“Some people think that the ending of King Lear is ‘unbearably pessimistic’. How far do you agree that there is no hope at the end of this play?
The origins of Shakespeare’s play came from a variety of sources and, in particular, an old Pagan folktale, of another King Leir of Britain. It reveals that Shakespeare purposely turned these sources which offer a happy ending where Cordelia and Leir are left alive and together at the end and where everything is resolved, leaving the audience with a sense of relief and justice, into a bleak and sinister play where many of the virtuous die, including Cordelia and Lear, or are left in despair like Kent. Shakespeare’s change of ending appears to hint at a message of pessimism, darkness and no hope. Some people believe that it was Shakespeare’s intention to create a hopeless and pessimistic ending and leave the audience overwhelmed with tragedy. Indeed, W.R. Elton supports this final interpretation: ‘No redemption stirs at this world’s end; only suffering, tears, pity and loss and illusion.’ However, others believe that Shakespeare leaves little glimmers of optimism flickering in this ‘gored state.’
Shakespeare carefully structures that play to build a mood of pessimism as the play unravels towards its climax. Kent’s character plays a vital role in helping create this final bleak mood. Throughout the play Kent has been a positive, hopeful character devoted to his King: ‘let me still remain the true blank of thine eye.’ By this final scene he is presented as a character overwhelmed and without hope. Kent’s pessimistic and negative language would severely impact on the audience. To see such a noble and strong character so utterly without hope would shatter what little hope the audience has left: ‘All’s cheerless, dark and deadly,’ the lack of light suggests how bleak and hopeless the country is now, ‘deadly’ suggests a lack of life and vivacity, these words paint a picture of such a desolate and almost eerie atmosphere; ‘is this the promised end?’ Kent’s language creates a dark tone of how apocalyptic the ending is; death and blood fill the stage. Kent shows the audience how much this world has drastically changed, and even hints at suicide as the only way to save himself from living in a completely bleak and dark England: ‘I have a journey, sir, short to go: My master calls me; I must not say no,’ this rhyming couplet gives an impression of inevitable death and adds to the pessimistic tone. Kent’s language in the last scene also captures the mood of the audience after they have witnessed the sheer quantity of death and destruction in the last scene: ‘break, heart, prithee break,’ Kent’s language has never been so pitiful, this shows how these events have broken Kent’s spirit and this creates a massive wave of sorrow and hopelessness.
In many ways Shakespeare starts preparing the audience for the lack of hope and divine justice in the ending, several scenes before. One of many references to ‘the Gods’ in this play is said by Gloucester: ‘as flies to wanton boys are we to the gods…They kill us for their sport.’ These are the words of a man who has given up hope; someone who is convinced that they live in a world with no God. Shakespeare uses Gloucester to make the audience question divine justice long before the tragic ending. In Act 3 Scene 7, the audience is forced to witness his eyes being violently torn out and viciously crushed by Cornwall: ‘out vile jelly.’ Shakespeare shows us how trivial Gloucester’s mistakes and flaws are compared to his intense punishment and suffering. Gloucester’s words show us a man who doesn’t believe in divine justice anymore. He is saying that these Gods find pleasure in manipulating men and meddling in their lives. He tells us that there is no purpose, no justice, and no light at the end of the tunnel because all we are here for is to entertain these ‘wanton’ deities, who ‘kill us for their sport.’
It was Shakespeare’s intention to horrify the audience. Shakespeare changed the ending so that the purest and most angelic character dies, Cordelia: ‘She’s gone for ever…She’s dead as earth’, Shakespeare may have used the word earth to show that Lear now doesn’t believe in these Gods anymore. He has lost all faith now his precious Cordelia lies still and is ‘nothing.’ It does not suggest that she has gone to a better life, but a bleak ‘nothingness’ after her undeserved suffering. Over the years Cordelia’s death has shocked many audiences so much, that for a time, the ending of the play was re-written, in a more optimistic way, by Nahum Tate. From 1681 until 1834, the ending of the play deviated from Shakespeare’s, so that Lear returned to the throne and Cordelia and Edgar married and lived on. But the true ending that Shakespeare intended for his audience was of pessimism, by murdering this good, honest, Christ-like character. An audience wants to feel at the end of a play a sense that order has been restored, to know that good has triumphed over evil. We understand that some good characters need to die; however, there should still be a feeling of resolution. An example of this is the ending of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’; whilst the two good characters die there is a sense that peace will be restored as the Montagues and Capulets agree to end the feud. But the same cannot be said for the bleak ending of King Lear. This controversial twist would create a sense of terrible injustice in the audience. Shakespeare’s message seems to indicate that the world is Godless, and that divine justice does not exist. This ending would devastate the audience as Cordelia’s death is just so needless and pointless; to kill a character of such goodness, ‘a soul in bliss,’ doesn’t satisfy our human need for justice. Audiences are left horrified and traumatised by this ending.
However, amidst the chaos and horror of Act 5 Scene 3 there are glimmers of hope. The fact that both foolish parents, who rejected their pure and good children, are reunited with them creates a sense of forgiveness and hope. Lear was unforgiving to his youngest and most faithful daughter, Cordelia: ‘thou my sometime daughter’, ‘Better thou hadst not been born than not t’have pleased me better,’ these words are excessively brutal and cruel. Shakespeare suggests that the terrible, most hurtful words we say and wrongly actions we commit can be forgiven to some extent. This would give the audience hope and would satisfy some of their need for resolution and catharsis.
Through his peripeteia Lear has gained knowledge (anagnorisis) and has become a more considerate man and father; this creates hope. His language in the first few scenes is full of imperatives and demands. He is presented as an egotistical, autocratic, pompous and arrogant king who plays dangerous games with his daughters. ‘And what can you say to draw A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.’ And ‘Peace Kent, Come not between the dragon and his wrath.’ In contrast, at the start of the last scene, Act 5 Scene 3, rage and rashness has disappeared. His words are more humble and soft, the only thing he wishes to do is to spend time with his daughter, no matter where. And he even finds optimism in going to prison because this means that the two of them would not be disturbed. ‘We two alone will sing like birds i’th’cage.’ Lear has learned from his experiences at the bottom of the hierarchy, ‘Poor naked wretches’ and has learned to admit he is a ‘foolish, fond old man’ who seeks atonement from his one faithful daughter who he so badly wronged. When Lear enters the stage with Cordelia dead in his arms, it creates the most devastating and shattering effect on the audience. This distressing image of a sobbing father cradling his angelic daughter is his last act before he dies. As horrific as this image is for an audience, Shakespeare chooses to leave us with this final image of Lear as a good father cradling his child.
However, Shakespeare also leaves us questioning whether Lear has really learnt from his experiences. When told that his two eldest daughters are dead, it triggers few words: ‘Ay so I think.’ Lear created their sibling rivalry as we are told from Act 1 Scene 1, ‘he always loved our sister most.’ Does this not show that Lear has not learnt from his favouritism of Cordelia? As it is this that caused the sisters to plot against their father. Surely if Lear was a changed man, for the better, he would have shown some remorse and sorrow for Goneril and Regan’s deaths? He would have recognised the role he played in making them ‘fiends’. Instead he is only focussed on Cordelia, ‘our joy,’ just like at the beginning of the play. Through this careful structure, Shakespeare presents a Lear who has not changed as much as we’d hoped. Lear asks Cordelia to ‘forgive and forget’ in act 4 scene 6. Shakespeare has helped the audience forgive Lear too for his disastrous actions of act 1 scene 1. However, Lear still does not forgive Goneril or Regan or accept any responsibility for them. This leaves a modern day audience extremely uncomfortable.
Evil is defeated at the end, as Goneril, Regan and Edmond die. There is a sense that they ‘get what they deserve.’ Shakespeare signals righteousness triumphing over evil through the fight between Edgar and Edmond. Edgar defeats his deceitful brother and states that the ‘The Gods are just.’ However hopeful this sounds we must remember that Edgar is outnumbered: most other characters have given up hope and seem to doubt that the Gods exist, Shakespeare uses Edgar as a vehicle for good and as the one voice of hope. The fact that he still has confidence in divine justice and keeps faith is, in itself, a shining beacon of hope amidst all this darkness and negativity.
Shakespeare structures this final scene in order to create the maximum dramatic intensity. He does this by promising such hope using Cordelia and Lear’s reunion and creates a wave of optimism when all the evil characters die. Albany tells us: ‘All friends shall taste The wages of their virtue, and all foes The cup of their deservings’ in Act 5 Scene 3, and for a short time we believe him, that justice will prevail at last. From Gloucester’s death onwards the balance tilts towards good and just. By the end of the play, we see the wheel of fortune has turned full circle; some kind of order has been restored, however, Shakespeare plunges into negativity through the death of Cordelia, Shakespeare cruelly snatches away any hope that the audience may have built up until this point. Killing Cordelia was Shakespeare’s most effective tool in creating an extremely pessimistic ending. It forces Albany’s words to sound empty and almost ironic. Shakespeare manipulates us; he creates a wonderful feeling of optimism, more than we have felt throughout the whole performance, but then takes it away so suddenly that the audience feel complete devastation.
The last lines of Shakespeare’s plays are usually reserved for the person of highest rank but in the Folio version of this play, Edgar is privileged with the last lines. Many have interpreted this as a sign of hope from Shakespeare. Edgar’s journey throughout the tragedy has paralleled Lear’s, his wheel of fortune plummeted as he became a beggar. But his journey of self-discovery has left him stronger and Shakespeare presents him as a more convincing leader. He has gained insight and wisdom beyond his years ‘Speak what we feel.’ Shakespeare renders Edgar as the only character qualified to reign.
Shakespeare’s last lines of the play appear to hold both hope and pessimism. Edgar’s words predict hardship for the generation that he will lead, that life will continue to be miserable, bleak and meaningless: ‘We that are young shall never see so much, nor live so long.’ However there is hope that Edgar has learned from the unfortunate fates of the former royal family, "Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” Edgar is presented as a worthy, honest king, interested in the truth. These words reveal that we should not lie, or flatter someone but ‘speak what we feel’, meaning we should voice our opinions and help others to see the truth - much like Kent tried to show Lear his truth –‘See better Lear.’ The word ‘Speak’ is also quite a hard sound, maybe to suggest that the truth may be hard to hear, but in the end, lies will have disastrous consequences; this echoes the disastrous consequences of Gonerill’s and Regan’s flattery, lies and deception to their father; and also Lear’s blind refusal to hear the truth.
By the end, Shakespeare presents us with a character who has suffered terribly; has witnessed the death of his blinded father; and has defeated evil. Through Edgar Shakespeare creates a Christian message at the end of the play, that good can come of the endurance of suffering: ‘men must endure.’ Surely this is the only hope we need, that Edgar will go on to lead England to a better tomorrow and be a wise and noble king and a good representative of God - especially to the poor and homeless. Edgar is the ‘hope’ that the audience need to feel as though some good has come from this apocalypse.
To conclude, the final written words of ‘King Lear’ are the stage directions: ‘Exeunt with a dead march.’ This was Shakespeare’s last attempt of creating a completely pessimistic ending. To argue that the ending is intolerably bleak and pessimistic would be correct. All audiences would leave the theatre still traumatised by Cordelia’s cruel ending. However, to argue that there is no glimmer of hope whatsoever would be wrong. Maybe Shakespeare intended this emotionally intense ending, that could represent the end of the world, in order to spur us on to re-evaluate our own lives and become more reflective citizens. It could have also been a warning for the King as it was first performed in front of King James I in 1606. This was a daring and brave hint to make by Shakespeare who may have intended to warn the King. Maybe this is the final flicker of hope in this awfully dark ending.