...'Lear's suffering 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...
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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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...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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...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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...blindness and the degrees of complete madness. Blindness can normally be defined as the inability of the eye to see, but according to Shakespeare, blindness is not a physical trait, but a mental imperfection some people possess. Because of Lear’s high position in society, he was supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad however his lack of sight prevented him from doing it. King Lear’s first act of blindness came at the beginning of the play. First, his two eldest daughters easily deceived him by their lies then he could not see the reality of Cordelia’s true love for him, and as a result, banished her from his kingdom with the following words:“for we have no such daughter, nor shall ever see that face of her again. Therefore be gone without our grace, our love, our benison.” (Act I, Scene I, Ln 265-267) Lear’s blindness also lead him into getting rid of one of his most loyal men. Kent was able to see Cordelia’s true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father’s irrationality. After Kent was banished, he disguised himself and was eventually hired by Lear as a servant. Lear’s inability to determine his servant’s true identity proved once again how blind Lear actually was. As the play progressed, Lear’s eyesight reached closer to 20/20 vision. He realized how nasty and horrible his two eldest daughters really were after they locked him out of the castle during a storm. More importantly, Lear saw through Cordelia’s lack of flatterings and...
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...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 problems shall decimate. "Tell...
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...Should The Stone Angel Be Considered a Tradgedy? "With her life nearly behind her, Hagar makes a bold, last step towards freedom and independence." This synopsis of Margaret Laurence's novel, The Stone Angel, essentially reveals Hagar's tragic journey through life. A tragedy can be defined as such that the protagonist is brought to ruin or immense sorrow most often due to a tragic flaw or lack of ability to cope with unfavourable circumstances. Throughout her life Hagar strives for independence and freedom from a controlling father to an embarrassment of a husband. Unfortunately each attempt only leads her further into captivity and evokes pity upon her. Through the controlling reign of her father Hagar develops her tragic flaw of pride. This proud attitude puts Hagar on a parallel course with King Lear and this misstep ultimately leads them both to ruin. Therefore Arthur Miller's words ring true when he stated that Hagar is, "ready to lay down [her] life, if need be, to secure one thing-[her] sense of personal dignity," as Hagar is willing to venture to hell and back in order to solidify her proud nature. This evidence beautifully illustrates how The Stone Angel is considered a classic tragedy filled with sorrow and despair. Jason Currie proves to be a man of authority and power. A proclaimed self made man, Hagar's father is controlling and domineering over his children and rules with an iron fist. As Hagar states her intentions to marry Bram her father quickly dismisses...
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...turning point for British culture. The renaissance period is famous for the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe. Their literature reflected free thinking, historical, philosophical, and religious influences of the time. William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe used Aristotelian tragedy, in which a great man is brought undone by a fatal flaw in his own character. In these types of tragedies the characters’ misfortune is brought upon by himself, not by vice. This was a concept portrayed 500 years ago yet rings true today. People are not flawless and most misfortunes are brought on by some error in judgment. Examples of characters with this tragic flaw include Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Shakespeare’s ‘The Tragedy Of King Lear’ must be taken in context. Before the renaissance period the only form of drama was the occasional religious mystery play. The plays of the renaissance period drew away from the religious theme. As a result there was a huge expansion in the range of subjects that the authors wrote about. Thus the tragedy of the character coming undone by flaw not by evil, was seen in the plays. King Lear’s basic flaw is his test of his daughters superficial love over real love. He values appearances over reality. In the play, King Lear does not ask “which of you doth love us most” but rather, “which of you shall we say doth love us most”? Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus can be compared to Shakespeare’s King Lear. Faustus represents the spirit of the renaissance...
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...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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...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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...KING LEAR Act 1-3 Review Act 1, Scene 1 Analysis The first scene sets up the action and the main theme of the play. King Lear has three daughters, and he requires from each a profession of love in exchange for a reward of inheritance. The two daughters who love him least and who are most dishonest easily fulfill his requirements, speaking elegantly but emptily of their great love for him. Lear is pleased with this superficial and deceitful proclamation of love. His honest daughter, Cordelia, will not give Lear a false declaration. She loves him, she says, simply as a father, no more and no less. Her love, unlike her sisters', is a true love, but she is unwilling to exaggerate it in false language. Lear cannot understand this, and he immediately turns on Cordelia, his most beloved daughter, and disowns her. Lear is a flawed character, valuing the external declaration of love over true and proven love. His actions are so unreasonable that the reader may wonder why Cordelia loves him, aside from her duty as his daughter and subject. Act 1, Scene 2 Analysis The second scene reveals the subplot of Edmund's machinations to wheedle his father's lands away from him. As in the story of King Lear and his daughters, Gloucester must decide which of his children is truly loyal to him. The son that seems loyal only appears loyal through his deceit. He lies and manipulates in order to appear loving and loyal. Edgar, the truly loyal son, will appear disloyal through his brother's...
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...King Lear Research Paper Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, characterizes the archetypes ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as good being loyal and bad being disloyal. In all Shakespearean tragedies, there is a series of events with a common theme that lead to the chaos of the plot: here, the theme is fidelity versus infidelity (Bonheim 39). King Lear highlights this theme mainly through familial and hierarchical relationships. The tragedy’s large cast of characters is divided into the archetypal categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, which are essentially determined by their faithful or unfaithful actions towards their family and kingdom. In their somewhat parallel lives, King Lear and Gloucester are driven to despair and madness by their familial relationships. Sibling rivalry, betrayal of fathers by daughters and by son and rash misunderstandings of a loyal son and a dutiful daughter, are the roots of chaos in the play (Bloom 15). King Lear and Gloucester’s downfalls are essentially caused by the ‘bad’ child’s betrayal and later resolved by the ‘good’ child’s help and support. Shakespeare introduced Cordelia as caring and loyal daughter, who is profoundly devoted to family (Bonheim 41). When it is her turn to publically confess her love for Lear, she explains in her own defense: “Why have my sisters husbands, if they say They love you all? Haply when I shall wed, That lord whose had must take my plight shall carry Half my love with him, half my care and duty. Sure I shall never marry like...
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...Death of a Salesman, Character analysis By Henry Cord Willy Loman, the main character in Death of a Salesman is a complex and fascinatingly tragic character. He is a man struggling to hold onto what dignity he has left in a changing society that no longer values the ideals he grew up to believe in. While society can be blamed for much of his misfortune, he must also be blamed himself to an equal extent for his bad judgement, disloyalty and his foolish pride. Willy Loman is a firm believer in the "American Dream:" the notion that any man can rise from humble beginnings to greatness. His particular slant on this ideal is that a man succeeds by selling his charisma, that to be well liked is the most important asset a man can have. He made a living at this for 30 years, but as he enters the later stage of his life, people have stopped smiling back and he can no longer sell the firm's goods to support himself. His ambition was one of greatness, to work hard and to be a member of the firm; and if he could not succeed in this respect, that he should at least be well-liked and be able to sell until the day of his death: When his friends would flock from all over the country to pay their respects. Willy's main flaw is his foolish pride, this it what makes him such a tragic hero. Yet there are many facets to his personality that contribute to the state he and the family are in during the play. His upbringing of the boys is one major issue, he raised them with the notion that if...
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...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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...“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...
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