Dignity While Fulfilling Ambitions In King Lear By William Shakespeare

Maintaining Dignity While Fulfilling Ambitions
Individuals aim to have a profound lifestyle that is constructed by delicately crafted goals and ambitions, they in turn end up determining the “outlook” that an individual has on how to go about their daily lifestyle. Individuals are persuaded by the lust of ambition, regardless of the nuances that come with realism in terms of the legitimacy of their ultimate goals. In the play, “King Lear”, William Shakespeare effectively establishes the comparison of characters who have differing but relatively same ambition in terms of their validity, he vindicates the various consequences of their actions by juxtaposing the impact they have had on the life of others and self. The ambition that drives the

The validity of a person’s actions rest solely on the ambitions, whether they are realistic in terms of benefits and ensuring that the actions of an individual do not harm anyone. In the play, “King Lear”, the two eldest daughters of king, Goneril and Regan have an ambition of having absolute power over their father’s kingdom. They sugar coat their love for their father, which in reality is nonexistent, it is merely a lust for something much more than what they truly deserve. The king had banned his youngest daughter, Cordelia, whose “love” was much more “ponderous” then what her tongue relayed. Cordelia was asked to profess her love to her father, but she refused to convey something that was not natural but not less necessarily, as she had described to the king that she loves him as a daughter should her father, nothing more or nothing less. The audience is made aware of the piety and truthfulness displayed by Cordelia, however King Lear has failed to recognize and acknowledge his daughter’s virtuousness, he in turn makes a grave mistake, by unfairly abdicating Cordelia’s share of the kingdom and awarding it to both his elder daughters. The “poor judgement” of the King sets the foundation if you will, for both his elder

The foul actions of individuals inevitably catch up to them, in terms of dealing with the proper consequence warranted by the unique choices that individuals make in order to achieve their respective ambitions. Edmund is facing an unlikely demise in his former brother, Edgar, he wants to get back at Edmund for causing his “name” to be lost” in a manner that constitutes “treason”. The audience can sympathize with Edmund due to him being treated unfairly by the public, however his actions warrant serious consequences. Edmund realizes his mistakes after Edger’s “speech” tends to “move” him from having an alienated opinion to a more subdued and responsible individual. Although Edmund wants to do “some good”, it is too late for him to survive although, he will die a noble man due to his repentance and realization of his abhorred crimes. Shakespeare portrays to the audience that, Edmunds quest for recognition was an unnatural ambition thus he was subject to harsh consequences for his ill-advised tactics against his relatives. The quest for power has maligned both Regan and Goneril, they turned against their father all the while developing immoral feelings towards Edmund. The outcome of the non-genuine nature of both sisters cause Goneril to “poison” her sister, while