Cody Warren 5th Period The Tragic Hero: King Lear The arduous travels of King Lear establish him as the protagonist in King Lear. King Lear represents the classical tragic hero, precisely nailing down the requirements for a character to be a tragic hero in the Aristotle style. He tries to make a good decision and use forethought to divide up his kingdom, so that his daughters would not have a power struggle after King Lear’s death. This forethought would normally be seen as a wise decision, but he ruins his well thought out plan by rashly exiling his favorite daughter, Cordelia, for a perceived insult. His wise forethought trying to secure the future of his kingdom became annihilated by his rash choice, setting off his journey that ends with …show more content…
Being of noble birth, Lear starts to set up as an ideal central figure. He demonstrates a flaw of judgment very early in the play though, exiling his favorite daughter in a rash rage of emotion. By this point Lear already appears as a defective hero; Lear is a central figure of the story and the kingdom who is flawed and makes mistakes. This is the decision initiates his tragic odyssey. After exiling his favorite daughter, he becomes rejected by his other two daughters, and in a mad rage runs out into a fierce storm. This action marks his true fall from being a king to a raving old codger, thereby securing his place as a fallen hero as this point of the story. Already suffering the drastic consequences of his actions, Lear stands before the storm and demands to be struck down by the storm. Lear yells up at the skies “Vaunt-couriers of oak cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head,” (67) asking for a massive tree shattering lightning bolt to hit his head. At this point, Lear understands how terrible his decision is, and is ready to deal with the consequences. Lear tries to die because he is so upset with his mistake, and faces it with honor and courage. Unfortunately, it was not quite time for his reckoning. Lear had to lvie on to face consequences later in the