Sean Lawrence, S Response To Sean Cohen's King Lear

Similar to Derek Cohen’s analysis of King Lear, Sean Lawrence also plays close attention to the death throughout King Lear in his critique The Difficulty of Dying in King Lear. Lawrence starts off by explaining the theme of suicide in the play and how none of the characters, except Goneril, are successful at committing suicide. Lawrence points to Gloucester’s failed suicide attempt, explaining how it represents the inability to escape existence (35-37). Lawrence then delves deeper into this idea by saying how death is not an escape from Being and that those who choose to die are displaying their powerlessness (38-39). Lawrence also finds there to be a deeper tragedy in King Lear that the characters unable to end their lives are unable

Lawrence believes that the storm is a symbol of King Lear’s own turmoil that he is unable to realize. Furthermore, when King Lear wishes to die in the storm, he hopes to make his death more significant than it really is. Lawrence also argues like many other critics that King Lear’s suffering is largely voluntary, which he believes King Lear does to give his life more meaning. Lawrence also describes the Fool similarly to other critics as King Lear’s guide. For instance, despite all the suffering King Lear faces in the storm scene, the Fool reminds him that he can ask for Cordelia’s blessing to feel better (Lawrence 40). However, King Lear fails to recognize the Fool’s words of wisdom being caught up in his own self-righteousness. This can be seen in King Lear’s speech demanding for an apocalypse when he accuses others of crimes to show his superiority over others (Lawrence 41). Only once King Lear calms down later in the play does he begin to seek a meaningful death. However, it may have been too late for King Lear as he remains unable to escape from Being due to how he acted before (Lawrence

Although Cohen provides a lot on insight about death in King Lear, I liked how Lawrence specifically focused on the suicide attempts and how they relate to the play. In a day and age where many people seem sensitive to talking about suicide, it was nice to see Lawrence’s openness in talking about it. I found that through his critique, I was able to consider suicide as a theme in King Lear, which I had been unable to address previously. The idea Lawrence suggested that really brought my attention to the theme of suicide was that death comes from outside the self. Although many people believe we have control over suicide, King Lear makes it apparent that while we can do things to speed up our deaths, we do not have full control over how and when we die since there is a force beyond us that influences our deaths. This is seen through Gloucester’s repeated attempts to kill himself. No matter how hard he tries to escape life on Earth, it appears that some other force has other plans for him. On the other hand, Goneril is successful at her suicide attempt because she has no feelings towards others. Unlike Gloucester, Goneril does not seek attention or purpose in her life, but would rather keep a low profile after killing Regan. Lawrence provides us with yet another way that Shakespeare highlights the predicament that comes with human existence. Ultimately, we only