated than colloquial speech. Its plot will involve dramatic reversals” (Defining Tragedy). Both characters make independent terrible actions which end up causing complications for them later on. Both characters go from having a large amount of power to having none at all. Their pride leads them to believe everything that their children say, because they could not possibly fathom that one of their children, who have to love them so much, would lie to them. In believing these lies they turn on their loving children who stay truthful: Lear turns on Cordelia for honestly telling him the degree to which she loves him, which is not extravagant, only like a daughter should love her father. Meanwhile, Gloucester turns on Edgar because he never had a chance to defend himself against Edmund’s accusations. Lear’s mistake is caused entirely by pride, or wanting to be flattered, but
As Edgar takes the role of a "spirit" (3.4.39), he reveals: (1) Edmund's moral condition, by prescribing moral laws that he will break (3.4.80-83); and (2) that Gloucester will be blinded by Edmund (3.4.117). This essay will begin by examining how Edgar's role, as an outcast feigning madness, resembles the life and fate of King Lear, and then will show how his role as a spirit, reveals future events that will come to pass. Edgar's role, as an outcast and madman, corresponds to King Lear in four ways: (1) they both are deceived by family. Edgar is deceived by his half brother, and King Lear is deceived by two of his daughters. Edgar babbles about how Edmund deceived him: "Who gives anything to Poor Tom?"
Two powerful characters in the play, aging King Lear and the gullible Earl of Gloucester, both betrayed their children unintentionally. Firstly, characters are betrayed due to family assumption. Lear banished his youngest daughter Cordelia because he over estimated how much she loved him. When questioned by her father, she responds with, "I love your Majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less." (I,i, 94-95) Lear assumed that since Cordelia was his daughter, she had to love him in a certain way, but he took this new knowledge and banished her without further thought. Secondly, characters were betrayed because of class. Edmund, the first-born son in the Gloucester family, should have been his father's next of kin. He would have been able to take over the position of Earl upon his father's death if he did not hold the title of a legitimate bastard. In his first soliloquy he says, "Why Bastard? Wherefore base? / When my dimensions are as well compact/ my mind as generous, and my shape as true " (I,ii, 6-8) Edmund believes he is at least equal, if not more, to his father in body and in mind, but the title that his father regrettably gave to him still lingers. Lastly, characters were betrayed because of family trust. Gloucester trusted his son Edmund when he was told that his other son was trying to kill him. Upon reading the forged letter written by Edmund, he responded with, "O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Go, sirrah, seek him." (I,ii,75-77) Gloucester inadvertently betrayed Edgar because he held so much trust in his one son that he was easily persuaded to lose all trust in his other one. These blind characters were unfortunately betrayed there children, but they did it unintentionally and will eventually see there wrong doings.
It is noteworthy that none of the truly evil characters in the drama have yet taken a conscious initiative. Up to this point everything centers around the interaction of Lear, Cordelia and Kent and all the terrible sufferings which follow have their source in this encounter. To rightly comprehend King Lear, we must see the true significance of the court and the direct relationship between it and the tragedy that follows. We must discover the source of the great intensity and direction which finds expression in the action of the drama, and carries it to its inexorable conclusion.
When the audience is first introduced to Lear, he is portrayed as a raging, vain old man who can not see the purity of his daughter Cordelia's love for him from the insincerity of her sisters Goneril and Regan. In his fiery rage after disowning Cordelia, Lear commands to Kent, "Out of my sight!" (1.1.156). Kent fittingly implores the aging king to "See better, Lear; and let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye" (1.1.157-8). Kent recognizes love in its most noble form in the person of Cordelia, and is able to see through the hypocrisy of Lear's other two daughters. In beseeching Lear to "[s]ee better," Kent is, in effect, asking Lear to look beyond his vanity and inward pride to see the honesty of Cordelia, who refuses...
A connection that is lost would include Lear’s relationship between him and his three daughters. If Lear’s lack of communication were to be put aside, then Lear could then understand and know his daughters each on a personal level. Thus, allowing him to realize that Cordelia is the most loyal and loving daughter of all. Whereas, he would recognize Goneril and Regan to be his two ungrateful daughters, who are known to be fake backstabbers that are capable and willing enough to get that they want. Secondly, with Lear’s deficient sense of communication, it has allowed him to gain the persona of haste irrationalism. As said by Goneril to Regan “The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash” (1.1. 295). Goneril explains that Lear himself has always been irrational and uncontrollable, even when young. This is proven after the choice of Cordelia to not profess the love that she has for her father, causing Lear to then hastily banish Cordelia from the
In the first part of the play Gloucester receives a letter from Edmond, his bastard son, as the first plot towards the down fall of his father, Gloucester. In the BBC version Gloucester seems to be somewhere in his seventies, where in the PBS version Gloucester seems to be in his sixties a much younger man. This letter makes Gloucester believe that his ligament son has betrayed him, which makes Gloucester very angry and hurt because he loved his son. This just seems to take a lot out of him. As the play continues, Gloucester serves the King with everything he has in him. When the King goes mad, due to his daughters betraying him, Gloucester shows his loyalty to the King by taking him to safety. Oswald is the one who conveyed the message, that Gloucester hid the King from his daughters. Due to this Reagan and the Duke of Cornwall (her husband) declares Gloucester a traitor. Reagan sends for Gloucester and they bring him in to face his accusers. Gloucester faces Reagan and the Duke when he is charged with treason. Gloucester says I would rather be blind rather than to see how his daughters are treating their father. Of course I am paraphrasing the exact statement. The exact statement goes like this “Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out hi...
Edmund’s discontent with the notion of bastardy is brought up furthermore in his soliloquy at the beginning of scene two: “Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law/ My services are bound. Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom…” (II.1-3). The notion of bastardy in Lear pushes Edmund to place his faith in his born traits as opposed to the system that has labeled him an outsider his whole life. He believes he is equal to his brother in every way—his mind and shape as true—and the only reason he is not aloud to prosper is because of a preconceived idea of the ideal child. Inevitably, Edmund wants to rebel against the system that has stifled him for so long. Gloucester is primarily responsible for Edmund’s actions because he in no way raised him equal to Edgar. Edmund’s goal to usurp his brother and earn the power he believes he deserves is due to the notion of bastardy in the play; Edmund questions “why brand they us with ‘base, base bastardy’” in his first soliloquy (II.10) . After all, even Kent attested to his fine demeanour. But, the steadfast notion of bastardy at the time drove Edmund to the point of betrayal because there was no hope for him in playing by the rules as they are fundamentally opposed to a bastard’s prosperity. With this soliloquy, Edmund positions himself as the more disserving
When Lear tells Gloucester “A man may see how this world /goes with no eyes” (4.6.146-47) he displays both of their misfortunes, but it is too late to prevent ultimate tragedy. Shakespeare proposes that their tragic saga is a mere game to the heavens. “As flies to wanton boys, are we to th’ gods,/They kill us for their sport” (4.1.37-38). This line generalizes the overall simplicity behind the tragedy of King Lear. Even though Gloucester and Lear made terrible, fatal errors the reader feels at the end as if it is intended to be their destiny.
In Shakespeare's “King Lear”, the tragic hero is brought down, like all tragic heroes, by one fatal flaw; in this case it is pride, as well as foolishness. It is the King's arrogant demand for absolute love and, what's more, protestations of such from the daughter who truly loves him the most, that sets the stage for his downfall. Cordelia, can be seen as Lear’s one true love, and her love and loyalty go not only beyond that of her sisters but beyond words, thus enraging the proud King Lear whose response is: "Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her". Here, Lear's pride is emphasized as he indulges in the common trend of despising in others what one is most embarrassed of oneself.
Tragedies are dominated by contrasts and conflicts between various entities such as, good and evil, legitimate and illegitimate, appearance and reality and so on. Another contrast is between wisdom and foolishness. If one associates foolishness with madmen and fools one will be surprised to find that in a tragedy such as King Lear this is not the case. Shakespeare portrays, the sane characters such as Kent and Cordelia as fools by virtue of loyalty, love and their willingness to speak the truth. On the otherhand, the Madman, Tom o’Bedlam and the fool are depicted as the true figures of wisdom. Moreover mirroring all this is King Lear’s transition from foolish behaviour through madness achieving wisdom.
Lear needs to feel a sense of closure and he is trying to fill a void in him that he thinks Poor Tom can, Lear believes that by having someone who is going through the same type of madness and situation he would not be alone and he would have someone he can relate with. Lear brings Poor Tom with him as his personal Philosopher. Additionally, Lear holds an imaginary court trial against his two daughters Regan and Goneril “I 'll see their trial first. Bring in their evidence.” (3.6.36) Lear tries to restore order and sanity back in his life but does it in an insane way like the imaginary trial. He brings Poor Tom with him and has him play the role of the judge. Lear believes that is it the fault of the two daughter that cause him to go
...not truly be seen with the eye, but with the heart. The physical world that the eye can detect can accordingly hide its evils with physical attributes, and thus clear vision cannot result from the eye alone. Lear's downfall was a result of his failure to comprehend that appearances do not always represent reality. Gloucester avoided a similar demise by learning the relationship between appearance and reality. If Lear had learned to look with more than just his eyes before the end, he might have avoided this tragedy. These two tragic stories unfolding at the same time gave the play a great eminence.
King Lear and Gloucester are the two older characters that endure the most in the play King Lear by William Shakespeare. Throughout the play their stories foreshadow the events that will occur in the other’s life. However, while Gloucester goes blind, Lear goes mad. In doing this Shakespeare is indicating congruence between the two conditions. Only after they lose their faculties can Lear and Gloucester recognize that their blindness to honesty had cost them dearly.