The Significance of Nature in King Lear by William Shakespeare

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The Significance of Nature in King Lear by William Shakespeare

King Lear is a tragic playwritten by William Shakespeare. It is a play about the suffering of two families that are caught in a struggle of greed, lust, and cruelty which eventually results in extreme amounts of pain and destruction for all the characters. In King Lear, there is a circular relationship between the characters' behavior and nature. That is, the destruction of the two families results from human behavior breaking accepted laws of nature, and the disturbances in nature result from the disturbances in human behavior. Shakespeare portrays this theme by demonstrating the damage Lear and Edmund create when they break the laws of nature, and of course, nature itself in the form of the storm in King Lear.

The idea of nature is first introduces by Cordelia in the very beginning of the play. When Lear asks Cordelia to tell him how much she loves him, Cordelia responds by saying that she loves him "acoording to my bond." (1.1.102) Cordelia mean that her love for her father is based upon the laws of nature and involobes the clearest recognition of her filial obligations. It is this law which Lear himslef depends on when he expects to be revered and obeyed both as a king and as a father by all his daughters. Shakespeare demonstrates this idea when he points out that at a later point in the play, after Lear is treated horribly by Goneril, Lear expressed his conviction that Regan, unlike Goneril, knows better "the offices of nature, bond of childhood." (2.4.202) It is ironic that here Lear uses the exact same word as Cordelia has used before, that is, "bond" to describe the natural ties that he himslef broke before only to expect that they would be followe...

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... is, the death of the two families. The process of disturbance in nature's laws leading to destruction of human lives applies both ways. It is because of disturbed human behavoir, namely Lear's behavoir, that nature is disturbed, which brings about the storm. Shakespeare is basing his characters' suffering on the fact that the characters in his play did not respect and obey the rules of nature. Perhaps by emphasizing the significance of the role that nature plays in human lives. Shakespeare is trying to increase the awareness of the people of his time to the importance of nature's rules, and by that, remind them not to doubt and go against what is accepted for it might result in paing and distruction. Shakespeare accomplishes this through showing the readers the destruction of his characters that was rooted in their violation of the accepted rules of nature.

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