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The Characters In William Shakespeare's King Lear

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The play King Lear was written by the famed William Shakespeare circa 1600’s. This play was performed in many other countries, and watched on big screen. The Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas presented King Lear as part of their 40th Anniversary. King Lear, father of three maidens namely Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, and ruler of a kingdom is now waxed old. He wanted to divide his kingdom among his daughters and asks them to proclaim their love for him and will make it as a basis in each daughter’s share of the kingdom. Cordelia, the youngest and the adored daughter of Lear brought her father to fury when she expressed her love in plain words in comparison with her two other sisters who used gratifying words to flatter the King. Enraged, King …show more content…

It depicted a Southeast Asian Kingdom showing its different heritage such as the costumes that added colors and vibrance to the play but illustrates the similarities of the Southeast Asian garments. This showed in the Thai costumes of the sisters, Goneril and Regan that showed and made them more look evil and cunning. Cordelia’s Chinese-Malaysian outfit made her more fragile in a way that she looks soft, sincere, and vulnerable from any vile forces that will come to her. Though inspired by different countries, the costumes seemed unified and appropriate for each character of the play. The castle will remind someone of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. The trees at the side looked like Balete Trees. Added to the light and sound effects, the story would really encompass connect with the heart of the audience. Though the DUP veered away from the European setting, it did not fail to interpret properly one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, the play King …show more content…

Although the some of the words were lightened, it still cannot be easily understood. Nevertheless, the poetic language makes the lines of the characters very much powerful and striking. It hides the real meaning of the word, but when it was delivered by the character, it shoots through the heart. The soliloquy of the bastard Edmund really showed anger, jealousy, and hunger of familial attention of him being a baseborn when he delivered the line “Now gods, stand up for bastards!” The conversation with the king and the fool at the first part emanated humor but conveys a cloistered meaning of Lear being on a level with a fool too because he is getting

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Although it may seem that this act is kind, it is not in the best interest of the king himself. King Lear is no longer held in such high respect.

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Throughout William Shakespeare’s tragic play, King Lear, the goal of gaining control over the kingdom and boasting about one’s status drove the characters to deceive each other through the use of lies and manipulation. Right from the start, King Lear demanded that his daughter profess their love for him, causing Regan and Goneril to exaggerate their love all to flatter their father and gain the most of his land. When it was Cordelia’s turn, even though she spoke from her heart about how much her father means to her, her words did not praise her father enough as he insisted she revise her confession. Act 1 Scene 1 started the destruction of the Lear family as Regan and Goneril proved successful in gaining their father’s land by spreading lies

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No protagonist’s journey is complete without an antagonist there to reap in their sorrows. One could argue that King Lear there is no protagonist, but there are clear antagonists. Edmund, bastard son of Gloucester, is one of these painfully obvious villains. Every motive he has is to make himself the victor and drag someone else down. The treachery of Edmund’s villainy enhances the meaning of King Lear by putting him in situations that are not only dramatic, but outrageous.

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Significantly he tells inconvenient truths to the King with the unbridled insolence of a conscience. The King’s descent into madness comes when, importantly, he banishes his Fool ' '.(2016:278).In fact, King Lear is a masterpiece of psychological insight into human nature. In this tragedy scene, the picture which Shakespeare has painted of King Lear becomes completely reversed here. Indeed, Many characters have flaws affecting their decisions in English literature, they made mistakes only to realize them later.

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The audience sympathise with King Lear’s redemption. Throughout the play, he gets a chance at redemption to make up for his mistake of having “thy truth being the dower:” for his daughter. He realises the folly of his actions and redeems himself stating “I am a very foolish fond old man”. This demonstrates King Lear's change in character as he learns that he is not as powerful as thinks he was and starts to become more humble. There is a lure of sympathy for King Lear because a story of redemption inspires people and catches their imagination, that anything is possible.

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King Lear is an arrogant and powerful individual who is very much aware of his authority. Lear’s most obvious flaw at the start of the play is that he values appearances over reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to also enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to take the king’s responsibilities of ruling for the good of his kingdom. Likewise, his test for his daughters establishes the fact that he would much rather prefer a complimentary public display of

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The dark, dense, and mysterious forest scenery creates a dreamlike setting for the nights events and characters. The fairies interactions with one another and interference with the Athenians also adds to this fairy-tale dream. The townsmen and the young lovers affected by the spell and potions believe the night’s events are too strange to be true. Surely a lowly Athenian could not have been doted on by a fairy queen while bearing a donkey head. Besides, a dream seems the only possible explanation for Lysander to not love Hermia and for Demetrius to not love Helena.

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William Shakespeare's King Lear is depressing and has no mercy, but it also encounters many more aspects which are quite important for everyone to know, such as: trails of deaths, battles, love, hatred, treacheries and most importantly nature and culture. Shakespeare created a play where the world was cruel and there was only plotting and tragedy with no shining light at the end of the tunnel. Shakespeare makes King Lear, a natural figure to show the hypocrisy. The connection between King Lear and Cordelia is an analogy for the relationship of nature and culture. It seems that King Lear believed in culture instead of nature, he could not understand his youngest, nicest and the most loving daughter Cordelia only because she had no words to

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It is a striking event how he treats his alleged favourite daughter and how easily he believes the lies he is being fed. Despite this, his quote holds a certain truth to it. As Lear has sinned against Cordelia, his other two daughters have sinned against him. He is right in his words for the reason that, although he was unjust and treated Cordelia disrespectfully, he did it because he felt betrayed.

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