Comparing Shakespeare's 'King Lear' with Mitch Albom's 'Tuesdays with Morrie'

Since the start of time, and the preceding generations, death has impacted people and the way they act. A sudden, or even an expected death of a loved one, takes a toll on a person. It’s human nature for people to process and want to make sense of death and the loss it leaves behind. The five stages of grief reflect this process of dealing with the loss of a loved one. Through these stage of grieving, people can get lost either searching for answers or trying to get past it. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare depicts the role human nature plays in the striving for answers and justice surrounding death. Even though Hamlet was written early in the seventeenth century, the depiction of death and human nature still rings true today; people and

He is now using some trickery of his own, and he views this as the best way to save himself. King Lear, clearly delusional at this point, becomes fond of Poor Tom and views him as a wise man. Edgar, who is now somewhat hardened, uses his disguise as an opportunity to share honest values with the king. “Take heed o' th' foul fiend. Obey thy parents, keep thy word’s justice, swear not, commit not with man's sworn spouse, set not thy sweet heart on proud array. Tom's acold,” he advises, attempting to connect to the crazed Lear (III.iv.86-89). By using prose, he is trying to convince the party that he is of the lowest possible status. In doing so, however, he is losing some of the morality that accompanies the innocence he started with. Even in his clever disguise, though, he still shows that he is unable to fully let go of his innocence, since he is still giving moral advice even as an insane beggar that speaks in prose -- not something that one would expect to be discussed while using prose. As he delves deep into his disguise, he experiences hardships and learns of the wrongdoings of the nobles around him that have caused the country to go into turmoil. When Edgar meets his blind father, Gloucester, and he does not even recognize his own son, Edgar keeps his identity a secret from the tortured man who only wishes to forgive

King Lear poses many questions to its audience. Shakespeare’s conventions throughout the story hold true to the plot until Albany’s speech is interrupted by Lear’s rambling words. Upon closer examination however, it is obvious that the play’s writer meant to violate some of the conventions which he set earlier in the story through the crazed king's words. The character’s verses can be interpreted several ways, showing a different side of the conventions which Shakespeare sets. Focusing on the particular scene shows an underlying theme concerning the human race. His writing leaves the audience with a question about the story’s true meaning.

At this point in the play, King Lear has completely lost his sanity and is yelling at his surroundings during a storm. Upon saying these words, he takes off all his clothes and declares himself free of the trappings of civilisation. The importance of this quote lies in the symbolism of nakedness. Nakedness is representative of many things, including insanity and loss of status. As stated before, Lear’s insanity is at its

Erin Geoffrey II, his father, a rich, prominent Brain Surgeon, married seven times. Devoted to long hours teaching students tarnished his marriages. Death do us part, was literally deleted in the wedding vows of his last three weddings. In addition temptation had caressed his dark side of life with flames of desire, want and need quite a lot, while the other side of his life demanded full attention with life-and-death decisions daily. Oh, don't get me wrong, Erin Geoffrey II was a grateful man who fought his way from poverty. The horrible disease of brain cancer had taken his mother to her death, dying at home in his arms; he was sixteen at the time. Erin's father was a truck driver, and he left 30 days after his wife’s death, never to return

Later, Gloucester is willing to sacrifice his own life for the King Lear. This heroic behavior sets Gloucester apart from his youngest son, Edmund, who is merely an opportunist. Like Lear, Gloucester feels despair and questions a god, and like Lear, Gloucester finds his humanity in the midst of his tragedy. The blinded old man who asks that clothing be brought, so that Bedlam Tom might be covered, is a very different man from the Gloucester of Act I, who in the play's opening scene, bragged about Edmund's conception. Gloucester is filled with compassion for Poor Tom. This compassion for his fellow man indicates that Gloucester regrets the behavior of his past, as he seeks to make amends by sharing with those he never noticed before the recent events.

Here, Lear goes mad and tells Gloucester that even a dog gets obeyed by people who have to obey him and that appearance, authority and power all lead to corruption. He compares himself to the poor when he says that only the poor without power gets into justice and that the society always obeys power even if it is not justified. Even though Lear loses his senses, Edgar still finds out that he has got a point which seems to be reasonable.

   King Lear meets all the requirements of a tragedy as defined by Andrew Cecil Bradley.  Bradley states that a Shakespearean tragedy has to be the story of the hero and there is exceptional suffering and calamity slowly being worn in.  Also, the current time must be contrasted to happier times.  The play also depicts the troubled parts in the hero’s life and eventually he dies instantaneously because of the suffering and calamity.  There is the feeling of fear in the play as well, that makes men see how blind they are not knowing when fortune or something else would be on them.  The hero must be of a high status on the chain and the hero must also possess a tragic flaw that initiates the tragedy.

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

In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, the plays performed reiterate main ideas found within the play. Both plays hold a play within them, in Hamlet actors reenact the scene in which King Claudius murders Hamlet’s father, and in Midsummer Night’s Dream actors act out the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Each show main ideas experienced in the play and show the audience their prior experiences, which evoke different emotions.

The novel entitled Tuesdays With Morrie, written by Morrie Schwartz’s friend and student Mitch Albom, gives the reader a chance to hear Morrie’s words, thoughts and feelings as Morrie approaches his pending demise from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Through Morrie’s words entitled “The Meaning of Life” and Mitch’s “life lessons” entitled “The Thesis;” the reader is granted entry into Morrie’s evolving realm of “life, death

The inevitability of death begins to settle into Lear, not enabling him to accept it, but to drive him towards the brink of insanity. We begin to see Lear view life as an existential concept that constricts his mental state. The painful surprise of mortality leads him to go insane and his anger turns into

In these situations, the cast confronts instances of betrayal and eventually self-growth. The story initiates with King Lear’s urgency for flattery, which drives him to commit a decision that instigated the power-hungry course of his daughters. The betrayal of Goneril and Regan caused Lear to separate from his man-made principles and praise those of nature. Besides the change in Lear, the audience also observed Gloucester’s position concerning the legitimacy of his two sons. Societal views were a detriment regarding the rights of illegitimate children, like Edmund. Seeing his brother Edgar conquer all his father’s treasures, Edmund left his praise of nature behind and instead exploited the reliance of status and relationships in his royal family to overcome the laws of society, forming a great deception against his own family.

Like Lear, Gloucester fails to see the true nature of his children and also invokes the language of nature in blind ways. After wrongly condemning Edgar he calls Edmund a "loyal and natural boy" (II. i. 85).

Goneril tells Lear that he needs a smaller troop, more decorous in behavior and better suited to the king’s rank and age. The king is very angry and says he will pack up his people and move to Regan’s palace. Lear’s anger continues to build, and he calls upon nature to curse Goneril’s womb. In response, Goneril turns out 50 of Lear’s retinue. As the subplot develops, Edmund wounds himself slightly, pretending that Edgar has attacked him. Certain that Edgar will also try to kill him, Gloucester promises to find the means to make Edmund his heir. After his escape into the woods, Edgar decides that he will disguise himself as a Bedlam beggar, who will be known as Poor Tom. Meanwhile, Cornwall orders an impassioned Kent placed in the stocks. Lear arrives and quickly realizes that Regan has joined Goneril in seeking to reduce Lear’s authority. Lear reminds his daughters that he gave them all that they now enjoy, but they are unmoved. An angry Lear calls for his horse, and rides into the storm with his Fool for protection. Exposed to the storm, the Fool attempts to reason with his king, but Lear will have no part of submission, especially before his daughters. Soon the king and Fool are joined by Edgar disguised as Poor Tom. Gloucester tells Edmund of the plot to save the king, unaware that he is divulging the plans to a traitor. Edmund immediately resolves to tell Cornwall of the plan. Edmund soon receives his reward: Gloucester’s title and lands. The captured