King Lear
Shakespeare's tragedy 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. 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 that Lear begins to make ...
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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 that genuinely care for him as at this stage he cannot see beyond the mask that the evil wear. He banishes Kent, a loyal servant to Lear, and his ...
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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 proven to have massive repercussions upon Lear and the lives of those around him eventually killing almost all of those who were involved. And one is left to ask one's self if a single wrong turn can do this to Lear then what difficult ...
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King Lear. (2004, July 19). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/11289
"King Lear." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 19 Jul. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/11289>
"King Lear." Essayworld.com. July 19, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/11289.
"King Lear." Essayworld.com. July 19, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/11289.
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