Shakespeare's King Lear: The Invention Of The Human

860 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical comments on shakespeare's king Lear

In Acts 2 and 3, Lear is forced to reckon with the false affection his daughters have sold him. In consequence, Lear comes to understanding more about himself and the actions which have lead him to his now, what I would call, deconstructed state. In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom evaluates the character, writing:
Lear’s utterances establish a standard of measurement that no other fictive personage can approach, the limits of human capacity for profound affect are consistently transcended by Lear. To feel what Lear suffers strains us as only our own greatest anguishes have hurt us; the terrible intimacy that Lear insists upon is virtually unbearable. (Bloom 513)
Mr. Bloom asserts, that Lear reckons with love, and its …show more content…

A prominent example can be found in Act 1, Scene 4, where the fool lays out the blunt and truthful manner of their relationship: “Nuncle, e’er since thou mad’st thy daughters thy mothers; for when thou gav’st them the rod, and put’st down thine own breeches” (1.4.176-78). The fool can speak to Lear in chastising manner, “whipping him” with the full context of his situation, and get away with it. Their relationship is built upon mutual trust with Lear internalizing the fool’s broadsides. In the above quote, the fool acknowledges how Lear has, truthfully, given over his power to his daughters and now should not be surprised when they execute that power to serve their needs. This plain truth cannot be denied, yet, Lear himself, while aware of it, struggles with accepting his new reality. Yet, the fool continues to drive home this idea. Warning him in Act 2, Scene 4 of the impending consequences of his abdicating his power and implicating to him that he no longer has any control of his daughters: “Fathers that wear rags / Do make their children blind. / But fathers that bear bags / Shall see their children kind” (2.4.46-49). Lear’s daughters it seems are no longer “kind” towards a father who has nothing they are in need of. The fool’s observation unsettles Lear: “O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! / Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow” (2.4.55-56). Thereby, moving Lear closer to

Show More
Related

  • Human Suffering in Inferno and King Lear

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... that explore the vastness of human suffering. However, though they both state that human suffering is unavoidable, there is a sense of levity in the Inferno that is absent in King Lear. The final message of King Lear implies the idea that human suffering is universal and that one’s choices not only cause one’s own suffering, but also invariably lead to the suffering of others. King Lear ends on a note of immense sorrow, while Inferno’s final message is a much more hopeful one, giving voice to the idea that the ubiquity of human suffering does not mean that all hope is lost. In Inferno, suffering is an aspect of the human experience, but not the only aspect, and it does not have to define one’s life.

    Read More

  • King Lear Analysis

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Shakespeare story King Lear, two of the women were portrayed as emasculating and disloyal while the third was honest and truthful. Showing, that most women who have power can’t be trusted. The story told of a king named Lear who had three daughters named Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. Lear had given his two oldest daughters Goneril, and Regan a piece of land even though they had lied to their father telling him feelings that they didn’t really have. Then there was his youngest daughter she was as honest and truthful as any other child could be.

    Read More

  • King Lear - Disruption Of Order In King Lear And The Causes

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • foolear A Fool for a King in William Shakespeare's King Lear

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Shakespeare's play King Lear, the main character, King Lear, is presented as a respected and powerful king. As the story progresses the king loses his power because of his own stupidity and blindness. The tragedy of this play is shown chiefly through the actions of Lear’s daughters, which lead to Lear’s bout with insanity, and through the words of the Fool.

    Read More

  • Mental Illness in Shakespeare's Works

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    Of the three plays, King Lear is the one that examines mental illness the most. King Lear is the story of the titular king, Lear, his decision to exclude his third daughter, Cordelia, from her inheritance, the abuse he suffers at the hands of his other two daughters, Goneril and Regan, and his descent into insanity, before dying. Possibly the first indication of Lear’s madness is when he declares, “Since now we will divest us both of rule,/Interest of territory, cares of state,/--Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend.”(King Lear 1.1.49). What Lear is saying here is, to his daughters, that the one who declares she loves him the most will acquire the most land and property. This scene is the setup for the entire play, and so could be viewed as the beginning of Lear’s descent into madness. It is at this point that Lear’s sanity begins rapidly decaying. It begins with him recognizing his madness, crying, “O, let me not be mad, not ...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Social Illusion In King Ler And Brave New World

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's King Lear - A World too Cruel?

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite its undeniable greatness, throughout the last four centuries King Lear has left audiences, readers and critics alike emotionally exhausted and mentally unsatisfied by its conclusion. Shakespeare seems to have created a world too cruel and unmerciful to be true to life and too filled with horror and unrelieved suffering to be true to the art of tragedy. These divergent impressions arise from the fact that of all Shakespeare's works, King Lear expresses human existence in its most universal aspect and in its profoundest depths. A psychological analysis of the characters such as Bradley undertook cannot by itself resolve or place in proper perspective all the elements which contribute to these impressions because there is much here beyond the normal scope of psychology and the conscious or unconscious motivations in men.

    Read More

  • Self Awareness In King Lear

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Since Lear was egotistical and lacked self-awareness, he was not willing to accept others input, making him find out for himself who is the root to his happiness. Lear suffers through his madness to realize who can bring him true happiness.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of King Lear and Coriolanus

    2224 Words  | 5 Pages

    We first see Lear as an autocratic dictator when he divides his kingdom and banishes Cordelia. He rules with an iron fist, refusing to accept advice from anyone. His chief flaw is the tendency to believe he must always be correct. This self-imposed perfection leads to a separation between him and his flawed, human subjects. He simply cannot relate to their way of seeing life, cannot see himself as connected in any way with humankind as a whole. His concern does not extend beyond what immediately touches him and cannot embrace the interests of his subjects, as it should. An example of Lear's inability to understand anyone's perspective but his own occurs when Kent attempts to persuade him to abandon his folly. Lear cannot accept what he sees as Kent's criticism and banishes his advisor. He states:

    Read More

  • Examples Of Suffering In King Lear

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his madness, King Lear is hiding from Cordelia in cornfields. He is so, “overwhelmed with shame and remembers how unkind he was to her” (IV.iii. 42-43). King Lear remembers how at the beginning of the play, he disowned his daughter and gave her no part of his kingdom. He did this after she refused to flatter her father and told him that she, “gives back just as she should: I obey you, love you, and honour you” (I.i.95-96). He realizes that his other two daughters, Goneril and Regan, to whom he gave his inheritance, just used fake words to flatter him. He comes to recognize they were disloyal and disrespected him as a father after they disowned him and took away his knights. It is only Cordelia who truly loves him and comes searching for him after she learns of her sisters’ cruel behaviour towards him. This realization shows how he has evolved as a character and how Cordelia had a, “significant role in effecting change in the figure of Lear” (LeBlanc,

    Read More

  • King Lear

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    1.     Betrayal, Reconciliation, Authority versus Chaos, and Justice are different issues or themes that Shakespeare presents to his audience and asks them to battle and wrestle against. The first issue is the betrayal of the king and of Gloucester, and the reconciliation between them and their loved ones in the end, and the authority versus the chaos in the city on England and finally the Justice issue in which both the bodies of the good and the bad lay next to the each other in the end of the play.

    Read More

  • Division and Destruction in King Lear

    1658 Words  | 4 Pages

    As King, Lear represents in himself the conditions of the country which identifies itself with him just as he identifies himself with it. He is a man of great vital power, a commander of men, not only by virtue of his position, but by his very nature. He is generous, open and unsuspicious, though too choleric, vain, obstinate, passionate and domineering to be simply called "good". Beneath his vital personality of power lies an emotional ...

    Read More

  • Power's Destruction: King Lear

    691 Words  | 2 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.

    Read More

  • King Lear

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abbey exhibited King Lear, another of his large, dramatic pictures, at the Royal Academy in 1898; the painting was accompanied in the catalog by these lines from Act I, scene i:

    Read More

  • traglear King Lear Essays: King Lear as a Bradley Tragedy King Lear essays

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is the first and most significant of the many sins that he makes in this play. By abdicating his throne to fuel his ego he disrupts the great chain of being which states that the King must not challenge the position that God has given him. This undermining of God's authority results in chaos that tears apart Lear's world. Leaving him, in the end, with nothing. Following this Lear begins to banish those around him that genuinely care for him as at this stage he cannot see beyond the mask that the evil wear. He banishes Kent, a loyal servant to Lear, and his youngest and previously most loved daughter Cordelia. This results in Lear surrounding himself with people who only wish to use him which leaves him very vulnerable attack. This is precisely what happens and it is through this that he discovers his wrongs and amends them.

    Read More

More about Shakespeare's King Lear: The Invention Of The Human

Open Document