Human Suffering in Inferno and King Lear

Both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dante’s Inferno explore the reasons for, and results of, human suffering. Each work postulates that human suffering comes as a result of choices that are made: A statement that is not only applicable to the characters in each of the works, but also to the readers. The Inferno and King Lear speak universal truths about the human condition: that suffering is inevitable and unavoidable. While both King Lear and the Inferno concentrate on admonitions and lamentations of human suffering, one of the key differences between the works is that Inferno conveys an aspect of hope that is not nearly as prevalent in King Lear.

Through Lear, Shakespeare expertly portrays the inevitability of human suffering. The “little nothings,” seemingly insignificant choices that Lear makes over the course of the play, inevitably evolve into unstoppable forces that change Lear’s life for the worse. He falls for Goneril’s and Regan’s flattery and his pride turns him away from Cordelia’s unembellished affection. He is constantly advised by Kent and the Fool to avoid such choices, but his stubborn hubris prevents him from seeing the wisdom hidden in the Fool’s words: “Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to: he will not believe a fool” (Shakespeare 21). This leads to Lear’s eventual “unburdening,” as foreshadowed in Act I. This unburdening is exacerbated by his failure to recognize and learn from his initial mistakes until it is too late. Lear’s lack of recognition is, in part, explained by his belief in a predestined life controlled completely by the gods: “It is the stars, the stars above us govern our conditions” (Shakespeare 101). The elder characters in King Lear pin their various sufferings on the will of...

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... that explore the vastness of human suffering. However, though they both state that human suffering is unavoidable, there is a sense of levity in the Inferno that is absent in King Lear. The final message of King Lear implies the idea that human suffering is universal and that one’s choices not only cause one’s own suffering, but also invariably lead to the suffering of others. King Lear ends on a note of immense sorrow, while Inferno’s final message is a much more hopeful one, giving voice to the idea that the ubiquity of human suffering does not mean that all hope is lost. In Inferno, suffering is an aspect of the human experience, but not the only aspect, and it does not have to define one’s life.

Works Cited

Alghieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy, Volume I: Inferno. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. New York: Dover, 1994. Print.