Essay/Term paper: King lear

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Cliff Notes

King Lear is a detailed description of the consequences of

one man's decisions. This fictitious man is Lear, King of

England, who's decisions greatly alter his life and the lives of

those around him. As Lear bears the status of King he is, as

one expects, a man of great power but sinfully he surrenders

all of this power to his daughters as a reward for their

demonstration of love towards him. This untimely abdication

of his throne results in a chain reaction of events that send

him through a journey of hell. King Lear is a metaphorical

description of one man's journey through hell in order to

expiate his sin. As the play opens one can almost

immediately see that Lear begins to make mistakes that will

eventually result in his downfall. The very first words that he

speaks in the play are :- "...Give me the map there. Know

that we have divided In three our kingdom, and 'tis our fast

intent To shake all cares and business from our age,

Conferring them on younger strengths while we Unburdened

crawl to death..." (Act I, Sc i, Ln 38-41) This gives the

reader the first indication of Lear's intent to abdicate his

throne. He goes on further to offer pieces of his kingdom to

his daughters as a form of reward to his test of love. "Great

rivals in our youngest daughter's love, Long in our court have

made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answered.

Tell me, my daughters (Since now we will divest us both of

rule, Interest of territory, cares of state), Which of you shall

we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may

extend where nature doth with merit challenge." (Act I, Sc i,

Ln 47-53) This is the first and most significant of the many

sins that he makes in this play. By abdicating his throne to

fuel his ego he is disrupts the great chain of being which

states that the King must not challenge the position that God

has given him. This undermining of God's authority results in

chaos that tears apart Lear's world. Leaving him, in the end,

with nothing. Following this Lear begins to banish those

around him that genuinely care for him as at this stage he

cannot see beyond the mask that the evil wear. He banishes

Kent, a loyal servant to Lear, and his youngest and

previously most loved daughter Cordelia. This results in Lear

surrounding himself with people who only wish to use him

which leaves him very vulnerable attack. This is precisely

what happens and it is through this that he discovers his

wrongs and amends them. Following the committing of his

sins, Lear becomes abandoned and estranged from his

kingdom which causes him to loose insanity. While lost in his

grief and self-pity the fool is introduced to guide Lear back

to the sane world and to help find the lear that was ounce

lost behind a hundred Knights but now is out in the open and

scared like a little child. The fact that Lear has now been

pushed out from behind his Knights is dramatically

represented by him actually being out on the lawns of his

castle. The terrified little child that is now unsheltered is

dramatically portrayed by Lear's sudden insanity and his

rage and anger is seen through the thunderous weather that

is being experienced. All of this contributes to the suffering

of Lear due to the gross sins that he has committed. The

pinnacle of this hell that is experienced be Lear in order to

repay his sins is at the end of the play when Cordelia is

killed. Lear says this before he himself dies as he cannot live

without his daughter. "Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of

stones. Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so That

heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever! I know

when one is dead, and when one lives. She's dead as earth.

Lend me a looking glass. If that her breath will mist or stain

the stone, Why, then she lives." (Act V, Sc iii, Ln 306-312)

All of this pain that Lear suffered is traced back to the single

most important error that he made. The choice to give up his

throne. This one sin has proven to have massive

repercussions upon Lear and the lives of those around him

eventually killing almost all of those who were involved. And

one is left to ask one's self if a single wrong turn can do this

to Lear then what difficult corner lies ahead that ma cause

similar alterations in one's life. Reference List Shakespeare,

William. King Lear. Eric A. McCann, ed. Harcourt Brace

Jovanovick Canada Inc., Canada. 1988. There has been

many different views on the plays of William Shakespeare

and definitions of what kind of play they were. The two most

popular would be the comedy and the tragedy. King Lear to

some people may be a comedy because they believe that the

play has been over exaggerated. Others would say King

Lear was a tragedy because there is so much suffering and

chaos. What makes a Shakespearean play a comedy or a

tragedy? King Lear would be a tragedy because it meets all

the requirements of a tragedy as defined by Andrew Cecil

Bradley. Bradley states that a Shakespearean tragedy must

have to be the story of the hero and that there is exceptional

suffering and calamity slowly being worn in as well as it

being contrasted to happier times. The play also depicts the

troubled parts in his life and eventually his death that is

instantaneous caused by the suffering and calamity. There is

the feeling of fear in the play as well, that makes men see

how blind they are not knowing when fortune or something

else would be on them. The hero must be of a high status on

the chain and the hero also possesses a tragic flaw that

initiates the tragedy. The fall of the hero is not felt by him

alone but creates a chain reaction which affects everything

below him. There must also be the element of chance or

accident that influences some point in the play. King Lear

meets all of these requirements that has been laid out by

Bradley which is the most logical for a definition of a tragedy

as compared to the definition of a comedy by G. Wilson

Knight. The main character of the play would be King Lear

who in terms of Bradley would be the hero and hold the

highest position is the social chain. Lear out of Pride and

anger has banished Cordelia and split the kingdom in half to

the two older sisters, Goneril and Regan. This is Lear's

tragic flaw which prevents him to see the true faces of

people because his pride and anger overrides his judgement.

As we see in the first act, Lear does not listen to Kent's plea

to see closer to the true faces of his daughters. Kent has hurt

Lear's pride by disobeying his order to stay out of his and

Cordelia's way when Lear has already warned him, "The

bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft." Kent still

disobeys Lear and is banished. Because of this flaw, Lear

has initiated the tragedy by disturbing the order in the chain

of being by dividing the kingdom, banishing his best servant

and daughter, and giving up his thrown. Due to this flaw,

Lear has given way to the two older daughters to conspire

against him. Lear is finally thrown out of his daughters home

and left with a fool, a servant and a beggar. This is when

Lear realizes the mistake that he has made and suffers the

banishment of his two eldest daughters. Lear is caught in a

storm and begins to lose his sanity because he can not bear

the treatment of his two daughters as well as the error he has

made with Cordelia and Kent. Lear also suffers from rest

when he is moving all over the place and the thing that

breaks him is the death of his youngest daughter Cordelia.

This suffering can be contrasted with other happier times like

when Lear was still king and when he was not banished by

his two daughters. The feeling of fear is when Lear is in the

storm raging against the gods, "I tax not you, you elements,

with unkindness. I never gave you kingdom, called you

children, you owe me no subscription.", telling them to rage

harder since he has not done anything for them and that he

didn't deserve what he has received from his two daughters.

The fear is how Lear in a short period of time went from

king to just a regular peasant and from strong and prideful to

weak and unconfident. This shows that men do not hold

their own destiny and that even though things may be great

now you can be struck down just as fast as was to Lear.

The fall of Lear is not just the suffering of one man but the

suffering of everyone down the chain. Gloucester loses his

status and eyes, Cordelia and Kent banished, and Albany

realizing his wife's true heart. Everything that happened to

these characters are affected by Lear in one way or another

and that if Lear had not banished Cordelia and Kent then the

two sisters would not be able to plot against their father.

Without the plot of the two sisters then Gloucester would

not of lost his eyes to Cornwall and his status because he

was guilty of treason. There is an element of chance in the

play in which Edgar meets Oswald trying to kill his father

because he is a traitor. Oswald is slain asks Edgar, "And

give the letters which thou find'st about me to Edmund Earl

of Gloucester. Seek him out upon the English party." Edgar

finds a letter to Edmund from Goneril about the conspiracy

to kill Albany. This part in the play affects the outcome of

Goneril and Edmund in which will lead to both of their

deaths. The pain and suffering endured by Lear eventually

tears down his strength and sanity. Lear is not as strong,

arrogant, and prideful as he was in the beginning of the play

instead he is weak, scared, and a confused old man. At the

end of the play Lear has completely lost his sanity with the

loss of his daughter Cordelia and this is the thing that breaks

Lear and leads to his death. Lear dies with the knowledge

that Cordelia is dead and dies as a man in pain. "And my

poor fool is hanged! No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a

horse, a rat, have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt

come no more, never, never, never, never, never!" King

Lear has met all the requirements that Bradley has stated as

a Shakespearean tragedy. Lear has a tragic flaw which is his

pride that prevents him to see the true faces of people. He

also initiates the tragedy by the banishment of Cordelia and

Kent as well as dividing the kingdom. Lear has also suffered

and endured the pains of his error which leads to his death

and which is contrasted to that of happier times. There is the

feeling of fear in the play which is of a King losing his crown

and becoming a peasant. Lear has also created a chain

reaction that affects everything down the chain. The element

of chance is also introduced in the play with Edgar and

Oswald, Oswald possessing the letter to Edmund. And the

final part is the death of King Lear dying in suffering of the

death of his daughter Cordelia.