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Social criticisms of King Lear
The development of the character of Lear
The development of the character of Lear
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The Great Chain of Being is defined as the order within a country which implies that every person and object is designed to play a role in the chain. Challenging this established order is the ultimate act of betrayal. In Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, betraying the order within the kingdom is mandatory for a character who is not possessed with power to obtain leverage. As a result, the cause of betrayal leads to a disruption within various relationships such as with an individual, as well as with society and with oneself. In King Lear, Goneril and Regan betray the natural order in response to their upbringing which in result affects the relationship between each other. King Lear’s descent from the chain, due to the acts of betrayal committed …show more content…
by his daughters, affects his individual relationship. Edmund betrays the social order in means of achieving justice from society and his father, which disrupts the relationships surrounding him. Edgar’s descent from the chain, due to the acts of betrayal committed by his brother, disrupts his relationship with Gloucester temporarily. After the disruption of order, relationships will eventually configure or deteriorate into nothing, in effect to the acts of betrayal completed by those consumed by power. Lear’s position on the Great Chain of Being determines his identity. Stripping Lear of his power is the ultimate act of betrayal that both Regan and Goneril concurrently cast upon their father, in means of reducing his status on the hierarchical spectrum. Lear is fixated on the assumption that he will hold power over the kingdom at all costs. He is unaware that his daughters will politically betray him, which will leave him to venture his identity that he has not explored prior. Lear concludes the beginning of the tragedy by initiating the act to divide his kingdom, which therefore, hinders his place on the chain. Lear’s loss of status is identified when Oswald states, “My lady’s father.” (I iiii 76) This is demeaning of Lear’s power due to Oswald acknowledging that Goneril now owns a more dominant position in the kingdom than Lear. It’s clear Lear is receiving a lack of respect, considering Goneril and Regan are now at the top of the wheel of fortune, while Lear has plummeted to the bottom, along with the lower class. The treatment Lear is receiving, “causes him to doubt his identity and begin to look to others for confirmation.” (Conficterature) This illustrates that Lear is dependent on others to justify his identity, in regards to Lear solely living the life of royalty and primarily using power and confidence to help define his “self.” Lear uses nature as a way to connect to God. When he pleads, This proves his dependence on God to ensure his balance and sanity. He is unable to fend for himself, therefore, he puts faith into God to keep him stable. This would also suggest that Lear is asking God to restore his position on the Chain, seeing as he was balanced and sane when he was in power. Lear’s daughters abdicating his position on the chain through their acts of betrayal, has disrupted Lear’s relationship with himself to the point of insanity. The desire to achieve justice influences Edmund’s betrayal of the social order.
He confirms his reasons for disrupting the established order when he claims… This implies that he is complying with the rules of nature rather than the rules that most of the society chooses to follow. Edmund believes that an illegitimate being cannot survive under the man-made laws of society, therefore he must infringe them for all bastards to achieve justice. Edmund decides to ascend the chain by means of deception and betrayal in response to the lack of recognition he receives from society and his father. Considering Edmund was conceived outside of what would be “human society’s harmonious order”, he is not required to uphold the social order within the country, since he was never apart of it. Edmund is aggravated that although his “mind [is] as generous” as everyone else’s, he does not have any connection with society, which initiates his continuous plan to disrupt any stable relationships; in response to being an outsider. When Edmund achieves power, he becomes consumed by the benefits that come with being recognized. After Goneril and Regan threaten their relationship with jealousy over Edmund, he responds with, “To both these sisters have I sworn my love…Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Neither?” This shows that Edmund is inconsiderate of the various relationships he is disrupting due to being newly recognized by society. Even after Edmund is acknowledged by his father through his words, “I'll work the means to make thee capable” he is still unsatisfied. Although recognition from his father was partly what Edmund was striving for, the new influence he has over society has made him protective of his title within society. He must eliminate his father from the social order and repel his brother away from receiving Gloucester’s throne in order for him to be ensured the position on the wheel of fortune, permanently. Edmund’s pinnacle of power causes him to utter, This
imposes that Edmund’s plan to prevail has been completed as he watches the kingdom fall into disarray through the destruction of people’s relationships that he induced due to his immediate rejection from a society that resents beings, but endures them. Edmund does this in order to receive the justice he always longed for as being exclusively recognized as a bastard.
Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is considered one of his great tragedies. The play fully uses plot, character, setting, atmosphere, diction and imagery to create a compelling drama. The general setting of Macbeth is tenth and eleventh century Scotland. The play is about a once loyal and trusted noble of Scotland who, after a meeting with three witches, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the other nobles of Scotland who try to stop him. In the play, Macbeth faces an internal conflict with his opposing decisions. On one hand, he has to decide of he is to assassinate the king in order to claim his throne. This would result in his death for treason if he is caught, and he would also have to kill his friend. On the other hand, if he is to not kill him, he may never realize his ambitious dreams of ruling Scotland. Another of his internal struggles is his decision of killing his friend Banquo. After hiring murderers to kill him, Macbeth begins to see Banquo's ghost which drives him crazy, possibly a result of his guilty conscience. Macbeth's external conflict is with Macduff and his forces trying to avenge the king and end Macbeth's reign over Scotland. One specific motif is considered the major theme, which represents the overall atmosphere throughout the play. This motif is "fair is foul and foul is fair."
Family loyalty refers to the feelings of mutual obligation, commitment, and closeness that exist among family members (e.g., parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren and siblings). A loyal per¬son is ready to sacrifice even his own life for the sake of his master, friend, relative or the country. The significance of loyalty in family relationship is an integral part in both Macleod’s novel No Great Mischief and Shakespeare’s play King Lear. However, the characters in No great Mischief have demonstrated true devotion towards every family member whereas Lear’s stubbornness prevents him from being faithful which is shown by the characters.
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.
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.
Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is a play that demonstrates the theme of betrayal to varying extent. Macbeth to a great extent that illustrates betrayal and Macduff betrays to a less extent, however, his betrayal is driven by noble. The unfaithfulness of the two characters is followed by consequences. Juxtaposing to Macbeth and Macduff, Banquo implies no extent of betrayal because he hasn’t betrayed anyone throughout the play.
In The Tragedy of King Lear, particularly in the first half of the play, Lear continually swears to the gods. He invokes them for mercies and begs them for destruction; he binds both his oaths and his curses with their names. The older characters—Lear and Gloucester—tend view their world as strictly within the moral framework of the pagan religion. As Lear expresses it, the central core of his religion lies in the idea of earthly justice. In II.4.14-15, Lear expresses his disbelief that Regan and Albany would have put the disguised Kent, his messenger, in stocks. He at first attempts to deny the rather obvious fact in front of him, objecting “No” twice before swearing it. By the time Lear invokes the king of the pagan gods, his refusal to believe has become willful and almost absurd. Kent replies, not without sarcasm, by affixing the name of the queen of the gods to a contradictory statement. The formula is turned into nonsense by its repetition. In contradicting Lear’s oath as well as the assertion with which it is coupled, Kent is subtly challenging Lear’s conception of the universe as controlled by just gods. He is also and perhaps more importantly, challenging Lear’s relationship with the gods. It is Kent who most lucidly and repeatedly opposes the ideas put forth by Lear; his actions as well as his statements undermine Lear’s hypotheses about divine order. Lear does not find his foil in youth but in middle age; not in the opposite excess of his own—Edmund’s calculation, say—but in Kent’s comparative moderation. Likewise the viable alternative to his relationship to divine justice is not shown by Edmund with his ...
Lear begins to realize the fact that underneath the expensive clothes, there is a weak human being like any other. People in the society are judged and given a higher position based on how much luxury they have rather than for what they are. On the other side, regardless of how wealthy and powerful one is, one cannot escape from natural causes such as death. This reveals that even though there are boundaries between rich and poor people, they are all the same when it comes to issues like old, diseases and death. Hence, titles and clothes are the social illusions that separate humans in the name of the value and importance. Society also considers people with torn or poor clothes to be unimportant, while the ones with expensive clothes are considered valuable. The Fool calls Lear “fool” because the Fool clearly sees that Lear has lost his power. This is evident when the Fool points out that Lear has given away “All thy other titles thou hast given away; that/ thou wast born with” (I.iv.147-148). Lear no longer has the power and the title of a king since he has given his kingdom to his two daughters. Oswald, who is the chief servant in Goneril’s house, calls Lear “my lady’s father” rather than calling him a
Destruction of a family member may be gruesome. Although betraying a family member is deceitful. When there is false affection towards others, the truth will become noticed. To many, family is a top priority, to keep safe and loved by others, with no secrets among none. This may be possible for some, but in the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, this is not so. One thing that is more common in the entire play is betrayal from different family members, especially the Uncle. But, in a way that Hamlet discovered the truth was unorthodox. With Hamlet, the King of Denmark, finding out who killed his father was like being stabbed in the back because it felt unreal to know that your own blood can kill a loved one, just to be crowned king. The process of Hamlet killing his Uncle was
The worst feeling of pain anyone could feel is when you are betrayed by some who you though loved you. Betrayal is an act of disloyalty and it is violating someone's trust. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, betrayal is a reoccurring action between many characters. This play shows the audience different types of betrayal that are imaginable, from a husband betraying his wife, a boyfriend betraying his girlfriend and a mother betraying the son and father. These actions of betrayal hurt the people that are most loved and destroys them where it most hurts in the end. Betrayal is one of the strongest and most important themes in Hamlet. The entire play revolves around the murder of King Hamlet. Betrayal is expanded even further, there is not one character who does not commit betrayal through the course of the play. The actions of betrayal in the play lead to the hurtful destruction of the characters.
In conclusion, the social hierarchy in King Lear is one that values land and royalty by marriage. The desire to obtain either of the two was so great in the characters of Edmund, Goneril, Reagan and Cornwall that they were willing to go against the hierarchy itself and abandon all notions of morality. It was the actions of these four characters combined that brought about the destruction of the royal family and the downfall of Lear’s kingdom.
has no love for him and it does not exist. The same goes for her sister, Regan,
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
William Shakespeare extensively explores central themes and issues in the play, King Lear. Shakespeare discusses fake and true filial love and the rarity of loyalty in King Lear. Shakespeare portrays the importance of fake and true filial love through Lear and his daughters. In King Lear, loyalty is portrayed through Kent 's service to King Lear. The central themes and issues are the focus of the play King Lear.
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...