Similarities Between Morrie And King Lear

Author Abigail Buren said “Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age…” This statement rings true for Morrie Schwartz from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and Lear from King Lear by William Shakespeare. These two elderly men come from different backgrounds and experience several trials and adversity to acquire various levels of wisdom regarding dealing with relationships, society and death.

Firstly, Morrie Schwartz and King Lear have varying perspectives when dealing with relationships before they acquire wisdom from their personal experiences. In regards to Morrie Schwartz, due to his mother’s death early on in his life, Morrie was deprived of love until his father married Eva, his step-mother. Eva loved and nurtured Morrie

and his brother and taught them the significance of relationships, expressing one’s feelings, and developed Morrie’s passion for education. Moreover, only after that experience did Morrie realize the void in his life all these years, which could only be filled by human relations. Through this childhood experience, he learned to appreciate close interactions with his family and friends as he mentions "If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all” (Albom 27). This quotation exemplifies his views on the importance of maintaining a strong bond with the ones closest to you as it brings fulfillment and purpose to one’s life. In contrast, King Lear had a different view regarding relationships as he used his family to increase his own ego. For example, upon deciding to retire and divide his kingdom to his three daughters, Lear asked them to profess their affection for him as a way to rank which daughter loved him the most. Lear asked his daughters “Tell me, my daughters, /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?” (I.I. 47-51). After his two eldest daughters Goneril and Regan understood their father’s plans, they falsely exaggerated their affection towards King Lear in order to inherit the largest portion of wealth. When it comes to Lear’s beloved daughter Cordelia to express her love, she truthfully speaks from her heart and refuses to manipulate her father like her sisters has done. However, Lear is not content with her response and mistakes her love for disloyalty. As a result, he impulsively banishes his favorite daughter from the kingdom. Due to Lear’s lack of good judgement, he is unable to understand his daughter’s intentions until he witnesses Reagan and Goneril’s true intentions through their mistreatment and lack of respect. Through this appalling experience, Lear acknowledges Cordelia’s good intentions after she returns to his side when he is ill. Despite exiling and insulting her uprightness, she proves her unconditional love and thus Lear apologizes for his wrongful accusations as he states “When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down / And ask of thee forgiveness…” (V.III.10-11). Therefore, Morrie and King Lear changed their perspectives regarding relationships and love through their own mistakes and experiences.
Secondly, both Morrie and King Lear differ in views pertaining to following social cultures and societal status.

Morrie Schwartz often expresses his dislike for modern culture saying it makes people feel inadequate about themselves as people tend to follow trends blindly. He advises that people should disobey cultural rules at times if they feel it does not match their own moral principles. For instance, Morrie mentions “They repeat something over and over. And that’s what we do in this country…More money is good. More property is good... We repeat it-and have it repeated to us-over and over until nobody bother to even think otherwise" (Albom 124). This demonstrates his dislike towards some aspects of modern society and culture where too much importance is given to materialistic goods leading to greed instead of focusing on love, happiness and giving to others. In addition, Morrie views pop culture as a brainwashing machine to make people feel inadequate about themselves. He once states during his weekly lessons with Albom that he believes people value material goods because they use it as a substitute for the love they are missing in their lives. On the other hand, after distributing his wealth and power, Lear becomes furious when his daughters confront him on reducing the number of knights in his entourage. According to Lear, his noble knights represent his pride and without this he would be no better than an animal as even a beggar as more than the necessities of

life. Lear feels his reputation and status in society is all that matters to him, which he wishes to attain until his death. While Goneril and Reagan refuse to listen to his wishes, Lear leaves the mansion into the violent storm where he has a revelation as he states “Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,/That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,/How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, …Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,/That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,/And show the heavens more just” (III.III.28-37). Lear has a newfound empathy on how the kingdom’s poor resides and how little power and access to basic necessities they have. This terrible experience has opened Lear’s eyes on how partial he was to the poor when he had the authority to improve their lives. Accordingly, Lear realized that there are several issues within society which need to be rectified for instance how wealth and materialistic value are given more importance than empathy, relations and love. Ultimately, each character has become more aware and knowledgeable of the problems of their own particular society and how to deal with these matters.
Thirdly, Morrie and Lear both have different perspectives on how to deal with their impending death.

For example, after Morrie learns about his neurological disease, ALS he has time to think about the true important matters of life after accepting that the disease is quickly affecting his sense of independence. Morrie views death as a natural progression in life which he encourages everyone to embrace in order to live a free and satisfying life. He mentions that the people who try to avoid this topic are usually people who have many regrets and are not living their life fully. In addition, Morrie states "You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened... Forgive yourself. Forgive others... Not everyone gets the time that I’m getting" (Albom 166-167). This quotation explains Morrie’s beliefs about the importance of withholding one’s pride and ego at times to find inner peace within oneself and others before the opportunity is gone and all that is left is regret. He repetitively expresses that death is not something that should be feared, but acknowledged. In contrast, Lear has a different perspective towards death. Although he also accepts death similar to Morrie, Lear’s final days are filled with betrayal and regret. Lear makes the decision to forgo his responsibilities to his daughters and live the remaining days of his life lavishly as a king without any duties to fulfill. Later on, he acknowledges his great mistake of trusting his deceitful

daughters with such power after witnessing their true intentions of usurping his remaining power for their own selfish motives. At that moment Lear realized he was overpowered by greed and ego that he mistook Cordelia’s honesty for betrayal when in reality she was the only daughter who truly cared for him. This is apparent when Lear says “This feather stirs; she lives. If it be so, / It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows /That ever I have felt” (V.III.277-280). Lear expresses his wishes to make amends for his misbehavior towards Cordelia unfortunately however, she has already died leaving Lear to regret his actions. In summary, through the physical and mental challenges the characters confronted, they both have gained insight on the importance of forgiving others and to live without any repentances before their limited time on earth ends.
In conclusion, as shown in the previous paragraphs, old age is not always associated with old age, it can be acquired anytime through critical experiences in life regardless of one’s age. Morrie Schwartz learned in his childhood that love and relationships are one of the most important aspects in life that should be fostered and nurtured. Morrie also learns to create his own culture and morals instead of abiding by society’s standards. On the other hand, Lear gains knowledge regarding the social issues which are affecting the kingdom’s underprivileged and his misuse of power when he had authority. Lear also learns about the importance of nurturing relationships and forgiveness as a result of the betrayal he faced by Reagan and Goneril. In summary, Morrie Schwartz and King Lear have learned various levels of knowledge through the unfortunate incidents they experienced in their old age.