Restructuring Relationships in King Lear
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.
Through tattered clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtles breaks; (IV, vi).
The chaos that occurs in "King Lear" is due the reshaping of bonds within the society. Thus naturally, bonds must be broken, kept and most importantly, formed. This rearrangement of bonds is necessary to Lear understanding his personal identity. Bonds that are broken include those relations between King Lear and his two eldest daughters (Regan and Goneril), between Glouster and Edmund and also between Edmund and Edgar. Lear and Cordelia; Lear and Kent; Glouster and Edgar include those bonds that are existent at both the beginning and conclusion of the play. By the ending of the play, Lear is able to come to terms with himself and with nature.
For the rearrangement of the bonds, it is necessary that those based on money, power, land, and deception be to abandoned. In the case of Lear and Goneril and Regan, his two daughters have deceived their father for their personal gain. Furthermore, they had not intended to keep the bond with their father once they had what they wanted. Goneril states "We must do something, and i' th' heat." (I, i, 355), meaning that they wish to take more power upon themselves while they can. By his two of his daughters betraying him, Lear was able to gain insight that he is not as respected as he perceives himself to be. The relationship broken between Edmund his half- bother, Edgar and father, Glouster is similarly deteriorated in the interest of material items. By the end of the play, Edgar has recognized who is brother really is and when he has confronted him says "the more th' hast wronged me...
Goneril and Regan, two daughters of King Lear try to gain some power. After Lear banishes Cordelia, Goneril and Regan think that their father is going crazy and they over throw his power of being a king. Another character that tries to gain some more power in the play is the character, Edmund, his brother Edgar has more power than him, people treat Edgar better because Edgar was born in their parents’ marriage, while Edmund was not so they call Edmund, Gloucester’s illegitimate son.
However, as their dreadful actions increased, they failed to realize the struggle to restore honor and certainty did as well. Shakespeare demonstrated how the only situation in which individuals struggle to restore honor is when that honor is gained through dominating and destroying the lives of others; when it is gained through wrongdoing. When the honor is gained through righteous actions, the challenges are easier to handle resulting in internal peace. Both of King Lear’s daughters were trapped in an illusion where they felt they must continue their mischief in order to gain honor. They both drew attention towards their status and power while neglecting their character. They failed to realize this thirst was only destroying the happiness they once owned. Their destruction occurred at the point where they both received what they had given their father: betrayal. Shakespeare presented the idea that restoring honor through harming others results in nothing but one’s self-destruction of their happiness and
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
... Lears blessing, and declared his daughter. Lear also realized that Kents speaking out was for Lear’s best and that he too was abused and banished. What stings Lear even more is that he is now completely dependent upon his two shameless daughters, Goneril and Regan. Plus that he must now beg them when he took care of them like a father when they were once children, to drive Lears further into madness he realizes that as king he was so ignorant and blind with power that he never took care of the homeless and let them suffer. All these realization and the fact that Lear is in his second childhood a tender stage drive him into the peak of madness.
Shakespeare's King Lear is a play which shows the consequences of one man's decisions. The audience follows the main character, Lear, as he makes decisions that disrupt order in his Kingdom. When Lear surrenders all his power and land to his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him, the breakdown on order in evident. Lear's first mistake is to divide his Kingdom into three parts. A Kingdom is run best under one ruler as only one decision is made without contradiction. Another indication that order is disrupted is the separation of Lear's family. Lear's inability to control his anger causes him to banish his youngest daughter, Cordelia, and loyal servant, Kent. This foolish act causes Lear to become vulnerable to his other two daughters as they conspire against him. Lastly, the transfer of power from Lear to his eldest and middle daughter, Goneril and Regan, reveals disorder as a result of the division of the Kingdom. A Kingdom without order is a Kingdom in chaos. When order is disrupted in King Lear, the audience witnesses chaotic events that Lear endures, eventually learning who truly loves him.
King Lear is one of the more caged characters of the play, he suffers both social and psychological incarceration and this is one the chief reasons for his descent into mental hell and inevitable downfall. Lear is imprisoned by the role he must play in society and by his own internal shackles. The abdication of the throne initiates the action in the play, through the consequent chain of events. However this indicates that Lear is imprisoned by his responsibility to society, a social harness binds him. He renounces the throne to lead the rest of his life in pleasure and in doing so he disrupts the Great Chain of Being, he challenges the position that he has been given and thus his family and indeed the entire nation, descend into disorder and chaos. The storm is symbolic of this occurrence; the weather imitates the state of men. "One minded like the weather," the gentle man recognizes the disquiet and unrest of the storm, as a manifestation of the turbulence in Society at the time. He is not only responsible for the harmony of a nation, it is also his duty to maintain harmony in his house. This he does with little success when "bribes" his daughters to fuel his own ego. "Which of you shall we say doth love us most,/That we our largest bounty extend," Lear is requesting his daughters to compete in a "game" of words, he does not really wish to know who loves him the most, he simply wishes to be flattered, through this he is rashly aba...
Firstly, in King Lear, Shakespeare uses the idea of social illusion to develop ideas around civilization and torture. When Lear, Kent and the Fool find a hovel, Lear stands in the rain and starts praying for the “poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,/ That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm” (III.iv.35-36). Lear becomes more compassionate for the poor when he leaves his kingdom. In King Lear, there are two main settings; the kingdom and the heath. When Lear loses his place in civilization, he changes from an uncaring king to a caring person. Civilization is supposed to encourage righteous actions towards humans, while nature is supposed to encourage animalistic behaviour. Lear’s change proves that the Kingdom is a place of torture whereas nature is a space that allows for characters to grow into compassion and kindness, traits usually associated with civilization. This is evident when Lear’s daughters betray him and he says, “The little dogs and all/ Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me” (III.vi.63-64). Lear’s statement supports that his daughters are torturing him and not deferring to what he believes is his importance. However, Lear is not the only person who has made this realization. Edgar, who is Gloucester’s eldest son, also changes his view once he leaves
Lear’s lack of self-knowledge in the beginning of the play is of devastating consequences. In the first scene we see the strongest statement reflecting a lack of self-knowledge. In order to divide up his kingdom, with the biggest piece in the middle of it going to Cordelia, with her husband to be. King Lear thinks of a sophisticated plan. He arranges a public ‘contest of love’ between his daughters, and whomever declares to loves him most, gets the most land. Thinking, his favourite daughter Cordelia will declare to love him the most. With this plan King Lear is trying to avoid his land from falling apart, and through this contest thinks he will get the public support, for the plan, he needs.
King Lear by Shakespeare portrayed the negative effects of power resulting in destruction caused by the children of a figure with authority. Through lies and continual hatred, characters maintained a greed for power causing destruction within their families. The daughter’s of Lear and the son Gloucester lied to inherit power for themselves. Edmund the son of Gloucester planned to eliminate his brother Edgar from his inheritance.
The tragic collapse of King Lear was initiated within the first act, where he demonstrated a lack of insight into who his daughters genuinely were. To start, Lear decided that it was time for him to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, and the criteria he used was who every flattered him the most with kind and lovely words, would obtain the greatest share. This idea that whoever showed the most affection for him under this rationale would prove who loves him the most, and therefore would they would receive a great share of the kingdom, was his tragic mistake. Regan and Goneril, the two villains throughout the play, put together an act in order to achieve the greatest share of the kingdom, and both excelled in this regard, despite
Lear's vision is marred by lack of direction in life, poor foresight and his inability to predict the consequences of his actions. He cannot look far enough into the future to see the consequences of his actions. This, in addition to his lack of insight into other people, condemns his relationship with his most beloved daughter, Cordelia. When Lear asks his daughters, who loves him most, he already thinks that Cordelia has the most love for him. However, when Cordelia says: "I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more nor less." (I, i, 94-95) Lear cannot see what these words really mean. Goneril and Regan are only putting on an act. They do not truly love Lear as much as they should. When Cordelia says these words, she has seen her sister's facade, and she does not want to associate her true love with their false love. Lear, however, is fooled by Goneril and Regan into thinking that they love him, while Cordelia does not. This is when Lear first shows a sign of becoming blind to those around him. He snaps and disowns her:
Lear's relationship with his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, is, from the beginning, very uncharacteristic of the typical father-daughter relationship. It's clear that the king is more interested in words than true feelings, as he begins by asking which of his daughters loves him most. Goneril and Regan's answers are descriptive and sound somewhat phony, but Lear is flattered by them. Cordelia's response of nothing is honest; but her father misunderstands the plea and banishes her. Lear's basic flaw at the beginning of the play is that 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. Similarly, his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He doesn't ask "which of you doth love us most," but rather, "which of you shall we say doth love us most?" (I.i.49). It would be simple to conclude that Lear is simply blind to the truth, but Cordelia is already his favorite daughter at the beginning of the play, so presumably he knows that she loves him the most. Nevertheless, Lear values Goneril and Regan's fawning over Cordelia's sincere sense of filial duty.
Edmund’s power corrupts him into a dishonest, even dangerous person just to gain as much control as possible. His wrong-doings result in him paying the consequences in full. Even the brotherly bond isn't enough to stop the corruption. This power forces them into seeing nothing but total control. Regan and Goneril gain power over their father’s land and they in turn, banish Lear from their households, and leave him to fend for himself out in the storm. Edmund’s hunger for power doesn’t stop at anything, he goes as far as letting Cornwall take out Gloucester’s eyes for trying to kill
Through the play, they plan to deceive their fathers to overthrow their place of control wanting to feel more appreciated. We have Edmund who wants to get rid of his father, Earl of Gloucester because of the way that Gloucester has been treating him differently than Edgar who is Gloucester legitimate son. Goneril is just like Edmund that wants to have control over her father’s power. She would do anything to get to King Lear place, going through deceiving her allies around her and even trying to kill her husband so she could be with Edmund. In the play, Edmund and Goneril are seen as the main villains since they were the ones who caused many problems for our main protagonist. They both seem to share the same similarities together that they even end up having romantic feelings for each other but they don’t end with a happy ending especially with Goneril’s sister; Regan who interferes with their affair. They play the role of the greedy antagonist that would get rid of anyone in their way of being Queen or the new Earl of Gloucester ,making the protagonist struggling with the challenges, causing destruction like a tornado obliterating
The first flaw in King Lear is his arrogance, which results in the loss of Cordelia and Kent. It is his arrogance in the first scene of the play that causes him to make bad decisions. He expects his favorite, youngest daughter to be the most worthy of his love. His pride makes him expect that Cordelia’s speech to be the one filled with the most love. Unfortunately for King Lear’s pride, Cordelia replies to his inquisition by saying, “I love your majesty/According to my bond and nothing less';(1.1.100-101). Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia and splits the kingdom in half to the two evil sisters, Goneril and Regan. This tragic flaw prevents King Lear from seeing the truth because his arrogance overrides his judgement. Lear’s arrogance also causes him to lose his most faithful servan...