Both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dante’s Inferno explore the reasons for, and results of, human suffering. Each work postulates that human suffering comes as a result of choices that are made: A statement that is not only applicable to the characters in each of the works, but also to the readers. The Inferno and King Lear speak universal truths about the human condition: that suffering is inevitable and unavoidable. While both King Lear and the Inferno concentrate on admonitions and lamentations
Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno and William Shakespeare’s play King Lear are works that examine human suffering. They delve into the very depths of the good and bad of mankind through the lives of various characters. Two characters in particular, Dante the Pilgrim from Inferno and Edmund from King Lear suffer from the corruption of their societies, but in time, they each come to realize their own hand in their sufferings. The characters begin their stories with desires to end their pain,
Dante’s Inferno and Shakespeare’s play King Lear have many similar motifs within them that allude to human suffering. One such motif is as long as you can find the words to describe how bad a situation is, things can get worse. We see this concept in Dante’s Inferno when Dante the Pilgrim is traveling deeper into the depths of hell and he exclaims, “If I had words grating and crude enough that really could describe this horrid hole…I could squeeze out the juice of my memories to the last drop. But
overarching theme that surrounds King Lear by William Shakespeare is justice to nearly all. The play opens in a royal “court,” but this court is unjust with wicked people such as King Lear, Goneril, Regan, Duke of Gloucester, Edmund, and numerous others. The justice does not come in this literal court, but the figurative court of nature. Stunningly reprimanded by two of his three daughters, along with the natural tempest that causes him to be enveloped by insanity King Lear is punished. Goneril and Regan
ourselves and others in an attempt to deny the necessary evils within humanity. By not confronting the truths surrounding the worst in us, however, we become ignorant of a vital and possibly beneficial aspect of human nature. Both Dante’s Inferno and Shakespeare’s King Lear seek to bring attention to human suffering, illustrating our griefs and sorrows as consequences of our own agency. This pain that we inflict upon ourselves, however, can be handled in different ways that further define human suffering;
years, so why it is only in the past few years that scenes of violent acts are said to hold an influence on people? There is even violence in the Bible; violence has been depicted in paintings, and in literature: Macbeth is a freaking serial killer, King Lear has his eyes gouged out, I repeat gouged out! How isn’t that violent? How is that different from a head being stomped? What makes that act of violence acceptable? Why are these violent scenes not mentioned as an influence? Why is it that society