King Lear and Othello
William Shakespeare's King Lear and Othello are both tragic plays where many of the main and supporting characters die. Both characters are powerful men in charge of land and the citizens within that land but lose their power because of their own foolishness. Although Lear is a king at the start of the play and Othello is only a soldier, the two men both fulfill the role of the leader of their respective communities. This is not the only thing the two main characters have in common. In both stories, the main characters, Lear and Othello, make decisions which lead to the deaths of those they care about and a great deal of other violent consequences. Each character believes someone who lies to them, turns against an innocent person who did nothing wrong to them, experiences a period of madness, and ultimately makes choices which lead to his own death.
Lies are an important aspect of both King Lear and Othello. At the start of King Lear, he asks his daughters to declare how much they love him. The two elder daughters lie and the youngest tells the truth. Cordelia, the youngest, says, "Good, my lord, you have begot me, bred me, loved me; I / Return those duties back as are right fit"...
King Lear Siro: I am your servant, and servants ought never to ask their masters about anything, nor to look into any of their affairs, but when they are told about them by them themselves, they ought to serve them faithfully, so I have done and so I shall do. Siro asserts in Mandragola that the main duty of a loyal servant- and indeed, of others who serve, such as vassal, spouse
King Lear by Shakespeare, like his other plays, is a truly timeless work. The tragedy with which the play ends, together with the growth and pain experienced by the characters throughout the play continues to evoke pity even today. This, according to Grothe, is not the case with Nahum Tate's work, which ends without any of the main characters dying. One of the reasons for this is the fact that
For that reason, going mad is the perfect punishment. He led his mind into falsehoods through anger, and his mind essentially rebelled. In this light, it is somewhat ironic when Cordelia -- whose banishment was the source for Lear's madness, in this reading -- exclaims "he was met even now / As mad as the vexed sea" (IV, iv, 1-2). His madness brings her compassion, and ultimately his salvation. Just
King Lear The Shakespeare play King Lear has been adapted for modern audiences and staged at the University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre. Lee Soroko was the director, and made the decision to apply a modern context to the Shakespeare play. The result was surprisingly seamless. Veteran stage actor Dennis Krausnick plays King Lear, who in this case appears more like a military general than one might imagine when reading
Gloucester disinherits his legitimate son and Lear disinherits the daughter who shows the truest feeling regarding her love for him, even though she will not use fancy words to pretend she loves him more than she really feels. This is not because Reagan and Goneril are so clever -- Cordelia's suitors see her worth, even though she is disinherited, as does Lear's fool. Vanity causes Lear to be blind
Because justice is not administered according to moral arguments -- Lear also argues that since laws are made by the same people, they cannot be moral ones -- it is reduced to who holds power at a given moment in time. Similarly, the death of Lear's daughter, Cordelia, at the end of the play suggests that not even the gods or the divine powers which rule the universe have
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