King Lear Act 3 Questions Essay

Lear is a powerful man who does not see how genuine his youngest daughter, Cordelia’s love is, but believes the deceitfulness of her sisters, Goneril and Regan. Kent, one of Lear’s most loyal servants, sees the two-facedness of Cordelia’s sisters and tries to make him look pass the show that Goneril and Regan put on and see them for who they truly are, and Lear refuses. Lear commands to Kent get "Out of my sight!" The play echoes

Dividing the Kingdom is not the only indication that order is disrupted. The separation of Lear's family also provide evidence that disorder is inevitable. The banishment of Cordelia and Kent is a harsh act carried out by Lear while blinded by anger. By banishing the only daughter who truly loves him, and a loyal servant who refuses to stand around and do nothing while Lear makes a big mistake, Lear surrounds himself with people who only loved him for his money and power. As Lear's family breaks apart, one must wonder if Lear is capable of ruling a country when he cannot even keep his family together. Again, Lear's desire to fuel his ego is the cause of the separation of his family. When Cordelia refuses to speak lovingly, "Unhappy that I am. I cannot heave My heart into my mouth." (I,i,92-94), Lear becomes angered and banishes her. As an act of loyalty, Kent stands up

Despite King Lear's horrendous actions against both Cordelia and Kent, neither of these characters takes revenge on him. In fact, Cordelia eventually forgives King Lear and Kent comes back to Britain and serves the king in disguise. After splitting up the nation between his two remaining daughters, King Lear keeps one hundred knights for himself, and requests a place to stay. It only seems fitting that King Lear stay at Goneril's and Regan's homes, since they owe their possession of those homes and their power to their father. Regan and Goneril quickly turn on their father, kicking him out of their homes, and leaving him to die in one of the worst storms they have seen.

In this soliloquy, the audience gets its first glimpse of the character of Goneril. The full spectrum of her greed and selfishness will not be revealed until later, but this is certainly a good sample of her personality. Her profession of love is so large that it seems almost artificial, and it also seems motivated by the fact that possession of land is involved. Still, Lear seems immensely pleased by her statement, and requests a similar profession of love from his other daughter, Regan. She obliges, and in her declaration she tells her father that she loves him even more than Goneril does. Regan emerges from her

Lear's insanity increases throughout the play, demonstrated to the audience through more speeches, until his emotions overthrow his reason at the climax of the play. Lear randomly shouts in to the storm,

Edgar, although an important character, scarcely speaks when he is first introduced as an honest, innocent man. In effect, his first true speech starts as prose since he is forced to disguise himself so early on in “King Lear.” Through multiple progressions of Edgar’s speech from prose to blank verse, Shakespeare parallels Edgar’s transition from a naive, trusting man to a hardened and prudent man that becomes the only person capable of ruling the wounded country; his growth into a selfless and wise man is illustrated by the rare use of rhymed verse.

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.

Lear no longer wants the burdens of being the ruler he only wants the prestige that goes along with the job. Kent realizes that Lear's" older daughters, Regan and Goneril, do not deserve to rule Britain and that he has made a mistake by giving them power at the cost of his own. Kent sees what Lear can't see. Once you hand your power over to someone your own standing suffers.

What is more, the loss of love and relationships by Cordelia, Edgar and Lear is evident in the play and leads to the unmasking of the characters' true natures. Edgar sees the necessity for love and relationships in one's life to sustain a state of common sense when he loses the love of his family and friends. After it is believed that there is a plot against Lear's life, Edgar reflects on the situation, "When we our betters see bearing our woes,/ We scarcely think our miseries our foes./ Who alone suffers most i' the mind,/ Leaving free things and happy shows behind..."

The plot of the play, from confusion to order was designed in similarity with the set. The stage gradually worn out until during the last scene it spears as an earthquake had struck. Lear’s costume also deteriorated at the same time with his character. He began the play in rich robe that distinguishes him as King however later his costume changed to leather and boots and by the last scene he was dressed in rags. This erosion of appearance conveys quick emotional, mental break down. Also Lear’s frustrated and dissatisfied facial expression made this more suggestive to the audiences own explanation.

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.

The most prevailing images in King Lear are the images (metaphoric and actual) of nature. The concept of nature seems to consume the dialogue, monologues, and setting.

     The play, “King Lear” by William Shakespeare, starts with noblemen Kent and Gloucester having a conversation and the audience finds out that Gloucester has two sons. Edgar who is his heir, and Edmund his unimportant son. This info. leads to the mini-plot. Then, Lear enters to say that he is going to end his life’s tasks and problems. He then points to the map, he tells the people there that he will split his land into three parts. They are going to be given to his three daughters. The two oldest, Goneril and Regan, tell their father that their love for him goes beyond expectations. The youngest one, Cordelia, tells him that she loves him, but only as she should love her father. He is then

Lear has been driven mad because of his own poor choices and decisions he has taken in his life. His blindness to Gonoril and Regan’s false flattery and his inability to see Cordelia’s real affection has led to his insanity. When he goes mad, the turmoil in his mind reflects the disorder that has descended upon his kingdom. However, his madness teaches him humility and provides him with important nuggets of wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity, stripped of all royal pretensions. There is a dramatic value in Lear's madness whose roots lie in his moral and spiritual defects, and the cure is his moral regeneration which has come late. Madness is a central theme in King Lear’s characters between the ones that act in an insane way that are the wisest, and the sane characters that act in a foolish and unreasonable way. Lear’s madness is real compared to Edgar’s which is feigned as Hamlet’s. Edgar who has been the victim of a brother’s treachery perfectly enacts the role of a fool in his