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Power And Obedience In Shakespeare's King Lear

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Samuel Johnson wrote in a preface to William Shakespeare’s King Lear, “There is perhaps no play which keeps the attention so strongly fixed; which so much agitates our passions and interests our curiosity.” King Lear is a prime example of Shakespeare’s ability to generate conversation. The play’s parallel storylines between Gloucester and Lear focuses the reader’s mind towards Shakespeare’s underlying messages. The uncommon structure for the tragedy facilitates an emphasis on the consequences of corruption of political power and obedience over true loyalty that are central to both plots of the play. The corrupting nature of power is a major idea in the play in both the main plot and the subplot that forces the reader fix their attention on …show more content…

Goneril and Regan do not exhibit genuine devotion to Lear, but they do have obedience to him before they are given power. Goneril claims that she loves Lear “As much as child e’er loved, or father found,” (1.1.59), but in the end, her words are meaningless. She lied about her love for her father with of her lack compassion for Lear during his stay at her castle. Additionally, Lear finally finds the most love from Cordelia in the final scenes of the play. Thus, Cordelia’s thoughts, “since I am sure my love’s / More ponderous than my tongue” (1.1.78-79), holds true from the beginning to the end of the play. Cordelia’s actions to bring French army to fight for Lear demonstrate her love him; therefore, she is Lear’s only daughter to exhibit a true loyalty for her father. Comparable to this, Edmund is also only obedient to father in order to profit for himself. Edmunds action to “find means and acquaint [Gloucester] withal” (1.2.102) is faked and his words are used to only to facilitate his ascension to power. However, Edgar shows compassion for Gloucester when he “Led him, begged for him, saved him from despair, / Never - O fault! - revealed [Edgar] unto [Gloucester]” (5.3.190-191). Edgar’s actions to save his father from suicide validate his loyalty for his father. Once again, the two storylines are brought together. Shakespeare ultimately decides kills Goneril, Regan, and

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The two daughters plan to take over Lear’s power. They deceive him into thinking they love him through their compelling words, but they do don’t actually love him. The reality is that Cordelia loves Lear, but because Lear is obsessed with his vanity so

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Goneril and Regan’s declarations of love were false and superfluous, tricking Lear into believing their adoration;

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In act four, Lear is finally able to reunite with Cordelia and expresses his new self in humbleness symbolizing repentance. When Cordelia addresses Lear as “royal lord" since the last time she has came in front of him, it is clear that she refers to Lear with the respect that he deserves as a king, as well with the admiration she still holds for her father. In comparison to Goneril’s and Regan’s formal “my lord”, it is evident that they do not display the same love and respect that Cordelia has for Lear. Lear’s response to her shows an urge to seek death, just as Gloucester did at the cliffs of Dover, when he states being taken “out o’the grave."

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Owen Katz Mr Gonzalez Cambridge A Level English 6/3/23 King Lear Rough Draft Essay King Lear was first set in the early 17th century as Shakespeare depicted the political battle between heads of state in feudal Europe and the interpersonal struggle in Lear and Gloucester between their families. As typical in many of Shakespeare’s plays there are many characters like Edmund, Regan, and Goneril who act malevolently throughout the play and eventually die. This was the standard form of punishment seen throughout many of Shakespeare’s plays and was the generic ending for evil characters in plays of the Elizabethan era.

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Cordelia also says that if Regan and Goneril were as loyal as they say to their father, they wouldn’t just only have affection for Lear but also to their husbands. Another quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear is when Cordelia gets captured by Edmund. “For thee, oppressed King, I am cast down, Myself could else outgrown false fortune’s frown. Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?”

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In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Edgar concludes the play by lamenting over the tragic deaths of those the around him and the future of the kingdom. As Kent, Albany, and Edgar are the only characters remaining in the end, Edgar stresses upon the lives lost because of deceitful actions and the importance of letting honesty reign instead. Bound to never again let lies tear a family apart, Edgar believes that words should come from the heart and that one should never speak with malicious intentions. Through a didactic declaration of ethical principles, Shakespeare summarizes the moral of the play, which is that truth should preside over one’s actions rather than lies as displayed through an antithesis of virtuous actions and through syntax

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The two more prominent characters of the play, Lear and Gloucester, shows us the importance of humility. Lear is finally able to understand his circumstances when he finally detaches himself from his title and status. This allows him to reunite happily with Cordelia despite their past. Similarly, Gloucester’s arrogance can be observed when he boasts about how his bastard son came to be, blinding him from the treachery of Edmund. It is arrogance that can often impair our judgement and one may suffer greatly because of

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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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He is fooled by his emotions when Edmund reveals the letter, which Gloucester assumed to believe Edgar wrote with plans to kill him. Once this happens Edmund is constantly playing with his father and Edgar’s emotions like puppets, influencing both of them to believe that the other was after them. In line 176 (Act 1, Scene 2) Edmund says “A credulous father! And a brother noble...” He exploits Gloucester’s fault for his own benefit.

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In The Tragedy of King Lear, Shakespeare portrays the character Gloucester, the father of Edgar, his legitimate son, and Edmund, who is deemed a bastard. Throughout the events that occur in the play, the power that Gloucester processes parallels his sight-- both figuratively and literally. As the story develops, the dreadful consequences of Gloucester’s inability to see what is happening around him are shown to be caused by the power he processes and his overall incompetence, which helps to convey Shakespeare’s overall message that too much power can corrupt anyone. Initially, Gloucester is introduced as a man with a large amount of power, who, at the same time, is very gullible and overall unaware of the reality of the events occurring around

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Shakespeare focuses primarily on the relationship between Lear, and the aged king and his daughters. Lear’s wish is to split his kingdom between his three daughters – after being assured of how much they love him. Shakespeare wanted to show the struggle between goodness and evil, inside of human and how evil changed man to behave bestially. Shakespeare’s King Lear, at the end, fulfil revenge, indeed, Lear divided his realm between two daughters instead three daughters because he followed flattery his two daughters. In order to get a portion of the kingdom, Goneril and Regan must profess their love to

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King Lear is a very selfish man who lacks a sense of duty. He wants to retire and has divided his kingdom among his three daughters; however, he wants his daughters to compete for who loves their father the most. Goneril and Regan both give melodramatic speeches about how words cannot begin to father their love for their father. When it is Cordelia’s turn, she simply states the truth; she loves her father as much as a daughter ought to. Because of Lear’s selfishness, he becomes enraged and disinherits his innocent daughter.

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The first of the play scene begins with the injustice of his daughter Cordelia by depriving her of everything, even of her dowry and her relations with family, indeed, he has saved the biggest part of the kingdom for her but she is a failure to express her love for her father, this good clue indicates injustice at the beginning of the division of two instead of the three, hence the division according to his mood. that Lear is very emotional; he is irritation, hasty, and impatient and he is unable to recognize the hypocrisy behind the extravagant speeches of Goneril and Regan. Although, Cordelia says: Good my Lord,

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In Shakespeare’s King Lear, a child’s loyalty can be diminished by the possibility of material gain, yet Cordelia and Edgar remain true to their fathers in

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It is only an inference that Edmund would not have been happy with Edgar’s status and would then want his father’s. Edmund had to first convey his dedication to his father in order to usurp him. That is where his plan with Edgar comes into play. The reader is made aware that Gloucester has fallen for Edmund’s schemes when he is exclaims “where is the villain Edmund” (II.i, 37). Edmund, like a snake, is able to trick his father into believing that he is the ‘good’ son pinning all the blame on Edgar.

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