King Lear

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of Lear's intent

to abdicate 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 ...

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to the gross sins that he has

committed.

The pinnacle of this hell that is experienced be Lear

in order to repay his sins 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 ...

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