King Lear's Journey of Finding Self-Knowledge

The power that Lear gives to Goneril and Regan makes them treacherous and deceitful. Lear offers his

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

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.

King Lear first appears in the play while he is splitting up his kingdom between his three daughters, he ends up not giving any of his kingdom to Cordelia because

Reacting with rage at this notion, Lear proceeds to beat his forehead with his fist in frustration: “O Lear, Lear, Lear!/Beat at this gate that let thy folly in/And thy dear judgement out!” (1.4.267-269). Lear believes that he is still the ruler, despite giving up his kingdom, and as such feels that Goneril should obey him. He obviously regrets his decision to give Goneril any power. Later, Regan and Goneril cause Lear further suffering by undermining their father’s sense of authority, without hesitation. They do this by severely diminishing the number of knights they will allow him to keep under his rule:

In King Lear, Lear’s conflict of power with his daughters is brought about by his own arrogance, which flaws his judgement and propels his change of heart. When Lear parcels out his kingdom to his daughters, he finds the honesty of Cordelia’s praise to be ungrateful and

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]

<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

In the beginning of the play, Cordelia, Gloucester and King Lear all suffer a loss of power,

King Lear's View of Himself "King Lear" is a play all about the cruelty of human nature and the ways in which all people, "good" and "bad", can sin, or be sinned against. Lear is a very difficult character to categorise as either "good" or "bad" as he is both "sinned against" and "sinning". It is also very difficult to use these sins as a measure of his character as they a varying in severity. When we first meet Lear he is in the process of dividing his kingdom into three, preparing to hand it to his three daughters. This is a sin, as according to The Divine Right of Kings, each monarch is chosen by God, and is there fore answerable to none but him.

All texts can be read and understood, interpreted and represented in many different ways according to the views of the responder and their context. Many different interpretations of “King Lear” have been made, each valuing and highlighting different aspects and themes of the play. It is necessary for these interpretations to be made and adapted in order for “King Lear” to have relevance within the context of the society. Each interpretation of the text extracts and concentrates on certain ideas, issues, themes, values of the play, altering the way the play is received amongst audiences and critics.

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.

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.

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.