Importance Of Suffering In William Shakespeare's King Lear

Suffering is an obstacle that everyone has to confront at all times in their life. Most of time, suffering is painful. However, if people consider it as a chance for learning, they can gain a broader appreciation of life and success. They will grow one step further in the process of overcoming and stepping out from the disincentive. However, confronting suffering is not necessarily drawing the beneficial consequences: sometimes, suffering seems ultimately pointless. It may ruin people devastatingly and even lead them to the dehumanization by drawing out their negative hidden traits. A Long Way Gone--a book of Ishmael’s dreadful memories of being a boy soldier and the atrocious truth of the war--and Othello--a tragedy of jealousy, vengeance, and love--indicate those two

The Macbeth’s base of all their actions are their strong desire for power, reflected in all the actions they will take in order to claim power. Since they are so power hungry, they bring about many tragic events causing suffering of not only themselves but those around them as well. Macbeth is driven to a homicidal state of mind causing pain/suffering for others. Lady Macbeth is his accomplice in being the mastermind behind all plans.

“Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind” (4.1.46-47). In the tragedy King Lear, blindness is a key theme that is repeatedly mentioned and represented in many different forms. Throughout the novel, blindness is most often developed in the forms of mental and physical blindness. For King Lear and Gloucester specifically, blindness leads them to decisions that they will later regret in the play, and Gloucester’s actual blindness is a mirror image of Lear’s spiritual blindness. King Lear’s main plot and Gloucester’s sub-plot are almost identical, and by both of them being blinded for a majority of the novel, they both come to realize the truth in what is actually occurring in their families.

Why do we suffer? Humans have spent years searching for meaning in the grievous events that happen in life. Some find comfort through religions that give reason to tragedy and teach that suffering is not always eternal. Others just accept that this is the way the world is and then do their best to adapt to that reality. Religions and philosophies, like Buddhism and stoicism, may try to teach its followers how to end their pain, because no one likes hurting. However, suffering is not necessarily a bad thing. It is painful, but suffering can bring new levels of meaning and appreciation to happiness. Pain is inevitable for anyone who cares about the people or things in his/her life. But if we were to eliminate suffering then life would become meaningless, because real joy is not possible without the risk of pain, and those who find contentment after enduring some tribulations appreciate their joy much more.

The tragedy of Shakespeare’s King Lear is made far more tragic and painful by the presence and suffering of the king's youngest daughter, Cordelia. While our sympathy for the king is somewhat restrained by his brutal cruelty towards others, there is nothing to dampen our emotional response to Cordelia's suffering. Nothing, that is, at first glance. Harley Granville-Barker justifies her irreconcilable fate thus: "the tragic truth about life to the Shakespeare that wrote King Lear... includes its capricious cruelty. And what meeter sacrifice to this than Cordelia?"5 Yet in another passage Granville-Barker has come much closer to touching on the real explanation. I quote the passage at length.

Shakespeare's King Lear has a different take on the nature of human suffering. While Inferno offers hope for the living so as not to meet the same fate as the souls in hell, Shakespeare simply laments the consequences that our choices cause and the implications have for us. Lear never expected that his choice of dividing his kingdom among his daughters would eventually lead to his demise, as well as his cherished daughter Cordelia. When Lear made the decision to divide up his kingdom, his only thought was that we would finally get to retire in peace. Many times, our decisions also have unforeseen consequences. When Goneril and Regan betrayed Lear was blindsided. He never knew that they were so evil and were capable of being so coldhearted. For all he knew they were his loving daughters, who were going to take care of their aging father. After all, they had just professed their "love" for him with their flattery. Much is the same for us. Many times, we put our faith in others to satisfy us, only to be let down. This kind of suffering can be disheartening because it can make us lose faith in our loved ones and the ones who we trusted. Another aspect of human suffering found in

Characters are often unsatisfied with their the place they find themselves in society. Discontent is what drives them to gain ambition in their ability to radically change their situation to one that is most favorable in their perspective. These changes differ from character to character, including alterations in their moral conduct, mental capability, or in something as easy as his way of dress. The ambition to change rests deep within the character’s soul, regardless of how simple their actions may be. Fathoming a false image of oneself not only damages the individual, but creates trouble for the people around them, such as family and loved ones.

There are many differing ways that people suffer. Some effects can be superior and some can be inferior. In the quote by H. Richard Niebuhr, suffering can make you stronger, have more character, along with respect.

Of the deaths in Shakespeare’s King Lear, the death of Cordelia and King Lear at the end of Act V are most significant in revealing the development of Lear and how his development contributes to the theme surrounding it. The dynamic King Lear is a tragic hero whose fatal flaw, arrogance, prompts his removal from power and eventually the death of both himself and Cordelia. However, by the time of King Lear’s death, his arrogance has been replaced with a compassion which allows him to mourn the death of Cordelia and die from his own grief. Besides redeeming himself for his flawed judgement, the compassionate King Lear of Act V recognizes the loyalty in characters like Kent and Cordelia, while also seeing through the dishonesty of Regan and Goneril which fools the King Lear of Act I. King Lear’s transition from disowning Cordelia because of his arrogance to recognizing her as his only faithful daughter is demonstrated through Lear’s death, which serves as the culmination of his development and a reversal of his character. Furthermore, his death elaborates the theme of how someone’s arrogance may blind them from the reality of others’ intentions, which can be seen through a more compassionate and humble lens.

In King Leer, Shakespeare presents characters who suffer great injustices as well as those who never seem to suffer or feel remorse over their actions. Maynard Mack states, it is better to suffer than to live without a conscience; but simply suffering remains insufficient. While suffering remains superior to having no conscience, it alone does not make a person good, but creates opportunities for the growth of a conscience, instead of blinding someone from the reality of their actions.

Critic Northrop Frye stated that a tragic figure functions as an instrument to the suffering of others. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the tragic figure Claudius bring suffering to others as a result of his actions As a result of Claudius's actions in the play the behaviors contribute to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

“Suffering” is a word which carries negative connotations, used to incite pity, empathy or fear. Why would it not? Is suffering not simply agony, defined justly by the Oxford Dictionary as “the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship” (“Suffering)? Yet, we accept suffering as part of life, a fundamental aspect that defines living. Nietzsche tells us that the very act of living is suffering itself, but to survive is to find value in that suffering. Yet, what sort of value can be attached to an idea so negative? Pico Iyer’s editorial in the New York Times explores the value of suffering, likening suffering to passion and “[p]assion with the plight of other’s makes for ‘compassion’” (________________).I began to think upon the cohesive

In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, the idea of self-awareness is portrayed through death. More specifically, Lear illustrates self-awareness by refusing the inevitability of old age.

The opportunity to view both productions of King Lear has appeared twice for me in the past two years. The first time I viewed Trevor Nunn’s 2009 production of King Lear my review would have been based solely on my ability to understand the dialogue and my appreciation of the acting of Ian McKellen. Two years later I have a better understanding of the actual play and while I still enjoy the 2009 production the 1982 production directed by Jonathan Miller presents the words of William Shakespeare in a more accurate and period specific manor.

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).