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King Lear Essay

623 Words3 Pages

The Play King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic story of mistrust and misperception. We embark our journey of the play King Lear as the King starts to divide his Kingdom with his three daughters. Disaster begins to unravel when King Lear decides to split his Kingdom with his three daughters and their husbands, based on how much each could express their love for him. The original intent was to have three separate divisions of the Kingdom, but after an egocentric Lear bands his youngest daughter for her honesty, the Kingdom gets divided into two between his eldest daughter, Goneril, who is married to the Duke of Albany, and his middle daughter Regan is married to the Duke of Cornwall. The play goes on with lies, secrets, deception, …show more content…

Nearing the end, we now have experienced the shift in power from King Lear to his daughters, down to their husbands. After all the deaths, Albany is left as ruler and while Lear clings to his final breath, Albany tries to do right in hopes that the King will survive such a tragic and sorrowful downfall. “For us, we will resign, /During the life of this old Majesty, /To him our absolute power; you to/ your rights; /With boot, and such addition as your honours /Have more than merited.” In these lines we see another power switch. Albany gives up his power to Lear until Lear’s life ends.
Albany’s relationship with Lear is no longer connected by Goneril and her evil plots for power. Albany is now a man of power who is genuine enough to understand where power rightfully belongs. With hopes for the best outcome in the terms of King Lear, he gives his power back. With this he is now a follower of Lear. I believe that in subtext Albany feels guilty because of the outcome. Due to this we see him try to restore the only thing he could which is the power to rule back to Lear. Then we see him try and compensate and comfort the hurt of King Lear, Kent and Edgar by saying “All friends shall taste /The wages of their virtue, and all foes /The cup of their deservings”. In the subtext of those lines he depicts that things shall be better going forward; That all his allies will be rewarded for their support, and that his enemies will get what they

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