King Lear and 1984 Shakespeare's King Lear and George Orwell’s novel 1984 are politically motivated works of literature. They represent the past political environment of a country remotely described as Britain. King Lear particularly brings out this setting clearly. The government in this play is a monarch, the king decides to share the realm to his three daughters on a rather senseless base. And the offenders of the law are punished by execution or trial by combat. In contrast, some features in 1984 are modern. There are ‘telescreens’ installed at various locations to detect and incriminate the ‘thought criminals’. The book mentions of printed newspapers that are used as a tool of propaganda by the tyrannical Inner party rulers. Generally, …show more content…
In king Lear, betrayal is used for political gain whereas in 1984 betrayal is used for political freedom. King Lear’s two daughters, Regan, and Goneril betrays their father whom he passionately divides his kingdom for. Despite his efforts to show love and passion to his daughters, Regan and Goneril turn their backs on him after they ascend to the throne. King Lear is thus betrayed by the same people he helped. Edgar is betrayed by his half-brother who he cares of very much. When Edgar meets Edmund in their father’s chambers, Edgar enquires of his brother: “How now, brother Edmund! what serious contemplation are you in?” (Shakespeare 56). Nonetheless, Edmund betrays him by telling lies about him to their father. He uses ‘incitative’ messages like “idle and fond bondage” to infuriate Gloucester (Shakespeare 47). This means that Edmund ignores his conscience and means to destroy his brother completely. In 1984, Julia and Winston are having similar political ideologies. Their first meeting however was sour up to a point that Winston felt like “raping and then murdering her afterwards” (Orwell 152). They meet in a remote hotel to lay down their plans. Apparently, the hotel is not fitted with Big Brother Telescreens. Still, they
The love between Julia and Winston made both of them reckless in a dangerous situation. The temptation of being together was enough to cause their capture and ruin their relationship. By the end of 1984, both the lives of Julia and Winston were altered negatively due to their carelessness caused by their love.
Above all, Lear's foolishness is the cause of his downfall. His illogical decisions cause chaos in the kingdom. Though he means well, Lear does not think rationally when he decides to hand over his power to his daughters before he dies. Lear was too quick to step down from the throne and did not realize that a bloody power struggle would ensue. In addition to losing his title, Lear is also left without a home when he divides his kingdom. Lear greatly
Lear, left to his own devices, is left in a devastating storm and seeks shelter and help from loyal companions. When discovered that there is a plot to execute Lear, he escapes seeking shelter and protection from his third daughter, Cordelia whom he had banished and disowned from all power and authority. Due to Cordelia protecting her father, she was later executed by Goneril’s and Regan’s forces. And Lear, the former king who had brought upon his own ill fate died due to grief at the death of his youngest daughter, who truly loved him. Goneril and Regan had succeeded in their uprising against their father and overthrowing the hierarchy.
Goneril and Regan use Lears pride to render him homeless. They are aware that he loved Cordelia best but
Whenever the issue of power allocation arises, there usually emerge a few individuals who, given only a moderate amount of authority, overstep their bounds to exert more dominance than they rightfully own; such is the case with Goneril. Yet, although Goneril certainly errs in betraying the very father that bestowed a large dominion upon her, King Lear deserves much of the blame for Goneril's haughtiness. After grossly misinterpreting the reticence of his heretofore prized daughter Cordelia, Lear divides his kingdom between the mendacious Goneril and the scheming Regan, thereby leaving the fate of the land at their unskilled mercies. Naturally, Goneril relishes her newfound control, so
The power that Lear gives to Goneril and Regan makes them treacherous and deceitful. Lear offers his
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.
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.
When Edgar was born, his father abandoned the entire family. Then Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He was then orphaned by John Allan and Frances Keeling Valentine Allan. Edgar, as a young child, had a good stepfather-son relationship, but as Edgar
After King Lear’s two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan express their love for their father in a flattering speech they were granted their share of the kingdom, and Cordelia his youngest daughter and favorite daughter refused to play along, Lear felts she was disrespectful and she was banished from his sight. Cordelia bids farewell to her sisters, and tells them that she knows they don’t love him, “I know you what you are, and like a sister am most loath to call your faults as they are named.” (1.2.273-275). “Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides; who covers faults, at last shame them derides. Well may you prosper!” (1.2.284-286). Once Cordelia left, Goneril and Regan revealed to the audience that they had no love for their father.
In act 1, scene 1, Lear says that “Meantime [he] shall express [his] darker purpose” (1,1,36). The expression “darker purpose” tells us that there is a secret and a tragedy that is about to be revealed. The power that Lear gives to Gonerill and Regan makes them deceitful. He offers his kingdom to them but in return they must tell him how much they love him “which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend”. (1, 1,56-57). Lear gives an opportunity for his daughters to take advantage of him. Gonerill “loves [him]
Edgar is the next character who displays loyalty to his father even after he has been outlawed and was forced to hide and disguise himself. Gloucester favors Edgar's evil half-brother Edmund, who deceives him into believing that it is Edgar who is disloyal. However, after Gloucester's eyes are plucked out he realizes his mistake when he is told that it is Edmund who has betrayed him. When the blind Gloucester is led to the disguised Edgar, his son agrees to lead him to the cliffs of Dover. In order to prevent his father's attempted suicide, Edgar stages a scene where he leads his father to believe that he has fallen off the cliffs but has been miraculously saved. Edgar once again defends his father's life when he prevents Oswald from assassinating him. Through these events Edgar exemplifies loyalty by leading his blind father to safety, even though he had been wrongfully mistreated.
Though the actions of Regan and Goneril mirror the king's, in that they banish King Lear, just as he banishes Cordelia and Kent, their sin against their father is worse than his sin against Cordelia and Kent. King Lear bases his daughters' love on superficial characteristics, he banishes Kent and Cordelia – his own daughter – and clings to his pride, not desiring to give up the title "King" even after he has yielded his power to his
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.
In comparison to Ozymandias, King Lear was too corrupted by power. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, the corruption of power leads to the downfall of his kingdom and the king himself. In contrast to Ozymandias, King Lear is not only a monarch, but has the responsibilities of his family as well. To begin King Lear, Shakespeare starts by Lear giving up power. King Lear originally wants to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, the two eldest Goneril and Regan and his youngest daughter Cordelia. Before the empire can be divided the girls must share their dying love for Lear in a speech. The two eldest daughters going first, exaggerate their love for their father. In contrast, although Cordelia expresses her love for her father, it is only as a daughter should love their father, nothing more. Lear’s pride