...KING LEAR Act One The play opens at Lear’s court, where we meet the main characters. The opening scene is in itself shocking, as Lear forces his daughters to declare their love for him. The one who loves him the most will receive the largest part of his kingdom, which he intends to divide between the three. Lear himself wishes to hand over the ruling of the kingdom to his daughters, while retaining the ‘Pre-eminence, and all the large effects / That troop with majesty’ (Scene 1, Lines 131-2). Goneril and Regan acquit themselves well at this love test. Cordelia, however, dismayed by her sisters’ ponderous words, refuses to take part in the ‘contest’ and tells Lear that she loves him as her duty instructs her. When Cordelia refuses to speak again, Lear casts her off without a moment’s hesitation. Ken attempts to argue with the King, accusing him of ‘hideous rashness’ (Scene 1, Line 151). When Kent further warns Lear that his elder daughters are false flatterers, Kent too is banished. Lear invests Albany and Cornwall with power, and, after Burgundy refuses to take Cordelia as his wife, now that she is without dowry, France takes her for her virtues alone. Goneril and Regan complain, in private, about Lear’s harsh judgement and unpredictable behaviour and worry that they too may be treated unfairly. Edmund, Gloucester’s bastard son, soliloquises about his own situation, revealing his devious intentions towards his brother. When his father enters, Edmund’s...
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...in front of us. Before diving into the details of words and imagery let’s have a look at key synopsis and events in the play related to our theme: * 1.1.130 Lear uses flattery test to divide his kingdom (shortsightedness) * 1.1.161 Overtaken by anger Lear says “out of my sight” to Cordelia his favorite daughter (anger) * 1.1.16 Lear banishes loyal Kent for his honesty (anger) * 1.4.9 Lear does not recognize Kent in disguise and employs him again (shortsightedness) * 1.4.200 Lear asks “Where are his eyes?” (confusion) * 1.4.204 “Lear’s shadow” is fool’s answer to Lear question about how he is (fool wise words) * 1.5.20-21 “To keep one’s eyes of either side’s nose, that what a man cannot smell out he may spy into” (Fool wise word) * 1.5.36-37 “If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I’d have thee beaten for being old before your time.” (Fool) * 3.2.1-13 “Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow, You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphorous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the think rotundity o’th’world! Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once That makes ingrateful man!” (rage) * 3.2.14-24 “Rumble they bellyful! Spit fire! Spout rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters. I tax not you,...
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...The True Nature of Lear’s Madness Out of all of Shakespeare’s works, King Lear is by far his greatest tragedy. Tragedy, not in the sorts of horrific blood shed, but in terms of the hostile nature of humankind, that was thoroughly explored within the play. The brilliance of the play does not only lie in its brilliant storyline, it ultimately lies in the numerous universal, yet controversial themes. Themes of familial obligation, metaphorical blindness, political disarray, cruelty, betrayal, insanity and madness, these are only a few of the many conveyed. The critical summation of King Lear is as such: King Lear, ruler of Britain, decides to abdicate his throne and leave Britain in the charge of his three daughters. However, due to his weakness to flattery he bestows the entire kingdom to his daughters, Goneril and Regan. Unlike her malevolent sisters, Cordelia is banished by Lear. Ultimately, as a result of the committed acts, Lear sets not only himself, but also his entire country into civil strife. The natural order originally established by Lear falls apart and disorder engulfs the realm. Lear’s, ‘fall from grace’ in addition to the abuse he attains from his offspring causes him to go temporarily insane. However, insanity leads Lear to self-realization, completely stripped from his royal pretensions. Such a realization causes Lear to overlook his values and finally learn of humility. One is able to state that before the climax took place Lear, in fact was ‘mad’, this...
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...Metamorphosis of King Lear Through the course of the play, King Lear goes through a process of attaining self-knowledge. With this knowledge, he goes through a metamorphosis of person, much like a caterpillar's change into a butterfly. In the beginning, King Lear's vanity, and the image and exercise of power dominate his person. But a series of losses (based on his own bad decisions), a wise "fool", a powerful storm, a seemingly crazy man, and the death of one who truly loved him clear his vision and allow him to see himself and the world as they truly are. The pain and suffering endured by Lear eventually tears down his strength and sanity. Lear is not as strong, arrogant, and filled with pride as he seems in the beginning of the play. Instead he a is weak, scared and confused old man. At the end of the play Lear has completely lost his sanity with the loss of his daughter, Cordelia and this is the breaking point that leads Lear to his death. In the beginning, King Lear shows his need for praise is how he chooses to divide his kingdom among his daughters. The one who praises him with the most "love" shall receive the largest area of land. This is even more evident when considering that Lear already has divided up the kingdom before the praising even begins, as he gives each daughter her land before hearing the next daughter's praise. Thus the entire arbitration is just a show and an ego boost to himself. It is because of his love for praise that makes him react so strongly...
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...Van Drine 1 Jonathan Van Drine ENG 4U1 Ms. S. Kavcic July 11th 2014 The Relationship that ended in Mortality When discovering the truths about human nature, society examines the relationships between humans. One of the strongest relationships that develop over time is the parent-child relationship. The bond between these two sets of people is so powerful and is rarely broken. Both people have duties and responsibilities that they carry out to help develop and nurture their relationship. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, he uses the family dynamic to analyze the relationship between King Lear and his two daughters, Regan and Goneril, to see if this bond exists. In a loving relationship, children respect and honor what their parents do for them. Shakespeare emphasizes on the compassion, blindness, betrayal and insanity that is present throughout the play. In every relationship there is always going to be a line of reasoning when both people do not see eye to eye on the same thing. However, there should always be someone in that relationship that shows the kindness and willingness to forgive. This is an act of compassion. When King Lear travels to Regan’s castle to live with her, he begins to realize that his two daughters are joining forces and inform him that they will not allow him to stay with each other unless he dismisses all of his attendants. When King Lear hears this, it ...
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...Aaron Cornelius Pledge English III Mrs. Brown December 7, 2013 A Worthy Fool In many of his plays, Shakespeare is able to use characters in a very exciting way. Certain characters are able to transform the entire play in a special way. For Romeo and Juliet, there is Friar Lawrence, Julius Caesar there is Casca, and for As You Like It there is Touchstone. Even though these characters may not be the focus of the play, they do have an indiscrete purpose and serve what turns out to be a paramount role. In the play As You Like It, Shakespeare creates the character Touchstone and uses his quick wit and playful attitude to add an additional amount of comedy. Everything about him is fairly entertaining, from his clothing to his personality and even his name. A touchstone is actually used to test the purity of metals. When scrapping gold against touchstone, it will leave a line of dust that someone can use to show how untainted it is. Much like the stone touchstone, Touchstone has the skill to expose human beings by using his wittiness to scratch their surface. This is really shown when he argues with William and Corin. When attempting to scratch the surface of Corin, Corin comes out unscathed. “Will thou rest damned? God help thee, shallow man. God make incision in; thou art raw.”(iii.2.70-72). Corin is able to counter the remarks of Touchstone. In this situation Corin shows to be a true gold. He does not back down, but counters him. The conversation between Touchstone...
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...Lear demonstrated the cruelty of heart and attacked the sense of humanity. Further, in the Elizabethan times fools’ profession was to entertain the king and others. Not to mention, King Lear was an aged king who divided his kingdom between his daughters and he foolishly committed misjudgment that ended with a tragedy by disowning his daughter Cordelia. However, the fool’s role was the most insightful role in the play and he was the only person who was allowed to criticize the king. Moreover, the fool appeared and disappeared many time in the plays and his appearance and disappearance affected the king’s decisions. Also, the fool and Cordelia represented the truth in King Lear’s life and they were not seen in the same acts...
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...Literature 10/30/14 Who’s the fool? King Lear is a story about an old king that, before retiring, splits his in half and gives it to his two older daughters. This turns out to be a bad decision due to the fact that neither of those daughters seems to like him. Along this road there are people that help him get through this ordeal. One of these people is known throughout the play as the fool, but is the fool really a fool or is he something greater? The fool doesn’t change the way he acts towards Lear during the course of the play. In most plays, books, movies, etc. the court jester, clown, or joker (except batman) have a very small part in terms of the main plot. In those same places; however, these people represent something that the main character is trying to defeat or lacks. In this play the fool signifies the thing that King Lear doesn’t have. He embodies King Leers’ ability to not see the truth. In most scenes that he appears, the fool hits Lear with a line or a little speech in which the fool tries make Lear see the light. This process does take a little while before Lear picks up on a few, very clear, hints. When reading King Lear one can’t help notice that the fools’ casual lines are actually intelligent and thoughtful, and not random stupidity. The king questions one of his knights “But where’s my fool? I have not seen him this two days.” This might be the last time that King Lear is thinking clearly. Maybe if the fool was present at the beginning of...
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...“King Lear”, a play written by Shakespeare is about a king from Britain who decides to step off the throne. He wants to divide his kingdom in three, and leave the pieces to his daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. He states that he will give the biggest piece to the daughter who can prove loves him most. Two of his daughters flatter him so dearly, and the other states that her true love for her father cannot be explained in words and she simply loves him with all her heart. The king is not happy with her words, so he banishes her from the castle and leaves her with nothing; however he unfortunately divides the pieces remaining to his two false daughters who have fed him with lies. While all this is going on Lear starts to realize the foolish mistakes he has been making and other families are having some similar issues. Many characters go through life altering events and finally see the plain truth at the end of the play, where it is in some cases too late to apologize for. They experience hardships, regrets, sorrow and grief. This play runs through many interlocking themes such as blindness, justice, and appearance and reality. The theme of blindness is ever so present in this play. For one, Cornwall and Regan poke out Gloucester’s eye because he helped Lear in a time of need. This physical act represents the symbolic nature of Lear and Gloucester’s great blindness. Both are blind to the falseness of their children. They praise the ones that are untrue to them, and believe...
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...The word fool as defined by as “a person lacking in judgment or prudence” (webster dictionary). When considering this definition Gimple is truly a fool, he lacks what would be defined as “better judgment” and leads with belief in possibilities. Gimple was consistently falling for tricks and seeming to never learn from them. However despite the many tricks Gimple fell for, I would not count him a complete fool. Gimple might have lacked what we would call “better judgement”; but, he did not lack complete judgement. He was able to judge situations and see the dishonesty within them; he just decided to believe without evidence. It is this intentional decision made by Gimple to believe without evidence, in reaction to his peers and their cruelness,...
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...AICPA violations committed by Andersen and Enron CPAs. 1. Article I – requires professionals to maintain the integrity of the profession, as well as, maintain the public's confidence which was not done by Arthur Andersen when the signed off on document knowingly containing material misstatements which is a violation of the very essence of auditing principles. The CPAs of Enron should have stood up for their morals and the public’s best interest when they saw what was occurring. 2. Article II- suggests that when conflicts of interest arise, members shall act with integrity, and members should seek to continually demonstrate their dedication to professional excellence. Because Andersen was receiving million in fees and contractual agreements from Enron, they turned a blind eye to the events unfolding putting every investor and the public’s money in jeopardy. Additionally the CPAs at Enron would have known about the conflicts of interest between upper management and the subsidiaries they were establishing to generate revenue. 3. Article III- integrity should remain of the utmost importance and does not accommodate deceit or subordination of principle. While Andersen recommended certain action Enron should take to remain compliant, Enron, including their CPAs, decided not to follow the advice. However, Andersen still remained quiet about the material misstatements and authorized financial records. 4. Article IV – suggests that regardless of service or capacity...
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...Organisational Behaviour U58029 Individual assignment Name: Miguel Zhou Yang Student number: 13083861 Word count: Part 1: Organisational Misbehaviour Organisational behaviour can be defined as the study of what people think, feel and do in and around organisations (Mcshane & Glinow, 2008). Thus, the antonym for Organisational behaviour would obviously be Organisational Misbehaviour which its easiest and simplest definition according to Ackroyd & Thompson (1999) is “Organisational misbehaviour is anything you do at work you are not supposed to do”; however, OM is a wide topic of investigation and the understanding of this subject depends on different aspects, theories and perspectives (Richard, 2008). Other researchers saw misbehaviour as something more linked to relations within an organisation, stating that OM is mainly based on interactions between people and that is relied on ethical issues in employer-employee relationship (Deckop, 2006). This essay will mainly explain and analyse the different types of misbehaviour that can be found in a particular case: The Enron & Arthur Andersen scandal, the “Why’s” and “How’s” these two companies fell into corruption and thus, misbehaviour. Enron & Andersen Enron Corporation was an energy company founded in 1930 based in Houston, Texas. It never shined out until 1996, when the firm was considered as one of the most innovative organisation in the world (Debinski & Al). Enron started lying about its profits...
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...1. Which segment of its operations got Enron into difficulties? The segment of its operations that got Enron into trouble was Kopper and Dodson creating a series of limited partnerships and limited companies through which to operate their interests, but Kopper had no outside investor at risk. 3. Did Enron’s directors understand how profits were being made in this segment? Why or why not? I do not think Enron’s directors understood how profits were being made in this segment. They were unable to rely on the information they were receiving or on Enron’s company policies being followed. Management was out of control. 5. Ken Lay was the chair of the board and the CEO for much of the time. How did this probably contribute to the lack of proper governance? The CEO should have knowledge of what is going on with his business at all times. They should get a report of the company’s revenue daily, and Ken Lay should have noticed that the revenue was overstated. 6. What aspects of the Enron governance system failed to work properly, and why? The aspect of the Enron governance system that failed to work properly was the accounting firm. Their primary function was to assure that the company was accurately and completely disclosing its financial results and condition. 9. Identify conflicts of interests in: • SPE activities- Enron used several SPE’s to hide debt and overstate equity and earnings • Arthur Andersen’s activities- Management got the idea for some of their most creative...
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...THE occasional blissfulness of ignorance has long been the subject of one of our most popular proverbs. Coupled with a positive statement as to the folly of wisdom, it passes from mouth to mouth with the authority of an oracle. But the support given to the dogma is usually of a passive kind. The doctrine is stated, but not defended; while on the other hand our journals teem with arguments in favor of education, upon the importance of schools, and about the best methods of electing school trustees. The fact that the latter represent in their own persons the advantages of ignorance—that educated men can rarely attain to such superior positions—is never urged with anything like proper vigor. Education in one's self imbues one with prejudices concerning the education of others; and such prejudices, with their attendant partialities, ought to be rigidly excluded from the management of public institutions. Accordingly, in actual practice, uneducated men are placed as supervisors above thousands of cultivated teachers; and thus, in spite of the schools, the superiority of ignorance is clearly demonstrated. In every walk of life, in all professions, a similar superiority is daily manifest. At the polls, the trained and intelligent statesman is defeated by the loud-mouthed stump-speaker, who knows nothing of jurisprudence, less of political economy, and only enough of finance to be able to draw and spend his salary with commendable regularity. The broadly educated, highly cultivated...
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...Market potential: industry trends, company trends, demand trends. The brand management and licensing of trendy brands in apparel is considered a profitable business model. It has a low risk and has no overhead associated to warehouses, retail outlets, logistics, and staff. Both brand owners and competitors see what companies are doing with licensing and they do not what to feel left behind. The economic and competitive pressures have forced managements to explore new business options. The partnership between licensor, licensee and retailers has become difficult and the competition between brands has become more intense. The internet has made a tremendous impact on retailers and how they do business. Brand licensing is a business that is expanding and it has become a corporate business tool. Iconix Brand Group licenses their brands and do not manufacture products, which allows other companies to manufacture products that use its brands. “Iconix’s operating margin is over 60% and managed to grow sales at 24% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years” (A Great Investment in High Margin Apparel, 2013). Wal-Mart accounts for 17% of Iconix sales with a strong store base of over 4000 US stores; Target and Kohl’s accounts for 7% of sales. The United States is the largest market for Iconix and it accounts for 75% of sales and Japan at 10% is considered its second largest market. Iconix is hoping to drive sales over long-term with their joint ventures in international...
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