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critical comments on shakespeare's king lear
king Lear as Shakespearean tragedy
king Lear as Shakespearean tragedy
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King Lear as a Changed Character at the End of Shakespeare's Play
Works Cited Missing
King Lear was written in 1605-1606, the exact date is unknown. It was
performed at the Globe theatre on 26 December 1606 and was first
published in 1608. The play was written by William Shakespeare who has
written 37 other plays for Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences. William
Shakespeare wrote the play for King James 1. King James had sons in
mind as heirs and not daughters and he might have thought it foolish
and stupid to have daughters as heir to the throne as it is in king
Lear. King Lear was written for the Jacobean audience.
There are two plots in King Lear, both plots are not linked at the
beginning but they link at the end when the characters in the two
plots get together. The two plots are the main plot and the sub plot.
The main plot is about Lear's madness and the sub plot is about
Gloucester, Edmund and Edgar the bastard. Edmund writes a letter that
he pretends is from his brother about how he wants all his fathers
money. He writes the letter because he wants his father to think he is
better than his brother and he wants all the money. He also wants his
father to fight and break up with his brother.
In Act1 Scene1 the 'love test' takes place. This is when Lear wants
his three daughters to confess who loves him the most to claim there
share of kingdom. Lear wanted to split his kingdom between his three
daughters. He expected himself to still be king but his daughters to
rule the kingdom whilst he does nothing. Lear knew his youngest
daughter Cordelia, who is kind, honest and sometimes naïve, was his
favourite and Cordelia loved Lear the most but he still wanted a love
test in which Cordelia says:
"I love you majesty according to my bond, no more nor less" (Cordelia)
Lear banishes Cordelia from the kingdom because he is vain and
selfish. He expects Cordelia to say the same as his other two
been worrying for a king to have no son to carry on the throne. But
I chose this topic to show readers how the characters motives changed throughout the story. This is my thoughts on why they changed; because of one girl who stood up to her father changed so much which was like a domino effect and which made most characters change from within.
her bond, no more nor less . This response angers Lear and causes him to ban
In his kingdom Lear was practically a god, but he was a god that knew nothing of morals, humanity, personal identity, or love. Lear forces his daughters into open displays of verbal affection for the sole purpose of flattery. Lear’s self-centered mindset is amplified in his speeches to Cordelia after she refuses to participate with hyperbolic love. In his rage Lear says, “he that makes his generation messes / To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom / Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relived / As thou my sometime daughter” (I.i.130-134). Lear feels closer to Satan than his own daughter since the cannibal that feeds on his children is Lear himself. Lear’s daughters are reduced to the status of food; they do not exist beyond the feeding of his ego. Lear continues with his tirade as he proclaims “I loved her most and thought to set my rest / On her kind nursery” (I.i.137-138). To Lear love is synonymous with being a caretaker. Lear does not understand love beyond utility. Before his tragic
The play of "King Lear" is about a search for personal identity. In the historical period in which this play is set, the social structure was set in order of things closest to Heaven. Therefore, on Earth, the king was at the top, followed by his noblemen and going all the way down to the basest of objects such as rocks and dirt. This structure was set up by the people, and by going by the premise that anything that is man made is imperfect, this system cannot exist for long without conflict.
King Lear is a perfect demonstration of the great consequences one man's actions can cause. While there are certainly religious Christian elements to the story, the story is not one of morality or hope. King Lear is a lesson, making an example of what can come of a single, foolish, egotistical action. King Lear's action is the surrendering of his throne to his daughters.
In King Lear by William Shakespeare, it is a play mostly about tragedy like most of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare uses a vast amount of animal imagery to describe the characteristics of the villains to refer back to. He also presents an ample amount of symbolism throughout the play.
King Lear is at once the most highly praised and intensely criticized of all Shakespeare's works. Samuel Johnson said it is "deservedly celebrated among the dramas of Shakespeare" yet at the same time he supported the changes made in the text by Tate in which Cordelia is allowed to retire with victory and felicity. "Shakespeare has suffered the virtue of Cordelia to perish in a just cause, contrary to the natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and, what is yet more strange, to the faith of chronicles."1 A.C. Bradley's judgement is that King Lear is "Shakespare's greatest work, but it is not...the best of his plays."2 He would wish that "the deaths of Edmund, Goneril, Regan and Gloucester should be followed by the escape of Lear and Cordelia from death," and even goes so far as to say: "I believe Shakespeare would have ended his play thus had he taken the subject in hand a few years later...."3
Thou shall honour thy father and thy mother, is not only one of ten powerful commandments but is also the foundation for King Lear's perception of himself and his overwhelming situation in Shakespeare's masterpiece King Lear. After a recent life-altering decision, Lear's seemingly stable and comfortable world has been thrown into upheaval through the disobedience and lies told by not only his two daughters but also by his servants! Thus, after being dishonoured by his family and attendants, Lear forms an accurate perception of his situation, that he is "a man / More sinned against than sinning" (Act III scene ii lines 60 - 61).
Shakespeare is one of the greatest literary minds to come across history. A huge contribution to his success was his use of themes in his plays and how they transcended amongst his other works while to relating to people’s lives. What exactly is a theme? The theme of a play is the underpinning issue or idea that propels and sustains the play. They can also be known as underlying motifs that give shape, pattern and significance to a play. This can be achieved in one of a few ways. First is through language. The theme is conveyed most powerfully through language. Individual words that are uttered repetitiously throughout a play such as ‘blood’, ‘honest’ or ‘nothing’ or through the use of a particular language devices such as antithesis or oxymoron,
King Lear, the protagonist of the play, is a truly tragic figure. He is driven by greed and arrogance and is known for his stubbornness and imperious temper, he often acts upon emotions and whims. He values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to fulfill a king’s obligations of governing for the good of his subjects.
Philosophy is defined as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. In Shakespeare’s King Lear one is able to relate and understand a lot of the problems the main characters in the play are facing. The characters face issues relating trust, family, greed, depression, and insanity. The issues and plot in the play are contemporary issues that any human can relate to because it is the way of life.
King Lear is a Shakespearian tragedy revolving largely around one central theme, personal transformation. Shakespeare shows in King Lear that the main characters of the play experience a transformative phase, where they are greatly changed through their suffering. Through the course of the play Lear is the most transformed of all the characters. He goes through seven major stages of transformation on his way to becoming an omniscient character: resentment, regret, recognition, acceptance and admittance, guilt, redemption, and optimism. Shakespeare identifies King Lear as a contemptuous human being who is purified through his suffering into some sort of god.
King Lear is a play about a tragic hero, by the name of King Lear, whose flaws get the best of him. A tragic hero must possess three qualities. The first is they must have power, in other words, a leader. King Lear has the highest rank of any leader. He is a king. The next quality is they must have a tragic flaw, and King Lear has several of those. Finally, they must experience a downfall. Lear's realization of his mistakes is more than a downfall. It is a tragedy. Lear is a tragic hero because he has those three qualities. His flaws are his arrogance, his ignorance, and his misjudgments, each contributing to the other.
In Shakespeare's classic tragedy, King Lear, there are several characters who do not see the reality of their situation. Two such characters are Lear and Gloucester. Both characters exhibit a blindness to the world around them. Lear does not see clearly the truth of his daughters mentions, while Gloucester is also blinded by Edmond's treachery. This failure to see reality leads to Lear's intellectual blindness, which is his insanity, and Gloucester's physical blindness that leads to his trusting tendencies. Each character achieves inner awareness at the end as their surreal blindness is lifted and they realize the truth. Both Lear and Gloucester are characters used by Shakespeare to show the relevance of having a clear vision in life.