King Lear is a complicated man, that cannot be only talked about in good or bad. We can argue he is a bad father and a bad king, but does this make him such a bad man who deserved the suffering he has gone through?
A king is the one person who has it all, without having to worry about the last years of his life. Still Lear cries out in a pitiful way: “I am a man / More sinned against than sinning.” What sins is Lear talking about? We can categorize sins in many ways; violation of religious or moral rules, thinking of evil ideas and too much free will.
In the beginning of the play King Lear has two big sins. The first one happens in act 1 scene 1, when he divides his kingdom, although he had his own good reasons for this. He knew he was getting old and by dividing up his kingdom, he knew he could die without burden. He doesn’t want to be king any longer, but does still want the perks of being a king. He thought giving his kingdom to his daughters would allow him to keep the perks. This is an action of greed, one of the deadly seven sins. We could interpret this as an hint of what is going to happen with King Lear, that is die.
In the same scene, he decides which part to give to which daughter according to their declaration on love for him. A sin in itself, wanting to quantify love. While his eldest daughters sin, by lying to King Lear about their love for him. These two sins by King Lear are the onset of all the sins that are directly or indirectly aimed at him.
In the same scene he banishes Kent, who spoke the truth to Lear on the banishment of Cordelia and that it was wrong to divide up the country between Gonerill and Reagan. In this scene King Lear loses his favourite, and honest daughter and his most loyal servant.
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...so argue Lear had good reason for his actions, he reacted to the circumstances at hand, and therefor made wrong choices. These choices don’t justify the sins that have been committed against Lear. Nor do they justify the deaths, especially Cordelia’s in the end. She dies in such a brutal way, which resembles the brutality of a man’s life in King Lear.
Our conclusion can go two ways. Lear deserved what happened to him, and Lear didn’t deserve what happened to him, it’s how you view life which the answer is. I can say that the suffering does point out that there is justice in suffering, it proves that being evil is useless and only by being good to others one can have a positive life and true mutual respect and unconditional love and friendship.
Works Cited
King Lear III, ii, 58-59
King Lear I, i, 166-179
King Lear I, iii, 13-14
King Lear I, iv, 279-280
Through Lear, Shakespeare expertly portrays the inevitability of human suffering. The “little nothings,” seemingly insignificant choices that Lear makes over the course of the play, inevitably evolve into unstoppable forces that change Lear’s life for the worse. He falls for Goneril’s and Regan’s flattery and his pride turns him away from Cordelia’s unembellished affection. He is constantly advised by Kent and the Fool to avoid such choices, but his stubborn hubris prevents him from seeing the wisdom hidden in the Fool’s words: “Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to: he will not believe a fool” (Shakespeare 21). This leads to Lear’s eventual “unburdening,” as foreshadowed in Act I. This unburdening is exacerbated by his failure to recognize and learn from his initial mistakes until it is too late. Lear’s lack of recognition is, in part, explained by his belief in a predestined life controlled completely by the gods: “It is the stars, the stars above us govern our conditions” (Shakespeare 101). The elder characters in King Lear pin their various sufferings on the will of...
Lear becomes blinded by his flaws, leading him to make irrational decisions which ultimately cause him to go mad. After Cordelia is unable to state how much she loves her father and outdo her sisters exaggerated professions of
King Lear is a perfect demonstration of the great consequences one man's actions can cause. While there are certainly religious Christian elements to the story, the story is not one of morality or hope. King Lear is a lesson, making an example of what can come of a single, foolish, egotistical action. King Lear's action is the surrendering of his throne to his daughters.
Let us first consider King Lear and his relationship with his daughter Cordelia. When King Lear asks Cordelia to profess her love for him she merely answers that she loves him according to her bond, no more. Enraged, the king banishes her without an inheritance or dowry. Cordelia tries to explain that she will not speak of her love for him in order to get fortunes since this would be deceitful. However, Lear refuses to understand and Cordelia leaves imploring her sisters to care for him.
After Kent delightfully brings the two together and Lear realizes who he is talking to, he begs for forgiveness: “Pray, do not mock me. / I am a very foolish fond old man, / Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less /....Do not laugh at me, / For as I am a man, I think this lady / To be my child Cordelia.“ (IV.vii.68-79). Lear has finally achieved self-awareness regarding his mistaken banishment of Cordelia, and proclaims to her in a surprising display of humility that he is just a “foolish fond old man.” Shocking the audience, Lear does not hold back his newfound sense of shame. He goes on: “Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray, weep not. If you have poison for me, I will drink it. I know you do not love me, for your sisters Have, as I do remember, done me wrong. You have some cause; they have not.” (IV.vii.81-85). In another case of both humility and misjudgment, Lear believes that Cordelia no longer loves him due to his mistakes. Lear could not be more wrong because Cordelia 's love for her father is unconditional and still lives. Cordelia virtuously accepts his apology and assures him “No, sir, you must not kneel,” (IV.vii.67). Although the two do not live much longer, Lear intends to live out the rest of their lives being the best a father can
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.
King Lear as a Tragedy Caused by Arrogance, Rash Decisions and Poor Judgement of Character
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.
actions he dies from heartbreak, and in his death Lear's soul has chosen to pass on for
The first stage of Lear’s transformation is resentment. At the start of the play it is made quite clear that Lear is a proud, impulsive, hot-tempered old man. He is so self-centered that he simply cannot fathom being criticized. The strength of Lear’s ego becomes evident in the brutal images with which he expresses his anger towards Cordelia: “The barbarous Scythian,/Or he that makes his generation messes/To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom/Be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved,/As thou may sometime daughter.” (1.1.118-122). The powerful language that Lear uses to describe his intense hatred towards Cordelia is so incommensurable to the cause, that there can be only one explanation: Lear is so passionately wrapped up in his own particular self-image, that he simply cannot comprehend any viewpoint (regarding himself) that differs from his own (no matter how politely framed). It is this anger and resentment that sets Lear’s suffering and ultimate purification in motion.
‘King Lear’ is a character driven play. As the main character, it is Lear’s decisions that affect those around him. Lear himself is stubborn, proud and is often blind to the truth. Because of this, it is made clear that Lear values appearance over reality, thus showing how the character and flaws of the character contribute to and further the conflict within the play (A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR). One of the biggest scenes that supports this is at the end of act two, scene four where Lear is driven to breaking point by the cruelties of Goneril and Regan. Lear rages against them, explaining that their attempts to take away his knights and his servants hurt him.
Though it seems she has good intentions, Lear’s youngest daughter’s apolitical mindset removes all her inhibitions when she chooses to confront her father with her flat, lackluster response to the aforementioned question. Her desire to immediately reveal her sisters’ irrational statements can be seen as honorable, but they certainly do not make her a savvy political player in the realm of King Lear. Perhaps Cordelia would have been able to outlive the Shakespearean tragedy body count if she had been able to bite her tongue for a few more days, or even a few more hours, but her desire to oust the truth at that very moment caused the snowball effect that would eventually lead to her
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
Revoke thy gift, / Or whilst I can vent clamor from my throat / I’ll tell thee thou dost evil” (1.1.161-164). It is evident that Lear made an advance toward Kent or threatened him in another way because Kent said killing him would be doing an evil deed. Through King Lear’s prideful, yet fearful and dismissive tone in his conversation with Kent in Act 1, Scene 1, it is noticeable that Lear fears that Cordelia is right about the fabricated love his two daughters express towards him.
The first flaw in King Lear is his arrogance, which results in the loss of Cordelia and Kent. It is his arrogance in the first scene of the play that causes him to make bad decisions. He expects his favorite, youngest daughter to be the most worthy of his love. His pride makes him expect that Cordelia’s speech to be the one filled with the most love. Unfortunately for King Lear’s pride, Cordelia replies to his inquisition by saying, “I love your majesty/According to my bond and nothing less';(1.1.100-101). Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia and splits the kingdom in half to the two evil sisters, Goneril and Regan. This tragic flaw prevents King Lear from seeing the truth because his arrogance overrides his judgement. Lear’s arrogance also causes him to lose his most faithful servan...