King Lear, by William Shakespeare.
In the play King Lear, William Shakespeare has greatly utilized secondary plots and their parallelism to the main plot. The effective usage of subplots in King Lear, as a form of parallelism, clearly emphasizes the flaws and strengths of the prominent characters. Using such literary device permits the audience to understand the emotions of the essential characters in the play. Specifically, the parallel between Lear and Gloucester is evidently intentional. Both men initially commit wrong acts by condemning their legitimate children. As well as are blinded their illegitimate children who are plotting against them. Finally, both die a tragic death, as a result of their tragic flaws. A close examination of Lear and Gloucester reveals that the lives of both men are in fact parallel, however Gloucester is a shadowy reflection of Lear. Evidently, Gloucester and Lear are both fathers, who have their own loyal legitimate children, as well as evil and disloyal kin. Gloucester and Lear, two honorable men, have children that return to them in their time of need. Similar to Lear, Gloucester is tormented by his evil child, however it is his favored child that tends and heals him even though Gloucester has wronged Edgar. Gloucester's sufferings are traceable to his extreme folly and injustice, and to a selfish pursuit of his pleasure. In the early beginning
The search for Kim: Rudyard Kipling's Kim
THE SEARCH FOR KIM Rudyard Kipling's Kim has many themes, but the most prevalent are the Game and the Search. The main characters, Kim and the Lama, are both involved in these two "topics". They keep switching back and forth between the Game and the Search. Though the purpose of the Lama is the Search for his river, he keeps being drawn back into the Game. Kim's purpose is to be trained for and to play the Game, but in the first few chapters, he assists the Lama in his Search. And when Kim meets the Lama, he assists him in his Search. Even though these characters have their respective purpose that does not stop them from being in each other's purpose. As we have seen before, the bond between Kim and the Lama is quite fervent and they are perfectly in their environment when they assist each other. As mentioned before, Kim's "activity" is the Game, but he occasionally finds himself in the Search. The Search for Kim is to help the Lama to find his river but also to find himself (Kim). We do not know much about Kim except that he was an orphan and that he was brought up in Lahore City. We know a bit about him; the fact that he has pride and is a bit mischievous at times. But we do not know the rest. We only know about the tip of the iceberg, but not the other section hidden beneath the water. Kim struggles with that fact and the Search for him is also about the Search for
The Oriental Witch.
Kevin Slattery Dr. Hourigan Freshman Honors Colloquium October 6th, 2003 Medea: The Oriental Witch For centuries, people have read Euripides play "Medea" and pondered the question, "Does Euripides want to portray Medea as a witch or as a woman?" When the play was first written, powerful women were perceived to be dangerous or commonly thought of as witches. No women were aloud to explore knowledge or to live as a free woman in today's world. Bound by their jobs, women tended to the home and cared for the children. Before watching the play, audience members knew Medea as a powerful woman, knew she practiced witchcraft, and knew her evil past. Medea represents a great example of a witch, possessing the qualities of powerfulness, strong eloquence with words, and knowledge of witchcraft. Euripides play greatly portrays Medea as an evil witch. Medea is perceived as an evil witch for atleast three main reasons. Firstly, the way Medea betrayed her own country and helped Jason succeed. Medea, the daughter of King Aeetes in the mystical land of Colchis, met Jason, her future husband, while he was on a quest for The Golden Fleece. King Pelias of Iolcus sent Jason to capture The Golden Fleece in Colchis and return it Iolcus. To complete the task, Jason must first rope the two fire breathing bulls of Hephaestus and with them plow the Field of Ares. Next, he must
The world of Jacobean England was one of disorder due to immense changes within the social structure.
The world of Jacobean England was one of disorder due to immense changes within the social structure. An emerging middle class required a new social code to meet the needs of a changing class structure. New emergent ideas were rapidly acknowledged thus putting forward new concepts of family morality, social morality and feudal order. Indeed, the world of contemporary England parallels Elizabethan England of Shakespeare's time in which disturbing social changes were also taking place and "threatening the validity of Shakespeare's essentially conservative outlook" (Bernard Lott 'King Lear: Longman Critical Essays' 1998, pg. 97). In Jacobean England, the concept of family love and loyalty was "an ideology intended to keep the power and property structure in place" (Bernard Lott 'King Lear: Longman Critical Essays' 1998, pg. 52). Therefore, it is comprehensible why King Lear's central concerns are the family and the connected theme of human relationships. The natural and often fragile unit of the family is fundamental in allowing Shakespeare to exemplify the sustained natural order of the universe and the chaos and turmoil that results from unnatural behaviour within this unit; "A wretch whom nature is ashamed Almost to acknowledge hers." (1, I 208-9) The royal family was esteemed highly in Jacobean times and any unsettling of such an influential family would result in
What evidence is there in the play Lear that Bond was seeking to "disturb" and to what extent does he show us humanity as we "really are"?
"Theatre must disturb the spectator profoundly in order to free unconscious repression and oblige men to view themselves as they really are." Artaud, speaking about the theatre of cruelty. What evidence is there in the play Lear that Bond was seeking to "disturb" and to what extent does he show us humanity as we "really are"? At the start of Bond's career his plays were judged as too violent, shocking, immoral and were highly controversial as he uses violence as a tool. Bond was clearly seeking to disturb the spectator with his play Lear. Lear is Bond's rewriting of Shakespeare's classic play King Lear and throughout it you can see many similarities and parallels. Bond himself said that "I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austin wrote about manners" and he does. He disturbs the spectator and makes them feel uncomfortable through use of the Verfemdungseffeckt, (v-effect). Bond's justification for his plays being so violent is people's desensitisations to violence and so he had cranked it up in order to shock them The V-effect alienates the audience from the action and horrifies them. It distances the audience from the action through the use of humour but when you laugh you feel ashamed as it is at horrific and uncomfortable things. The play, Lear is typical of the 1960's genre and has short scenes, this also makes the spectator feel less comfortable as you don't
In the play King Lear I agree that the play presents us with a bleak and cruel world
How far do you agree that King Lear presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers us no comfort in the end. In the play King Lear I agree that the play presents us with a bleak and cruel world from the beginning of act 1 scene 1 and does not offer us any comfort in the end of the play, as you are usually expected to have a happy ending. The reality of the cruel and bleak world is shown from the amount of problems caused by Regan and Goneril, and also how many different situations of revenge schemes are running throughout the play itself. One of these is Edmunds revenge scheme of him punishing his father and brother of living the life that he should of. Another is the plan by Regan and Goneril of ruling the land and killing their father and out casting their sister Cordelia in the process but ended up killing each other as well in the play something of which they did not foreseen. This does not show that Lear himself is a bleak and cruel person even if in the play 'King Lear', it clearly shows that Regan and Goneril are corrupted by power and greed. Lear seems slightly arrogant and a proud king, but would never show the type of corruption Regan and Goneril have been introduced to. In the Elizabethan and Jacobean period the English court was the center for the wealthier citizens, this world was cruel and bleak as it had sexual corruption and financial corruption
Do you think the main plot and sub plot run parallel in King Lear. Discuss?
Q Do you think the main plot and sub plot run parallel in King Lear. Discuss? Deception and lies are what makes King Lear a tragedy. The play is a result, of the consequences triggered off by lies and falsehoods that were told in King Lea's family, as well as in the family of the Earl of Gloucester. In this play, Shakespeare added a sub-plot to the main-plot and both are based on the same events, differing slightly according to the story. The main-plot involves Lear and his three daughters whereas the sub-plot makes use of Gloucester and his two sons. King Lear gives his daughters a love-test, stupidly intending to measure love with flattery; "Which of you shall we say doth love us most..." (Act 1 Scene 1) Regan and Goneril are full of flattery and nice words and get rewarded, but Cordelia speaks truthfully, refraining from using fancy words; "I return those duties back as are right fit..." (Act 1 Scene 1) Lear fails to see his youngest daughter's honesty and banishes her from his Kingdom, stripping her of every title she had. Shakespeare introduces the theme of 'sight and blindness' with Lear's inability to see Cordelia's truthfulness and his blindness to the false-flattery of his other two evil daughters. Also introduced is the theme of 'Nothing' when Lear tells Cordelia; "How, nothing will come of nothing." (Act 1 Scene 1). The theme of 'Sight and Blindness'
How does the Blindness of Lear in Act I Scene I Contribute to events in later scenes.
How does the Blindness of Lear in Act I Scene I Contribute to events in later scenes. (1500 to 2000) King Lear is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare. In it, Shakespeare portrays the issue of sight and blindness and constantly links their relevance to clear vision, which is a recurring theme. The term, clear vision, has an entirely different meaning in this play. In Shakespearean terms, being blind does not necessarily refer to the physical inability to see, nor does it refer to it being a physical flaw. Shakespeare's interpretation of blindness is a mental flaw, and is not solely derived from the physical ability to see. Shakespeare incorporates the theme of sight into the play, by using King Lear and Gloucester. Both of these characters' lack the ability to see clearly and this is the main cause of the most unfortunate decisions made that they later came to regret. Although Lear has eyes and is physically able to see, he is seen to be blind in the sense that he cannot see clearly, metaphorically speaking, and has a lack of both understanding and sense of direction. In contrast to Lear, Gloucester, later on in the play, becomes blind, but is said to have the ability to, now, see clearly, which is something that Lear, himself, lacks. Undoubtedly, the blindest character was Lear. The audience would think that because of his high poison in society he would be
"All friends shall Taste the Wages of their Virtues, and all Foes the Cup of their Deserving." Discuss the Theme of Justice in "King Lear"
"All friends shall Taste the Wages of their Virtues, and all Foes the Cup of their Deserving." Discuss the Theme of Justice in "King Lear" Throughout King Lear, characters judge and put each other on trial. Gloucester and Lear both misjudge their children, who seem to possess better judgement. Cordelia has the measure of her sisters and Goneril and Regan's assessment of their father is acute and accurate. They see "how full of changes his age is" and Edmund knows exactly how to take in his gullible relatives, whom he despises for being overlooked, due to his being conceived in "the lusty stealth of nature" and his "bastardy" status. It seems that good judgement is not the preserve of those with good intentions. The working of human justice reflects Lear and Gloucester's faults. The 'trials' that occur in the play are all flawed. Lear's 'love-test' is ill conceived and has disastrous consequences. Goneril may claim to "love [Lear] more than word can wield the matter... beyond what can be valued, rich or rare" and Regan does proclaim to be of "that self mettle as [her] sister...And...alone [she does] felicitate in [his] dear highness' love." Yet it is Cordelia, Lear's youngest, who says "nothing", that does truly love her "lord". In Act 2, the trial of Kent for plain speaking is an excuse for Cornwall and Reagan to exercise power in an arrogant way. Lear's mock trial of
It is ego that leads to the slow and maddening demise of Lear.
I have been told repeatedly that god created man in his own image. Whoever wrote that in the bible must have had a wee bit too much to drink, or was in Narcissus mode! If god created humans in his own image, I really do hope we were only the test-run sentient species and not his piece de résistance. For one thing, we are ego driven; will this stroke me ego, is the question that we subconsciously ask ourselves before we do anything. (If though we are wise enough we will be able to reason-down this urge.) It is ego that leads to the slow and maddening demise of Lear. To have a hamartia, is to be human; ego is Lear's, for yet a king, he is but a human. Lear's suffocating ego wastes no time in demonstrating its unyielding might. It began that Lear is to divide his Kingdom - will this stroke my ego? Yes, it shows that I have absolute power over the state. The determining factor for his decision, a question of who will stroke his ego the most. "Which of you shall say doth loves us most." (Act I, sc i, 49) Had Lear been able to keep his ego in check, he may have asked a wiser question of, "Which of you doth love us most" Cordelia, the honest daughter (for her honesty is her hamartia), replies in truth that she unlike her sisters, loves him no more and no less than what she is bound to and must allow half of her love for her husband. Lear being publicly embarrassed by his most