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King Lear - Online Paper

King Lear

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". Sir Walter Scott may not have intended to describe the tangled web of secrets that fuels Shakespeare's tragedy "", but it certainly applies. Secrets come in many shapes and sizes, and in works of literature they can be categorized as either secrets that are unknown to the reader or secrets that unknown to the characters. In "", the secrets are kept from the characters. As in many great tragedies, it is the secrets in Shakespeare's "" that cause the tragedy to occur.
In the first scene of "", Lear tells his youngest daughter that "nothing will come of nothing", referring to her refusal to profess her love for him, but ...

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himself. Shakespeare writes this story in a manner that the reader understands the cause of Lear's problems, but Lear himself does not. This draws the reader into the story because the reader knows that Lear's actions will lead to his downfall. As the story progresses the reader begins feeling very sympathetic towards Lear, because they understand the failure of Lear to expose the secret. Without the secret, however, a lot of heartbreak would have been saved, but there would have been no story. For it is the secret and the subsequent heartbreak that draws the reader into the story.
The overall effect of this secret is crucial to the development of the tragedy. This technique is seen in many tragedies. In "Oepidus Rex", the secret during this story is that Oedipus married his mother and killed his father, in" Romeo and Juliet" it is their secret love, and in "Desire Under the Elms" it is that the son is the secret father of his father's baby. The secret aspect in all of these ...

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King Lear. (2004, November 4). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/16995

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"King Lear." Essayworld.com. November 4, 2004. Accessed January 11, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/16995.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 11/4/2004 12:17:03 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 478
Pages: 2

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