¶ … Fool in "King Lear" is one of the complex characters that is allowed, under a veil of foolishness, to say anything in front of the King, because he is considered to be partially irresponsible and, as such, cannot be punished for the things he says. The result is a confusing set of remarks, but many of these have underlying significance and effect on the play itself. The fact that he is able to speak his mind freely allows the author to sometimes put in his own remarks and observations as to the way the action of the play is constructed, without actually being one of the characters of the plays. The Fool starts his speeches in Act I, Scene 4, where one can identify two types of speeches. In one type, he is making comments on the actions of the King, notably on the way he banished his daughter. However, the way he expresses this does not seem necessarily to reflect the entire reality of things. A line such as "Why, this fellow hath banish'd two on's daughters, and did the third a blessing against his will" is not a real one: the King has banished one of his daughters and, apparently, did a blessing to the other two. The nonsense part of The Fool's speeches seems to be usually built upon these lines in which he reverses...
The fact that occasionally the Fool speaks in rhymes usually puts the reader in guard that this might be something that does not make sense, such as the lines in Act III, Scene 6 "Her boat hath a leak, And she must not speak Why she dares not come over to thee." While the actual conclusion is preceded by several useless lines, the conclusion is, in fact, that the character is afraid to come next to Edgar. This is noticeable across some of the other interventions that the Fool says: he usually speaks several lines that have no actual impact on the action before coming out with the one that has meaning for the course of the action.
Animal Imagery in King Lear One of the most apparent motifs in Shakespeare's King Lear is the use of animals. This paper attempts to understand the choice of animal motifs and the role it is intended to play in conveying the playwright's message. The first reference to an animal in the play is right at the beginning, when King Lear says: "Peace, Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath" (1.1.125).
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
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
Shakespeare spent much of his literary career writing wonderfully descriptive plays that not only entertained in his time, as well as ours, but also managed to teach lessons or morals to the audience. King Lear is no exception - there is meaningless violence that strips the world of justice and good, and the foolish (King Lear and Gloucester) are left with the realization of what they have done, and the
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now