How Far Do You Agree That “the Play of King Lear Presents Us

How far do you agree that The mutant of queen regnant Lear presents us with a bleak and barbarian world and offers us no comfort at the closure a great deal of Shakespe bes ability Lear follows themes such as betrayal on the get of the antagonists and the protagonists blindness of the events which have befallen them. For utilisation in a rage with Kent Lear exclaims Out of my sight with Kents retort simply beingness See better Lear this motif of a characters blindness continues through expose the ladder.Some of the characters scum bag be seen to be prolifically vicious throughout the play and while round of the these characters die by the force out of the play their actions windlessness have ramifications. Gonerill and Regan for example strip their get of his self awareness and leave him to scrabble for his saneness on an unwelcoming and bleak heath. Lear is non exempt from blame for his circle but the disastrous and tragic consequences seem to out balance the fl aws in his slim mind.This is a tragedy however so Lears downfall as the result his hamartia was expected for the katharsis of the Jacobean sense of hearings to be achieved. The play has a sinister atmosphere but Shakespeare may have assay to include moments of comfort either for the tension of the drama or to recall the hearing a sense of hope. In Act 1 of fairy Lear Shakespeare seems to foreshadow the key themes of the play which often have sorrowful consequences for umpteen of the characters.For example when Lear decides that he will test his daughters plaudit in exchange for their share of the kingdom, Which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest kind-heartedness may extend the contest seems to be an empty gesture as Gloucester and Kent had already discussed that both dukes could already expect an equal share of England for qualities are so weighed that curiosity in neither rat make extract of eithers moiety.The kings empty voice communication are currently mirrored by his childrens as Gonerill remarks that Sir, i love you to a greater extent that word can wield the matter and A love that makes breathing room poor, and speech communication unable her hyperbole contradicts her when she goes on to explain further. Regan too expresses her unfeigned feelings poorly by simply agreeing with her sister I am make of that self-mettle as my sister this sounds as if it were just a shallow come back of Gonerill without out conviction of love Lear expected.However Lear does not recognise this as the audience might and so when Cordelia decides that she must Love, and be silent and says slide fastener my entitle Lear indicates his own future Nothing will come of nothing Because of Gonerills lack of seniority her expressions of love are devalued and mean nothing so that when Cordelia characterises her feelings towards Lear as loving him According to my bond, no more nor little she reestablishes the verbal integrity. To a Jacobean a udience the theme of nothing may be more prevalent just from Lears initial speech Know, that we have split up in three our kingdom To a Christian audience this may have emulated Matthew 12. 25 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. Yet even when in the most dire circumstances compassion is shown by various characters. After he is thrown into a storm and in his words Lears wits begin to turn of events he still shows pity for the bell ringer when he asks Come on, my male child how dost, my boy? art cold? This is either one of few examples of Lears selflessness or his attempt to cling to his only symbol of reality. The evil of many of the characters are obvious throughout the play.But there are close to signs of pity and compassion and of loyalty too. This is usually due to a workable feelings of obligation to family or superiority which contrastingly in separate examples conk treachery. For example Gloucesters ultimate punishment for his trust in Edm ond is that Cornwall puts out the Earls eyes. A servant protests at the brutality of Gloucesters treatment But better service have I never make you Along with Cordelia and Kent the servant pays the ultimate price for this and is killed.The Kings fool is mourned at the end of the play by Lear because of his selfless attitude towards dowry Lears understanding So out went the candle, and we were left darkling. When Gonerill begins to vitiate Lears sanity the fools says this to relay it to Lear. The loyalty of both the Fool and Kent to Lear can be seen as a comforting thought, suggesting that the king who had lost everything still maintained allies. The Fool used seemingly frivolous songs to try and pass along Lear however unsuccessfully into a better situation.Kent too remained loyal, even afterwards Lear had banished Kent he felt a need to serve his master faithfully. unluckily in the final act Lear states that my poor fool is hanged and after Lears death Kent says My master c alls me i must not say no suggesting he must follow Lear into death. In this instance the folly of domain are oerrun by the divine goodness of nature. However the play may also send another spiritual point, a more nihilistic one if in fact there is such a thing of gods then they are not sympathetic to the tribulations of human baseball club and are as cruel to them as any puppet.This is perhaps unsufferable to Lear as he scorns Gonerill and Regans behavior as unnatural and uses animal image and similes to describe them, her tongue is said to be serpent want and whose gratitude is sharper than a serpents tooth. Both may be biblical references to the greed and wickedness of mankind. Edgar too describes himself as a go after in madness and wolf in greedines here we know that dissimilar Lear Edgar is not mad and so his word may be interpreted as a small parable of mankinds fragility.At realising his twain eldest daughters are betraying him Lear calls to the heavens to take his s ide and strike them with a storm O heavens If you do love old men, if your saintlike sway, show obedience, if you yourselves are old, make it you cause. Send down, and take my subdivision The cruel dramatic irony being that it will be Lear who suffers a awe-inspiring storm on the heath and in his mind. As well as this the audience may see that Lears language hasnt changed from the reference of the play when he still held a position of power.Lears first words of the play is a command Attend the lords of France and Burgundy Gloucester This imperative sentence shows his dominance which even when Gonerill and Regan reduce his only semblance of his kingship, his army to nothing he still clings to like a child, Send down and take my part . This may be the root of Lears downfall. At the time of King Lears first performance, England was in political and economic turmoil Elizabeth Is still recent death and the Gunpowder plot frightened Shakespeares time in history. King Lear then m ay be a partly a criticism of an inherently unfair society.To an Elizabethan audience Edmonds self interest to not stand in the plague of custom and not uphold his loyalty to the king and his father was of a growing trend. At the time then Edmond may not have been seen as a villain but perhaps a free thinking individual who was prepared to do whatever it took to be successful. The apparent lack of justice in King Lear is shown by King Lear himself I am a man, more sinned against than sinning Lear often reaches for some wider reason for his misfortunes but perhaps finds little comfort in the end when he realises his mistakes too late to change the plays resolution.This manifestation of the story follows the theories of tragedy from Aristotle and so Lear can be said to be a tragic hero. However if King Lear can be seen as a spiritual play then Lears finish is one of redemption and since both Gonerill and Regan die the kingdom can erstwhile again rise from the ashes. Cordelia too s erves this metaphor embodying Christs courtly crusade against evil with a french army and dying a martyr for her father but not without speaking with him and so restoring Lears jagged mind even if only partially.King Lear depicts the cruelty of humankind and the sectionalization of a mans mind, the social and family ties around him and his kingdom. The token examples of compassion, shown to the audience to some extent only amplify the Shakespeares darker purpose of a savage loss of morals. What little justice thats offered at the end, Edgar prevailing over his brother for example can not compensate for the punishment that Lear and the other characters endure. The very notion of nothing is so significant by the end of the play the most of the characters are literally reduced to nothing.