Power's Destruction: King Lear

691 Words2 Pages

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.
Edmund lusted for all of his father’s power, lying to his gullible brother and father aided him in his plan for total authority along with destroying their lives. As bastard son of Gloucester, Edmund wanted to receive all of the power destined for his brother, Edgar, who was Gloucester’s legitimate son. Edmund stated his disapproval of his brother, “Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom, and permit/ The curiosity of nations to deprive me/ For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines/ Lag of a brother? Why bastard?”(1.2.2-6). Edmund wanted the respect and love that Edgar received even though he was Gloucester’s bastard son. He claimed that he was not much younger or “moonshines lag of a brother” therefore he should be considered just as smart and able-minded as any legitimate son. He built up hatred toward Edgar and in order to get rid of him he convinced his father that Edgar had betrayed him through a letter. The letter that Edmund made read, “If our father would sleep till I waked him, you/ should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live/ the beloved of your brother, Edgar”(1.2.55-57). Edmund portrayed Edgar as the son that would kill Gloucester only to inherit his money and share his inheritance with Edmund. Gloucester believed Edmund, sending out guards to kill Edgar for his betrayal...

... middle of paper ...

...caused Lear to curse Goneril and Regan for not caring for him but for ruining his life. Goneril and Regan selfishness for power overwhelmed them leading to their lies of their love for their father and his power would never be returned so they could inherit all of his power.
Hatred and desire fueled Goneril, Regan, and Edmund to lie in order to obtain their parents’ power leading to destruction within their family. Edmund’s hatred was continued by the reminder that he was only the bastard son of Gloucester driving him to lie to both of them ultimately ruining his father’s eyesight and his brother’s identity. Goneril and Regan got rid of their father while retained his power by lying about who loved him the most and took away his knights. From King Lear, Shakespeare concluded that greed and power are capable of ruining a family.

Works Cited

shakespeare, King Lear

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Power In King Lear And A Streetcar Named Desire

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • King Lear and a Brave New World: Similar Themes and Motifs

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    way Goneril and Regan treated King Lear they way they as the result of jealousy towards Cordelia.

    Read More

  • Disobedience in William Shakespeare's King Lear

    1686 Words  | 4 Pages

    Goneril and Regan commit many sins against their father, which in Jacobean times would have been seen as evil or against the natural order. Shakespeare portrays this theme with both outright and subtle actions throughout the play. It is only when Lear returns to himself that the audience sees how wrong his treatment was, with the return of Cordelia, who bears no grudge. Goneril and Regan, as it may be seen, were too spoilt by their father and the Fool's words to Lear summarize what has happened. "For you know, nuncle,

    Read More

  • King Lear as a Commentary on Greed

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, embodies the idea of avarice from the very beginning of the play almost until the end.  In fact, Edmund seems to become more and more greedy as the production progresses.  When Edmund is first introduced in person on stage, after a short exposition of his character by Gloucester and Kent in the first scene, the audience immediately finds Edmund engaged in a plot to strip his father's inheritance from his...

    Read More

  • Lear's Pride Creates his Madness

    1855 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... 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.

    Read More

  • Free Essay: Restructuring Relationships Shakespeare's King Lear

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Essay on Edgar's role in King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame" (3.4.51-52), and reveals his plan "to kill [the] vermin" (3.4.51-52). And by calling Edmund a "foul fiend" who had "course[d] his own shadow for a traitor" (3.4.57-58), he parallels Edmund with a devil, which is trying to make him commit suicide by laying "knives under his pillow" (3.4.54). And because King Lear's madness begins to be revealed after realizing that he'd been fooled by his daughters (2.4.273-286), he asks Edgar if he became mad due to daughters too (3.4.49-50). They both are outcasts of Gloucester Castle.... ...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Cruelty In King Lear

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edmund’s discontent with the notion of bastardy is brought up furthermore in his soliloquy at the beginning of scene two: “Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law/ My services are bound. Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom…” (II.1-3). The notion of bastardy in Lear pushes Edmund to place his faith in his born traits as opposed to the system that has labeled him an outsider his whole life. He believes he is equal to his brother in every way—his mind and shape as true—and the only reason he is not aloud to prosper is because of a preconceived idea of the ideal child. Inevitably, Edmund wants to rebel against the system that has stifled him for so long. Gloucester is primarily responsible for Edmund’s actions because he in no way raised him equal to Edgar. Edmund’s goal to usurp his brother and earn the power he believes he deserves is due to the notion of bastardy in the play; Edmund questions “why brand they us with ‘base, base bastardy’” in his first soliloquy (II.10) . After all, even Kent attested to his fine demeanour. But, the steadfast notion of bastardy at the time drove Edmund to the point of betrayal because there was no hope for him in playing by the rules as they are fundamentally opposed to a bastard’s prosperity. With this soliloquy, Edmund positions himself as the more disserving

    Read More

  • King Lear and Illegitimacy

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare’s treatment of illegitimacy in the play King Lear can be interpreted in many ways depending on the audience. The situation of illegitimacy is portrayed through the relationships of the characters the Earl Of Gloucester and his two sons Edgar and Edmund. Edmund is the illegitimate son while Edgar was born within the law. We learn of Edmund’s illegitimacy in the opening scene in the first act where The Earl of Gloucester is holding a conversation with Kent while Edmund is nearby. Gloucester speaks flippantly and lightly of the way his illegitimate son came into the world while introducing him to Kent saying, “ Though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet his mother was fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged” (Act I, Scene I, Lines 19-24). There are several peculiar things about this dialogue. One of the interesting aspects of Gloucester and Kent’s discussion is the readiness of Gloucester to admit he has fathered a child out of wedlock. This may be influenced by the fact that Edmund had obviously grown into a son that a father would be proud to have. At first meeting he seems polite, courteous, and loyal. Perhaps these admirable character traits are cause for Gloucester’s willingness to publicly claim Edmund as his own. Another unusual occurrence in the opening dialogue is that Gloucester calls Edmund a whoreson and a knave while he is close by and probably in hearing distance. This seems odd because Gloucester professes to feel only love for his son and no shame but he seems to almost mock him in this situation. One explanation for this behavior may be that deep down Gloucester still harbors some discomfort about the relationship between himself and his son despite his verbal proclamations of shamelessness. This could be inferred from Gloucester’s statement, “ His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to ‘t.” (Act I, Scene I, Line 9). Again, depending on the audience the attitudes displayed in the play by the characters and Shakespeare himself by his writing can be interpreted in a variety of ways depending on the observer.

    Read More

  • King Lear as a Tragedy Caused by Arrogance, Rash Decisions and Poor Judgement of Character

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    King Lear as a Tragedy Caused by Arrogance, Rash Decisions and Poor Judgement of Character

    Read More

  • Social Values in King Lear

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester is not pleased with his status as a bastard. Edgar the legitimate son of Gloucester stands to obtain the lands, wealth and power of his father. Edmund thinks this is unfair and begins a plot to banish his brother and obtain the lands of his father. He begins by writing a fake letter from Edgar saying that he wants to murder his father and wishes to take power by force. Edmund uses his deceiving abilities to make the letter seem genuine. He lies to his father about how he came into possession of the letter: “It was not brought me, my Lord; t...

    Read More

  • The Most Evil Character in King Lear: Goneril

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Goneril is also a very revengeful person. She gets back a Lear’s favouritism of his daughter Cordelia by taking away everything from Lear and then turning her back on him. The bonus for her was the money and power. However, even after she gained his money, she still indulged in torturing Lear by casting him away with nothing. It was not necessary, for Lear does not take much money to take care of. She could have at least let him sleep in her house as opposed to outside.

    Read More

  • King Lear Betrayal Analysis

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Comparing Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres and William Shakespeare's King Lear

    2149 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... which would have prevented this tragedy.  The blinding Gloucester becomes ironic because when he is blinded he is able to see that he has judged his son Edgar wrongly and it is Edmund who is evil.  Similarly, in A Thousand Acres  Loren the loyal son is the cause of his tragedy.   Both Lear and Larry become mad after giving up their power too early.  When Lear turns his kingdom over to his daughters he looses respect and power which cause him to go mad.  When Larry signs his farm over to his daughters he looses control of the land and goes mad.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's King Lear - The Redemption of King Lear

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    Perhaps Lear's most difficult moment to endure is when he discovers his youngest and most prized daughter, Cordelia, dead. His initial reaction is of unbearable pain, but, being in his current state of madness, some of the anguish is alleviated when he "realizes" that she is alive. The king overcomes his earlier mistakes only after losing the one daughter who truly loved him. It's debatable whether Lear is completely conscious of his loss, but more plausible to suspect he is not fully affected by it as he is no longer in his right mind. Finally, Lear has dealt with the consequences of his decisions and is redeemed.

    Read More

More about Power's Destruction: King Lear

Open Document