King Lear

Q What will continue to make King Lear worthy of study?

Write a critical evaluation of King Lear analysing its construction, content and language.

Shakespeare’s play King Lear has certified a perpetual relevance to society through its revolutionary interpretation of identity, subverting authorities in society such as religion, philosophy, pagan rituals (the chain of being is what I’m referring to), and the very construct of language itself, as systems of power that continue to define our interpretation of self/ humanity. Shakespeare’s coherent use of foreshadowing, dual plots, dramatic irony, extended metaphor and verisimilitude have ensured the enduring value of King Lear, a play whose plethora of tragedies continue to serve as allegories for the nature of human kind.

Q To what extent has your personal response of KL been shaped by the enduring power of Shakespeare’s characterisation of the play?

The 17^th Century play ‘King Lear’ has ensured its relevance to contemporary society through dramatic unity and textual integrity, however, in my personal response above all else is Shakespeare’s prescient characterisation of Lear’s identity struggle that has ensured the play’s universal significance and value to humanity. While the family tragedy of King Lear is prevalent in both plot and sub plot, after an in depth study of the play I believe the most discerning tragedy is that of individual identity and the concern for human kind.

Lear’s struggle with his identity as King, father and man unites and propels the entire play as foreshadowed by Lear’s “Who is it who can tell me who I am?” in the very opening of the play, to which the faithful Fool replies “Lear’s shadow” effectively introducing the divided identity that burdens King Lear. Shakespeare uses the Wheel of fortune an Elizabethan form of torture, as an extended metaphor to insinuate the cyclical struggle of identity that Lear is burdened with. Initially Lear is strapped to a “wheel of fire” on a rapid descent kinship, material possessions, daughters, kingdom and security, and yet the all wise fool foreshadows the nature of Lear’s journey as the “great wheel turns” to reach moral ascendancy. Ultimately it is the cunning villain Edmund realises “the wheel has come full circle”, essentially encapsulating the integrity of the entire play, unearthing the dramatic unity that propels Lear’s ongoing identity struggle, as he inevitably comes to a tragic lack of perception and moral enlightenment.

Shakespeare’s complex characterisation of Lear is established through the transgression of language. According to the pagan Great Chain of Being a social hierarchy of the Elizabethan era, Lear is seen to be at the apex of society, closest to god. Initially, Lear is characterised as an irrational, reckless and self-aggrandising individual through his verbose use of language calling upon the gods to, “Thwart disnatured torment on her” (Cordelia). Lear’s foolish banishment of Kent and Cordelia is warned against by his loyal servant who pleas “See better Lear” foreshadowing his mental discrepancy and lack of clarity. Lear’s abdication of the throne is masked in selfishness declaring, “Shake our cares and business of our age”. As a King Lear is unable to discriminate between power and privilege, forced to abandon his “insolent retinue” and as he irrationally enters the howling storm. As a father, Lear is similarly blinded by the insincere flatteries of Goneril and Regan, failing to notice that Cordelia “art most rich being poor”. In entering the storm Lear descends materially, however it allows him to gain moral perception and consider his ethical flaws. The Lear of the storm is characterised as gaining a sense of humility, recognising “Oh I have ta’en too little care of this”. His “philosopher” Poor Tom makes Lear consider his own misguided sense of identity, “robes and furred gowns hide all”, but ultimately “man art but a poor, bare forked animal”. Shakespeare employs this tormenting metaphor to insinuate Lear’s emotional insight, redeeming himself from Kent’s predicament, but only temporarily.

Lear’s journey from King to Man regresses further still, as he emerges from the storm “crowned in rank furrow weeds” Shakespeare employs the meta-image of Lear’s re-birth as a child of nature. Subsequently, Lear’s relationship with Cordelia highlights Lear’s devastating reversion from his enlightened state of humility to that of a helpless child. Lear uses whimsical imagery in projecting his absurd fantasy of banishment with Cordelia “birds sing i’th cage”. Shakespeare uses characterisation to indicate Cordelia assuming the role of the mother/ carer, imparting comforting words in a rhyming couplet scheme.

Lear’s devastating struggle with his own identity is mirrored in the sub-plot, which effectively propels the enduring elements of Shakespeare’s characterisation. Gloucester’s physical blinding is a reflection of his inability as a father to distinguish the redeeming qualities of each of his sons. Shakespeare’s “out vile jelly’s, where’s thy lustre now?” reveals Gloucester’s ignorance as a father; just as Lear is gulled by the ‘glib and oily art” of Gonerill and Regan, so too is Gloucester by Edmund’s incriminating letter, employing a false identity. Shakespeare uses language as means to convey the father’s shared ingratitude of their true children. Shakespeare alludes to the Greek classic ‘Oedipus Rex’ (IS THIS VERSIMILITUDE?) in Gloucester’s lust and subsequent blinding, which enables him to denounce himself as an artist using Lear’s moral blindness and state of mental incest, with his youngest daughter Cordelia.

Shakespeare upturns the notion of the Great Chain of Being, which advocates the difference of man and animal under the principals of moral wisdom, whereby Lear gains moral insight when he is stripped of all human necessities, in his most primal state. Moreover, revitalised allusions to religion, pagan rituals/ traditions and Greek classics, ensures the perpetual relevance of King Lear, moreover Shakespeare’s complex characterisation upturns the concepts of filial and parental relations with the increasingly prescient concern for the struggle of identity.

Shakespeare’s play King Lear above all else teaches us how vital it is to know ourselves.

While Shakespeare's play 'King Lear' encompasses the tragedy of the family unit, a deep study of the play’s integrity unearth the increasingly prescient and insightful concerns involve the tragedy of identity and Shakespeare's concern for individual understanding. Shakespeare employs linguistic transgression, textual integrity, dualistic (?) plots and foreshadowing to reveal an intrinsically complex journey of self understanding for the characters of Lear and Edmund, which inevitably brings the entire kingdom to a "dark and comfortless close". King Lear and Gloucester's inability to recognize their true children is thereby a simplistic and shallow reading of identity when considering the sadistic result of King Lear and Edmund's devastating lack of self-understanding. It is within this framework that Shakespeare dictates the intrinsically complex journey of self-discovery which in turn bears consequence for individuals; Cordelia, family unit, and humanity with the suffering of Poor Tom.

King Lear’s struggle to identify as King, Father and man unites and propels the tragedies of the entire play. Shakespeare employs foreshadowing, dramatic unity, language transgression to track Lear’s confronting path of self-discovery. In Act 1 Scene 1 o the play Lear’s state of mental fragmentation is foreshadowed by the all-wise fool who please “see better Lear”, in response to his confused state of identity, Lear seeks the profession of love from each of his daughters. As a father Lear is unable to discriminate the values of his true children, succumbing to the “glib and oily art” of Goneril and Regan with out recognising that Cordelia “art most rich being poor”. The failure to discriminate filial identity is indeed reflected in Shakespeare’s subplot, as Gloucester is similarly duped by a falsity of language (Edmund’s false letter). However, Shakespeare employs Verisimilitude to Greek mythology in a means of distinguishing the profundity of his intended message/ lessons, which in fact, surpass the tragedy of the family unit. Referring to classic ‘Oedipus Rex’ with Gloucester’s lust and subsequent blinding by Cornwall “out ville jelly’s! Where’s thy lustre now?” reflects Lear’s own state of mental division “one side shall mock thee other.” Shakespeare esteems himself as an artist and the immense complexity of his themes referencing the “bastard son” Edmund and Oedipus as fruits of parental lust, against Lear’s state of mental incest in his lack of individual understanding, resulting in increasingly more devastating consequences for the individual; suffering of Cordelia, the family; causing sisters to turn upon each other in a malicious manner and humanity; with the suffering of Poor Tom.

As a king Lear is unable to recognise the nature of power and privilege, initially denouncing his intentions to “shake all our cares and business from our age”, Lear is later outraged by the enforced separation from his “insolent retinue” of men and horses. As a result, Lear is driven in to the “howling storm” in a fit of irresolute irrationality, abdicating his identity as king and father. Lear’s confrontation in the storm allows Shakespeare to examine the notion of true identity and one, which is masked in “additions”. Lear’s philosopher ‘Poor tom’ enables Lear to recognise that “Robes and furred gowns hide all”, moreover, that as a King Lear’s lack of perception has caused immense suffering exclaiming “Oh I have ta’en too little care of this!”

However, Lear’s humbling awareness of self is tragically short lived, his journey from King to “unaccommodated man”, takes on turn for the worse as he emerges from the storm as a child of nature, “crowned in rank fumiter weeds”. Shakespeare uses biblical allusions to equate Lear’s sacrifice of identity to that of Christs, employing the meta image of Lear’s metaphorical re-birth/ reincarnation. This journey is foreshadowed by Lear himself, who initially denounces the nature of his path “unburdened shall crawl towards death”. Shakespeare employs a linguistic transgression to further establish Lear’s struggle with perception and identity, initially he uses verbose language to align himself with the forces of nature, “Thwart disnatured torment on her!” Ultimately, Lear’s relationship with Cordelia is similarly fantasised and unrealistic as Lear is caught up in a world of child like imagery describing his imprisonment with Cordelia as “Glided butterflies, singing in a walled prison”. Lear’s identity crises bear’s immense consequence for Cordelia who is forced to take on a parental role, speaking in comforting rhyming couplets.

Lear’s struggle to identify as king, father and man and the extent to which his journey devastates the kingdom imparts valuable insights for the reader into the necessity for self-understanding. Shakespeare employs verisimilitude, foreshadowing and a linguistic transgression to deliver intrinsically complex messages that bear universal relevance to humanity.