In this essay, I intend to scrutinize a brief etymology of the word issue, using the Oxford English Dictionary. My goal is to provide alternative interpretations to the following line from King Lear, spoken by Kent: “I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it/ being so proper” (1.1.16). The fault, or offense, Kent mentions is the illegitimate birth of Edmund. I then argue that alternative interpretations, derived from various resonances of the word issue, prove Shakespeare’s deliberate word choice to set up the play as a tragedy of masculinity, wherein the absence of a maternal figure causes a lack of counterbalance to male authority.
Kent refers to Edmund himself as an “issue” (1.1.16). Here, issue retains its third Oxford English Dictionary definition (see in-text notation) meaning (3) (formal or Law) children of one’s own. Though illegitimate, Edmund is Gloucester’s own son. Other senses of the word issue include: (1) an important topic or problem for debate or discussion, (2) the action of supplying or distributing an item for use, sale, or official purposes, (4) (Middle English, from Old French) the action of flowing or coming out, and (5) (dated) a result or outcome of something (“Issue”). Combining some of these definitions gives us alternative interpretations to what Kent is saying in the aforementioned quote.
Firstly, the chief sense of the word issue, (1) an important topic or problem for debate or discussion, coupled with (3) and (5) above, provides one such interpretation: the child itself, i.e., Edmund, will be a problem for the parent. King Lear has three examples of children playing the part of doting loved ones but doubling as their parents’ real troubles. All three children – Edmund, Goneril, and Regan – ...
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...es see fit. We see through Goneril and Regan’s self-serving actions (including a mutual pursuit of extramarital relationships) that they resemble their father. Along these lines, one reading of Cordelia is that she is too proudly glued to her principles, stubborn like her father in refusing to give up as she loses everything. While this interpretation describes children as extensions of their parents, it really describes them as extensions of their fathers (as there are no mothers in the play). Again, fathers influence what the children become; and, most of the children fall prey to the tragedy of masculinity. Had the children had mother figures, the outcome of the play would have been different. Even Lear, who knows his days are numbered, seeks a motherly figure to nurse him.
Old age is like a reversion to childishness and he too beckons the mother, who is absent.
father in return and was sympathetic to his senility, she had the urge to help him. However, since
Cordelia uses her self-entitlement to create a newfound identity for herself that is stronger and more prominent. The text creator develops her character through a very strong leader who regardless of her gender is able to use her sense of entitlement to empower herself. On the other hand, closely following this concept set out by Shakespeare, he also expands on the other side of this curtain through King Lear. Lear’s fatal flaw is indeed is self-entitlement and this upper status of himself he has built up. It not only leads to the ultimate downfall of himself, but further also causes the destruction of the closely held relationships in his life – causing them to be lost or for the element of complete moral respect to diminish; degrading the value of entitlement. all in all, Shakespeare expands on this key element of self-entitlement and delivers the idea to the reader that when managed it can be a tool that empowers an individual, or when gone out of one’s control can be the singular reason to the ultimate downfall of an
Shakespeare, William. "King Lear: A Conflated Text." The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York:
... last issue Shakespeare uses in his play is Responsibility. This is shown in Act 4 Scene 1 when Henry goes out pretending to be a Welshman to see what he soldiers think of him. ‘So if a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputations of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon the father that sent him.’
It tainted his familial bonds and gave him a sense of determination to escape society’s value of him. The notion of bastardy drives this aspect of the plot and is the single most important idea when looking into the phenomenon of cruelty between Edmund and Gloucester in King Lear. Edmund’s story is tragic because there is no resolution for his biggest grievance apart from a larger paradigm shift, marking a change in society’s value of the bastard. It is safe to say that Edmund and Gloucester’s relationship was plagued by powers greater than themselves. Shakespeare elevates their relationship to start a dialogue about family and societal values—creating a deeply layered and tragic
"Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love." (John LeCarre) In William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear, characters are betrayed by the closest people to them. The parents betray their children, mostly unintentionally. The children deceive their parents because of their greed and power hunger. Their parents were eventually forgiven, but the greedy children were not. Parents and their children betray one and other, and are only able to do so because they are family, however, the children betray for greed while the parents betray through the credulity caused by their children's greed.
What makes Cordelia a good character here is not only that she refuses to flatter her father in order to deceive him out of his wealth, but also because she accepts her father's punishment and leaves willingly even though she knows it is not a just punishment. Additionally, she expresses no animosity toward Lear, instead she asks her sisters to care for him. This unwavering loyalty is also exhibited later in the play when Cordelia finds Lear and she realizes he is mad. She cares for him and gives him medicinal herbs until he is well again. Even when Lear begs for her forgiveness she insists that she has no cause to be offended.
The tragedy King Lear by William Shakespeare ought to be seen as a lesson on what not to do as a parent. By picking favorites, King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester leave a lasting impact on their children 's psyche, ultimately leading to them committing horrible crimes. The rash judgments, violent reactions, and blindness of both Lear and Gloucester lead to both their and their children 's demise. As a result, all of the father-child relationships in the play begin to collapse.
In King Lear, Shakespeare portrays a society whose emphasis on social class results in a strict social hierarchy fueled by the unceasing desire to improve one’s social status. It is this desire for improved social status that led to the unintentional deterioration of the social hierarchy in King Lear. This desire becomes so great that Edmund, Goneril, Reagan and Cornwall were willing to act contrary to the authority of the social hierarchy for the betterment of their own position within it. As the plot unfolds, the actions of the aforementioned characters get progressively more desperate and destructive as they realize their lack of success in attaining their personal goals. The goals vary, however the selfish motivation does not. With Edmund, Goneril, Reagan and Cornwall as examples, Shakespeare portrays the social hierarchy as a self-defeating system because it fosters desires in its members that motivate them to act against the authority of the hierarchy to benefit themselves. A consideration of each characters actions in chronological order and the reasons behind such actions reveals a common theme among the goals for which morality is abandoned.
There is an unnaturalness where gender and generational roles are subverted. In the context relating to the death of Henry Tudor and the incest and witchcraft tainting Elizabeth’s birth and duality as a Virgin Queen. Overall in King Lear the issues surrounding gender are associated with unnaturalness, a deviation from the laws of nature, from the authority of God and the misuse of power. Gender and its treatment is the cause of the fall of Lear’s reign. The incest and adultery are a curse on the land and the royalty, the wind battles against the evil natures of the characters men. The restoration of the patriarchy and order in society is linked to the chastisement undergone by Edgar, and the result being the victory of his noble and chivalrous character over that of the false Edmund. The darkness and shame of the relationship to the female gender and sexuality are brought to life, and rage throughout, what was hidden or kept in the darkness is brought out. In relation to the context the issue being the challenge to patriarchal culture and the tragedy of the reversal of gender roles resulting from the hamartia or fall of grace of the noble
The theme of King Lear is the characters’ search for their “true selves”, the character Cordelia in particular has already found her “true self” through her love for her father, King Lear, but she is also the key to King Lear’s “true self”. In King Lear, Cordelia and her two sisters are asked by King Lear “Which of you shall we say doth love us most” (Brown, Act I Scene i), so that he may determine their shares of the kingdom and money. While the women will gain the benefits of these riches, the actual ownership will go to husband in the form of a dowry. Women are consid...
King Lear had come so accustomed to his praise, that it is the sole thing he lived for, he needed it to survive, his treatment as a king was his Achilles heel in this play. He wanted to step down as king and divide his kingdom into 3 sections, giving them to his daughters to rule. Goneril and Regan were more than willing to accommodate his request to demonstrate their love for their father and king by professing their love to him in dramatic fashion combined with a good bit of exaggeration. While Cordelia on the other hand, found it a struggle to profess what she thought to be known by her father and king, she states, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty / According to my bond; nor more nor less (Scene 1.1, Lines 91-93).
During the Elizabethan Era, women were oppressed to men and had no authority and power to make their own decisions. This idealistic view of gender is defied in William Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy, King Lear, for female empowerment is central to the play. Firstly, the bold characteristics of the women contribute greatly in enhancing the plot. Furthermore, women play a major role in developing the theme of power. Moreover, when power is given to the female characters, they reveal their true nature, thus aiding with their character development.
One purpose for such a violent scene is to define the villains of the story. The play opens with King Lear retiring and deciding to split his land between his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. The size of the land plot each daughter will receive will be proportionate to their love for their father. The older two daughters Goneril and Regan eloquently announce their undying love for Lear, and are rewarded generously. The third daughter Cordelia, who truly does love her father, refuses to participate in such a display of flattery and lies. Cordelia announces, in front of all Lear's subjects, that she loves her father, "according to her bond, no more nor less." Insulted and hurt by Cordelia's harsh denouncement of love, Lear disowns her. And Lear's best friend of thirty years Kent defends Cordelia, Lear banishes Kent too. Having given away his land, Lear decides that he's going to take turns living with Goneril and Regan. To remind him of his kingship Lear kept a hundred knights. But when Lear shows up with his army at Goneril and Regan's houses, his "loving" daughters kick him out.
While reading Eva Turner Clark's analysis of King Lear, in her Hidden Allusions in Shakespeare's Plays, I was struck by the polarity of our interpretation of this supreme drama. Where Clark finds historical and political allusions, especially for the years 1589-1590, I find personal ones. For King Lear is a play of internal, personal tragedy. With this in mind I strongly disagree with her statement, "I consider Kent represents Drake." (P. 869 n.) Therefore I sought another contemporary of Oxford's who would fulfill the characteristics and qualities of the Earl of Kent. In looking tor this prototype, I drew upon J. Thomas Looney's methodology. (See Shakespeare Identified, p. 80.) Simply stated my task was to examine the text of Lear, to draw from it a definite conception of the character and qualities of the Earl of Kent, and then look for a man who fits that description. Once such a man was found it was necessary to connect him with the character of Kent and with the author. Eventually I found that my conception of Kent had been accurately described by S.T. Coleridge,