William Shakespeare 's King Lear

Shakespeare’s King Lear is a tragic about an aging King of Britain and his three daughters. When it comes time to divide his kingdom, he puts his daughters through a test to prove how much they love him. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, give King Lear flattering answers and therefore receive great amounts of finer land. The third and youngest daughter, Cordilia, says that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. King Lear becomes enraged with Cordilia and disowns her and gives her no land. The rest of the play tells the story of how the two older daughters become corrupt and get greedy. King Leer is thrown out of his own house by his daughters and begins his

Of the deaths in Shakespeare’s King Lear, the death of Cordelia and King Lear at the end of Act V are most significant in revealing the development of Lear and how his development contributes to the theme surrounding it. The dynamic King Lear is a tragic hero whose fatal flaw, arrogance, prompts his removal from power and eventually the death of both himself and Cordelia. However, by the time of King Lear’s death, his arrogance has been replaced with a compassion which allows him to mourn the death of Cordelia and die from his own grief. Besides redeeming himself for his flawed judgement, the compassionate King Lear of Act V recognizes the loyalty in characters like Kent and Cordelia, while also seeing through the dishonesty of Regan and Goneril which fools the King Lear of Act I. King Lear’s transition from disowning Cordelia because of his arrogance to recognizing her as his only faithful daughter is demonstrated through Lear’s death, which serves as the culmination of his development and a reversal of his character. Furthermore, his death elaborates the theme of how someone’s arrogance may blind them from the reality of others’ intentions, which can be seen through a more compassionate and humble lens.

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

8 p.141-158, Ivor Morris takes a somewhat similar, but mostly different approach to the attribution of the fault of sending the kingdom into such a chaotic state. He opens the article by saying that “whatever view is taken of King Lear, the responsibility of its tragic events must rest in the main upon Lear himself.” Lear has acted foolishly in banishing the one daughter in whom he would have been able to put his full trust. In fact, Lear seems to be the only person who is oblivious to the mistake he has just made. Lear’s reaction however, is also partially Cordelia’s fault because she did not react properly to her father’s but also her king’s request, thus provoking him. Morris discusses the possible reasons for such a response from a daughter who very clearly loved her father. One possibility is that she is simply not good with words and was unable to speak under pressure. However, it would be difficult to justify her defiant answer that she has “nothing” to say to improve her response. Second, Morris suggests that the magnitude of her love for Lear may have caused her to belittle it. Last, he suggests that it may come from “a passionate devotion to truth.” Morris still believes however that at least some of the blame should fall on Cordelia because there are greater things at stake than the preservation of truth, specifically the retirement of her father. Morris eventually says that he believes Cordelia’s

I am not guilty of anything! All wrong I have done has been in self-defence. I was the victim here! I was set up by my brother Edmund and had to run and hide. I had to take “the basest and most poorest shape” (2.3.7), and posed as a mad, homeless beggar with the name ‘Poor Tom’. I had to go without. I had no home, food, or comfort and nobody knew my name. I was anxiously trying to stay alive and prayed to nature and the Gods because the “gods are just and of our pleasant vices” (5.3.206). I was lucky enough to meet the king, his fool and his servant Caius. However, they believed me to be mad and had no idea who I was. The king listened to me while I desperately tried to convince him of my made-up form of madness. Lear almost

Lear’s made many decisions that lead to his downfall throughout the play, but it can be narrowed down to his arrogance. His arrogance led him to disown and exile his only loving daughter Cordelia. She was the only one of his daughters who would have protected him from her deceitful sisters and allowed him to do as he pleased in her castle. When Cordelia was asked how much she loved her father she simply says, “My lord, you brought me up and loved me, and I’m giving back just as I should: I obey you, love you, and honor you.” Her answer was one of truth and respect for her father, not of deceit and lies like her sisters. Lear response to her kind words was outrage, he said cruel and unnecessary things to Cordelia and ultimately banished her. If she had received the land that was promised to her like her sisters, Lear would not have been driven mad or died by Regan and Goneril’s evil

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.

King Lear's hot temper and hasty decisions play a significant role in his fall from grace. His old age has caused him to behave impulsively, without any consideration for the consequences of his actions. When Lear asks his devoted daughter Cordelia to express her love for him, he becomes upset with her because she cannot put her feelings into words. He

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.” A few wise words from the Dalai Lama suggests an alternate ending to “King Lear”, a play by William Shakespeare. Once Lear began experiencing tragedies one after another as a result of his poor decisions. What would have happened to Lear if he had stood up to his daughters and displayed true strength instead of being driven into insanity? The play would not have been a Shakespearean tragedy if Lear was able to find his inner strength instead, Shakespeare uses Lear’s tragic events to create a morbid and dark tone to help develop the plot. His dark tone is derived from his experiences during his life time or from older literary works.

King Lear an imprudent, old man symbolizes selfishness like no other. What is most daunting is the fact that he is adamantly loyal to appearances and ranking in life. He carries a title which most can not even dream of attaining, but wants to give up the position and all the responsibilities that follow it. “ Know that we have divided/ In three our kingdom, and `tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age” (1.1.37-39). It is quite understandable if he just wanted to end his reign as king, but it’s another thing when he also wants to bask in the glory of the title and be treated like he still owns it. This egotistical attitude of his is more annoying than anything else, for he brought forth all his problems upon himself, and also unto others. His most arrogant moment is at the very beginning of the play, when he demands his daughters to profess their love for him openly, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (1.1.53). The use of his words in this quote is disgusting, it exudes pride, self-importance, and flattery. It’s because of these very words, that Cordelia denied him his right to the, all so selfish public display of love. Although Lear made costly mistakes throughout the play, his love to Cordelia rang

King Lear is frequently regarded as one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, and its tragic scope touches almost all facets of the human condition: from the familial tensions between parents and children to the immoral desires of power, from the follies of pride to the false projections of glory. However, one theme rings true throughout the play, and that very theme is boundless suffering, accentuated by the gruesome depictions of suffering our protagonists experience . There is no natural (nor “poetic”) justice depicted in this pre-Judeo-Christian world Shakespeare presents, as the relatively virtuous individuals (Kent, Gloucester, and Cordelia) in this

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.

     The play, “King Lear” by William Shakespeare, starts with noblemen Kent and Gloucester having a conversation and the audience finds out that Gloucester has two sons. Edgar who is his heir, and Edmund his unimportant son. This info. leads to the mini-plot. Then, Lear enters to say that he is going to end his life’s tasks and problems. He then points to the map, he tells the people there that he will split his land into three parts. They are going to be given to his three daughters. The two oldest, Goneril and Regan, tell their father that their love for him goes beyond expectations. The youngest one, Cordelia, tells him that she loves him, but only as she should love her father. He is then

As the play progressed Lear's sanity went downhill, but his vision became clearer. When Goneril and Regan would not provide him with shelter during a furious storm, Lear realized that they were the daughters who did not love him. He also began to understand the words of Cordelia from the beginning of the play, he realized that she loved him too much to put into words.

King Lear is a character who displays a great deal of anger throughout the course of the play, he often allows his anger to take over him. A lot of things that are said and during the course of the play are due to Lear’s anger which is a leading factor for his insanity. Lear loses his temper during a love test when his daughter does not give the answer that he was looking for, he disowns her calling Cordelia his, “sometime daughter,” (1.1.119) and gives her share of the land to her sisters. This in turn leads to his insanity because in his blind rage he does not acknowledge the sincerity behind Cordelia’s veiled words; unlike her sisters she does not try to flatter her father in order to receive more land, whereas her sisters have their secrets agendas and do not truly love Lear. In addition to this, King Lear is also enraged when the Earl of Kent who is a loyal follower of Lear, goes against the banishment of Cordelia and speaks up in favour of the youngest daughter. Lear is livid with Kent going against him and banishes Kent, as well reminding him that, “if on the tenth day