A Serious of Unfortunate Events King Lear is play about a king who decided to step down from his throne and split his kingdom evenly among his three beautiful daughters. He put them through a test to see who loves him the most to his surprise only one loves him the most out of all three. Gloucester have one illegitimate son and one by law but soon knows that they both want him dead. Throughout the play, not only did King Lear had family problems but other people that was surrounded around King Lear was having problems as well. In this paper, it will discuss how two different families have a similar theme which is family dysfunction and how both handle it differently. King Lear question his daughters about their love they have for him. …show more content…
He jokes about this because he does not want to acknowledge his illegitimate son because he was conceived outside of marriage. Edmund is mad at the fact that his own father does not want to claim him, so he goes after his brother, Edgar. “Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund. Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed and my invention thrive, Edmund the base shall top legitimate. Now, gods, stand up for bastards” (1.2.2-23). Edmund is furious because he is not part of the family. He seeks revenge on Edgar by going after his land and for being a bastard that his father thinks he is. Edgar and Edmund works together to take over their father’s wealth. Edgar writes a fake letter to his brother and Gloucester finds it and was furious to find out that they were plotting his death. “Conspiracy? Sleep till I waked him, you should enjoyed half his revenue. My son Edgar! Had he a hand to write this? A heart and brain to breed it in? -When came this to you? Who brought it?” (1.2.49-61). His relationships with his sons have same issues surrounding primogeniture which means that the oldest sons inherit their father’s wealth. The letter proves that they want to kill their father just so that they can take power over their father’s lands. Family will go to extreme measure when it comes to money. Some families have their problems and some do not. In this play, two different families were struggling
William Shakespeare’s King Lear is massive in scope and deals with many themes. I’d like to focus on King Lear’s relationship with his daughters as it evolves throughout the play as well as the play King Lear’s themes regarding politics and politicking. The passage I think best represents the conclusion of these themes is King Lear’s conversation with Cordelia in Act 5, scene 3 where they have been taken prisoner by the English. My conclusion from reading this passage closely is that in Shakespeare’s King Lear, King Lear’s speech to Cordelia regarding their impending imprisonment builds Shakespeare’s idea of caged potential and judgement for those who politic.
Human nature is a concept that has interested scholars throughout history and brought debate over what human nature truly is. Shakespeare explores the issue of human nature in his tragedy King Lear by attempting to portray human nature as entirely good or evil. He seems to suggest, however, that it is not impossible for one to move from one end of the spectrum of human nature to the other, as multiple characters go through somewhat of a metamorphosis where their nature is changed. Shakespeare present an account of human nature in King Lear as the foundation of the tragedy King Lear.
When the reader turns their focus to Gloucester, they can immediately see the view he holds over both of his sons. As he speaks to Kent about Edmund, the reader learns that Gloucester has had to explain his unfortunate relation to him so many times now that he is no longer embarrassed by it, but, “brazen to it“ (I.i). Then in the next lines, Gloucester goes on to say that his real son Edgar is “no dearer in my account” (I.i). Thus, even though Edgar is legitimate and Edmund is a ‘bastard child,’ Gloucester doesn’t seem to be very interested in either of them. This self-interest allows Edmund to play to Gloucester’s own interests and fears with ease. It allows Edmund to have his father turn his back on his son without so much as a second thought.
The foundations of family relationships lies in their love for one another. Sacrifices and expression of love are essential elements to further strengthen or weaken a family’s bond. How love is expressed between family members is a crucial part in sustaining healthy family relationships. However, if it is not maintained, it can bring downfall to the family. In King Lear, Lear’s mindset towards conveying love brought his downfall, he measured his daughters’ love by the flattery he received (Shakespeare, 1.44-45). Whereas in The Road, love was communicated between the father and the son by simple gestures, such as forehead kisses (McCarthy, 223). The sacrificial component in each novel played another prominent role in family relationships. In
Edmund has a twisted, evil nature and is able to see that human nature can be manipulated and corrupted, because he is not a legitimate son. Edmund as a bastard and not a legitimate son is able to twist the “laws of nature” to his own will, leaving Gloucester blind to it all. As an illegitimate son, Edmund is outside the sphere of a family circle. In a family the expectations of human nature are the same: fathers are respected by their children; children are unconditionally loved by their fathers. Edmund does not have this view of human nature, he understands that human nature is able to be manipulated and is not steadfast. As a bastard son, he is jealous of the unwavering love his father has for Edgar and since Edgar is a
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the king has lost sight of his sanity when the play opens, starting a journey in which the final prize is regaining that sanity. This journey is anything but quick, and the king is tested beyond measure to the point where he reaches a madness unknown to him, but these tests are the very angels that pull him from the darkness. In the audience’s first introduction to Lear, Shakespeare makes it clear that Lear is unbalanced in nature; the king, in his old age, has lost sight of what was important to him. The tragedies that befall will test Lear, driving him deeper into madness, but reminding him what is important and allowing him to acquire clarity. In King Lear, Shakespeare shows that Lear must go completely insane
In Shakespeare 's King Lear, families are torn apart and are dysfunctional. Dysfunctional meaning that they don’t interact with each other properly or normally as would be seen in other families. The families are also dysfunctional in the way that they stray from normal social behavior. In the play King Lear ,families are against each other. There are many causes for this, these causes make family members act harshly against each other, and finally their actions leave negative effects on the family as a whole.
Aging King Lear (Patrick Magee) decides to give up his throne to his three daughters but the youngest one is disowned by Lear. The youngest declares that she has to share her love with her father and her husband. The king banishes her because she is not loyal to him, as well as Kent, one of his most loyal nobleman’s. Lear is not happy with his retirement considering the fact that two of his daughters turn their backs on their now powerless father. King Lear decides to step down from his throne.
Family is usually closer to each other rather than other people, but in the case of “King Lear”, by William Shakespeare, it is shown that family relationships lead to deception
Although Edmund creates this plan secretly, it should be no secret to Edgar that Edmund would want some sort of inheritance, and the only way to gain it would be to take it from him. In a society where inheritance was only given to legitimate children, and often only the eldest, family tension was very common. Therefore, Edgar had little excuse to be completely blind to Edmund’s resentment.
It is because of this treatment that he ends up lying and betraying his family members, such as getting rid of Gloucester and Edgar’s relationship, and betraying Gloucester’s relationship with France to Cornwall. All this to receive power, represented by the land that he had taken from Edgar and Gloucester, and it started because of them. Had Gloucester treated all members of his family the same, perhaps Edmund wouldn’t have ended up as what he did. Perhaps all these deaths would have been
Critically acclaimed as the “Bard of Avon”, William Shakespeare, an English poet, playwright, and an actor is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His dramatic genius holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. King Lear, one of the four tragedies of Shakespeare, presents a hero who suffers from misfortunes and meets a sad fate mainly on account of his own faults. It also depicts the physical and mental sufferings of King Lear. Being the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973, Patrick White, the Australian novelist is well-known for his powerful dramatization of human isolation. He is concerned with the private life of the individual, who dissatisfied
In the first act, King Lear is at old age and begins to think irrationally and illogically. He wishes to live the rest of his life in tranquility, deprived of any further responsibilities of ruling the kingdom. Deciding to distribute his kingdom between his three daughters, King Lear challenges them to a game of flattery. This leads to Cordelia, his youngest and most beloved daughter being disowned and Kent, his trusted advisor and good friend banished from the kingdom. The Earl of Gloucester is left baffled and discusses it with his illegitimate son, Edmund, who hands his father a forged letter. Edmund frames his legitimate brother, Edgar, with this letter speaking of him wishing for his father 's death.
Tear stained eyes, puffy noses, and pensive faces are just a few of the physical signs of truly reaching an audience following a tragic drama. A purging of emotion that inspires fear and pity is what the ancient Greeks called, catharsis. William Shakespeare was a master of catharsis, as was evident in many of his tragedies. Many of these tragedies ended with the majority of characters, including the main protagonist meeting their death. The unfortunate heroes of these dramas helped the audience feel catharsis through what is known as their hamartia. Hamartia is another Greek drama term that means a character trait that is “missing the mark”. This archery-turned-drama phrase does not necessarily mean that the trait was always bad; it could have been a trait that initially made the person wonderful. The important part of hamartia is that the trait leads to the character’s undoing. The title characters in King Lear and Macbeth are two individuals that while they share the same hamartia of hubris, the resulting catharsis is different due to their ending circumstances.
Playwright, William Shakespeare utilizes the written word to capture the essence of human nature and the influences that forge life’s social and moral ideas. One way he accomplishes this representation is by showing the characteristics of humanity in the form of tragedies. A compelling force that Shakespeare depicts is the natural and social laws that define family expectations and hierarchy of the noble social classes. In the drama King Lear, the plot structure develops around the destruction of family bonds based on the need to retain control. Consequently, the decisions of the family patriarch, King Lear, thrusts his family and community into adverse conditions. Interactions between characters initiate emotional turmoil and conflict that leads to family bonds being severed, destructive behaviors, and imbalanced mental conditions. The events of the play lead to the collapse of not just individual characters, but also of lifestyles. William Shakespeare utilizes the interactions of aristocratic family members in the play, King Lear, to illustrate the implications of individual power, personal greed, and familial behaviors.