Examples Of Dementia In King Lear

Insanity occupies an essential place in Shakespeare’s play, and is associated with both disorder and hidden wisdom. As King Lear goes mad due to dementia, the turmoil in his mind mirrors the chaos that has descended upon his kingdom. He initiates the unnatural sequence of events when he proclaims that he desires: “To shake all cares and business from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths, while we / Unburthened crawl towards death” (1.1.41-43). At the same time, Lear’s dementia provides him with important wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity and stripped him of all royal pretensions.

In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lear is challenged by two bodies: the celestial body which presents him as a ruler and is connected to god, and the

Plate sin with gold, / And the strong lance of justice hurtles breaks;/ Arm it in rags, a pygmy’s straw does pierce it” (4.6.166-169). By wearing ornate clothing one is capable of masking his evilness, but those whom exposes oneself to nakedness reveals the truth and integrity. As he struggles in the raging storm, he imposes his sense on the elements of nature by seeking justice from the gods: “Let the great gods, / That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads, / Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch, / That hast within thee undivulgéd crimes, / Unwhipped of justice” (3.2.49-53). There is more to Lear's passion than his demand for justice in this passage however. He is also fighting a war against himself and against the growing awareness that he might be a sinner. Lear has given some brief signs that a sense of his own liability is growing within when he stated "I did [Cordelia] wrong" (1.5.25), in response to his banishment of his lovable daughter. In this regard, Lear also stops thinking about himself and expresses genuine feeling for the sufferings of others by speaking of them

(3.4.28-33).

The sight of Edgar disguised as Poor Tom, also drives Lear beyond any sense of sanity. This sight causes Lear to tear off his clothes and implied that “unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art” (3.4.109-110). The act of tearing off his clothes is the forcible rejection of the civilized life which gives him a sense of who and where he belongs. It signifies Lear's inevitable surrender to the torment in his mind which has desperately been seeking for some reassurance (“SparkNotes”). Having found none, he acknowledges the absurdity of the world by joining it.

Lear has finally discovered his capacity to love and to recognize in that bond the most important element of life. He begs for forgiveness and has come to terms of humiliation. Thus, when he and Cordelia are captured and sent off to prison, he accepts his fate because being with Cordelia is far more important than any justice or injustice in the world. This indicate a transformed understanding within Lear and the awareness of new priorities which place human love above the meaningless political world that he has been so obsessed with. As Lear dies, Kent's comment salutes Lear's death as something to be welcomed: Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! He hates him / That would upon the rack of this tough world / Stretch him out longer” (5.3.314-317). In truth, Lear made the decision to go mad in order to retain control over his own mind. Since he feels