King Lear Good Vs Evil Essay

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King Lear is a flawed protagonist, however, his flaws are minor compared to the evil forces rallied against him. Ian Johnson explores this by using the main plot as well as the sub plot, Johnson uses characters to support his arguments that King Lear is a man that is sinned against due his own to his own sinning. Furthermore, psychoanalytic readings use King Lear as a basis for his daughters’ action as well as his own faults with the help of Magdalena Stawicka, King Lear is able to be read in a psychoanalytical way. Edward Dowden (1893) states that King Lear’s demise was due to his lack of foresight and the play heightens the split between good and evil. Therefore, King Lear is a victim of his environment. He has created a world in which he …show more content…

As Goneril and Regan are completely smitten with Edmund. They would go against each other for his hand, this can be seen as a Civil War in a way since King Lear has set up the country for it. Edward Dowden states that King Lear makes a clear split between good and evil in this play, one of them being Edgar and Edmund, another being Goneril and Regan’s contrast with Cordelia. Edmund however does not as Ian Johnson says have a desire to hurt his brother or father but just wants them out of the way, as Edmund says “Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit.” (1.2.167) The line makes no suggestion about hurting his family but just to further himself in society because of his status as the, ‘bastard son.’ With the use of a parallel plot Shakespeare is able to emphasis the Goneril and Regan’s evil intentions as well as bring Edmund’s intention into light. When the subplot intertwines with the main plot the audience is shown who the main sinners are of the play. In Act 3 Scene 7 Gloucester is caught, Regan and Cornwall give him a brutal punishment by plucking his eyes out leaving him blind. In this scene the audience sees Regan descend into complete evil. Gloucester’s blindness is physical while Lear’s blindness is makes him become more aware of what his daughters did to him. During Gloucester’s punishment he realises that his son Edgar is the one that would fulfill his filial duty towards his father and not Edmund who was only trying to get ahead of society so he could break expectations of being a “bastard.” In this scene the girls are presented as sinners when they act upon their lust for

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