Essay on King Lear and a Brave New World: Similar Themes and Motifs

The power that makes Edmund corrupt is trust. He uses the trust to manipulate and control his father for the benefit of himself. He frames his brother by composing a false letter to his father implicating a plot to kill Gloucester, that when “our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue forever.” (1, 2, 55-56) Gloucester replies with “this villain of mine comes under the prediction of mine: there’s son against father” (1, 2, 112-117) This shows that Gloucester had great faith and trust in his son Edgar. To better his plan he goes to Edgar and convinces him to run away. The thought that he would frame his own brother for the chance to gain power shows his corruption, and that he will do anything to have more power. Edmund writes another letter, except this implicates his father in a plot with France to kill The Duke of Cornwall. He does this so that “the younger rises [and] the old doth fall” (3, 4, 25) and he will become the Earl. Edmund is so corrupted and blinded by his quest for power that he is willing to jeopardize his father’s

A very important similarity between the stories, is that they both are in the view point of a Union soldier in the nineteenth century, during the civil war. The similarities between these two books combine the ideals of battle and war, also the resemblances show how alike the two protagonists of the stories are.

The similarities of the book are very simple and easy to point out. In both works, they cover the same events in

Upon hearing this, Edmund presents himself as sympathetic and supportive towards Gloucester. After his father leaves, Edmund reveals to the reader his true intentions of betraying his father and taking his title. This abrupt transformation of attitude and objective is part of the theme of “Appearance vs Reality.” Although he appears to be loyal and innocent to Gloucester, the reality is that he is planning to overthrow Gloucester and is apathetic towards his

Even though both stories have many similarities, the major conflicts are different, and these differences help the stories develop in separate

Both pieces share many similarities that are obvious from the beginning. In both stories the protagonist is a girl around the age of twelve who faces many hardships that she must learn to cope with. While on the surface the tragedies these characters must face may seem entirely different, they actually are quite comparable, and both eventually lead the character to escape from them into fantasy.

these stories is very similar because it explores many of the same themes, but they

Shakespeare has been a large influence on modern day life for decades. His use of language, heritage, psychology, and history has influenced directors, artists, writers, students, and so many more individuals in their everyday lives.. In Brave New World, the author, Aldous Huxley makes many references and allusions to multiple excerpts of Shakespeare’s plays over the entire course of the novel. While he references a lot of Shakespeare’s plays, many quotes come from Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Hamlet. In Brave New World comparisons can be made through quotes and similar character analysis’. Shakespeare had a large influence on Huxley’s novel through his different themes of love and romance, and his use of using main characters to represent past characters in Shakespeare’s plays.

First, the plots of both works need to be discussed and explained how they are different. The stories of both works have basically the same

The sin of greed is perfectly exemplified in the character of Edmund. Throughout the play Edmund’s greed is the motivating factor behind all of the decisions that he makes. Edmund, as the illegitimate son of Gloucester plots against his brother in order to obtain his inheritance completely ignoring all familial responsibility in the pursuit of land and money. At the beginning of the play you see that he merely wants to take his brother’s inheritance but as greed gets the better of him he begins to plot against

If I were the director of the play king Lear, I will pick the proposed performance approach of Edmund being resentful and angry to Gloucester because he has endorsed society’s beliefs that bastard sons are inferior human beings. I believe that Edmund has many reasons to be resentful and angry to Gloucester and society in general which will make Edmund more like a villain rather than a victim. Even though, the audience will most likely prefer a more vulnerable character that lays out his heart and demonstrate his true emotional response, I believe that a villain has more of an impact in an audience because they are able to see exactly what decisions the villains have made wrong and what dominant emotions they have lean on that are not as powerful

Unlike King Lear, Edmund has no power at the beginning of the play. Being Gloucester’s youngest and illegitimate son he is not accepted by society or his father. Gloucester says in front of Edgar, “His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge / I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to it” (1.1.8-9).  Edgar, Edmund’s older brother will inherit their father's wealth, land, and title. Knowing this Edmund’s hunger for power has probably grown through the years, giving him the motivation to act the way he did. In 1.2 Edmund tells the audience that he’s going to con

Edmund’s frustration at the treatment of illegitimate children was present from the start of the play, as he exclaimed: “Why ‘bastard’?/ [..] When my mind as generous and my shape as true / As honest madam’s issue?” (I ii 6-7). He considered himself an

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).

In Act one, scene one, we are introduced to Gloucester and his parallel plot line before we introduced to Lear. We find Gloucester acknowledging his equal adoration between his two sons, the one legitimate, the other illegitimate. The moral code that informs King Lear dictates that illegitimacy bodes nothing but a disadvantage to the harmony of underlying order . Within the terms of the play, Gloucester's emotion is a fatal flaw of judgment. Paying close attention to language, Gloucester's unwitting mistake from Edmund's very first appearance; in a world where the only vocabulary of each character is a full expression of their position on the axis of good and evil, a reader cannot help but notice that Edmund's "... I shall study deserving..."(I.i.24) is a foreboding of the deceit and greed that will taint him for the rest of the play.