King Lear Passage Analysis

King Lear's Transition in Shakespeare's Play, King Lear

In the play King Lear, by William Shakespeare, the main character, Lear, takes the audience through his journey toward his enlightenment. At the beginning of the play Lear appears to be an arrogant man who is too much of the flesh. He associates money and power with love and respect. Thus, when Lear has given all this material possessions to his daughters, Goneril and Regan, he begins his long journey of self discovery. Through an analysis of two passages, one can see the transition of Lear from a man blinded by the flesh to a caring and compassionate madman that sees the truth.

The first passage comes from act I, scene iv. Lear's arrogance is illustrated in this passage as he

In this scene the audience is shown humble Lear. When he says "Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard son / Was kinder to his father than my daughters / Got 'tween the lawful sheets. / To't luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers." (IV.vi.110-114). This supports that Lear is much humbler. As seen in the first excerpt, Lear commanded nature to exact revenge upon his daughters for the crime they committed against them. However, in this scene the audience sees a more humble Lear who blames himself for the way his daughters turned out. The anger, brought forth by the realization of the truth, has humbled Lear; Thus, he no longer commands nature, but is confined to nature's

Although Lear is angered in the first passage, he still maintained his sanity and state through his language. This has changed in the second passage, Lear's state has been almost completely abolished, his mental stability is in jeopardy, and he is alone in the country side. When Lear changes from verse to prose, he is reverting back to a child-like state which allows him to go deeper into his subconscious to perform his soul work. When the soul work is complete, Lear will regain his sanity and once again speak in an exulted speech; That is,