Comparing King Lear And Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

Wisdom is an absolutely valued and loved trait in our community and is associated mutually with the elderly people. In both texts, King Lear by William Shakespeare and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, one of the main characters in both texts, King Lear and Morrie Schwartz, were experienced to develop intelligence afterwards undergoing suffering and troubles. However, both these men began their investigations in different ways. Morrie infinitely emphasized the worth of community and comfort, meanwhile King Lear drill these as light as a feather pursuits which nothing should go wrong which would affect his ego. Morrie was disappointed unexpectedly things were in his family, meanwhile King Lear did not care to the point of queasiness for it and granted it. Morrie viewed death as far and wide natural and eventually a person to look up to in future, at the same time King Lear again wanted to reside the career of a king notwithstanding dividing his land and building between his daughters. Despite being as absolutely different in both perspective and beliefs initially, both King Lear and Morrie came to materialize true wisdom by experiencing a specific of continuance which we act with regard to as a phenomena; death.

William Shakespeare's King Lear is a tragedy of a king who is unable to comprehend the truth of the human condition until he is stripped of his kingdom, family, and the basic components of human dignity. At the end of his existence, even the one person who he loved, his daughter Cordelia, is taken away. Similarly, Morrie Schwartz in the popular nonfiction book Tuesdays with Morrie does not fully come to terms with himself and what is valuable in life until he has been cruelly stripped of what makes his life meaningful by a chronic, terminal illness. Both Morrie and Lear do not gain full understanding until they lose everything.

Existentialism was in part a reaction to modernism, but its roots can be traced to ancient philosophical traditions ranging from Zoroastrianism and Judaism, Buddhism and Platonism (Flynn). The essence of existentialism is authenticity of experience, asking the philosopher to undergo deep introspection. However, existentialism is perhaps most famous for its probing questions about what Friedrich Nietzsche called the "tension of the soul," (2). Known colloquially as existential angst, the "tension of the soul," search for meaning and purpose in life has characterized personal and collective identity formation in the twentieth century. Books like Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is quintessentially existential in its approach to the author's coming to terms with his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. Existentialism made its mark on the social sciences, and especially psychology. When psychology emerged as a discipline, Sigmund Freud's theories had a clear existential basis due to his emphasis on the death wish and the deeper realms of human consciousness and its phenomenology. Therefore, existentialism has had a tremendous impact on the evolution of Western society in the twentieth century and well into the 21st as well.

In King Lear, Lear’s conflict of power with his daughters is brought about by his own arrogance, which flaws his judgement and propels his change of heart. When Lear parcels out his kingdom to his daughters, he finds the honesty of Cordelia’s praise to be ungrateful and

Due to this flaw, Lear has given way to the two older daughters to conspire against him.  Lear is finally thrown out of his daughters’ homes and left with a fool, a servant and a beggar. This is when Lear realizes the mistake that he has made and suffers the banishment of his two eldest daughters.  Lear is caught in a storm and begins to lose his sanity because he can not bear the treatment of his two daughters as well as the error he has made with Cordelia and Kent.  Lear also suffers from lack of rest when he is moving all over the place and the thing that breaks him is the death of his youngest daughter, Cordelia.  This suffering can be contrasted with other happier times like when Lear was still king and when he was not banished by his two daughters.

In this quote, Lear voices that he never treated his daughters with unkindness during his Kingship, and believes he does not deserve the treatment he is receiving. Lear’s life is filled with deceit and bad things are to come. “Canst thou blame him? /His daughters seek his death.” (III, iv, 165-166) says Gloucester. The kingdom loses its foundation as Lear’s authority slips away.

Sogyal Rinpoche stated “When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life now...and come to face the truth of yourself. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.” Death is imminent. Many people today fear death for various reasons. Some people are able to accept it, where others deny its existence. Some people spend their lives working towards the coming of their death, and their life thereafter, where others spend there lives doing everything they possibly can to make the most of their time on earth. In Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, the lead character Morrie Schwartz was diagnosed with the fatal disease Lou Gerrig’s Disease, also know as ALS. Although many people

Furthermore, King Lear suffers a loss of power which causes him to reveal his true nature when his powers as King and as a father are departed and he is able to see the innocence behind his daughter, Cordelia's, love for him. He is reunited with Cordelia and instantly compelled to beg for her forgiveness: "We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage./ When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down/ And ask of thee forgiveness. So we'll live,/ And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh..." (5.3.9-12). This is unveils King Lear's truly humble and loving nature. In summary, because Cordelia, Gloucester and King Lear all suffer a loss of power in the play, their true natures are ultimately revealed.

King Lear had no obligation to give any of his kingdom to his three daughters, but his affection for them inspired him to sacrifice his kingdom to give it to his offspring. His willingness to give up his kingdom shows how much he loves his daughters. He is getting older and realizes that he must prepare his daughters for the

"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty According to my bond; no more nor less." Cordelia speaks honestly and sensibly, but by doing so she injures Lear's pride, and for this she is disinherited. And when the King's most trusted advisor takes Cordelia's side, the Lear is forced to banish him also to save face. So far Lear appears more sinning than sinned against.

At the beginning of the play King Lear has more power than anyone else, the feeling of power made him think it was okay to ask his three daughters who loved him the most. When his youngest and favourite daughter Cordelia did not give him the answer he wanted by saying, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth/ I love your majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less” (King Lear 1.1.91-93). he started lashing out. Lear clearly values Goneril and Regan fawning over him over Cordelia’s sincere honesty. Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia, as well as Kent for defending her. Lear splits the kingdom in half to Goneril and Regan which leads to the deaths of many people in the play. Throughout the play he becomes increasingly shocked when people do not obey him the way they did before and the lack of respect he receives. With his loss of power Lear often responds to these problems with anger saying things like “My curses on her!” (2.4.138). about his own daughter. By the end of the play he recognizes that he takes responsibility for both his own problems and for those of others. King Lear’s actions were the first step to the plays tragic outcome.

King Lear's hot temper and hasty decisions play a significant role in his fall from grace. His old age has caused him to behave impulsively, without any consideration for the consequences of his actions. When Lear asks his devoted daughter Cordelia to express her love for him, he becomes upset with her because she cannot put her feelings into words. He

King Lear an imprudent, old man symbolizes selfishness like no other. What is most daunting is the fact that he is adamantly loyal to appearances and ranking in life. He carries a title which most can not even dream of attaining, but wants to give up the position and all the responsibilities that follow it. “ Know that we have divided/ In three our kingdom, and `tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age” (1.1.37-39). It is quite understandable if he just wanted to end his reign as king, but it’s another thing when he also wants to bask in the glory of the title and be treated like he still owns it. This egotistical attitude of his is more annoying than anything else, for he brought forth all his problems upon himself, and also unto others. His most arrogant moment is at the very beginning of the play, when he demands his daughters to profess their love for him openly, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (1.1.53). The use of his words in this quote is disgusting, it exudes pride, self-importance, and flattery. It’s because of these very words, that Cordelia denied him his right to the, all so selfish public display of love. Although Lear made costly mistakes throughout the play, his love to Cordelia rang

Lear's actions of distributing his kingdom to his daughters (which in a patriarchal society such as Lear's is against natural law) and his rashness of expelling Cordelia and wrongly rewarding Regan and Goneril, were a violation and misreading of true nature which, from that point on, lead to the destruction and death of Lear and his family.