Essay on Lessons in King Lear by William Shakespeare

Lessons in King Lear by William Shakespeare Satisfying, hopeful, and redemptive: some critics would say that these adjectives belong nowhere near a description of King Lear. One critic, Thomas Roche, even states that the play’s ending is â€Å"as bleak and unrewarding as man can reach outside the gates of hell† (164). Certainly, Roche’s pessimistic interpretation has merit; after all, Lear has seen nearly everyone he once cared for die before dying himself. Although this aspect of the play is true, agreeing with this negative view requires a person to believe that Lear learns nothing and that he suffers and dies in vain. Indeed, this is exactly what Roche believes when he states that at the play’s end, â€Å"Lear still cannot tell good from†¦show more content†¦. . and in his childish charades† (170). In other words, there is an immediate sense that Lear is not truly aware of the harsh realities of human life. For instance, when Lear says that he has divided his kingdom into thi rds for each daughter so that he can retire and â€Å"Unburthened crawl toward death,† he shows that he is completely lacking in common sense by assuming that his plan will go according to his will and that the transition of power will run smoothly (1.1.43). Almost instantly, Lear is proven foolish when Regan and Goneril â€Å"hit together† and agree to â€Å"do something, and in the heat† to strip their father of any power that he has remaining (1.1. 306, 311). Mack calls this rapid string of events that follow Lear’s hasty abdication â€Å"the waiting coil of consequences [that] leaps into threatening life,† bringing with it the unmistakable message that Lear was terribly wrong in choosing to reward his false-flattering daughters with the gift of his kingdom (170). Lear’s gift to Goneril and Regan, whose quick deception shows the falseness of their affections toward their father, proves that Lear is unable to see the love, or lack thereof, that others have for him. Likewise, when he becomes enraged at Cordelia after she refuses to flatter him, Lear reveals that he, like Goneril and Regan, is unable to have altruistic love for another person when he says to Cordelia that it would have been â€Å"Better thou/ HadstShow MoreRelatedKing Lear, by Shakespeare Essay994 Words   |  4 Pages It is often said â€Å"what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,† and Shakespeare himself seems to agree with this old adage. In his tragedy King Lear he has many of his main characters go through an experience that takes them far out of their comfort zone to change them for the better. Throughout King Lear Shakespeare shows that man cannot be morally strong without over coming suffering. At the beginning of the play King Lear is an old, foolish man. 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