King Lear Acts I-III
Although Shakespeare's characters are usually extremely eloquent, in King Lear, characters who can speak well do not prove to be the most ethical or the most virtuous people in society. Instead, the least articulate characters or characters who are not what they seem are the most morally irreproachable. Appearances continually deceive the supposedly oldest and wisest people in society.
For example, both Reagan and Goneril express their love for their father in flowery, poetic terms, but their true sincerity of feeling, in contrast to Cordelia's simple words, is patently lacking. Edmund, the Earl of Gloucester's illegitimate son, is far cleverer than either his legitimate half-brother Edgar, or his father, and convinces Gloucester that Edgar is plotting against him. The wisest character in the play, the Fool, speaks in riddles. The most loyal of all of Lear's men, Kent, is disguised as a commoner called Caius, and Edgar, one of the sanest characters, pretends to be mad. Failing to look deeper than surface meanings of words and people results in folly and the undoing of the kingdom.
Both fathers in the play -- Lear, and also the Earl of Gloucester, are unable to estimate the true worth of their children. 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 to the truth, and Gloucester is literally blinded because of his folly in supporting Edmund.
Sometimes it is said that young people do not live up to their responsibilities. In Lear, it is the old who do not live up to their responsibilities -- Lear wants to behave like a foolish child, give up his right to rule, and simply enjoy himself at both daughter's expense. Gloucester, paranoid of being overthrown, turns against the son who loves him. In failing to show good judgment, the old create a society that is cruel to the good and the young, such as Cordelia and Edgar.
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
Medea vs. King Lear: Domestic royal tragedies The tragedy of Medea by Euripides and the Tragedy of King Lear by Shakespeare are tales of great kingdoms gone awry yet they are also domestic tragedies. The undoing of Jason's and King Lear's kingdoms are not based in an onslaught of a foreign power but in the kings' irresponsible actions as husbands and fathers. Both plays underline the significance of domestic tragedy in
Screwtape and Lear: What Both Say About Duty and Christian Love The underlying perspective that both King Lear and The Screwtape Letters share may be called a Christian perspective, in which duty, humility and sacrifice are indirectly valued as the best ideals, though, of course, Screwtape also notes that "duty comes before pleasure" (Lewis 21). While Cordelia represents Christ in Lear, the ordeals of Wormwood's patient resemble the crisis of identity
Shakespeare and Insanity An Analysis of Insanity in Four Plays by Shakespeare Shakespeare lived at a time when the old medieval Catholic world was splitting apart and giving rise to the new modern Protestant world. In the midst of this real conflict, Shakespeare depicts on stage several different characters that go mad. Some feign madness, some truly lose their minds, and some are bewitched by the maddening charms of love potions. This
Obscurity of Real Feeling and Intentions in King Lear and Hamlet "Nay madam, I know not seems," says Hamlet to his mother Gertrude. (Act 1.2) By this he means he is not pretending to mourn his beloved father. Hamlet's mourning suit of inky black fabric truthfully expresses his feelings. However, Hamlet does deploy language later in the play to both obscure and reveal his true feelings. After he learns the
Look with thine ears: see how yond / justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in / thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which / is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen / a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?"(IV. vi. 166-171) Lear's words are very interesting: he urges Gloucester thus to listen inwardly to his deeper sense of perception and not trust merely his eyes.
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