King Lear as a Tragic Herp

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The play of King Lear is a tragedy like many of Shakespeare’s plays, and many of them deal with the tragic hero that end up meeting their demise thanks to their tragic flaw. The tragic hero of this play is King Lear, and he is a man that is a ruler of the kingdom of Britain in the 8th century B.C. He is a very old man surrounded by grave responsibilities, which are taking care of the land and taking care of the citizens of the kingdom. Lear the tragic hero must feel suffering and contrast those good times to the suffering, except his suffering leads to chaos and ultimately his death. The definition of a tragedy from our class notes is, “an honorable protagonist with a tragic flaw, which is also known as a fatal flaw. This eventually leads to his/her demise” (Class Notes). The definition of a tragic hero if laid out in black and white and King Lear meets all these requirements and his nobleness initiated his tragic flaw. King Lear is a tragic hero because he is a man that is very arrogant and does not see the world for what it really is. We can show how Lear is a tragic hero by using some of the elements of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero that are nobleness, arrogance (tragic flaw), and reversal of fortune.

Lear is a noble man because he comes from a royal family and that is the first quality that shows that Lear is a tragic hero. Throughout Lear’s life, everything has been done for him because he is the King and back in the 8th century B.C. all of the people of the country had to meet all the demands of the King. His nobility can be seen when Kent says, “Royal Lear, Whom I have honored as my king, Loved as my father, as my master followed, As my great patron thought on in my prayers,” (Shakespeare I, I, 141-144) Kent is ...

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... off a chain reaction that starts the reversal of fortune for Lear.

Lear was an individual that began as a very arrogant and noble King that was on top of Mount Everest, and next thing you know he’s at the bottom of the deepest ocean. King Lear is a tragic hero because he is a man that is very arrogant and does not se the world for what it really is. The things that made Lear a tragic hero are his nobleness, arrogance (tragic flaw), and a reversal of fortune. As a King, Lear’s lack of knowledge in decision making occurred due to the effect of his arrogance and the quality of arrogance started with his nobility. So the three factors that Aristotle describes that a tragic hero has, is all present in the Character of King Lear.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and Russell A. Fraser. King Lear. New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.

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