The justice of suffering

615 Words2 Pages

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

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