Natural Order Karma in King Lear
by Kendall Farrell
King Lear is a play about inter-family relationships, specifically between a father and his children. Lear’s and Gloucester’s relationship with their children crash and burn once the laws of divine justice (laws coming from the will of God; this is said to be reflected through the wishes of the king) or the laws of nature are broken. We see how the replacement of natural order with social or “man-made” order leads to a further hindered relationship between the father and child. Karma, the idea of what goes around comes around, is also a key component in King Lear; coming from ignoring natural order and solely focusing on social stature, leading to the question: “Is karma an effect of breaking the natural laws of society?” Lear is so caught up in his own selfishness and need for constant approval that he does anything, including breaking the laws of divine justice, to fulfill his desires. Whereas Gloucester claims to love Edgar and Edmund equally yet he treats Edgar more favorably. Both Gloucester and Lear set themselves up for the karma they face due to their disregard of natural laws. Using Lear’s and Gloucester’s dysfunctional families we will see how breaking the natural order of a family can lead to intent and karma actions to unfold in the future.
By “nature’s law, Edmund is as much Gloucester’s son as Edgar is; but according to man’s law of primogeniture, Edmund is not recognized as Gloucester’s heir.” (“Parent-Child Relationships: The Neglect of Natural Law”). The play begins with Edmund viewed as a lowlife. Gloucester claims to love both Edmund and Edgar equally but clearly shows Edgar more love. If Gloucester had followed natural order and treated Edgar and Edmund equally, the pattern of nature would not have been disrupted. In I.ii, Edmund opens with a soliloquy criticizing family and status, “I only worship…bastards!” (I.ii.17-18). Edmund, knowing that Gloucester can be “swayed by eloquence,” takes advantage of it by writing a letter in Edgar’s hand. (“Parent-Child Relationships: The Neglect of Natural Law”). Edmund believes with the success of his plan, Gloucester will love him more than Edgar. Upon reading the letter, Gloucester sees Edgar as a murderous son who has no respect for his father; with this revelation Edmund gains status and Gloucester’s love. Edmund breaks natural law when he betrays Gloucester to Cornwall and Regan. Gloucester’s poor treatment of Edmund and Edmund’s betrayal of Gloucester causes a break in natural law; this break brings them true the reality as a result of bad karma.
Goneril and Regan have a slightly different relationship with their father. Lear treats and loves them equally but, Cordelia is the favored child. In saying to Regan, “we must do something and i’ th’ heat,” (I.i.307) Goneril suggests they wait until their father is mentally unstable before they mistreat him. Goneril and Regan turn away from divine justice and natural order by treating Lear poorly. They do not care for his health or wellbeing and do not follow Lear’s direction. By ignoring Lear’s fatherly requests, Goneril and Regan break from the natural family order and replace it with a strictly social plan of action; one solely dedicated to becoming a higher powered person. Lear also breaks from natural law by exiling Cordelia which creates a competition of power and affection between Goneril and Regan, eventually leading them to their death. Cordelia, Regan, Goneril and Lear, receive terrible karma’s ultimate retribution, death, at the end of the play due to their disregard towards the natural order of a family and ignoring the higher authorities.
King Lear shows the direct relationship between natural order and how the karma of ones actions play out with these families. As Regan, Goneril, and Edmund, go against Lear and Gloucester, the natural family order is disrupted. The constant disruption throughout the play is a catalyst for the catastrophic events that transpire. King Lear, is Shakespeare’s direct opinion on the importance of natural order, the effect of ignoring its importance, and the karma might subsequently follow.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. King Lear . New York: The Folger Shakespeare Library, 2005. Print.
“Parent-Child Relationships: The Neglect of Natural Law.” Cliff Notes. Cliff Notes. Web. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/k/king-lear/critical-essays/parentchild- relationships-the-neglect-of-natural-law>.
Money Grows on King Lear’s Family Tree
by Juliann Persina
The value and need for wealth has always been prominent in the world. Some say wealth comes from money and possessions, generally amongst other material items. Others may argue that richness truly comes from relationships and interactions with loved ones. In King Lear, the dynamics between the family members send the reader through a complex play, revolving around the importance of power, money, and love. The value placed on materialistic possessions shapes every character’s decisions, relationships with others, and ultimatum. These issues all derive from the initial conflict of King Lear deciding which parts of the Kingdom he should give to his worthiest three daughters. This central conflict is carried throughout the play, revealing whether materialistic wealth or familial wealth is their genuine priority.
The first scene in King Lear is crucial to the rest of the play because it sets the tone for where each character’s mentality stands. Lear gives his daughters Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia the irrational task of professing their love to him, asking “Which of you shall we say doth love us most, That we our largest bounty may extend” (I, i, 51-52). Lear thinks very highly of himself, and wants to be reminded of this with the flattery of his daughters. He may think he loves his daughters, but this test demonstrates how he’s using his wealth to enforce that he’s still a higher power. By presenting his daughters with such a weighty question, they naturally have different responses. Goneril’s over the top response starts out proclaiming how she can’t even describe her love for her father, “Sir, I do love you more than words can wield the matter” (I, i, 54-55). She continues of her exclaiming how her love for her father surpasses her need for eyesight, space, and freedom. If this were truly the case, Lear definitely shouldn’t have given her any of his kingdom – what would it even mean to her if she didn’t have the eyes to watch over it and values love over space? Regan makes similar exaggerations, saying “In my true heart…I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys… In your dear highness’ love” (I, i, 69-76). Cordelia, on the other hand, simply says “I love your majesty, According to my bond, no more nor less” (I, i, 92-93). Cordelia gives Lear the only honest response, unlike her sisters, and ends up being banished. Although Lear doesn’t see it, her response shows that Cordelia truly cares about her father, and doesn’t place as much value on the materialistic things in life.
Lear is so blinded by his own arrogance that he would rather receive lip service from Regan and Goneril than the truth from Cordelia. Since he prefers to be showered with false compliments, this comes back to create more problems for Lear. King Lear’s materialism lies not only in his property, which he uses as an upper hand over his daughters (at least while he can); but also in the empty love that his few family members devote to him. Goneril and Regan value the most literal form of materialism, in power and land. Cordelia values trust and honesty, and her wealth comes from being a genuine person and loving those around her. However, all these characters are willing to let their individual values place higher importance over the bond of family. The characters are all hypocritical, “Their deliberate hypocrisy adds the last finishing to the odiousness of their characters” (Hazlitt). Even though Cordelia says she only loves her father as much as any other daughter, she ends up treating him better than anyone else, forgiving him, and taking care of him. Regan and Goneril claim that they have no desire for anything else in the world, except their love for Lear, yet they are the most power hungry daughters around. Their greed and need for wealth leads to their downfall, and eventual death. King Lear claims he doesn’t want the burden of his kingdom in his old age, and ends up receiving the burden of dealing with all the events that follow his initial proclamation. Lear is ironically locked out, homeless, and left in the cold by the daughters he placed the utmost trust in, demonstrating that with great wealth also comes major problems. Lear deserved what came to him, due to his belief in the illusion of love from his deceiving daughters. Lear proves that material wealth can’t necessarily buy the wealth that love and family can provide.
Work Cited
“Characters of Shakespear’s Plays.” Characters of Shakespear’s Plays. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/criticism/hazlittw_charsp/charsp_ch13.html>.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine.
The Tragedy of King Lear. Washington Square Press New Folger’s ed. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993. Print.
by Samantha Prete
Throughout King Lear, a never-ending series of tragic events occur, leading up to the deaths of almost all of the main characters of the play (Cordelia, Lear, Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Oswald, Cornwall and Gloucester). The evil characters-Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Oswald, and Cornwall-are said to have deserved their death. All of these characters are power-hungry and in their pursuit of gaining this power have fallen. They acted in mischievous, treacherous, and conniving ways to get what they wanted, justifying their deaths at the end of play. This supports the idea of karma; that what goes around, comes around. However, Cordelia, Lear, and Gloucester’s deaths seem unjustified, for these character’s did not embody the negative characteristics of the others that died and did not deserve their death. They were the “good” characters of the play and their deaths leave the audience feeling sympathetic. It strikes up the question of whether karma exists or if there is any justice in this world at all.
Near the closing of the play (V.iii, 370-371) Lear says “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,/ And thou no breath at all?” Here he speaking about Cordelia, cradling her dead body in his arms. Lear is literally asking why animals that are worth so much less than Cordelia get to live but she has to die. The deeper meaning of this quote would solely be that Cordelia does not deserve her death. Throughout the play she remained loyal to Lear, even after he banished her. When Lear seeks Cordelia for forgiveness, she accepts it. This shows how strong her love of Lear was. Shakespeare displays all these great qualities of Cordelia and even gives some hope that she may live but then to our dismay we find out that the attempt to save her failed; she was already hanged. It makes us wonder why such a good character would be put to death by Shakespeare. Shakespeare was trying to accentuate the idea here by displaying all of her great qualities that karma is not necessarily prevalent in this play and that goodness will not always be rewarded by the world’s natural order. Perhaps Cordelia would still be alive if divine justice existed.
Another quote that supports the idea of injustice is the most famous line of the play: “As flies to wanton boys we we to th’ gods;/ They kill us for their sport”(IV.i,41-42). He is referring to the gods as “careless young boys who pick the wings off flies” (“Trials and Justice in King Lear.”) because that is how the gods treat humans. He is saying how there is no good order in the world because the gods are inscrutable and vicious. They do not care whether good people are rewarded or if bad people are punished. This connects back to the idea that karma is nonexistent. Even though Gloucester, towards the beginning of the play, mistrusts his legitimate son he soon realizes what he’s done and becomes heavy with regret. It would not be fair to characterize him as an “evil character” for he shows bravery when he sticks by his son Edgar’s side in battle. I think it would be too drastic and unfair to say his death was justified in any way.
The idea of karma and injustice definitely contradict in this play. Even though we see plenty of examples of unjustified deaths/punishments, there are also examples of characters that deserved it. Take Goneril and Regan. In the very beginning of the play (I.i,355) Goneril says “We must do something, and i’ th’ heat.” This can be compared to the proverb “strike while the iron is hot” This makes it clear that Goneril and Regan have been plotting against Lear from the very beginning of the play. They were insincere in professing their love to Lear. All they cared about was the kingdom, money, and fortune. Their “power-hungry persona is what led to their bad karma” (“Karma in King Lear.”). Once they were in power, they did not give Lear a second glance even though he was their father. They wanted nothing to do with him, after all he has given them. Their deaths were justified, being they were cruel characters throughout the entire play. It is then sad to think that the one daughter that did truly care for him died along with the cruel ones.
This now brings us back to the point that even though the bad did perish, the good still did not get what they deserved. Good will not always be rewarded with good and bad will not always be punished with bad. In the end there is more evidence supporting the idea that there is no divine justice or karma in this world, than evidence going against it. If there was a divine justice we would see the righteous characters of the play live.
Work Cited
“King Lear By William Shakespeare Critical Essays Divine Justice.” Divine Justice.
Wheeler, Jeff. “Karma in King Lear.” Act 4 Assingment -. N.p., 2014.
Marrinan, Ryan. “Trials and Justice in King Lear.” UniversalJournal/AYJW.
by Samantha Smerechinak
Writer Keri Hulme once stated, “A family can be the bane of one’s existence. A family can also be most of the meaning of one’s existence. I don’t know whether my family is bane or meaning.” This statement illustrates family relations throughout the play King Lear by William Shakespeare because throughout the play family matters play a prominent role in every event that unfolds. Although the sons of Gloucester, Edgar and Edmund, as well as the daughters of King Lear, Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril all would not have the opulence or be in the position to acquire the power that they are without their fathers, their fathers have become their “bane of existence” because the wealth and potency led them to greed, abandonment and cruelty. This raises the question, which is more important, family or power? In King Lear both King Lear and Edmund (Gloucester’s illegitimate son) choose wealth and power over their families, and in both cases this decision leads to their eventual demise.
King Lear is the elderly king of Britain who decides to step down from the throne, but as he puts his three daughters to the test to see how he should divide his kingdom, his daughter’s different approaches in showing him their love leads him to make an astonishing decision. In the play when battling for their father’s opulence, Lear’s daughters had to do their best jobs in expressing their love for him. When asked to express her love to Lear, Cordelia who loved her father far more than her two sisters Goneril and Regan stated “ Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less.” (I.i.90–92) Due to King Lear’s love and need for power Cordelia’s lack of empty flattery shattered all the love they shared over the years and he divided the kingdom solely amongst Goneril and Regan. If he had not been so addicted to the power and pride that he had obtained throughout his life he would not have been blinded and saw that true love is seen and not heard. Cordelia was far more loyal to her father throughout her and her sibling’s lives and if she had been given a share of the kingdom she would have not undermined his authority and betrayed him driving him to insanity like her two sisters. After he had disowned Cordelia, Cordelia still towards the ends of the play leads an army to rescue her father when everyone else had turned against him, and his other two daughters that he had given his kingdom to stripped him of all he had. This shows that when all the power was gone, and neither Cordelia nor Lear had their potency or wealth, they were still family and that’s the only thing that truly mattered.
Another illustration of how when family was pushed aside for power disaster began to occur is when Edmund framed his legitimate brother Edgar to make it appear that he was plotting to kill his father Gloucester to be the next heir to the throne. When expressing his distraught emotions toward his fate Edmund cries “Why should I let myself be tortured by manmade social customs that deprive me of my rights simply because I was born twelve months later then my brother? Well, my legitimate brother, if my plan succeeds, Edmund the lowlife will beat the legitimate.” (I.ii.1-18) Although his plan to write a letter looking as if written by Edgar plotting to kill Gloucester had succeeded by Gloucester deciding to send a manhunt in search of Edgar, in the end when Edmund and Edgar met face to face they had a duel and Edmund was killed. If Edmund had accepted his fate and chosen to accept his family for what it was the power that he stole from Edgar led to his death, and in the end, instead of leading a life of his own with his family, he died along with his father in selfishness and greed. In an analysis of Edmunds character by Henry Hudson, Edmund is described as “a pretty bold experimenter, rather radical in his schemes, but this is because he has nothing to lose if he fails, and much to gain if he succeeds.” (King Lear. Ed. Henry Norman Hudson. New York: Ginn and Co., 1911) Although it is true that Edmund may have felt that he had nothing to lose by scheming against his brother if he did not have a chance at gaining his fathers legacy, this brings up the point that even when he was heir to the throne, he had less than he did before, because he was completely alone. Up until his last breath, Gloucester favored Edgar and Edmund came in second because in the end even after Gloucester tried to have Edgar killed, Edgar still saved his father from falling off a cliff, proving once again that love especially in a family is the only thing that at the end of the day truly matters.
Throughout the play family plays a humungous role in the start as well as in the outcome of every event that occurs. Although the coveting of power is a prominent catalyst throughout the play, every time that power is abused or achieved as is seen with King Lear, as well as with Edmund, at the end of the day love and the bond between family members is the only thing that truly never changed and the only thing that led to anything good. Knowledge is a dangerous thing, but so is power because it is an easy thing to abuse. In Lear’s circumstance his abuse of power led to his pride blinding him from what was truly important, which was Cordelias unconditional love, and in Edmunds situation his selfishness lead him to acquire a powerful role that just led him to standing alone in a position that eventually led to his demise. This play truly illustrated that family and love is the most powerful thing of all.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. King Lear. Woodbury, NY: Barron’s, 1986. Print.
King Lear. Ed. Henry Norman Hudson. New York: Ginn and Co., 1911
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
by Brooke Fera
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, a family is blindsided and destroyed by the misinterpretation of flattery mixed with villainous action. After Lear offers the estate to his three daughters, in exchange for questionable love, his disappointment in their reactions causes disinheritance for his youngest daughter, Cordelia. An outspoken character, Kent attempts to plead Lear to take back his inequitable response to his daughters but Lear follows up by banishing Kent, as well. Lear moves forward to move in with Regan and Goneril, his devoted and loving daughters, who see their father as a foolish man. After being turned away, when Lear finally comes to his senses it is too late and Edmund, Gloucester’s bastard son, plots Lear and Cordelia’s capture and execution. An emotion, which has mystified most creatures- love, is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection. In the play, love is a tricky game. King Lear leads to the question, is family defined by those who are blood or those we truly, wholeheartedly love? We often find ourselves lost in the depiction of flattery or true love. In King Lear, true love, in the sense of daughter to father, becomes closeted by Lear’s selfishness and pride.
“Which of you shall we say doth love us most That we our largest bounty may extend…” (I.i, lines 48-55) Here, Lear basically pleads for daughter’s love and based off their responses, Lear will decide who deserves the kingdom. This is a key example of Lear’s selfishness. Lear accepts the unpromising, blather which Regan and Goneril put out without thinking first. In Stephen Chbosky’s book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chbosky writes, “Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve.” (Page 24) I believe this quote is so critical to life in understanding self-worth and how it persists in attracting others. Lear is so distracted by his societal position that he believes he should receive endless love. This is a problem because by dismissing Cordelia and the life they’ve shared thus far, his infatuation with himself is glowing, clearly blindsided by his own necessity for love. The self-centered approach Lear took causes him to lose exactly what he wanted. That’s some good old karma for the big guy and honestly, the whole concept makes it too difficult to sympathize with Lear.
Lear’s excessive pride is another fatal flaw to his character as a tragic hero. When Cordelia responds to her father by saying, “Nothing, my lord… I love you as a child should love her father, neither more nor less.” (I.i, 87-93), its clear that Lear is offended because he chooses to exile Cordelia. As a reader, Lear’s pride is obvious because disappointment only follows expectations. Lear expected his favorite daughter to express the utmost love of the three and because the outcome was not as he anticipated, the truth behind Cordelia’s love is interfered by Lear’s snobbishness. This causes intense conflict for the remainder of the play and leads Lear to go mad. “…That produces all his misfortunes, that aggravates his impatience of them, that enforces our pity for him.” (Hazlitt, Page 1) In Hazlitt’s article, he points out that Lear’s blindness of everything but his own passions are the cause of his misfortune. Lear’s passion includes that to receive attention. Sad, yes. When looking at the bigger picture, it leads me back to that question, is family defined by those who are blood or those we truly, wholeheartedly love?
Family is a complex term. Blood, household, and love are the divisions which family can be separated into but love is an honest value of what makes a family. In King Lear, their household brings Lear and his daughters together. Not love. Between Cordelia and Lear, I do believe that love exists but household and blood are so prominent that love is pushed aside. So to define a family, love is the cement, which holds one together.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. King Lear. Woodbury, NY: Barron’s, 1986. Print.
Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket, 1999. Print.
Hazlitt, William. “Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays.” Project Gutenberg. N.p., 1 Feb. 2004. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.