...feel pity and sympathy for noble characters who meet their downfall, the term “tragic heroes” can come to light. Within the play King Lear by Shakespeare, King Lear himself is regarded as the one that fits the description of tragic hero. Likewise, Oedipus, from Oedipus the King written by Sophocles, is another character that can be given the title of tragic hero. Through the naïve nature of King Lear, the arrogance and pride of Oedipus, and the ignorance of both these kings, readers are overwhelmed with pity for these two characters as they descend from greatness. Both King Lear and Oedipus display similar and different characteristics, which evokes feelings of pity in the audience, as well as being regarded as tragic heroes. The naïve nature of King Lear has led to his demise and downfall. Unwanted to govern his land anymore, King Lear decides to retire, split up his kingdom into three pieces and distribute them among his three daughters. His flaw is revealed, when King Lear says “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” This naïve, old man decides that appearance is more important than reality, in which the size of the land he gives is proportional to the amount of flattery the daughter shows him. Despite Cordelia being his favourite daughter, and probably knowing just how much she loves him, he still decides to favour Regan and Goneril’s flattery. Due to this naïve quality, King Lear loses sight of what is important to him, and evokes immense feelings of pity...
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...The story opens in ancient Britain, where the elderly King Lear is deciding to give up his power and divide his realm amongst his three daughters, Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril. Lear's plan is to give the largest piece of his kingdom to the child who professes to love him the most, certain that his favorite daughter, Cordelia, will win the challenge. Goneril and Regan, corrupt and deceitful, lie to their father with sappy and excessive declarations of affection. Cordelia, however, refuses to engage in Lear's game, and replies simply that she loves him as a daughter should. Her lackluster retort, despite its sincerity, enrages Lear, and he disowns Cordelia completely. When Lear's dear friend, the Earl of Kent, tries to speak on Cordelia's behalf, Lear banishes him from the kingdom. Meanwhile, the King of France, present at court and overwhelmed by Cordelia's honesty and virtue, asks for her hand in marriage, despite her loss of a sizable dowry. Cordelia accepts the King of France's proposal, and reluctantly leaves Lear with her two cunning sisters. Kent, although banished by Lear, remains to try to protect the unwitting King from the evils of his two remaining children. He disguises himself and takes a job as Lear's servant. Now that Lear has turned over all his wealth and land to Regan and Goneril, their true natures surface at once. Lear and his few companions, including some knights, a fool, and the disguised Kent, go to live with Goneril, but she reveals that she plans...
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...Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero can be seen in many works of Literature, and has verified its importance towards a lot of authors. His definition basically states that the character comes from a noble figure, occupies a high position in his/her society or kingdom and epitomizes a tragic flaw that ultimately leads to his or her downfall. The term Hubris is defined as excessive pride and self-confidence. It indicates that the person who exhibits it has lost contact with reality and always overestimates his accomplishment, which can lead to his/her downfall. The downfall could be anything from mental disturbance to even death. The concept of a tragic hero can definitely be seen in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Even though there are differences in both the writing, they also have some similarities. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the title character was the king of Thebes, and his city was infected with a poisonous plague. To discover the source of the plague and to get rid of it, the Oracle of Delphi was called. It turned out to be that the only way to get rid of plague would be to banish the killer of the former ruler of Thebes, Laius, from the city-state. Oedipus was Laius’s and Jocasta’s son, which was given to shepherd and was order to kill Oedipus, because it was found out that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. He was very shocked after hearing this because he did not believe that he would ever do something like that. Jocasta then...
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...stage. This is where the Tragic Hero is either of noble birth or maintains a high position in society. Lear is shown as the King of Britain at the beginning of the play, therefore we are introduced to a character with pre-eminence and that is shown upon Lear’s entry into the play where he declares “We shall express our darker purpose. Give me the map there”. The use of the pronoun “we” is reference to the royal “we”, this instantly shows that Lear is a man who demands respect and is of a royal background. In addition the use of the adjective “darker” brings forth secretive and vague imagery and shifts the tone to that of a severe nature. This makes us unaware on what Lear is about to declare to the rest of the Kingdom, however this is a form of foreshadowing for the consequences of Lear dividing the Kingdom at this point in the play and that this event is what casts a shadow over the Kingdom. It could also reference the contextual significance of the splitting of the Kingdom due to the belief in The Divine Right of Kings. This was the belief that it was God who picked Kings which were exclusively male. With Lear giving his Kingdom to his three daughters, this completely ignores any of the contextual conventions which hints to the audience of Lear’s tragic flaw. This leads onto the second stage in Aristotle’s belief which is the Tragic Flaw that a tragic hero must have to help elicit pity from the audience and helps make the character relatable. For Lear it is his ego and his naivity...
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...is due to the stripping away of his identity'. By considering the dramatic presentation of King Lear, evaluate this view. Shakespeare presents that the stripping away of King Lear's identity is largely responsible for much of his suffering throughout the play. Lear's identity can be seen as lost partly through his own actions, as well as the actions of others, in particular that of his daughters, Goneril and Regan. It can be argued that Lear's loss of identity is down to his own actions. Hence, he can be seen as responsible for causing his own suffering. According to A.C. Bradley 'The idea of the tragic hero as being destroyed simply and solely by external forces is quite alien to him (Shakespeare); and not less so is the idea of the hero as contributing to his destruction only by acts in which we see no flaw'. Bradley's emphasis on the tragic flaw implies that Shakespeare's character's bring their fates upon themselves and thus deserve to face the consequences. An example of this can be seen in Act 1, when Lear fragments his land and divides it between his daughters. The fragmentation of the land is symbolic of the way that Lear also fragments his identity. As king, Lear identifies himself solely on his position of power, and therefore by giving away his land his is also giving away the control he previously maintained over his kingdom, and thus his identity. However, Lear mistakenly believes that he can give up certain aspects of his role, including responsibility...
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...Can King Lear be defined as an Aristotelian Tragedy ? When viewing upon a tragedy, a reader is offered to empathize the suffering a character endures through pity and fear, yet still being able to feel that enticing pleasure. With this being said, King Lear can be defined as a tragedy even by Aristotle, one of the most renowned masterminds on tragedies. Based on the Aristotelian principles for a tragedy, the ‘perfect’ tragedy must contain plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. King Lear echo’s Aristotle’s concept of tragedy, as the accepted king with that disastrous flaw in his character and that evokes understanding of the audience. Shakespeare's play sets King Lear to be the ruler of Britain, where he is highly-esteemed by people below him in social status. His reputation corresponds with Aristotle’s definition of the ‘tragic hero’, who must be of noble blood. and considered great amongst their surroundings. The tragic hero, said Aristotle, should not be ‘a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us’. Lear is a delusional victim caught in his own self-deception; his desires for power and genuine affection push him from direct order and power into over-the-edge chaos. King Lear shows his first sign of quenching for affection when he requests that his three daughters to express how much they love him before he gives away his rule, and duties of his kingdom so that all the kingdom’s...
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...King Lear as a Tragedy One of Shakespeare's most celebrated plays, King Lear, contains many of the components that classify it as a tragedy. These criteria were set by a critic of Shakespeare, A.C. Bradley. Of the seven that he composed, three very strongly apply to the work King Lear. The first is that the central character is an exceptional being. Another includes that there is an outward conflict in the story, and also an inner conflict within the hero. The final component of a tragedy is that the hardships of the tragedy are caused by the actions of man, not from outside forces. The main tragic hero of the play King Lear is the character King Lear. Obvious from the title, Lear is a king. He has ruling power over England. Not only does he have command over a country, he also has power over the people around him. At the start of the play he is able to inspire fear into his daughters and those serving him. Beyond fear, he also has subjects that are loyal. Both Gloucester and Kent sacrifice themselves for King Lear. Kent is banished from the country and instead of being angry, he returns to continue serving King Lear. Gloucester also sacrifices his eyes and puts his life on the line in order to be loyal to his king. It takes an...
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...In the light of your critical readings how far areLear and Macbeth tragic protagonists? Example intro Normally, the common hero would be a character embodying megalopsychia. However, both Lear and Macbeth are conventionally tragic figures, even displaying anti-heroic qualities. Aristotle’s “Poetics” suggests that a tragic protagonist has greatness which is readily evident in the play. The Victorian critic A.C. Bradley picks up Aristotle’s notion to contend and mentions that although the protagonist is a person of greatness, they are not perfect and contain a tragic flaw which can lead to his downfall. Unlike most tragic protagonists, Lear’s fall occurs early in the play when he decides to express his “darker purpose” to Gloucester by dividing the kingdom between his three daughters. Firstly, this rash decision implies Lear’s downfall and prepares the audience for what is to come. Secondly, this would have alarmed a Jacobean audience who would remember how the question of succession had loomed large during the reign of Elizabeth 1. However, Lear does not show many noble attributes before his fall when he loses his temper at Cordelia and he tells her he will, “disclaim all my paternal care,” because she refuses to flatter him with praises and love. This is different to Macbeth who is seen as “brave” and “noble” in the early stages of the play due to killing the rebel, Macdonwald, and fighting off an attack from the Norwegians. Example 2 1. Throughout literary history, there...
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...King Lear (Free Essay No Copyright) In King Lear, the unnatural elements seem to always dominate the natural elements throughout the play. There exists a reversal of order in the play where the evil prosper in the downfall of the good, and where man's life is meaningless and arbitrary. King Lear, the tragic hero, dies in the end despite the torment and agony he had to endure to regenerate and repent. But it is the worthless destruction of countless other lives because of Lear's own personal tragedy that supports the view of the brutality and the meaningless of man's life in the play. Life in Lear's universe is brutal, and at times, merciless. All this has been brought about by the reign of evil in the play. The natural order of things has been reversed to such an extent that many of society's cherished values have been neglected and confused. Evil characters such as Edmund is praised by Gloucester for exposing the "treachery" of Edgar, while Edgar is denounced for his "villany". Love, based on selflessness and truth, is weighted in materialistic terms. A man's life, then, can only be considered arbitrary and meaningless in the chaotic universe of King Lear. The character of Lear and Gloucester die in a state of joy, but they nevertheless die in the end resulf. Both had immeasurable sufferings for their follies, and yet both had gained wisdom - patience, insight, love - from their experiences. Both were shown to have the capacity for comparison during their ordeals...
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...Who was William Shakespeare? Shakespeare is William Shakespeare, one of the English-speaking world's greatest playwrights and poets, who possessed a great knowledge of human nature and transformed the English theatre. Yet many facts of his life remain a mystery. Some have been acquired from painstaking looks at the records of the time, so that this summary is based on generally agreed facts. It has been said that we only know three things about Shakespeare: that he was born, married and died. He was baptised on April 26, 1564; we do not know his birth date, but many scholars believe it was April 23, 1564. His father was John Shakespeare (who was a glover and leather merchant) and his mother Mary Arden (who was a landed local heiress). John had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s. William lived for most of his early life in Stratford-upon-Avon. We do not know exactly when he went to London but he is said to have arrived in 1592. There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival that of Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's...
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...of questionable morals and heroism has been on the stage for quite some time. In Christopher Marlowe’s play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, the titular doctor is not presented as a particularly heroic man. The aspects we associate with heroism, chiefly voluntary service to others at the cost of personal sacrifice and potential harm, are not displayed by Faustus. Yet if we examine the history of dramatic tragedy as well as morality plays, we can get a better understanding of why Faustus indeed fits into the categorization of hero. While not necessarily a character that gains our initial support, Dr. Faustus is nonetheless the hero of the play. With a word like “tragical” in the title, it’s safe to say that Doctor Faustus isn’t a comedy. Yet comic elements are present throughout the play, so what makes this a tragedy? Aristotle attempted to set the boundaries for tragedy and the tragic hero in his Poetics. According to Aristotle, tragedy is dramatic imitation of man, as is comedy, but it imitates good...
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...wrote tragedies from the beginning of his career. One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few years later with Romeo and Juliet. However, his most admired tragedies were written in a seven-year period between 1601 and 1608. These include his four major tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, along withAntony & Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar and the lesser-known Timon of Athens and Troilus and Cressida. ------------------------------------------------- Tragedies[edit] Many have linked these plays to Aristotle's precept about tragedy: that the protagonist must be an admirable but flawed character, with the audience able to understand and sympathize with the character. Certainly, all of Shakespeare's tragic protagonists are capable of both good and evil. As one of the most influential Shakespearean critics of the 19th century, A. C. Bradley argues, "the playwright always insists on the operation of the doctrine of free will; the (anti) hero is always able to back out, to redeem himself. But, the author dictates, they must move unheedingly to their doom." Some, including drama historian Brian Arkins in his "Heavy Seneca: his Influence on Shakespeare's Tragedies," have also pointed out their Senecan nature, as differentiated from Aristotle's principles and Greek tragedy. In one of a few exceptions to the rule that Black Roman literature was essentially superficial imitation of Greek works, the Roman Stoic philosopher...
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...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...
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...resourcefulness of young ones. The lovers thread their way through obstacles set up by middle aged vanity and impercipience. Parents are stupid and do not know what it best for their children or themselves . . . [Romeo and Juliet] begins with the materials for a comedy - the stupid parental generation, the instant attraction of the young lovers, the quick surface life of street fights, masked balls and comic servants" (Wain, p. 107). Indeed, one could view Romeo and Juliet as a transitional play in which Shakespeare merges the comedic elements perfected in his earlier work with tragic elements he would later perfect in the great tragedies -- Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. This mixture of styles ultimately hurts Romeo and Juliet, exposing the immaturity of the playwright. The heroes of the play must contend with external forces that impede their relationship, but, unlike the great tragic heroes, they are devoid of the inner struggle that makes for great tragedy. The influential Shakespearean scholar, A.C. Bradley, went so far as to neglect the play entirely in his well-known collection of lectures on the great tragedies, Shakespearean Tragedy. While no one can deny the merits of Shakespeare's powerful, inspired verse, the themes Shakespeare stresses in Romeo and Julietalso seem to reflect his immaturity as a writer. To understand properly who this is so, we must examine each pervasive motif in the play. Climax the climax is reached in Act lll and it is twofold...
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...English 3 Group AA Due: 04 October 2013 Monday 09:35 Dr. D. Seddon Early Modern Literature Discuss in detail two different performances of King Lear on stage, film or TV. Your discussion should include an assessment of the relative merits of the directorial decisions as regards characterization, setting, costume, and dialogue. The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an 'objective correlative'; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. (Eliot, 1919) William Shakespeare’s King Lear is considered by many to be one of his most powerful pieces. Its universal themes and messages that seep through have inspired many other works and allowed room for several adaptations. In his influential critical essay on Hamlet, T.S. Eliot suggests that one could “examine any of Shakespeare’s more successful tragedies…” and always “… find this exact equivalence” (1919). His term ‘objective correlative’ encompasses the phenomena of emotional reaction being created in the audience by the writer or poet or playwrights combination of images, objects or description which evoke the...
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