Compare and Contrast the theme of violence in William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Second Generation by Neil Biswas
Although there is an immense gap in time between the work of William Shakespeare and Neil Biswas, it can be justified that there are various points of comparisons that can be made between their interpretations and presentations of the key theme of violence in their plays King Lear and Second Generation.
Written between 1603 and 1606, Shakespeare’s King Lear is one of the most celebrated tragedies. King Lear is among the most complex and contradictory of Shakespeare’s works. True to Shakespearean tradition, King Lear borrows its tragic elements from several types of tragedies that were popular during the Jacobean Renaissance. It is a play about the dysfunctional relationships between fathers and their children, and how a foolish father in old age can misread his kids. Whereas Second Generation is a is the epic British Asian love story by Neil Biswas, controversially is a modern re-making of King Lear based in East London. Biswas describes in an article called ‘Conflict between Cultures Can Be Positive’ the social factors that influenced his desire to produce the screenplay. Biswas passively describes himself as ‘second generation of Asians’ who like their parents can relate to the 1977 TV show ‘Mind Your Language’ Biswas based Second Generation in East London in the Bengali Community and used his very own personal experiences, things he has seen or imagined. ‘Knowing that they could happen’ Biswas wanted to share and convey with the audience ‘something truthful and not representative.’ He wanted to show the world how British Culture has been radically, in a good way changed by Asians. This is an insightful film that pulls no punches in portraying the pain, struggles, and strife found in immigrant South Asian families living in the West. Both King