The Importance of the First Two Scenes in King Lear

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

-Ironically, Lear truly is the fool in this story, and even more ironically the Fool is one of the wisest characters.

Shakespeare's King Lear is a play which shows the consequences of one man's decisions. The audience follows the main character, Lear, as he makes decisions that disrupt order in his Kingdom. When Lear surrenders all his power and land to his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him, the breakdown on order in evident. Lear's first mistake is to divide his Kingdom into three parts. A Kingdom is run best under one ruler as only one decision is made without contradiction. Another indication that order is disrupted is the separation of Lear's family. Lear's inability to control his anger causes him to banish his youngest daughter, Cordelia, and loyal servant, Kent. This foolish act causes Lear to become vulnerable to

King Lear shows an extreme of human suffering. While there is some foreshadowing to the tragic end of the play and

Lear cannot deny his ultimate role as the king. He desires to maintain his name and his rights as king, but to give control of the kingdom to his daughters and their husbands. However, this cannot work: "We know immediately that he is doomed to painful disillusionment by his assumption that his identity as king, father, and man, being fixed in the macrocosmic scheme of things, must remain unshaken without its worldly supports" (Egan 32). So, King Lear's exercising of this nonexistent power establishes his tragic flaw and the problem of the play: the power of the kingdom must reside in Lear only.

At the beginning of “King Lear,” an authoritative and willful protagonist dominates his court, making a fateful decision by rewarding his two treacherous daughters and banishing his faithful one in an effort to preserve his own pride. However, it becomes evident during the course of the tragedy that this protagonist, Lear, uses his power only as a means of projecting a persona, which he hides behind as he struggles to maintain confidence in himself. This poses a problem, since the audience is prevented from feeling sympathy for the king. Shakespeare’s ironic solution is to allow Lear’s progressing madness to be paired with his recognition of truth, thereby forcing Lear to shed his persona, and

Cordelia’s disinheritance and banishment are frighteningly disproportionate to the “sin” she has committed in not flattering Lear. So too, is Kent’s treatment at his hands. This concept of disproportionate consequences for actions done, underlines how monstrous Lear’s arrogance is, as well as his petty tyranny and his lack of self-knowledge. However, the horrors Lear himself will have to suffer later in the play, as a result of his own folly, will also be out of all proportion to his initial blunder. Without Cordelia in the play, these actions would not have been sparked in Lear.

William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' is a tragic play of filial conflict, deception and loss. Characters Lear and Gloucester

The entire play is built around one man’s laziness. As the play commences one may question why Lear would decide to prematurely give up his kingdom. It is quite possible that he transferred his authorities before it was

beginning of the play proves to be false. Lear discovers that his necessity to keep

Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear can be interpreted in many ways and many responses. The imprecision’s and complication of the play has led

    In King Lear, the recurring images of sight and blindness associated with the characters of Lear and Gloucester illustrate the theme of self-knowledge and consciousness that exist in the play.

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.

The remainders of Act I and Act II in Eyre’s film focus on the conflict between Lear and his two daughters, Goneril and Regan. Goneril and Regan begin looking down on their father and take away more of his privileges every chance that they get. They reduce Lear’s hundred knights down to fifty. Goneril and Regan’s tone of voice when arguing with Lear about reducing his number of knights down is vehement. Goneril complains about how the palace seems more like a tavern because of Lear’s knights’ demeanor, her voice quivers slightly, making it seem like she doesn’t want to have to argue with her father, in the play this change of tone is absent. This suggests that although Goneril cares more about the way others see her and material objects than the safety of her father. Both Shakespeare and Eyre emphasize the consequences of Lear’s choice to give up his power and give it to his two eldest daughters, Regan and Goneril.

The opportunity to view both productions of King Lear has appeared twice for me in the past two years. The first time I viewed Trevor Nunn’s 2009 production of King Lear my review would have been based solely on my ability to understand the dialogue and my appreciation of the acting of Ian McKellen. Two years later I have a better understanding of the actual play and while I still enjoy the 2009 production the 1982 production directed by Jonathan Miller presents the words of William Shakespeare in a more accurate and period specific manor.