Shakespeare's King Lear: The Invention Of The Human

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Recommended: Critical comments on shakespeare's king Lear

In Acts 2 and 3, Lear is forced to reckon with the false affection his daughters have sold him. In consequence, Lear comes to understanding more about himself and the actions which have lead him to his now, what I would call, deconstructed state. In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom evaluates the character, writing:
Lear’s utterances establish a standard of measurement that no other fictive personage can approach, the limits of human capacity for profound affect are consistently transcended by Lear. To feel what Lear suffers strains us as only our own greatest anguishes have hurt us; the terrible intimacy that Lear insists upon is virtually unbearable. (Bloom 513)
Mr. Bloom asserts, that Lear reckons with love, and its …show more content…

A prominent example can be found in Act 1, Scene 4, where the fool lays out the blunt and truthful manner of their relationship: “Nuncle, e’er since thou mad’st thy daughters thy mothers; for when thou gav’st them the rod, and put’st down thine own breeches” (1.4.176-78). The fool can speak to Lear in chastising manner, “whipping him” with the full context of his situation, and get away with it. Their relationship is built upon mutual trust with Lear internalizing the fool’s broadsides. In the above quote, the fool acknowledges how Lear has, truthfully, given over his power to his daughters and now should not be surprised when they execute that power to serve their needs. This plain truth cannot be denied, yet, Lear himself, while aware of it, struggles with accepting his new reality. Yet, the fool continues to drive home this idea. Warning him in Act 2, Scene 4 of the impending consequences of his abdicating his power and implicating to him that he no longer has any control of his daughters: “Fathers that wear rags / Do make their children blind. / But fathers that bear bags / Shall see their children kind” (2.4.46-49). Lear’s daughters it seems are no longer “kind” towards a father who has nothing they are in need of. The fool’s observation unsettles Lear: “O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! / Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow” (2.4.55-56). Thereby, moving Lear closer to

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