Pride In King Lear

What lasting effect can a touch of humility have on a previously prideful individual? King Lear, in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear, is faced with the question of becoming more deferential after having been burdened by the weight of his ulteriorly motivated daughters. He, who is held in high esteem, focuses solely on his own ego and fails to acknowledge the devotion of his caring daughter, Cordelia. As the plot unfolds, Lear reflects on his regrets and becomes more insightful as he realizes his comparative insignificance to the expansive world in which he lives. Lear’s faulty sanity, the result of his encumbrance, pushes him to become more aware of his absence as an effective king who genuinely cares for his constituents. King Lear, who started as a greedy and overly prideful monarch, is humbled by his burdens and learns from his mistakes, leading him to prioritize his considerations and

develop the values needed to be a more discerning individual.

At the start of Shakespeare’s play, Lear is accusatory, impulsive, demanding and obnoxiously authoritative in the eyes of many. As opposed to adhering to the advice of his advisers, King Lear, having “Grown senile, scoffed at the foresight of his advisers and declared that each [daughter’s] statement of her love for him would determine the portion of the kingdom she received as her dowry” (Rosenblum 163). Lear, early on in the play, shows a disregard for the opinions of others and relies solely on his own intuition. His egotism leads him to make childish actions and his superficiality; a regrettable choice. Instead of abiding by common morale and carrying out a more professional way of splitting his kingdom, Lear thinks only of himself by saying, “Tell me, my daughters— / Which of you shall we say doth love us

most, / That we our largest bounty may extend / Where nature doth with merit challenge.” (1.1.52-58). Surprised by their father’s request yet eager to get their share of the kingdom, Goneril and Regan both look to appease their father by giving an elaborate responses of how immeasurable their love for him is. Deciding to retire and split his kingdom, Lear “Shows that it is foolish to divest oneself of power and responsibility and yet expect to retain the trappings of authority” (Rosenblum 165). Nevertheless, this is exactly what he does when he relies with ill-placed confidence on the love of his daughters. Cordelia does not give an adequate response and ignites Lear’s mercurial temperament. Days after having disowned his dear Cordelia, his eldest born, Goneril, sends him away. Again, Lear lashed out in anger and frustration, putting to use merciless vocabulary. Casting a wretched curse on his daughter, Lear says, “From her derogate body never spring / A babe to honor her. If she must teem, / … Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits / To laughter and contempt, that she may feel how sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!” (1.4.289-303). Enraged by Goneril’s sudden discontent with his presence, Lear throws a childish fit and immerses himself in the stormy weather where his mental state begins to deteriorate.
In wondering the wooded areas of the region, Lear ponders each and every one of his burdens; the loss of his kingdom, the hatred of his daughters and the growing sadness within him. This intense review of his considerations causes Lear to lose his grip on reality and starts to question and think philosophically about the world around him. He comes to the realization that he is failing to care for his constituents due to the abundance of rage in which he involves himself. The harsh weather conditions make Lear think about those without shelter and how they suffer without the guidance of a protective leader. During his trudge through the severe storm, Lear achieves self-knowledge and an understanding of his relation to others. To that end, as he “outlasts the physical storm, he endures a passage of emotional anguish leading to comprehension of his own guilt” (Shapiro 139). As he loses his grip on sanity, oddly enough, he gains a deeper understanding for things that his own interests had, in the past, hindered. He gives thought to topics ranging from maintaining a mighty kingdom, to the strength of the elements and adultery. As he, the Fool and Kent find shelter in the hovel, Lear finds himself caring about the well-being of those who accompany him by saying, “Come, your hovel.— / Poor Fool and knave, I have one part in my heart / That’s sorry yet for thee” (3.2.77-80). The gradual softening of Lear’s heart and his ease into a modest demeanor is exemplified through his intense thoughts and seemingly insignificant acts of kindness. In addition to his sudden change of heart, King Lear, although suffering from the clouded vision of insanity, sees his daughter in his company. In making the connection while frolicking in the field and wearing a crown of wild flowers, Lear says, “Ha! Goneril with a white beard? They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there” (Act 4, Scene 6, 96-99). Despite his faulty sanity, Lear is able to easily recognize who he thinks is his daughter while, when he was sane, he did not detect the deceit that was right before him. In his madness, Lear discovers a sense of self-knowledge and an invaluable understanding of the world that previously had been fogged over by his pride and narcissism.
Rediscovering the world with a new point of view, Lear’s madness is comparable to Edgar’s case, in the sense that they are both disguised mentally or physically. Madness plays a big role in helping characters unveil the truth behind their burdens. To that end, it is made clear that “Through Lear’s madness, and through Edgar’s pretense of madness, the tragedy insists on a common humanity” (Woods 9). After a long trek and having arrived to France, King Lear, still in a mentally unstable daze, reunites with his only loyal daughter, Cordelia, who despite the mistreatment, is elated to be reunited with her father. The meeting was filled with a flood of emotions but “The joy of their reunion was clouded by his repentance for having misunderstood and mistreated his only loyal daughter” (Rosenblum 164). Nevertheless, conflict rolls on and the violence worsens exponentially after Gloucester is gauged of his eyes. At the apex of the violence among the characters, Cornwall, Oswald, Goneril, Regan, Gloucester, Edmund and Cordelia die. Impacted by the catastrophic death of his faithful and beloved offspring, Lear’s “Final outpouring of love is unselfish; [Cordelia] can do nothing for him now. Her body is dead and useless, but the values for which she stood are those that endure” (Wells 61). Shakespeare’s intricate writing of the last act epitomizes “the special realm of imaginative writing, with its special obligations, two of which [are] vividness and probability” (Maclean 32). The King’s progression from an easily-angered individual to one who recognizes guilt and the wrongdoings that he has committed, is meticulously incorporated into this tragedy.
Lear, who commenced as a sub-par monarch due to his attributes of egotism and austerity, is humbled by his burdens, leading him to prioritize the important aspects of his life and develop the moral code needed to be a more sagacious individual. Over the course of the play, Lear’s demeanor went from one of austere manner and unsympathetic ways, to one of guilt and optimism after having realized the grave mistake that he had made, in sending his dear daughter, Cordelia, away. He transitions from an easily angered man to one that had gone mad only to discover himself and the world around him. Weighed down by strife, familial deceit, betrayal and violence, grief and shame overwhelm Lear to the point where he goes mad. For most of his life, Lear went through life with two outstretched and ready-to-fight fists as opposed to open arms; luckily he was overcome by a wave of humility and self-knowledge that changed his way of thinking. Through this revelation, he regains his sensible manner of treating others with a greater modicum of respect. At a time when his problems became too heavy a load for him to haul, Lear’s entire self felt unappreciated and unloved. Robert McNamara, former United States Secretary of defense, captured this thought perfectly when he said, “Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated.”. In the King’s unfortunate case, both his heart and mind were driven to madness but out of this, sprung new and improved characteristics.

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