King Lear Analytical Essay: Elements Christianity and Paganism in King Lear
by Giorgi Ben-Meir
William Shakespeare’s King Lear is considered by many to be one is his bleakest plays, with repeating cycles of despair and chaos. Shakespeare writes King Lear during the early 17th century, a time of religious unrest in England. The country has abandoned its Catholic past and is coming to grips with its new Protestant identity, established by and in support of the Monarchy. As a result, religion in general, and Christianity in particular, are very important in English life at this time. Shakespeare avoids directly confronting many of these issues by setting King Lear in a pre-Christian pagan past, but the play nonetheless retains strong Christian symbolism which connect it to the time it in which it was written.
Throughout King Lear, recurring elements of paganism quietly hint at the play’s pagan setting. Characters beseech their plural gods when in distress or need of assistance. In calling out to these higher beings, Shakespeare’s characters illustrate that an individual’s fate is controlled by forces much larger than themselves, and only in appeasing such forces can good occur in his life. For instance, Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, often prays to these gods for assistance in his plan to ruin his legitimate half brother Edgar. He calls out, “Thou, Nature, art my goddess… And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top th’ legitimate. I grow; I prosper. Now, gods, stand up for bastards! (I.ii.334,353-355). The personification of Nature in controlling destiny occurs again when King Lear asks, “Hear, Nature, hear! dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful.” (I.iv.802-805). Shakespeare presents Goddess Nature as an independent and strong willed being, with a cast of suitors trying to woo her into favoring them over others. Shakespeare reinforces such symbolism through the Earl of Gloucester, who, like King Lear, has been taken advantage of by his deceiving offspring. As he prepares for his death, Gloucester cries out to the gods, “If I could bear it longer and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless wills, My snuff and loathed part of nature should Burn itself out.” (IV.vi.2641-2644). Gloucester, unlike Edmund, does not believe in the possibility of being able to woo or reason with the gods, calling their wills “opposeless”, which presents powerful imagery of the fruitlessness of individual action in the face of gods who direct and determine fate.
King Lear’s astrological references reflect the slightly more fatalistic theology espoused by Gloucester: that the unpredictable and infinite forces of the universe determine the arc of each character’s life. In anticipating the future, the Earl of Kent argues that “It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions…” (IV.iii.2488-2489). Instead of the more familiar Christian narrative of free will, ensuing sin and finally redemption, Kent’s views demonstrate his belief in pre-destiny, and the absence of real agency in his life. Interestingly though, not everyone in the play agrees with such an interpretation. Edmund implores Goddess Nature in the beginning of the play as a malleable force, but he resents society’s reliance on the stars when he mocks, “the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical pre-dominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforc’d obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on.” (I.ii.442-445). Such a damning critique favors a more individualistic ethos, and condemns astrological fatalistic explanations as shirking responsibility, and not owning up to one’s own faults and wrong decisions.
Edmund’s criticisms of this kind of pagan theology stand as a gateway to discussing the alternative religious symbolism in King Lear. Though the play is set in Pagan times, literary critic J. C. Maxwell argues that “King Lear is Christian play about the Pagan world.” (Maxwell) Several individuals provide evidence for such reasoning, beginning with King Lear himself. Though he seems to experience a never-ending cycle of despair because of the sins he has committed, Lear experiences some truth and redemption toward the end of the play. Cordelia, assuming the Christ-like role in King Lear, is persecuted and dies at the play’s end. Viewed in a such a light, Cordelia is our Jesus and Lear is our ignorant sinner. While it seems that Cordelia death is merely the product of a cruel and unjust world, her death is also emphatically Christian. Jessica Vanden Berg argues that “The idea that an innocent person should die for a guilty person is fundamentally unfair. Yet, this is the foundation of the Christian belief system. All have sinned and all deserve death. However, Christ came to find us and save us, just as Cordelia came to find and save Lear. Christ stepped forward and took our place as we faced death, just as Lear was facing his own death.” (Vanden Berg 7). Cordelia, one of the play’s only pure, innocent, and good characters, suffers an unfair end. Her Christ-like portrayal is reinforced by the play’s final scene in which Lear enters holding Cordelia’s dead body, echoing the piéta wherein Mary cradles the crucified body of Jesus. (Demet). Lear’s final lines echo themes of resurrection, when he says, “If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Why, then she lives.” (V.iii.3439-3440). Though she is dead, even the suggestion of resurrection quotes from the life of Christ, and delineates King Lear’s Christian symbolism.
Lear represents the mortal sinner. His foolish vanity leads him to cherish his two daughters who flatter his ego for financial reward, and condemn Cordelia, the only person who truly and unselfishly loves him. He sins, suffers, and finally repents, which reflects deeply Christian ideology. He experiences redemption and the very Christian concept of redemption through his daughter’s death. Cordelia saves him in both a literal and spiritual sense; inspite of everything, she desires his blessing even till the very end when she says, “O, look upon me, sir, And hold your hands in benediction o’er me. No, sir, you must not kneel…” (IV.vii.2974-2976) to which he in turn begs for her forgiveness: “Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish.” (IV.vii.3007) Her death by hanging follows soon afterwards, and Lear, also on the verge of death, has been has been redeemed.
The confluence of pagan and Christian elements within King Lear provide a rich tableau on which to realize the narrative of the play. While the pagan elements establish King Lear in pre-Christian times, the Christian elements weaved throughout the text suggest at how the religious climate of the period deeply affects Shakespeare’s writing. King Lear’s strong Christian undertones allow for the idea that while Lear’s world at first seems chaotic and undisciplined, there is redemption through forgiveness and all is not lost.
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King Lear Final Analytical Essay
by Abigail Hedrick
One’s sanity is determined by many factors. Such considerable pieces of a person’s character include upbringing, circumstance, and genetics, and ultimately, most people are aware of how they are viewed in society. Lear’s insanity is somewhat questionable, whether it is a result of old age, or whether it has been a part of him for his entire life. To the average reader, he is regarded as a ravenous, wild monster who deserves no sympathy, though we know nothing of his past and how it has shaped the character we view in the play. Characters like Edmund are read as misunderstood because of upbringing or circumstance, while Lear’s character is highly ambiguous. “The completion of Lear’s tragedy depends on the incorporation of Aristotle’s necessary tragic elements of reversal and recognition.” (Dunckel) Recognition is the key point that is rarely acknowledged: many form quick opinions over Lear’s sanity early on in the play. However, Lear mends his relationship with Cordelia at the end of the play, reversing his fate, and changing our opinion of him. The question is, how long has he known of his wrongdoings? Was Lear aware of his own faults throughout the entire play? We see that our story’s namesake is, at times, quite sane, and is warring internally.
The hyperlinked quote that sparks internal debate found on page 109 of the Folger Library edition reads, “No Regan, thou shalt never have my curse.” (II.iv.193) Though short, this quote adds a new dimension to the play. Is Lear aware of his cruelty towards Cordelia? This scene is a wild ride: we start to think of Regan and Goneril as “evil” as well, and of Lear as the protagonist. Recall Lear’s incoherent, vicious language in Act One, Scene One: “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity, and property of blood.” (I.i.125) Lear is clearly a rash, disjointed person, so hearing him make a reasonable point at all, no matter the interpretation of what he says, is shocking. “Ultimately Lear finds the fault within his daughters, his [identity] shielding him from the part he has played in his own demise,” says student evaluator Rochelle Shih. This scene is a turning point in his relationship with himself as well as with all three of his daughters; it is the recognition and reversal that makes us begin to question if he has realized all those he has hurt.
The play seems to clearly highlight Lear as more than just the protagonist, but the good guy, from his conversation with Cordelia in Act V, making him go from insane to credible. “Wipe thine eyes. The good years shall devour them, flesh and fell…” Lear appears to recognize his wrongdoings, which seems very sudden to the reader. But tracking his actions makes us see that he has moments of lucidity, times where he is aware of just how much damage he has done to his kingdom. This rare “goodness” is what earns him the rank of good guy, while Edmund, Goneril, and Regan are given the “diabolical schemers” roles. It seems like a muddled issue, as Lear being aware of his own actions could be seen as bad or good: good if he is only aware of himself in the moments we see the good side of him, but bad if he is aware of his faults even in his vehement state.
One can question if Lear’s reputable actions are his reversal of fate or his good side that has always existed. Even Edmund comes out with a good reputation at the end of the play: “Some good I mean to do despite of mine own nature,” are his dying words. (V.iii.291-292) Notice the similarity of Edmund’s noble words of anagnorisis, or recognition, to Lear’s “Thou shalt never have my curse.” When diagnosing Lear’s condition, the theme of appearances versus reality is important to point out, too, as we see from Scene One when Lear chooses Regan and Goneril’s fabricated expressions of love to Cordelia’s sincere but honest admittance. (sparknotes.com) The deeper one digs, the more they see that Lear’s “curse” is actually selfishness. The internal war we see, on one side his refusal to accept Cordelia’s genuine words and on the other his death of grief for the same daughter, is steady, filled with regrets and rash actions alike. Maybe Lear is not certifiably insane at all, rather, he is too sure of himself, which affects those around him in a positive or negative way. Perhaps when Lear presents a multitude of attendants to Regan, and she refuses, he sees an issue of pride that he has as well. Parent-child relationships are intriguing because even in a role of authority, parents are often put in positions of wrongdoing. Lear may have some legitimate mental damage that would be diagnosed today, but it impacted him less than one may first think after seeing that he can be very sincere towards his family and workers alike. The play is a roller-coaster ride, with the king’s failures to consider others’ perspectives as well as gladly accepting them. In the end, Lear’s humanity is exposed to the greatest extent, and any trace of selfishness vanishes. “And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life? Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and thou no breath at all?” (V.iii.369-371) Lear’s curse is understood: he may not be cohesive in his speech, or rational in his thoughts, but his love wins out, even if in a sad manner.
Lear’s curse is something that is hard to recognize. It takes searching to argue that he is not completely off the tracks, just stumbling, and should be given more than sympathy. Lear is much more than a sad, misunderstood character: he is a tortured man. Lear is complex, and cannot be written off as insane: he deserves to be seen in a brighter light than that which shines on his back-and-forth struggle that is the plot of King Lear.
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To Be or Not To Be…Worthy
By Nicholas Leung
The 17th century was a time where power and social hierarchy meant everything. During the reign of King James VI and I, to be seated in the throne meant being the absolute monarch of the land. William Shakespeare’s King Lear tells a tale of how individuals clawed and deceived their ways to the throne. The play describes a time where the only way to gain power was to extravagantly express love or trust as shown through Goneril, Regan, and Edmund, while people such as the honest Cordelia got nothing through modesty.
The sisters Goneril and Regan gained their power through expressing excessive love to their father, Lear. In an effort to outdo their younger sister, Cordelia, for the throne, they devised a plot to grovel their way up the social ladder. Goneril begins by professing that she has “A love that makes breath poor and speech unable. Beyond all manner of so much I love you” (Shakespeare, 1.1, 60-61). Regan promptly chimes in, emphasizing, “Myself an enemy to all other joys…And find I am alone felicitate/In your dear highness’s love” (1.1, 73-76). Shakespeare lampoons the nobility’s desperate hunger for more power through these characters. Flattery was, and still is, effective into getting whatever one pleases. In Lear’s case, the more groveling, the better. Goneril and Regan represent the power-hungry people of the time that expressed dishonest love.
Edmund gets his place on a throne by deceiving people into trusting him. His angst and determination are all rooted in his desire to prove that a bastard child is equal in power to the legitimate (in this case, it is his brother Edgar). His final push for power involves him gaining Cornwall’s trust by making him believe Gloucester is a spy for France: “…This is the letter which he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens, that this treason were not, or not I the detector!” (Shakespeare, 3.5, 3-14). Edmund embodies the deception that ran rampant during the 17th century. During this time period, the Protestant Church always tried to trick the Catholic Church for the crown in England. Edmund’s devious plans to overthrow his own father are similar: two parties battling for power, even though they come from the same vein. Shakespeare clearly displays the power struggle of the 17th century through Edmund’s character.
Cordelia is the only modest and true character in this play, and instead her good deeds are punished. Following her sisters’ confessions of love, Cordelia struggles to speak, for she can only “Love, and be silent.” When Lear approaches her, she confesses that she is “Unhappy that I am, cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less” (Shakespeare, 1.1, 62-93). Cordelia is Shakespeare’s vessel to show how worthless modesty and honesty were back in the 17th century. The English had to be extravagant in order to prove their worth of power, whether it be in their clothing, demeanor, or actions. Because of her modesty in speech and demeanor, Cordelia could not achieve that, and was disowned and banished by her own father. According to Shakespeare’s unfortunate character, modesty brought no benefits during this time.
Characters such as Goneril, Regan, and Edmund display how extravagance got them the power they desired, while Cordelia was sadly left with nothing. Although King Lear is a very depressing play, it is also very accurate. Shakespeare wrote this story so that it acts as a satire of the English nobility during the 17th century. To an extent, these characters are still relevant to the present day. In everyday lives, there are always going to be people that are starving for more power, and will do what they can to get it. There will also always be the one just and honest worker that is not rewarded. This is what makes King Lear a particularly special play: it tackles the ongoing issue of power and rivalry that will never disappear.
WORKS CITED
· Bengtsson, Frederick. “Historical Context for King Lear by William Shakespeare.” Columbia College. Department of English & Comparative Literature, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
· Bloom, Harold. King Lear. New York: Chelsea House, 1992. Print.
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King Lear’s Descent into Madness
Jacqueline Muallem
Floriano Martins once said “Madness plants mirrors in the desert. I find the means frightening.” Madness encircles the world of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Once great in his peak of prime, King Lear is now dwarfed in his old age as his power is relinquished from his frail, spotted hands. Division encroaches itself into Lear’s life, ripping him away from his only faithful child and instead he entrusts his well-being in his conniving, narcissistic kin feigning love and fidelity. Lear is mad from the inception of the play and his condition worsens as the play progresses. In his 1983 article, A.C. Kail diagnoses Lear as “a case of progressive senile dementia” that is “accompanied by attacks of what could be described today as acute mania, as demonstrated by his faulty judgment, disorientation and irrational behavior.” This mania is portrayed in Lear’s banishment of Cordelia, his decision to roam the elements in the midst of a frenzied storm, and his hallucination in Act 3. Only as King Lear descends further and further into madness can he finally perceive his world clearly. King Lear is a play in which madness is the key to the realization of the truth.
When Lear is in denial of the state of his worsening mind, he cannot be farther from the truth. King Lear abdicates the throne and plans to divide his kingdom evenly amongst his three daughters. Since Lear has no sons to inherit his crown after he dies, Lear believes that if he divides his kingdom now he will prevent any future strife that may arise if he dies without an heir. In doing so, Lear creates a test of love under the presumption that love can be quantifiable and can be expressed in words. Cordelia is unable to make such a contrived declaration of love to her father and instead of fawning over him as her older sisters do, she speaks the truth. She laments: “I love your majesty according to my bond; no more no less” (Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 92 – 93). Although she loves her father dearly, she refuses to exaggerate her love for him in order to gain his wealth. King Lear repudiates his daughter’s honesty which leads to his dreadful error of judgment in which he expels Cordelia from everything she knows and loves. Lear values a flattering public display of love over real love. There is a great disparity between Lear’s expelling Cordelia and how he typically feels about her. Cordelia is already his favorite daughter and Lear should know that she loves him the most. Yet his actions in this moment of the play speak otherwise. For this reason, Lear is either unable to see the truth or distrusts his ability to see it clearly. He must opt for the supposed truth in the words of his children rather than his own intuition and perception of them. Ordinarily, this would not be logical. However, if Lear already reached a degree of madness before this point in the play and his mental state continues to degenerate, this makes sense. This is supported when Lear says::“O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven; Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 51). The only reason why Lear would beg the heavens for his sanity is if there was just cause for him to believe he was. Lear’s expelling Cordelia proves to the reader that Lear’s mind was already facing at least the beginning of the mental ailment at this point of the play. However, as Lear has neither accepted nor realized the early onset of his mental condition, he has not succumbed fully to madness and the truth still eludes him.
As Lear becomes more mentally unstable and he begins to realize what is happening to him, he begins to see the truth. As the state of Lear’s kingdom deteriorates, so does his mind. Unsurprisingly, Goneril and Regan once in power mistreat their father and strip him of all of his trappings of power. They attempt to take away his knights and servants as they feel that their own will suffice. “O reason not the need,” he exclaims. In this, Lear explains that he needs knights and attendants not only because of their service but because they represent his identity of king and human. If humans only needed the basic necessities of life and not the luxuries that make them happy, they would lose their humanity and be no different than animals. Lear’s inability to punish his daughters for their actions rub salt in his wounds because it shows him that he truly has no power in the kingdom he once ruled. Despite his attempts to assert his authority, he is powerless. He is a lion without his mane. The absence of these luxuries worsens his condition of madness because, as his mind worsens, he no longer has his identity to hold onto. As Lear’s world becomes more and more blurred, he does not even have himself in his company. When Lear runs out into the turbulent storm, the weather reflects his mental state as his confusion and grip on reality falter. Lear comments: “Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that” (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 21). Braving the elements along with Lear is the Fool. The Fool is Shakespeare’s manifestation of the truth. He is the only character who always adheres to honesty, and the only one allowed to criticize Lear. As Lear’s madness progresses, Lear becomes closer to the Fool, the beholder of the truth. This is a literal representation of how Lear’s madness is bringing him closer to the gospel. The Fool and Lear meets Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom the Beggar, also facing the forces of nature. Similarly to Lear, Edgar has had his identity stripped away. Once at the top of the social pyramid as the son of one of the kingdom’s most powerful men, Edgar is now coerced into the lowest possible societal position. Posing as the insane Poor Tom, Edgar also inevitably uses madness to unlock the truth and justice. Lear is joined in madness by Edgar’s feigned insanity. Edgar’s madness, however, contains nuggets of wisdom for both the king and himself. Edgar’s time as the beggar hardens him morphing him from the wealthy, clueless character first introduced to the reader at the beginning of the to a man able to defeat his illegitimate, younger brother Edmund and restore order to the kingdom. Although Lear’s mock trial in Act III Scene 6 is further evidence of his descent into madness, trials are purposed for seeking the truth. Lear is desperate to know why he finds himself in this position. He gave his daughters everything and yet they treat him like a pesky mosquito that refuses to leave them alone. Lear has the desire to know whether or not he is deserving of this abuse from his daughters and if his actions may have engendered their evil dispositions. In Lear’s mind, understanding the truth may lead to the restoration of his ever worsening sanity. Interestingly, Lear poses the disguised Edgar and the Fool as judges. The Fool and Edgar, although living a lie, speak the truth. Shakespeare, as illuminated by Lear’s hallucination, represents these two characters as beholders of the truth. The Fool is the only character who speaks the truth – but even he disguises it in a mad babble. Edgar feigns insanity as a beggar speaking the truth, like him, disguised in madness. During the trial, Lear accuses Goneril of kicking him. However, the kick was not physical, but of emotional sentiments. Lear urges the judges to “anatomize Regan, to see what breeds about her heart” (Act 3, Scene 6, Lines 74-75). Exhausted from the trial, Lear succumbs to slumber. From this hallucination, Colman diagnosed Lear with a brief reactive psychosis with a background of organic mental disorder. This proves that Lear’s mental state is further degenerating. As Lear’s mental condition becomes detrimental, his perception of the world is beginning to clear.
Only when Lear reaches pure unadulterated madness can he see the truth for what it is. In spite of the way in which Lear treated Cordelia, Cordelia is still on his side. Angelically, Cordelia returns to the set of the play ordering her people to seek out and help her father. She declares: “great France / My mourning and importuned tears hath pitied,” she says (Act 4, Scene 4, Lines 26–27). Cordelia’s primary reason for the French invasion of England is so that she can find her father. Despite the horrid way in which her father treated her, she is willing to forgive him. When Lear hides from Cordelia out of shame, she seeks him out of love. Rather than despising Lear for banishing her, Cordelia remains devoted. When she reaches Lear again, Lear has lost his mind. He sings aloud to himself and is self-adorned with flowers. Contrastingly from Lear’s initial opinion that he is no longer human without his luxuries of life, he understands himself as a small, meaningless component of nature. He accepts his condition of madness. As Lear himself says: “I fear I am not in my perfect mind” (Act 4, Scene 7, Line 63). Cordelia’s appearance teaches Lear humility and he is gradually able to reunite with her and experience her forgiveness. Lear’s madness allows Lear to find the truth. Lear cries: “Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead” (Act 4, Scene 7, Lines 45 – 48). He realizes his weakness and insignificance in comparison to nature, becoming humble and caring. Lear says he cherishes Cordelia above everything else and places his own love for Cordelia above every other consideration. Lear would rather live in prison with Cordelia than rule as king ever again. When Lear finally falls from the precipice of lucidity, he is able to see the truth.
In King Lear, madness unlocks the truth. When Lear was in denial of his condition, he could not be farther from the reality. As Lear approaches the precipice of lucidity, he begins to see the truth clearer. However, only when Lear crashes into the depths of madness can he see the world as it truly is. In King Lear, Lear can only realize the fault in his ways and perceive reality as it truly is by going mad.
King Lear Analytical Essay: A Mark Missed
by Max Fasanella
Shakespeare’s King Lear is a tragedy rife with decisions and reactions that can appear both rash and bizarre to the audience. The character of King Lear himself shows a pattern of especially poor decisions throughout the play’s entirety. In Lear, the hamartia of his character acts as a driving force within the play. His insanity- manifested in Lear as impulsive actions with a seeming lack of forethought or judgement- causes his character to bring about his own demise.
The play begins with an aging Lear, who asks his three daughters to profess their love for him in hopes of receiving a share of his kingdom as dowry. The elder sisters, Goneril and Regan, claim to love him “more than word can wield the matter” (1.1, 60-61), with the second attempting to outdo the first ever still. The youngest, Cordelia, is honest in her word- yet compared to the claims of her elder sisters, this is inadequate in the eyes of her father. Hearing that she will not devote the entirety of her love to him does not please him with its rationality as it should; instead, he flies into a terrible rage and strikes out at her with the revocation of her dowry and his paternal bonds. To put it plainly, she is disowned and banished for speaking the truth, and the Earl of Kent- a loyal subject of the king- is similarly banished for defending her.
This banishment is a major plot device that brings about a good deal of suffering for the king in the end. He ends up, through his own irrational behavior, losing both his favorite daughter and a well-trusted advisor. Yet, he reacts in a manner that shows neither diminishing wrath nor remorse for his actions. This desire to foolishly hide the truth and prefer lies is a trait one would not expect to see in a normally-functioning person, let alone one in a position of such power. As such, we can find that this is his hamartia, the “missing of the mark” that will haunt him throughout the plot of the story.
Lear’s behavior can actually be linked to a mental illness known as Borderline Personality Disorder (BDD). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), this disorder shares characteristics with those present within his own personality, such as “Persistent or frequent angry feelings; anger or irritability in response to minor slights and insults”. The DSM goes on to say that
“The impairments in personality functioning and the individual’s personality trait expression are not better understood as normative for the individual’s developmental stage or socio-cultural environment”- in other words, behavior not fit for a king.
It is also entirely possible that Lear was afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. This disorder, which affects the higher cognitive abilities of afflicted individuals, “disorientation, mood and behavior changes; deepening confusion about events, time and place; unfounded suspicions about family, friends and professional caregivers; more serious memory loss and behavior changes; and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.” This would make sense given the king’s age, as the elderly are at a much higher risk for developing this disease, and gives reason to his otherwise entirely irrational bouts of anger.
With either disorder at hand, this insanity has lead Lear to a situation where he has single-handedly lead to not only his own downfall, but that of his entire family and kingdom. It is because of his lack of judgement that he has left power in the hands of those unable to properly wield it. The Tragedy of King Lear is one that can be described as perfect according to the ideas laid out in Aristotle’s Poetics- a complex plot, brought to a terrible end by the actions of a character misguided by their own missing of the mark.