King Lear Identity Essay

Shakespeare in King Lear articulately portrays an exploration of personal identity and universal suffering. Throughout this play, characters are forced to redefine and rediscover themselves through uses of disguise and status. Therefore, according to Shakespeare, identity is changeable and fragile, and its concept can be changed through acting. Shakespeare has employed character transformation in most of his works. In As You Like It, Rosalind and Celia are forced to disguise themselves as lower class citizens to find truth, innocence, and love. In Measure for Measure, the Duke disguises himself to reveal the innocence of Claudio and the deceit of Lord Angelo. However, the use of disguise in King Lear shows a great significance in class distinction and portrays a positive light on lower class.
Generally, it is not common for kings to sympathize with beggars or people of lower status, but in this case King Lear shows sympathy to beggars through Edgar. The act of undressing by King Lear to be in the same
Both Edgar and Kent are compelled to re-clothe to preserve themselves. In doing so, they simplify their personalities to their basics. Whenever asked "what art thou?" the response of Kent was “A man, sir" (Greenfield 284). In this way, he is showing his complete lessening into a minor person in its most straightforward terms. Edgar, then again, takes "the basest and poorest shape that ever penury in disdain of man / Brought close to monster" hence pushing off everything, including his human structure (II.iii.6-12). The utilization of "basest" is noteworthy as it is reminiscent of Edmond's monolog in Act 1 Scene 2, in which he utilizes the word four times in a solitary line. Edgar has, along these lines, tackled a component of Edmond's personality virtually as he has tackled his