Children these days are always told that they have their own talents; they just have to search for them. However some talents people aren’t born with, they are learned. When it comes to writing skills, there are three important qualities. Content, characters, and plot development. Due to creativity, content is fairly easy to come by. Once a person has decided what they’re going to write, characters are just a matter of imagination. Yet, the development of the plot is a hard process. The way in which the plot is developed shows the intent of the writer. Kate Mosse said it best: “A story is just the stuff that happened; plot is the intrigue of how and why. Yet in writing courses and workbooks, plot is often the poor relation of those apparently superior skills of characterisation, dialogue and style.” (Mosse, 2011) A better writer finds ways to spice up the plot. One of the best literary artists, William Shakespeare, found ways to have fun with the plots of various pieces. His works include King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing in which the plots contrast in their set-up, but they compare in the their intensity.
First of all, we must understand the plot development of William Shakespeare’s book King Lear. David Walsh describes this text as: "King Lear is among the most complex and contradictory of Shakespeare’s works." (Walsh, 2002) This book is about a man, King Lear, who is about to give up his throne to one of his three daughters. He asks each of them to confess their love for him. Two of them, Goneril and Reagan, lie and suck up to him. Whereas, his only loyal daughter, Cordelia, refuses to sink to their level. This causes King Lear to get very angry and expel his daughter from the kingdom. Later, another man, Gloucester,...
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This gave information about Shakespeare's style.
Richter, Natasha. "A Second Look at Don John, Shakespeare's Most Passive
Villain." Student Pulse. Student Pulse, 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
a-second-look-at-don-john-shakespeares-most-passive-villain>. This gave information about Don John.
Vancouver Sun. "Shakespeare Still Relevant In Our Fast Paced World."
Canada.com. Postmedia Network, 12 June 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
story.html?id=0c8ab9bc-e9d0-4339-adbb-1d3cef5c62a6>. This gave information about Shakespeare.
Walsh, David. "The Element of Social Tragedy in King Lear." World Socialist Web
Site. WSWS, 21 Nov. 2002. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. en/articles/2002/11/lear-n21.html>. This gave information about King
Lear.
With Cordelia declared as banished, Lear states, “With my two daughters’ dowers digest the third...Only we shall retain The name and all th’ addition to a king. The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours” (Shakespeare 17). Lear’s fault here is that he believes that he can divide up his kingdom to his daughters and still retain the title as king; he wants to retire his position and responsibilities as a king but still remain respected and treated as one. His flaw in wanting to be superior leads to his downfall, as he is so blinded by his greed that he decides to divide up his kingdom to his two daughters who are as hungry for power as he is. They only want to strip him of his position and respect to gain more influence. Lear, not realizing the impact of such an impulsive decision, descends into madness when his daughters force him out of his home. After being locked out of his only shelter by his daughters, he states, “Filial ingratitude!...In such a night To shut me out?...O Regan, Goneril, Your old kind father whose frank heart gave all! O that way madness lies. Let me shun that; No more of that” (Shakespeare 137). Lear becomes fully aware of the consequences of his actions. He realizes how ungrateful his daughters are and how they have treated him unfairly even though he has given them everything; much to his dismay, he is left with
The chaos that occurs in "King Lear" is due the reshaping of bonds within the society. Thus naturally, bonds must be broken, kept and most importantly, formed. This rearrangement of bonds is necessary to Lear understanding his personal identity. Bonds that are broken include those relations between King Lear and his two eldest daughters (Regan and Goneril), between Glouster and Edmund and also between Edmund and Edgar. Lear and Cordelia; Lear and Kent; Glouster and Edgar include those bonds that are existent at both the beginning and conclusion of the play. By the ending of the play, Lear is able to come to terms with himself and with nature.
However, as their dreadful actions increased, they failed to realize the struggle to restore honor and certainty did as well. Shakespeare demonstrated how the only situation in which individuals struggle to restore honor is when that honor is gained through dominating and destroying the lives of others; when it is gained through wrongdoing. When the honor is gained through righteous actions, the challenges are easier to handle resulting in internal peace. Both of King Lear’s daughters were trapped in an illusion where they felt they must continue their mischief in order to gain honor. They both drew attention towards their status and power while neglecting their character. They failed to realize this thirst was only destroying the happiness they once owned. Their destruction occurred at the point where they both received what they had given their father: betrayal. Shakespeare presented the idea that restoring honor through harming others results in nothing but one’s self-destruction of their happiness and
... Lears blessing, and declared his daughter. Lear also realized that Kents speaking out was for Lear’s best and that he too was abused and banished. What stings Lear even more is that he is now completely dependent upon his two shameless daughters, Goneril and Regan. Plus that he must now beg them when he took care of them like a father when they were once children, to drive Lears further into madness he realizes that as king he was so ignorant and blind with power that he never took care of the homeless and let them suffer. All these realization and the fact that Lear is in his second childhood a tender stage drive him into the peak of madness.
King Lear had come so accustomed to his praise, that it is the sole thing he lived for, he needed it to survive, his treatment as a king was his Achilles heel in this play. He wanted to step down as king and divide his kingdom into 3 sections, giving them to his daughters to rule. Goneril and Regan were more than willing to accommodate his request to demonstrate their love for their father and king by professing their love to him in dramatic fashion combined with a good bit of exaggeration. While Cordelia on the other hand, found it a struggle to profess what she thought to be known by her father and king, she states, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty / According to my bond; nor more nor less (Scene 1.1, Lines 91-93).
The first flaw in King Lear is his arrogance, which results in the loss of Cordelia and Kent. It is his arrogance in the first scene of the play that causes him to make bad decisions. He expects his favorite, youngest daughter to be the most worthy of his love. His pride makes him expect that Cordelia’s speech to be the one filled with the most love. Unfortunately for King Lear’s pride, Cordelia replies to his inquisition by saying, “I love your majesty/According to my bond and nothing less';(1.1.100-101). Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia and splits the kingdom in half to the two evil sisters, Goneril and Regan. This tragic flaw prevents King Lear from seeing the truth because his arrogance overrides his judgement. Lear’s arrogance also causes him to lose his most faithful servan...
Lear, like any king, Pagan or otherwise, would have been seen as the godhead on earth and therefore a man of exceptional power who implemented the gods' will on earth. Such a figurehead should surely command absolute respect and obedience. Yet Cordelia displeases her father, and Goneril's and Regan's actions following Lear's abdication can only be described as shocking, even to a contemporary and more liberal-minded audience. Act one, scene one represents the first emergence of filial disobedience, starting with Lear's vanity demanding that his daughters say how much they love him in a meaningless ceremony. Cordelia, his youngest and favourite daughter, will not be drawn into this.
One purpose for such a violent scene is to define the villains of the story. The play opens with King Lear retiring and deciding to split his land between his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. The size of the land plot each daughter will receive will be proportionate to their love for their father. The older two daughters Goneril and Regan eloquently announce their undying love for Lear, and are rewarded generously. The third daughter Cordelia, who truly does love her father, refuses to participate in such a display of flattery and lies. Cordelia announces, in front of all Lear's subjects, that she loves her father, "according to her bond, no more nor less." Insulted and hurt by Cordelia's harsh denouncement of love, Lear disowns her. And Lear's best friend of thirty years Kent defends Cordelia, Lear banishes Kent too. Having given away his land, Lear decides that he's going to take turns living with Goneril and Regan. To remind him of his kingship Lear kept a hundred knights. But when Lear shows up with his army at Goneril and Regan's houses, his "loving" daughters kick him out.
Shakespeare's King Lear is a play which shows the consequences of one man's decisions. The audience follows the main character, Lear, as he makes decisions that disrupt order in his Kingdom. When Lear surrenders all his power and land to his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him, the breakdown on order in evident. Lear's first mistake is to divide his Kingdom into three parts. A Kingdom is run best under one ruler as only one decision is made without contradiction. Another indication that order is disrupted is the separation of Lear's family. Lear's inability to control his anger causes him to banish his youngest daughter, Cordelia, and loyal servant, Kent. This foolish act causes Lear to become vulnerable to his other two daughters as they conspire against him. Lastly, the transfer of power from Lear to his eldest and middle daughter, Goneril and Regan, reveals disorder as a result of the division of the Kingdom. A Kingdom without order is a Kingdom in chaos. When order is disrupted in King Lear, the audience witnesses chaotic events that Lear endures, eventually learning who truly loves him.
Lear's sins as a father are quite unique and therefore difficult to analyse. First he asks his three daughters to announce their great love for him so he can reward them with shares of his kingdom, Cordellia is brutally honest with her reply and states "[I love you] according to my bond; no more no less." Lear subsequently banishes Cordellia, and so starts Lear's suffering. He then splits his kingdom between Regan and Goneril which in itself was a foolish thing to do as the responsibility and power suddenly given to these two sisters could easily corrupt them. Next he arrives at his daughter's houses with a large group of unruly k...
the law he brought back for the sake of lust. Angelo is an immoral and
The tragic collapse of King Lear was initiated within the first act, where he demonstrated a lack of insight into who his daughters genuinely were. To start, Lear decided that it was time for him to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, and the criteria he used was who every flattered him the most with kind and lovely words, would obtain the greatest share. This idea that whoever showed the most affection for him under this rationale would prove who loves him the most, and therefore would they would receive a great share of the kingdom, was his tragic mistake. Regan and Goneril, the two villains throughout the play, put together an act in order to achieve the greatest share of the kingdom, and both excelled in this regard, despite
Arguably the greatest playwright of his time, perhaps in all of history, William Shakespeare's literary works have had a tremendous impact (see Appendix 2). Reaching into the pop culture of the modern world through movies and quotes used in everyday conversation, Shakespeare's influence is astounding (see Appendix 1). One rarely stops to think, however, about events that had an impact on Shakespeare's life, particularly his writing. The outbreak of the plague, social disparity, political unrest, just a few of the historical happenings that impacted Shakespeare's plays, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Henry IV
Shakespeare 's King Lear is a story of a king who sets out to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with only Goneril and Regan reaping in his fortune. The family unit becomes torn as conflicts between personalities emerge between King Lear and his three daughters, thus creating a tragic end for many. King Lear 's two eldest daughters, Goneril, and Regan defy the roles and rights of women of the eight-century, displaying behavioral traits that are less desirable. Whereas King Lear 's youngest beloved daughter, Cordelia, embodied the warmth and true spirit of women that one would up most expect during this time period, one who showed loyalty, respect, and honesty, but remained strong and noble (Phillis). William Shakespeare skillfully
Lear's relationship with his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, is, from the beginning, very uncharacteristic of the typical father-daughter relationship. It's clear that the king is more interested in words than true feelings, as he begins by asking which of his daughters loves him most. Goneril and Regan's answers are descriptive and sound somewhat phony, but Lear is flattered by them. Cordelia's response of nothing is honest; but her father misunderstands the plea and banishes her. Lear's basic flaw at the beginning of the play is that he values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn't want to fulfill a king's obligations. Similarly, his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He doesn't ask "which of you doth love us most," but rather, "which of you shall we say doth love us most?" (I.i.49). It would be simple to conclude that Lear is simply blind to the truth, but Cordelia is already his favorite daughter at the beginning of the play, so presumably he knows that she loves him the most. Nevertheless, Lear values Goneril and Regan's fawning over Cordelia's sincere sense of filial duty.