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King Lear: Comedy Or Tragedy? - Online Paper

King Lear: Comedy Or Tragedy?

There has been many different views on the plays of William Shakespeare and
definitions of what kind of play they were. The two most popular would be
the comedy and the tragedy. King Lear to some people may be a comedy
because they believe that the play has been over exaggerated. Others would
say King Lear was a tragedy because there is so much suffering and chaos.

What makes a Shakespearean play a comedy or a tragedy? King Lear would be
a tragedy because it meets all the requirements of a tragedy as defined by
Andrew Cecil Bradley. Bradley states that a Shakespearean tragedy must
have to be the story of the hero and that there is exceptional suffering
and calamity slowly being worn ...

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but creates a chain reaction which affects everything below
him. There must also be the element of chance or accident that influences
some point in the play.

King Lear meets all of these requirements that has been laid out by Bradley
which is the most logical for a definition of a tragedy as compared to the
definition of a comedy by G. Wilson Knight. The main character of the play
would be King Lear who in terms of Bradley would be the hero and hold the
highest position is the social chain. Lear out of Pride and anger has
banished Cordelia and split the kingdom in half to the two older sisters,
Goneril and Regan. This is Lear's tragic flaw which prevents him to see
the true faces of people because his pride and anger overrides his
judgement. As we see in the first act, Lear does not listen to Kent's plea
to see closer to the true faces of his daughters. Kent has hurt Lear's
pride by disobeying his order to stay out of his and Cordelia's way when
Lear has already warned him, ...

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King Lear: Comedy Or Tragedy?. (2008, July 15). Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Comedy-Or-Tragedy/86826

"King Lear: Comedy Or Tragedy?." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 15 Jul. 2008. Web. 8 Aug. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Comedy-Or-Tragedy/86826>

"King Lear: Comedy Or Tragedy?." Essayworld.com. July 15, 2008. Accessed August 8, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Comedy-Or-Tragedy/86826.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/15/2008 09:30:15 PM
Category: Arts
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1191
Pages: 5

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