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King Lear: Consequences Of One Man's Decisions - Online Paper

King Lear: Consequences Of One Man's Decisions



Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear is a detailed description of the
consequences of one man's decisions. This fictitious man is Lear, King of
England, who's decisions greatly alter his life and the lives of those
around him. As Lear bears the status of King he is, as one expects, a man
of great power but sinfully he surrenders all of this power to his
daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him. This
untimely abdication of his throne results in a chain reaction of events
that send him through a journey of hell. King Lear is a metaphorical
description of one man's journey through hell in order to expiate his sin.
As the play opens one can almost immediately see ...

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his
throne. He goes on further to offer pieces of his kingdom to his daughters
as a form of reward to his test of love.

"Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous
sojourn, And here are to be answered. Tell me, my
daughters (Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state),
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
where nature doth with merit challenge."
(Act I, Sc i, Ln 47-53)

This is the first and most significant of the many sins that he makes in
this play. By abdicating his throne to fuel his ego he is disrupts the
great chain of being which states that the King must not challenge the
position that God has given him. This undermining of God's authority
results in chaos that tears apart Lear's world. Leaving him, in the end,
with nothing. Following this Lear begins to banish those around him ...

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is at the end of the play when Cordelia is killed. Lear
says this before he himself dies as he cannot live without his daughter.

"Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones.
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone
for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives.
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking glass.
If that her breath will mist or stain the
stone,
Why, then she lives."
(Act V, Sc iii, Ln 306-312)


All of this pain that Lear suffered is traced back to the single most
important error that he made. The choice to give up his throne. This one
sin has ...

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King Lear: Consequences Of One Man's Decisions. (2008, January 25). Retrieved March 29, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Consequences-One-Mans-Decisions/78006
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"King Lear: Consequences Of One Man's Decisions." Essayworld.com. January 25, 2008. Accessed March 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Consequences-One-Mans-Decisions/78006.
"King Lear: Consequences Of One Man's Decisions." Essayworld.com. January 25, 2008. Accessed March 29, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear-Consequences-One-Mans-Decisions/78006.
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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 1/25/2008 06:49:49 AM
Category: Arts
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 2000
Pages: 8

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