King Lear Ego

Shakespeare’s King Lear, also follows Poetics guidelines of tragedy with the death of Cordelia, and Lear’s kommos. In the beginning of the tragedy, King Lear is ready to disperse his kingdom between his three daughters. “Which of you shall we say doth love us most, / That we our largest bounty may extend/ Where nature doth with merit challenge…”, Lear challenges his daughters (I, i, 53-55). Lear desires for his daughters to express their love for their father and he will give the daughter, with the greatest affection, the largest section of land. Regan and Goneril, two of the daughters, express their great love for their father, yet Cordelia, Lear’s favorite, answers with “Nothing” (I, i, 91). Lear, not receiving the answer he wished for, banishes Cordelia without a dowry to marry the King of France. Lear is then faced with being kicked out of his other daughters’ houses and his own kingdom; after these events Lear proceeds to go insane. King Lear even regrets Cordelia’s banishment later in scene one, “I did her wrong” (I, v, 25). Lear’s actions and selfishness cause pity for Cordelia because of her devotion to her father; however, in the end of the tragedy, he is faced with a realization of his mistake which leads to a katharsis of feelings of pity for Cordelia.

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.

Although King Lear by Shakespeare and Candide by Voltaire are very different on the outside they share internal values. King Lear is a play written by William Shakespeare, who was an English poet and playwright who was widely regards as the greatest writer in the English language and the world pre-eminent dramatist (Shakespear, 1998). Candide by Voltaire is a satire, Voltaire was born Francois-Marie Arouet, he use his satirizing style of writing to make fun of the Powerful Frenchmen of his time (voltaire, 1991). The internal values of both books connect them with the Human Condition of man, His love of family in King Lear, with his

Instead, he transferred his land and power to the eldest daughters, Regan and Goneril, who did not love him. They deceived Lear into believing that they loved him by stroking his ego so that they could further their own personal agendas. Goneril and Regan represented similar characteristics, as they both exemplified cruelty, ruthlessness, and greed throughout the play. Lear´s best friend, Kent, pleaded with him to see that he had been wrong, saying, ¨And in thy best consideration check / The hideous rashness (1.1 167-168).¨ Lear was angered by his honesty and banished him as well, refusing to admit to his fault. He cast off the two characters that represented the goodness of his sole, and therefore, these virtues were unable to stay in order to fight off his vices. This allowed all of the evil aspects of his mind to consume him.

<br>Lear is greatly insulted by that comment, as he is the King of England, not just his daughter's father. Oswald's comment suggests that Goneril has a higher rank than Lear. Lear's insignificance is a result of his own actions. When he banished Cordelia and Kent, he made himself vulnerable to Goneril and Regan's conspiracy, which was indicated in their conversation. "Pray you let us hit together. If our father carry authority with such disposition as he bears, this last surrender of his will

Shakespeare's Rebellion Thesis: Utilizing the fate of characters in the play King Lear, Shakespeare suggests the absence of divine Justice. Counter Argument - Divine Justice is enacted upon character’s Supporting Argument - Antagonists to the play King Lear meet their deserved ends. Cornwall is slain by his own slave.

“The world has been emptied of all vitality, that of the soul’s spontaneous rebellion against the ego, as well as that of bastardy and excess…”(Oates). Towards the end of the tragedy, the false innocence of the children and the true guilt of the king can be seen. Initially, Lear was wrongly portrayed as selfish, but it is made clear that it was the wrongdoings of his offspring that reflected poorly on his decision to betray God’s law. Another form of betrayal is seen in Lear’s daughters as Shakespeare writes, “If it be you that stir these daughters’ hearts against their father, fool me not so much to bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, and let not women’s weapons, water-drops, stain my man’s cheeks! No, you unnatural hags…” (Shakespeare). In the family aspect, betrayal is seen in the form of two power-hungry daughters that go against their father right after pledging their love to him. Finally, betrayal allows the reader to truly realize that those with good intentions are forgiven, but those with tyranny in mind do not get to lead a happy life. The ultimate point Shakespeare is trying to make is that disrupting what is normal may occur in slight forms or extreme forms, but either way, chaos will succeed. This final conclusion about King Lear when Capet states, ”His fate is to learn that there is, there must be, since the hardness of

Lear finally comes to his senses that his youngest daughter, Cordelia, is the one who truly cared about him after all. He understands that Cordelia loved him dutifully as a father, unlike her sisters, who create false sycophancy in order to attain the better kingdom. He demonstrates that he sees the truth about Cordelia’s love for him by speaking to her in a regretful

King Lear devolves his power to Regan and Goneril, two corrupt daughters greedy for power, who lie about loving him. Immediately upon receiving half of the kingdom, they plot against King Lear, with Goneril urging immediate action, arguing to “do something, and i’th’heat” (Shakespeare, 1.1.304). To ensure their control, they rid King Lear of his knights, entreating him “to bring but five-and-twenty” and refusing to house more, thus making him completely dependent on them (Shakespeare, 2.4.245). Through their nefarious actions, the sisters not only demonstrate their lack of love for King Lear, but also their own corruption and power-lust, which lead to King Lear’s mistreatment and war with France, as Cordelia returns to care for her father and restore him to the throne. Many, including King Lear and all his daughters, die. Ultimately, a potentially corrupt act gave power to two definitely corrupt individuals and resulted in a chain of events that claimed the lives of ten characters, again proving the destructive power of

A. As King Lear reaches an elderly age, he decides to confer his Kingdom to younger strengths, his three daughters. Each of his daughters delivers messages of their extortionary love for him as father and king therefore receiving a piece of the Kingdom. In Act 1, scene1 the oldest daughter Goneril, was well spoken, and the King was overjoyed with her poetic words and gave her the third of the kingdom. Unlike, her older sister the second Regan, was not well spoken, but her husband as we see in the play whispered in her ears words of affection for her father so she can take a larger piece of kingdom and the King replied in the same Act “no less in space, validity, and pleasure”. At first, the third daughter was hesitant to express her strong

King Lear is a perfect example of why mixing politics and personal matters will result in nothing but disaster. When Cordelia fails to please the King with an elaborate fictional statement about her love, he cannot comprehend how his favorite daughter is betraying him and banishes her. He even banishes Kent, his most loyal allie, when he begs Lear to “See better” (Line Number). In this particular exchange when Kent urges Lear to rethink his rash decision, Lear orders him to “Come not between the dragon and his wrath” (Line number). This substantiates how Lear’s emotions and self-destructive personality affects everyone around him, including his most loyal

Goneril and Regan’s relationship is destroyed when jealousy and the need to surpass each other prevails. Jealousy is common in sibling relationships, but it is heightened to envy when Cordelia receives more attention from Lear than both Goneril and Regan do . This sparks a “popularity” contest between the two neglected daughter’s for the love that still remains available. Being secondary to Lear has created an alliance between both sister’s in order to reduce their father’s status, similar to how they have felt growing up. Lear feels ultimately betrayed when his daughter’s are disloyal to the conditions he implemented before dividing his kingdom. He realizes his mistake when the quantity of his knights is dropped down to “one” when he declares,

　　First and foremost, Kent speaks up whenever he see Lear acting in a way that will do him no good. At the beginning of the play, when King Lear is going to disown Cordelia, Kent is the only one who trying to stop King Lear by saying “Good my liege”. Besides that, Kent stands up and urges King Lear, “Reverse thy doom, And in thy best consideration check this hideous rashness.” Kent asks King Lear to reverse his foolish decision to disown the only loving and loyal daughter, Cordelia. In addition, Kent also tells King Lear, “Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least, Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound.” Kent points out that Cordelia loves Lear the most, and he can see that Goneril and Regan are “empty-hearted" and their flattering words mean nothing. As a consequence of speaking out all the truths, Kent is banished by King Lear.

King Lear’s arrogance is the tragic flaw which led to his and his family’s destruction. For instance, after the King exiles Cordelia, Kent protests his decision and defends Cordelia’s character but instead of listening to him Lear orders Kent’s banishment. Kent who was always one of Lear’s most loyal and devoted followers is punished because Lear argued that he “betwixt our sentence and our power”(Shakespeare 19). The King felt as if Kent was disrespecting him by fighting against his judgement. If he would have listened to Kent and taken his advice Lear would have realized that Cordelia was the daughter who really loved him. Upon this realization, the Kingdom would not have been given to his selfish daughters and the main tragedy would have

King Lear is a character who displays a great deal of anger throughout the course of the play, he often allows his anger to take over him. A lot of things that are said and during the course of the play are due to Lear’s anger which is a leading factor for his insanity. Lear loses his temper during a love test when his daughter does not give the answer that he was looking for, he disowns her calling Cordelia his, “sometime daughter,” (1.1.119) and gives her share of the land to her sisters. This in turn leads to his insanity because in his blind rage he does not acknowledge the sincerity behind Cordelia’s veiled words; unlike her sisters she does not try to flatter her father in order to receive more land, whereas her sisters have their secrets agendas and do not truly love Lear. In addition to this, King Lear is also enraged when the Earl of Kent who is a loyal follower of Lear, goes against the banishment of Cordelia and speaks up in favour of the youngest daughter. Lear is livid with Kent going against him and banishes Kent, as well reminding him that, “if on the tenth day