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traits of king lear and its thematic significance
an essay on the tragedy of king lear
essay for king lear
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Background and Summary of King Lear
Background of King Lear
King Lear was written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered to be Shakespeare's greatest tragedy. The main plot was drawn from an old chronicle play called The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, supplemented by treatments of that story in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Spenser's The Faerie Queen, and perhaps others. The subplot of Gloucester and his two sons comes from Sir Philip Sidney's popular romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Shakespeare also makes considerable use of Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603) for Edgar's language of demonic possession as Poor Tom and the mock exorcism he works to cure the blinded Gloucester's despair.
The play was performed December 26, 1606, for King James, as part of the court's Christmastide celebrations, as well as on the public stage at the Globe. Recoiling from the bleakness of the play's tragic vision, Naham Tate revised it in 1681, providing interpolated love scenes between Edgar and Cordelia and a happy ending in which Lear and Cordelia survive: his version held the stage for a century and a half. Dr. Samuel Johnson and the Romantic poets testified to the original play's greatness--Shelley terming it "the most perfect specimen of dramatic poetry existing in the world"--but they also began a critical tradition that judged the work too large and sublime for the stage. Lear has, however, proved notably successful in the modern theatre, accustomed to nonrealistic stage techniques and Samuel Beckett's apocalyptic dramas as well as to the contemporary horrors of concentration camp and Gulag. - Norton, 888
Summary of King Lear
ACT I
This tragedy play tells of the downfall of King Lear and the death of his daughter Cordelia. The play begins with the old Lear, deciding to retire, plans to divide his kingdom between his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.. With his daughters and men gathered around him, Lear asks his daughters, "Which of you shall we say doth love us most?" (Act I, Scene 1. 43). Both Goneril and Regan reply with flattering words of love which satisfied their old father, in turn he gave each of them a third of his kingdom. Cordelia, Lear's favorite daughter, answers with words from her heart, saying that she loves him as much as he loved her and as she should. However, Lear sees her words as disrespectful and demands Cordelia to reply again like how her sisters did, with flattering words.
In Peggy Orenstein’s “Just Between You, Me, And My 622 Bffs”, she talks about how social media changes the lives of young adults, specifically younger girls, and how they are expected to use social media in order to perform for an online audience. It changes how they want they want to be seen by others, so they must perform in a way that gets them to be noticed. Young adults use social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to seek approval from their peers. Young women are more likely to be pressured by others to perform their expected “roles”. She quotes Adriana Manago by saying that “Now their thoughts, photos, tastes, and activities are laid out for immediate approval or rejection by hundreds of people, many of whom are
I think that this shows that pleasure isn’t the only thing in life that has value, and if that is the case, then Nozick has proved hedonism wrong.
ABSTRACT: Nozick's well-known Experience Machine argument can be considered a typically successful argument: as far as I know, it has not been discussed much and has been widely seen as conclusive, or at least convincing enough to refute the mental-state versions of utilitarianism. I believe that if his argument were conclusive, its destructive effect would be even stronger. It would not only refute mental-state utilitarianism, but all theories (whether utilitarian or not) considering a certain subjective mental state (happiness, pleasure, desire, satisfaction) as the only valuable state. I shall call these theories "mental state welfarist theories." I do not know whether utilitarianism or, in general, mental-state welfarism is plausible, but I doubt that Nozick's argument is strong enough to prove that it is not.
To prove his point he references the experience machine, similar to The Matrix. What if you could choose a life, plug into that machine and live the rest of your life plugged into it? This is assuming that as soon as you plug in you forget that you are plugged in. Nozick believes that value is good in itself but that there are some independent of happiness. Such a moral commitments, like who you would leave behind. The actuality/authenticity of experiences. Although, most importantly we value interconnectedness with humans. Genuine contact. In the experience machine you lose autonomy as well. There is not room for growth because you are no longer the author of your own life. It is for these other values that stand apart from happiness, which Nozick believes we care about far more than life
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.
As humans we are constantly in search of understanding the balance between what feels good and what is right. Humans try to take full advantage of experiencing pleasure to its fullest potential. Hedonism claims that pleasure is the highest and only source of essential significance. If the notion of hedonism is truthful, happiness is directly correlated with pleasure. Robert Nozick presented the philosophical world with his though experiment, “The Experience Machine” in order to dispute the existence and validity of hedonism. Nozick’s thought experiment poses the question of whether or not humans would plug into a machine which produces any desired experience. Nozick weakens the notion of hedonism through his thought experiment, claiming humans need more than just pleasure in their lives. Nozick discovers that humans would not hook up to this machine because they would not fully develop as a person and consider it a form of suicide.
Nozick’s thought experiment of the Experience Machine challenges hedonism and utilitarianism by suggesting pleasure is not our only priority. He argues this on the premises that if pleasure, or more specifically the experience of pleasure, is the only thing of importance then we will always choose the more pleasure inducing option. Thus he presents the experience machine, which would grant more pleasure than the outside world, and notes that the initial reaction of many to not want to plug in suggests the conclusion as outlined above. It will be shown that the limited ability Nozick has to counter the objection that doing and being are forms of experiencing, in contrast to his claim that we would rather act than experience, as well as the assumptions he makes in his arguments lead to his conclusion not necessarily being supported by his arguments.
First, the old man receives outer success by earning the respect and appreciation of the boy and the other fishermen. The boy is speaking to the old man in his shack after the old man’s long journey, “You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything” (Hemmingway 126). The boy appreciates the fact that the old man spends time to teach him about fishing. He respects him a great deal for he knows that the old man is very wise and is a magnificent fisherman. The fellow fishermen also show respect towards the old man as they note the size of the fish after the old man returns home, “What a fish it was, there has never been such a fish” (123). The men admire the fact that the old man has caught the biggest fish that they have seen. Many fishermen resented Santiago at first, however their opinion changed once they realized what the old man has gone through. Being admired by others plays a major role in improving one’s morale.
Nozick‘s experience machine creates experiences based on selections made by human beings themselves for their own individual. Every two years they are required to make this selection whilst feeling some distress (in reality they exist in a floating tank). Then they submerge into a fake world for another two years and so on (Timmons, 122-123). He believes that rational humans would choose not to plug into the experience machine because they would want the actual experience of life instead of a virtual existence. It is a shallow reality that they are provided which will not satisfy them for long. Especially because it does not allow them to develop their own person, or personality, it strips away their human qualities and turns each of them into an “indeterminate blob” (Timmons, 123). In fact, this is a man-made world that provides nothing but a selection of experiences to choose from, it is not an actual experience an individual can have. It is ...
Reading through the novel The Old Man and the Sea one, as a reader, can perceive several themes in the book. Hemingway suggests certain subjects for discussion which built up the whole plot, therefore giving us options to choose the one we believe is the main one. In the past weeks we have been discussing, in a debate, which is that main theme. My group’s theme was “Man Defeated” and although it is hard to affirm that this theme was the prevailing one of the book, we firmly defend it. Various arguments were established. Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end.
In the story Santiago’s bravery is unsurpassed but it is not until he hooks the “great fish” that we truly see his valor and perseverance. Through Santiago’s actions Hemingway teaches the reader about bravery and perseverance in the face of adversity. He demonstrates that even when all is lost and seems hopeless a willful heart and faith will overcome anything. Santiago had lost his “luckiness” and therefore the respect of his village. Through the description of his cabin we also suspect that Santiago is a widower. Although Santiago has had many troubles he perseveres. He has faith in Manolin, in the Yankees, in Joe DiMaggio, and most importantly in himself.
... minds of many with the great strength and patience: the passion that Santiago has for life, for nature, and for the harsh judgement of fellow fisherman.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Eric A., McCann, ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanovick, Canada Inc., Canada. 1998
For three long days, the boat is alternating pushes and towed by the huge fish in an almost dream-like state. Only the killing os the fish and the attacking of the sharks interrupt the monotony. The monotony becomes one of the pressures that the old man must endure in order to maintain his grace. However, because Santiago never gives in to the monotony or the depression, he becomes the hero in the story against innumerable odds. His tenacious determination leads him to a sense of hope amongst the monotony and depression.
King Lear’s ego plays a big role in this play as his anger is fueled when cordelia says to him “I love you majesty no more nor less” Lear is angered by this comment and banishes her and lear responds by saying “ let it be so! Thy truth then be thy dower!” after this happens Lear is driven insane and knows that he has gone mad “Oh, let me not be mad, not be, sweet heavens! Keep me in temper…” Lear dies because of the shock the cordelia’s hanging.