Throughout history, the human race seems to be driven by greed and controlled by the obsession of obtaining power. In fact, greed, at times leads specific individuals in history to become power hungry; in their search for power, their greed is usually never satisfied and their journey carries them through an unfortunate trail to unhappiness, isolation, and betrayal. Leaders in history like Hitler, Napolean, Machiavelli, and Richard Nixon showed great potential to be positively influential, but their power-hungry motives motivated them to be driven by uncontrollable avarice. As a result, people often turn to a lifestyle searching for gratification and, consequently, gain nothing. In response to the aforementioned claim, King Lear and Othello written by William Shakespeare demonstrate that avarice not only engenders unhappiness, isolation, and betrayal, but can also lead to death.
In King Lear, the character, Lear, being greedy for love, asks his daughters to express their love for him, when he says, “which of you shall we say doth love us most, / that we our largest bounty may extend/ where nature doth with merit challenge?/ Goneril, our eldest born, speak first” (1.1 50-53). Initially, Goneril and Regan attempt to prove their love through a speech; however, in untainted adoration, Cordelia does not choose to express her love for her father, and although King Lear is aware that Cordelia loves him most, he chooses to give authority over to Cordelia’s sisters, Goneril and Regan.
Responsively, King Lear’s avarice blinds him from the face that his other two daughters are also filled with greed and are attempting to maneuver their way to great power; as a result, greed drives greed. Goneril and Regan know that King Lear’s avarice...
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...social position to influence whether or not he believes his wife over Iago;. Because of avarice, King Lear was abandoned by his daughters, witnessed their deaths, and suffered a fatal conclusion to his life. In Othello, mainly all the main characters lost their lives. Both King Lear and Volpone demonstrate that greed and egocentrism can, extensively, lead to betrayal, abandonment, isolation and, in many cases, death.
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Shakespeare, William. King Lear. As reprinted in Elements of Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press. 1990.
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In Chapter 4 of a book titled Escape from Freedom, the famous American psychologist Erich Fromm wrote that "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction" (Fromm 98). Fromm realized that avarice is one of the most powerful emotions that a person can feel, but, by its very nature, is an emotion or driving force that can never be satisfied. For, once someone obtains a certain goal, that person is not satisfied and continues to strive for more and more until that quest leads to their ultimate destruction. For this reason, authors have embraced the idea of greed in the creation of hundreds of characters in thousands of novels. Almost every author has written a work centered around a character full of avarice. Ian Fleming's Mr. Goldfinger, Charles Dickens' Scrooge, and Thomas Hardy's John D'Urberville are only a few examples of this attraction. But, perhaps one of the best examples of this is found in William Shakespeare's King Lear. Edmund, through his speech, actions, and relationships with other characters, becomes a character consumed with greed to the point that nothing else matters except for the never-ending quest for status and material possessions.
In the beginning of the play, King Lear’s vanity, which is arguably one of his fatal flaws (hamartia, as defined by Aristotle) is the character trait that leads to his faulty perception. King Lear wants so badly to hear professions of love that he is unable to differentiate between honesty and dishonesty. However, it is not always clear whether King Lear has “lost this perception” or is “unwisely ignoring it” (Bradley). Even in the beginning of the play, it becomes evident that King Lear’s ability to perceive is significantly impaired. When he calls upon his daughters to profess their love in order to receive a share of his kingdom, he is pleased by Goneril’s flowery flattery, although it is clearly hyperbolic: “Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter/Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty” (I.i. 60-62). As A.C. Bradley states, “The rashness of his division of the kingdom troubles us [the readers]” and his “motive is mainly selfish” (Bradley). King Lear’s infatuation with himself leaves him satisfied with the false professions of love an...
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.
King Lear’s two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan were liars and were not trustworthy women. They both would do and say anything just to get an edge. Like for example in Act I of the story King Lear, had owned a huge piece of land that he had decided to divide it between all three of his daughters and all they had to do was just express or tell him how much they loved him. His two oldest daughters were very clever and deceiving, they knew that they could say the right words to get their father to be happy and satisfying. The two daughters had said that they loved him more than anyone could ever love someone or something; they said the love that they had expressed for him was more than they had loved their own husbands. The King being foolish gave his two daughters the land and was so filled with joy by the words that Goneril and Regan had told him. His youngest daughter was asked the same
In conclusion, Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Macbeth” provides valuable lessons and insights in the play for audiences. To learn that having unchecked ambition will lead to the corruption of yourselves, being greedy would not lead to your own benefits and temptations can be very dangerous.
King Lear is often regarded as one of Shakespeare’s finest pieces of literature. One reason this is true is because Shakespeare singlehandedly shows the reader what the human condition looks like as the play unfolds. Shakespeare lets the reader watch this develop in Lear’s own decisions and search for the purpose of life while unable to escape his solitude and ultimately his own death. Examining the philosophies Shakespeare embeds into the language and actions of King Lear allows the reader a better understanding of the play and why the play is important to life today.
Bullough, Geoffrey. "King Lear". Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.
Goneril and Regan, King Lear’s daughters, are perhaps the most power hungry in the play. Shakespeare illustrates their greed for power, by using symbolism in the line “O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand,” (2.4.184) to show that they are even willing to turn against their own father. The gesture of holding hands symbolises that Goneril and Regan are together against their father. They both believe that he should lose his knights and therefore, his power. King Lear gives Goneril and Regan his land, but reserves his power as King. However, this taste of power only fuelled their greed until they take
Gaines, Barry. "Biography of William Shakespeare." Critical Insights: King Lear (2011): 18-24. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
Regan, Lear 's middle child, keenly fulfills the role of a deviant woman by demonstrating a violent nature, "first by plucking poor Gloucester 's eyes out, and then by killing her own servant" (Teach). Due to her
Lear's vision is marred by lack of direction in life, poor foresight and his inability to predict the consequences of his actions. He cannot look far enough into the future to see the consequences of his actions. This, in addition to his lack of insight into other people, condemns his relationship with his most beloved daughter, Cordelia. When Lear asks his daughters, who loves him most, he already thinks that Cordelia has the most love for him. However, when Cordelia says: "I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more nor less." (I, i, 94-95) Lear cannot see what these words really mean. Goneril and Regan are only putting on an act. They do not truly love Lear as much as they should. When Cordelia says these words, she has seen her sister's facade, and she does not want to associate her true love with their false love. Lear, however, is fooled by Goneril and Regan into thinking that they love him, while Cordelia does not. This is when Lear first shows a sign of becoming blind to those around him. He snaps and disowns her:
Shakespeare, William, and Russell A. Fraser. King Lear. New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.