Portrayal of King Lear in First Four Scenes of King Lear by Shakespeare

He also becomes angry with his wife and lets her know that he is aware of what she had done. He reminds me of the friend wle have that has a cheating girl and won’t listen to his friends. Deep down he probably knows the truth but doesn’t want to face it because he loves her too much. Sometimes it better that they find out for themselves because it can turn them against you and cause you to love a friend.

If she had, then he would not be in this horrible state. King Lear was a play that drew the audience into a tragic family destruction. Although, a father’s had sovereignty over his household which included his wife, children, and servants, King Lear seemed to have none. Yet the audience is keenly aware of how much the king demands respect and loyalty from his daughter’s and when he feels betrayed he withdraws his support. Lear’s desire for love above all is his destruction.

In fact she never called her husband George unless she was trying to manipulate him in some way. Tesman is so blind to Hedda’s manipulative nature that he responded with joy, “Hedda- Oh, is this true?- What you’re saying?… I never noticed that you loved me in this way before”(1458). This disgusted Hedda because she was not truthfully trying to please Tesman and his reaction was one of excitement. With Hedda’s cold manipulati... ... middle of paper ... ...on to her problems. Hedda’s relationship with all three men ultimately created a life she was unhappy with thus leading her closer to her death.

Toward the end of the play, Lear realizes that he has been very unfair to Cordelia, and that the other two sisters have misled him. Cordelia, however, remains true to Lear, as she respects the relationship between them although he does not. Shakespeare expects family members to be true to one another and have a solid trust in each other. Lear doesn't do what Shakespeare expects: he no longer loves Cordelia after she confesses she loves him only to the extent a daughter should. All of his love is for Regan and Goneril because both of them tell their father what he wants to hear: that they love him more than anyone in the world.

Although Gertrude is the person that Hamlet has the most inner conflict with, he still loves his mother as most children do. As a mother figure, Gertrude is supposed to be the perfect one- with out any impurities or errors. When Hamlet realizes that his mother is a flawed, sinful women, who’s sexual appetite is so deviant she takes on her brother in-law, Hamlets whole view changes. How could the women who just buried her husband become a blushing bride so rapidly? After Hamlet contemplates all of this, how can he trust any woman when his own mother betrayed his father?

He gives away his kingdom in relation to his daughters ability to flatter him and articulate their love. King Lear’s stubbornness and oversized ego is blind to the error he makes in rewarding something as immeasurable love in this competitive environment. Cordelia is the only one who sees the ridiculousness of such a task and unlike her sisters does not fully participate in the competition for her father's inheritance. She describes her love for her father honestly, as important but not consuming of her entire being as her sisters do. Her father sees this as direct and personal insult and banishes her as well as taking her dowry.

It is an immature response, but the only one she knows, and it serves for her dual purpose of her hurt and revenge. The transformation that she undergoes near the end of the play is not one of character, but one of attitude. She alters dramatically from the bitter accursed shrew to the obedient and happy wife when she discover that her husband loves her enough to attempt to change her for her own good, as well for his. The other main character is Pretruchio her husband. On the surface he appears to be a rough, noisy, and insensitive, one who cares nothing for Katherine's feelings so long as she has money.

He reacts too hastily to Cordelia 's response which leads him to leave the kingdom in the hands of the eldest daughters who do not care for him at all. Lear makes the mistake of believing that his two eldest daughters were being honest when telling him how much they loved him. Lear 's character tends to base everything on what he feels sounds and looks the best. He loves to be flattered and praised, and in the end it hurts him, because he as not fully realized what he has given up when dividing his

Lear’s scheming older daughters, Goneril and Regan, respond to his test with flattery, telling him in wildly overblown terms that they love him more than anything else. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest (and favorite) daughter, refuses to speak. When pressed, she says that she cannot “heave her heart into her mouth,” that she loves him exactly as much as a daughter should love her father, and that her sisters wouldn’t have husbands if they loved their father as much as they say (I.i.90–91). In response, Lear flies into a rage, disowns Cordelia, and divides her share of the kingdom between her two sisters. The earl of Kent, a nobleman who has served Lear faithfully for many years, is the only courtier who disagrees with the king’s actions.

Note also how differently Laertes is treated by his father, compared to the lack of regard shown to Ophelia by Polonius. Women had little status, and Ophelia's wishes are not considered at any time. Torn apart as she is by divided loyalty it is no wonder that the strain on her eventually leads to her madness and subsequent death. That she loves Hamlet is without question. She is distraught when she observes his behaviour before the nunnery scene, and after his savage rejection of her in that scene she laments his "noble mind..here o'erthrown" She also grieves for herself, "Oh woe is me, t'have seen what I have seen, see what I see."