King Lear Essay, Research Paper
In King Lear, the unnatural elements seem to ever rule the natural elements throughout the drama. There exists a reversal of order in the drama where the evil prosper in the ruin of the good, and where adult male & # 8217 ; s life is nonmeaningful and arbitrary. King Lear, the tragic hero, dies in the terminal despite the torture and torment he had to digest to renew and atone. But it is the worthless devastation of countless other lives because of Lear & # 8217 ; s ain personal calamity that supports the position of the ferociousness and the meaningless of adult male & # 8217 ; s life in the drama.
Life in Lear & # 8217 ; s existence is barbarous, and at times, merciless. All this has been brought about by the reign of immorality in the drama. The natural order of things has been reversed to such an extent that many of society & # 8217 ; s cherished values have been neglected and confused. Evil characters such as Edmund is praised by Gloucester for exposing the & # 8220 ; perfidy & # 8221 ; of Edgar, while Edgar is denounced for his & # 8220 ; villany & # 8221 ; . Love, based on altruism and truth, is weighted in mercenary footings. A adult male & # 8217 ; s life, so, can merely be considered arbitrary and meaningless in the helter-skelter existence of King Lear.
The character of Lear and Gloucester die in a province of joy, but they however die in the terminal resulf. Both had unmeasurable agonies for their follies, and yet both had gained wisdom & # 8211 ; forbearance, penetration, love & # 8211 ; from their experiences. Both were shown to hold the capacity for comparing during their ordeals and both were brave plenty to prevail over their failings. Yet, despite their regenation gained through agony and hurting, they are made to decease in the terminal. Their deceases barely seem merely and proper if a adult male & # 8217 ; s life were non nonmeaningful. But in King Lear, a adult male & # 8217 ; s life is nonmeaningful so.
There were besides many others who were non straight involved in Lear & # 8217 ; s personal calamity that died for it. Because of Lear & # 8217 ; s follies and the subsequent reign of immorality, the ground forcess of France and Britain fought. That conflict must hold resulted in numberous decease on both sides. The ground forces of France, led by the King of France and Cordelia, had come in an effort to
subvert the evil reign of Goneril and Regan, and to deliver King Lear. Cordelia was still bound by honor, responsibility, and obeisance to Lear despite her ostracism, and she at last, had come for her darling male parent. Lear’s folly had caused both ground forcess to contend for his salvation and regeneration. The many deceases of soldiers from both sides are excessively numberous and undistinguished to take note of in this apathetic existence of King Lear.
Finally, if the deceases of Gloucester and Lear seemed unjust, so the decease of Cordelia can be considered wholly unfair. Cordelia embodies the virtuousnesss of altruism and honestness wholly, and she had plenty love to assist her male parent despite his entire mistreatment of her in the beginning. Cordelia dies viciously in the terminal, murdered by a captain bribed by Edmund. Her barbarous decease is such a lay waste toing daze that one can merely claim that a adult male & # 8217 ; s life is nonmeaningful in King Lear. Cordelia, of all the characters, should non hold died, and to decease in such a barbarous mode indicates the ferociousness of a adult male & # 8217 ; s life in King Lear.
It can be argued that the devastation of good by immorality is a tragic fact of life, and while that may be true, there were merely excessively many deceases to be accounted for in the drama. Finally, in King Lear, Shakespeare presents a subject that it is possible for adult male to carve his ain way in fate. By taking an evil way, one can be self & # 8211 ; destructive. Following a way of goodness allows one to hold religious hope and bonds with fellow adult male. It is a merely existence that allows the freedom of pick to be for the person and that besides carefully monitors the prevalence of goodness.
Therefore, in King Lear, Shakespeare does non show an apathetic existence. He besides does non show that adult male & # 8217 ; s life is nonmeaningful. He does bespeak, nevertheless, that there is justness in agony, that evil proves to be ineffectual, and that merely through goodness is a sense of spiritual hope and religious bond possible. By exemplifying these facts, Shakespeare wishes to bespeak that non merely is the universe & # 8216 ; non indifferent & # 8217 ; , but besides that adult male & # 8217 ; s nature is really pertinent to the care of justness on Earth.
