Examples Of Suffering In King Lear

Throughout life, everyone experiences unavoidable suffering. This suffering creates feelings of overwhelmingness, anger, and sadness. Some people choose to suppress these feelings while others use their unimaginable turmoil for positive growth. In Shakespeare's play, King Lear, Lear uses his suffering to evolve as an individual. This growth is demonstrated by Lear’s new found ability to develop empathy towards others, to differentiate between fakeness and reality, and to see with better judgement. This development of character allowed him to see things he didn’t even know previously existed. King Lear’s personal growth is demonstrated when he begins to take note of the suffering around him. As he is forced to endure the violence of a raging

In his madness, King Lear is hiding from Cordelia in cornfields. He is so, “overwhelmed with shame and remembers how unkind he was to her” (IV.iii. 42-43). King Lear remembers how at the beginning of the play, he disowned his daughter and gave her no part of his kingdom. He did this after she refused to flatter her father and told him that she, “gives back just as she should: I obey you, love you, and honour you” (I.i.95-96). He realizes that his other two daughters, Goneril and Regan, to whom he gave his inheritance, just used fake words to flatter him. He comes to recognize they were disloyal and disrespected him as a father after they disowned him and took away his knights. It is only Cordelia who truly loves him and comes searching for him after she learns of her sisters’ cruel behaviour towards him. This realization shows how he has evolved as a character and how Cordelia had a, “significant role in effecting change in the figure of Lear” (LeBlanc,

King Lear and Cordelia become captured by Edmund’s army and are taken to prison. There, Edmund gives the order for Cordelia to be hung. King Lear is so distraught by her death that he asks, “why should a dog or horse or rat have life, but not you?” (V.iii.314-315). Lear clearly understands that his daughter’s death was a huge injustice. She was the one daughter who was loyal and honest towards him and her, “outcome does not correspond to the characters' merits (Kullmann, 209). These clear visions are in contrast to his poor judgement at the beginning of the play where he, “caved into flattery” (I.i.147) and gave his kingdom to Goneril and Regan. King Lear definitely became more aware of what was occurring around