King Lear Essay, Research Paper
King Lear
King Lear is the tale of a vain, prideful, and foolish old man who
is blinded by his rage and too stubborn to mend his ways. The “self”
of Lear is overwhelmed by the authority of the “King,” in the grip of
the most primitive of emotions, a human being dying inside a model.
By the time of Lear’s redemption, however, from this honorable self,
what is mortal in him has been lost to any role that might be
accommodated in the structured world of man. Lear is a fool and it is
not Lears tradgedy but his fate because he was nothing more than a
fool.
As King Lear opens, Lear presents his three daughters with a
plaaned meeting that allows them to make a public announcement of
their love for him. He is delighted when Goneril says hers is “Dearer
than eyesight, space and liberty” (1.1.56). He is also pleased with
Regan’s praises. Lear foolishly believes that Goneril and Regan love
and respect him the way they say they do; he is oblivious to the fact
that his daughters, or anyone for that matter, may lie for their own
benefit. Because he believes his eldest daughters’ insincere adulation,
Lear’s trial proves him a fool.
In addition, Lear senselessly concludes that Cordelia is a
disrespectful daughter and not worthy of her share of the kingdom. He
is displeased when she states simply that she loves her father as a
daughter should, no more and no less: “I love your majesty/According
to my bond, no more nor less” (1.1.92-93). Angry and humiliated at
her lack of honor, Lear immediately exiles Cordelia from the country.
Through banishment, Lear intends “to reduce her to nothing, this
being the payment that she had earned by not pleasing him wiht her
answer. He then orders her to marry the King of France and finally
divides the kingdom between his two eldest daughters and their
husbands.
Furthermore, Lear’s foolishness is again evident when both
Goneril and Regan later shun him. As he ventures into the night’s
storm, he tells the Fool, “O fool, I shall go mad” (2.2.475). He later
remarks, “My wits begin to turn” (3.2.68). Here, Lear begins his
downward spiral toward madness. But in his madness, he discovers the
essence of humanity; he descends from his majestic position to a
ranking of lower class. He declares, “When we are born we cry that we
are come/To this great stage of fools” (4.6.182-83). The Fool
accurately comments, “this cold night will turn us all to fools and
mad/men” (3.4.79-80). Ironically, the Fool and the king begin to swap
positions. Up until this point, the Fool has granted Lear helpful
understanding of his decisions; this establishes the question of which
of the two is now the real fool. Lear asks, “Dost thou call me a fool,
boy?” The Fool replies, “All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou/ wast born with” (1.4.145-147). The king has been openly told by
the fool that he has diminished to the level of the Fool.
Moreover, when Lear is reunited with Cordelia at the end of the
play, it is not as the petty unjust king who has banished her but as a
fool who has himself been banished by such a king. Lear is fooled a
final time by Cordelia’s death. As Lear falls to his death, he has a
glimmer of hope. He asks, “Do you see this? Look on her: look, her
lips,/Look there, look there” (5.3.317-318). Rather than part in misery,
Lear journeys to his final rest content for he is fooled into thinking
Cordelia still lives.