Like all tragic heroes, Lear has tragic flaws. Three of the major mistakes he had made are the love test, his disowning Cordelia and the banishment of Kent. The love test revealed his habit of quantifying love, which is something that cannot be quantified; and his desire for artificial things such as flattery. He had turned the test into an awful bargaining scene by trying to award people with material things for their love, thus treating human bond as commodity by giving it a value. Another evidence to prove such a habit of Lear is when he was arguing with Goneril and Regan over the size of his train of knights. Lear had decided that he will live with the sister that allows him to keep more knights. He had said, “Thy fifty yet double five-and-twenty, and thou art twice her love.” This again presents Lear as one who equate love with material things and personal worth with one’s possessions. By disowning his favourite daughter Cordelia and banishing his loyal servant Kent, Lear had not only displayed a lack of understanding of his own children, but also blindness towards inner beauty and truth. He was unable to see past Cordelia and Kent’s bluntness to detect the deep affection and loyalty they had for him which unable to be described in words. Lear’s another tragic flaw is that he is rather self-centred and is aware of only his sufferings, but blind to that of the others. Throughout the play, he has many times shed his anger and hatred at the heavens, always filled with self-pity for himself, but seldom had he considered his own responsibilities that led to his downfall. Fortunately, as the play progresses, we see Lear gradually abandons the artifice he had as a king, instead moves on to seek a new identity.
His first sign of change occurs in Act 3, after he has been abandoned by his two eldest daughters into the stormy night. Although he was asking the heavens to curse and destroy all of mankind, thus showing a limitation in his perception, the inability to see anything worthwhile in life; Lear had still made some progress as he is now able to see through the exaggerated flatteries of Goneril and Regan to realize their real, evil characters. Here, we also see a hint of Lear’s impending madness from his speaking to the storm and the elements of nature, asking them for revenge.
Then, Lear begins to step out of his self-centeredness and starts to feel for others. He had asked the fool if he was cold and had said to Kent and the fool, “poor fool and knave, I had one part in my heart that’s sorry yet for thee.” This is the first time in the play that we see Lear concerned for someone else. Previously, he was always caught up and preoccupied with his own sufferings and showed little attention to the others. Such a change is further developed after Kent had led Lear and the fool to a little shelter and Lear began to comment about human suffering. He had showed concern and sympathy for the fate of the “poor naked wretches” and worried about how they were going to endure the storm when they were starving and had no clothes. He then began to blame himself and felt guilty that he had “ta’en too little care of this” when he was the king. He had even went to the extent to say, “Take physic, Pomp; expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, that thou mayst shake the superflux to them, and show the heavens more just”. By this, he meant that it is only just if the rich people of the country share their wealth with the poor, and give them some things that they do not need, in other words, their excess, the artifice that their position had brought for them. Here, we see the turning point in Lear’s character when his attention is turned from himself to others. Although he still feels that there is a difference between himself and the poor people, he is now able to recognize and empathize with their suffering, and showed some compassion towards them. At the same time Lear is getting further away from his identity as a king, he is plunging a little more into madness as we see him again talking to someone unknown that he address as “poor naked wretches”. Only in such a helpless state when Lear himself is experiencing the harsh weather, can he focus on some of the essential matters that he had omitted as a king, such as the safety and happiness of his people. And only in such a state, can Lear gain some wisdom of mankind as a whole.
After Lear’s encounter with Edgar disguised as poor Tom, his madness becomes more evident when he insisted on believing that Edgar had only been reduced to such a base state because he too had been mistreated by his daughters. He then tried to unbutton his clothes to imitate Tom whom he thinks was the representative of the basest man can ever be and who is closest to and most knowledgeable about truth in the world. Earlier we had seen when he was arguing with Regan and Goneril about the size of his train, he had referred to clothing as an example of the excess and artifice that must be removed in order to find oneself. Later, Lear had even refused to enter the shelter Gloucester had led them to unless Tom come with him. Such actions of Lear show that he wants to become one of the naked wretches and get rid of all deceptions of civilization that he call “lendings”. From his actions, we can infer that Lear had come to understand that the luxuries and artifice he had enjoyed when he was a king was at the expense of the poor citizens of his kingdom. So he had eagerly stripped off his clothes, which is symbolic of stripping off the artifice and the importance that was brought by his position as the king. This is a major improvement in Lear’s route towards humanity.
Now completely mad, Lear no longer wears any clothes, but some strange plants and flowers such as” furrow-weeds” and “cuckoo-flowers” which are considered more natural. Shakespeare had also given him a new language of delirium. Thus we now see a “new” Lear with new cloths, new language and a new identity. Then, he meets Gloucester led by Edgar still disguised. He spoke to Gloucester and again began to hold a trial. Only, this time the people put on trial are not his daughters and he was no longer as harsh. He had said that he was going to pardon the sinner because it is natural since all man possess animalistic instincts, and also because he has no right to judge others. He had compared a few pairs of people, such as dog and beggar, beadle and whore, and reached the conclusion that the one that is superior in each pair is superior not because they are morally better, but because they are given a position of authority. Moreover, Lear had realized that justice could be bought with money. Thus, since all are guilty, none are guilty. He had also decided that the relationship between people can be divided into two categories, one is animalistic, which is relationship built on sexuality; and the other category is more human, and is one built on love and tenderness. In this phase, Lear had finally seen some truth in human nature despite the irrationality of his speech.
When Cordelia’s love had finally awaken Lear out of his madness and he finally recognizes his beloved daughter, Lear had admitted his own mistakes and his foolishness. He had described himself as “a foolish fond old man” and realized that he had wronged Cordelia, thereby asking for her forgiveness. He is now a completely changed man who was self-reflective. After the battle between Britain and France and Lear and Cordelia were taken as captives by Edmund, we see Lear being wise when he said, “ so we’ll live, and pray, and sing, and tell old tales…”. Here, we see that Lear, after experiencing all the corruption and betrayal, was still able to show optimism and an innocence so pure, to see love and hope and all the goodness in life. At this point of the play, we see that Lear’s vision of life was completely changed, he was no longer caring only about material things, but the love that existed between him and Cordelia.
The play ended with both Lear and Cordelia dead. However, Lear had died as a wise men who had gained much insight into humanity and had found worth in life. Thus we see that the essence of a tragedy is indeed a hero falling from the highest point in his life and embarks on a journey into darkness and suffering. At the end of the journey, he will truly have learnt and gained awareness. Similarly, as Lear gets more and more mad, he gets closer and closer to truth and humanity. Last but not least, Lear had indeed learnt from his suffering.
Name: Sun, Xing
Due Date: 5th Jan 2004