Essay on Character Analysis of King Lear - 600 Words

King Lear, the protagonist of the play, is a truly tragic figure. He is driven by greed and arrogance and is known for his stubbornness and imperious temper, he often acts upon emotions and whims. He values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to fulfill a king’s obligations of governing for the good of his subjects. Similarly, his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He doesn’t ask â€Å"which of you doth love us most,† but rather, â€Å"which of you shall we say doth love us most?† (I.i.49). Most readers conclude that Lear is simply blind to the truth. As a result, he grants his inheritance to Goneril and†¦show more content†¦They treat him with contempt, strip him of his power and dignity, by refusing his request of one hundred knights and asking this staff to treat him with scorn. Lear is also treated as a rag-doll being tossed from one to the other and is left outside to endure ‘the storm’. An important question to ask is whether Lear develops as a character—whether he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better and more insightful human being. In some ways the answer is no: he doesn’t completely recover his sanity and emerge as a better king. But his values do change over the course of the play. Because of his ill treatment, Lear undergoes a slight change of character. Humbled by the loss of power and material well being, he begins to see the errors of his ways. Lear may recognise his flaws for once, that he has wronged his loyal daughter Cordelia, an emphinany of sorts, yet he still wallows in self pity and claims to be More sinnd against than sinning. In this pathetic moment, Lear exemplifies in the extreme a possessive parent with ungrateful children, as he chalks up their transgressions on a cosmic balance sheet. The storm seems a manifestation of his fury, and—still clinging to the royal imperative—Lear commands it to strike where he , being weak, cannot. However when Lear looks at the shivering, half-naked body of Poor Tom the beggar and concludes that this is true humanity, without the perfumes and fancyShow MoreRelatedKing Lear Character Analysis1258 Words   |  6 Pagesrespect and honesty is expected. Yet to the demise of many of the characters this expected attitude is only portrayed through a few of them. When this attitude is not portrayed it is not looked upon as odd or out of character it is almost normalized. The king goes mad, Kent’s breaking of a stereotype, Gloucester is naà ¯ve nature, Edmunds superb manipulation, and the fool is the most knowledgeable of all. The first is the king. He goes mad, completely loses all sense of sanity. â€Å"Nature’s aboveRead MoreKing Lear Character Analysis796 Words   |  4 Pages In the play King Lear by william Shakespeare, Lear decides to give up his throne and retire because of his age. Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters because he has no heir to the throne. Before splitting the country up, Lear asks his daughters to tell him how much they love him and only then will the receive their part of the kingdom. His eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, shower their father in insincere flattery trying to show their affection. In contrast his youngestRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of King Lear963 Words   |  4 PagesA Child King At first glance, King Lear appears to be simply a selfish man who loses his wealth, his mind, and his life in that order. Sure, he learns a lesson, but it does not do much good because both he and his daughter, Cordelia, die before really making amends. In fact, most everyone dies before really getting anything good done. So why did Shakespeare bother writing this play? Well, Shakespeare was well known for having a deep understanding of mankind and portraying that understanding inRead MoreKing Lear Character Analysis714 Words   |  3 PagesIn Act III scene 7 of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Gloucester returns to his castle after secretly guiding Lear to safety. Gloucester hoped to avoid any confrontation by Cornwall and Regan, but his son Edmund, betrayed him and revealed the information. When Gloucester finds Regan and Cornwall, they accuse him of being a traitor. They are both enraged that he has disobeyed their orders by helping Lear who was just kicked out during a terrible storm. After some interrogation by Regan, Gloucester justifiesRead MoreKing Lear Character Analysis1511 Words   |  7 PagesA character study written of a mortal man full of unpredictable mental illnesses and insanity can be as confusing as a thing to write as the thoughts within his very own mind. King Lear had a mind that could be compared to a light switch. His emotional states change from one extreme to the other with just that flip of the switch. Lear had a vast need for power and control; this combined with his temper and enormous selfishness created room for many mental outbursts. Best stated by Henry Hudson (1911)Read MoreKing Lear Character Analysis1222 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Obey thy father† (King Lear III-IV 75). What that means is, to honour your father.Edmund, who broke a sin by dethroning his father Gloucester and, as a result Edmund was slain by his brother Edgar. Next, King Lear was betrayed by his three daughters. During act I, scene IV, Lear said. â€Å"Degenerate bastard, I’ll not trouble thee. Yet have I left daughter.† (Lear I IV 242-243). This advises us that King Lear will not be bothering Goneril as Goneril is promptly an extraordinary character. Goneril breaksRead MoreKing Lear Character Analysis1196 Words   |  5 Pageswritten play, King Leir, published on May 15, 1594. In the play, the single father, King Leir, was betrayed by his two oldest daughters as he realizes that they do not love him. â€Å"He fled the land, and sailed to Gallia, there to seek some comfort of his youngest daughter Cordeilla, whom before he hated† (Holinshed: Chronicles). Out of all of his children, he favored his youngest Cordeilla due to her â€Å"motherly† personality of caring and love for him. Shakespeare’s version of King Lear is very similarRead MoreA Comparative Analysis of the Characters of King Lear and Hidetora526 Words   |  2 Pagesin human history dont just resurface in critical analysis but are also given new life when channeled through modern media. This is well-exemplified by legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawas 1985 epic, Ran. The highly regarded and high-budgeted film, based on William Shakespeares 1606 play King Lear, demonstrates the power retained by the original play even when dramatically recontextualized. Indeed, in a comparative discussion of King Lear and Hidetora, his counterpart in the Kurosawa filmRead MoreKing Lear and the Genre of Tragedy Essay960 Words   |  4 Pagesof the hero. Written between 1604 and 1606, ‘King Lear’ falls into the genre of tragedy, depicting the destruction and downfall of the main character (Abrams). The play centres on Lear, an aging king who, in his retirement, decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters while retaining the title and privileges of being king. However, King Lear’s actions lead to the destruction of his family, tearing up his kingdom and creating a war. ‘King Lear’ is a tragedy as it follows the codes and conventionsRead MoreWilliam Shakespea re s Othello And Timon Of Athens1259 Words   |  6 Pages Of the many people to have critiqued King Lear, A.C. Bradley arguably does the most through job as seen in Lecture VII and VIII of his work Shakespearean Tragedy. In Lecture VII, Bradley begins by discussing the similarities King Lear has to Shakespeare’s other works including Othello and Timon of Athens (245-246). For instance, in Othello, Iago reminds of Edmund and Othello’s trickery reminds us of the deceitfulness of Gloucester. Additionally, the scene where Othello watched Iago and Cassio