Lear and Glouchester's Transformation Bryn Lander-SimonKing Lear is one of the most tragic parables ever brought forth in literature, dealing with betrayal, familial deception, madness and violence. In presenting such tragic themes and ideas in his work Shakespeare uses a subplot to mirror the main action which therefore increases the effect of the parable's lessons. In both stories, parents are deceived and betrayed by their own children, one of the most abhorrant crimes in Shakespeare's time. It is this mistreatment by children that lead both Lear and Gloucester to madness and then death. But they are not completely innocent victims who have fallen to their children's ill intentions. Both have made critical and constant errors in judgment that caused their downfall, and they both must realize their errors before their deaths.In the first scene in the first act, we are presented with Lear's misguided dependence on artifice and flattery that catapults the action of the play and leads to both his positive transformation and sadly, his death. Before dividing up his kingdom among his three daughters Lear asks "which of you shall we say doth love us most,/That we our largest bounty may extend" (King Lear I.i.51-52). From the beginning it is obvious that Lear equates quality with quantity, as he so blatantly states that whoever says they love him most will receive the most. He does not realize that inflated praise and flattery are not the same as love and honest affection, something that Lear will have to learn very painfully. The responses of his daughters Goneril, Regan and lastly, Cordelia show further Lear's lack of understanding. Goneril and Regan both make inflated and obviously dishonest claims of love. For example, Goneril describes her love as "a love that makes breath poor, and speech unable" (King Lear I.i.60), quite amazing considering she is in fact speaking at that moment. When Lear's one loving and honest daughter Cordelia explains to Lear that her sisters are lying to him, "why have my sisters husbands if they say/They love you all?" (King Lear I.i.99-100), and that she loves him too much to lie and flatter him and will therefore say nothing, he quite sorely misses the point. This opening scene clearly presents the reader with Lear's chief error in judgment that he will have to overcome by the end of the play.While Lear so heavily depends on words and flattery Gloucester trusts what his eyes see too much, and therefore falls prey to Edmunds cunning and deception. In the second scene Edmund begins his plot to discredit Edgar in Gloucester's eyes so that he, the illegitimate son, will get everything, including property, title and material wealth. Whereas Goneril and Regan use words to illicit the response they desire from Lear, Edmund plays off of Gloucester's trust of appearance and his own eyes to trick him. He pretends to have a letter from Edgar that he is trying to hide from him when in fact he knows that Gloucester will demand to see the letter. Gloucester alludes to this dependence on sight and appearances himself when asking for the letter from Edmund in his use of vocabulary. He says "let's see. Come, if it/Be nothing, I shall not need spectacles...Let's see, let's see" (King Lear I.ii.35-44). Because he has read these words himself, Gloucester does not even for a moment truly doubt their validity and immediately is put in a violent rage against his son without even questioning the situation. As he says moments after reading the letter, "O villain, villain! His very opinion in the/Letter. Abhorred villain, unnatural, detested, brutish villain;/Worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him. I'll apprehend him. Abominable villain!" (King Lear I.ii.77-80). Just like Lear, Gloucester is easily led into the trap that his child devises by his own fault.It is not until Lear is presented with Tom the beggar, a character completely stripped of artifice, that he can see the errors of his values and judgments. After speaking with Tom and spending time in the cave Lear makes his transformation into a man who cares not for artifice or flattery, but rather honesty and truth. As he says to Tom, "Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no/ more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come, unbutton here" (King Lear III.iv.107-109). By trying to literally undress himself, Lear is trying to shed himself of all of his artifice and unnaturalness. By the time he sees Cordelia again he realizes the error in his judgments, saying "if you have poison for me, I will drink it./I know you do not love me...You have some cause" (King Lear IV.vii.75-78) and looks forward to passing the time in prison to "pray, and sing, and tell old tales" (King Lear V.iii.12).As king, Lear has lived his life with the comfort of always being flattered and treated with the utmost respect and importance. Once he has given up his power and authority to Goneril and Regan, he is faced with a situation in which he is not treated with such respect. All of Goneril and Regan's elevated prose of their false love for Lear is replaced with a forthright lack of respect and love. When Lear begs Regan to take care of him in his old age she simply replies, "Good sir, no more. These are unsightly tricks./Return you to my sister." (King Lear II.iv.155-156). This change in his position is more than the weary old king can bear and he must reach madness from this ingratitude and hypocrisy before he can realize his faults of equating flattery and materialism with happiness and love.Just as Lear must suffer such great disrespect and harshness of words and actions to learn not to depend on them, Gloucester must lose his vision before he can depend on his mind and heart to judge situations instead of depending on what he thinks he sees. While Lear may be slow to transform, Gloucester quickly realizes the error of his ways, saying to Tom the beggar, "I have no way, and therefore want no eyes;/I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen/our means secure us, and our mere defects/prove our commodities" (King Lear IV.i.18-21). He realizes that when he could see he was overconfident and did not judge situations carefully, but now that he is blind he has learned to not depend on his eyes to show him the truth.While both of these characters have in many ways made a positive transformation, both recognizing and attempting to change their flaws that caused so much harm, Shakespeare's work is still a tragedy. By the end of the play, after both characters fully realize their mistakes, they both die from a combination of shock and old age. Lear realizes his mistakes in the way he quantified the love of his daughter, culminating in his excitement to pass time in prison with Cordelia, but she is killed and the shock of her death kills him. Like Lear, Gloucester realizes he misjudged Edgar's character and is deeply repentative. But it is too late, and he dies from the shock of discovering Tom's true identity, that of his son. King Lear ends sadly, but also with a sense of a positive future. Though it may have been too late for these characters to realize their mistakes and change their lives, the message their stories give is that of working to change what is wrong in one's character.Power vs. IntelligenceBy Cindy Pang - September 12, 2002In Shakespeare's King Lear, the characters in a position of power are most often the ones who are blindest to the truth. Only after losing that power are they able to gain a clear understanding of the events occurring around them and to realize who their true friends and enemies are. The converse is true as well. Those characters with no power are usually the ones who can see the true motives of other characters. This inverse relationship between power and knowledge is most clearly reflected in four characters: Gloucester, King Lear, the Fool, and Kent.In Gloucester's situation, his power can be equated with his vision. A member of the court, Gloucester has the noble title of earl. In this high position, he is not aware of the motivations behind the actions of those around him. His own son, Edmund, deceives him. Angry at being the illegitimate son and greedy for inheritance, Edmund convinces his father that his other son, Edgar, is plotting to kill him. This does not require much effort since Gloucester quickly believes Edmund. Although they plan to meet again to determine whether Edgar really is conspiring against his father, it seems as if Gloucester already believes Edgar to be guilty. This can be seen in the way he refers to Edgar as he instructs Edmund to "find out this villain" (I.2.115). The next time they meet, Gloucester finds Edmund injured. Although he does not see what happens, Gloucester is easily tricked into believing that Edgar attacked him. At this point, Gloucester is mistakenly convinced that Edgar is the evil son and that Edmund is the good son. He then rewards Edmund, telling him, "...and of my land, ... I'll work the means to make thee capable" (II.1.83-85).Gloucester learns "to see" only in his blindness. Six lines after Cornwall completely blinds Gloucester, Gloucester discovers the truth. When he is injured, Gloucester calls out for Edmund to help, but Cornwall quickly informs him that "it was [Edmund] that made the overture of thy treasons to us" (III.7.89-90). It is here that Gloucester understands what is happening, exclaiming, "O my follies! Then Edgar was abused" (III.7.92). Aside from this realization, Gloucester also gains other knowledge in his state of blindness. For one thing, he is less easily persuaded by others. When Edgar tries to convince his father that they are on a hill, Gloucester states, "Methinks the ground is even" (IV.6.3). His newfound insight is also evident in his encounter with Edgar. When Gloucester could see, he does not recognize his son, asking "What are you there? Your names?" (III.4.127), when he sees Edgar. After he is blinded, however, he connects Tom Bedlam with Edgar saying, "I such a fellow saw... My son came then into my mind" (IV.1.33-35). Now that he is blind and powerless, he is suddenly more perceptive to the world around him.King Lear experiences a similar exchange between power and knowledge. As ruler of his kingdom, he is first presented in the play as a man with the most power. However, he is also unable to recognize who his friends and enemies are. First, his daughters, Goneril and Regan, easily deceive him. They tell him that they both love him the most, "more than word can wield the matter" (I.1.55). He believes their lies and divides the kingdom between them, while leaving nothing to his other daughter, Cordelia, who truly loves him. Simply because she refuses to flatter him, he was unable to see the reality of Cordelia's true love for him. As a result, he banishes her from his kingdom with the following words: "...for we have no such daughter, nor shall ever see that face of her again. Therefore be gone without our grace, our love, our benison" (I.1.265-267). King Lear also punishes one of his most loyal followers, Kent. Kent sees Cordelia's true love for her father, and tries to advise him against making a mistake. Instead, Lear irrationally prefers to believe in Goneril and Regan's lies and banishes Kent also. Not only is King Lear unable to see the evil in his own personal life, but also that of the kingdom. He neglects the poor and does not even acknowledge the existence of poverty in his land.Once Lear gives up his kingdom, however, his lower position allows him to see the truth. He descends into a position of total powerlessness once he is locked out of the castle during a tremendous storm. At this point, he has nowhere to go and cannot even keep his train of men. He now realizes how wicked his two eldest daughters really are, referring to them as "pernicious" (III.2.22). During the storm, he also sees the poverty in his kingdom, which he fails to recognize when he is in a position of power. Lear wonders how the "houseless heads and unfed sides defend [the poor] from seasons such as these". He continues to say, "O, I have ta'en too little care of this!" (III.4.32-35), admitting his neglect toward the poor. More importantly, Lear sees through Cordelia's lack of flattering and realizes that her love for him is so great that she could not express it in words.Unlike Gloucester and King Lear, the Fool does not experience a fall from power in order to gain knowledge. Instead, because he is already in a low position, he is able to be intelligent. One of two reasons why he already has knowledge is because of the way the other characters perceive him. Most people are not conscious of him, and when they are, they dismiss his presence as unimportant. When Kent asks who the Fool is, for example, the Gentleman answers, "None but the fool" (III.1.16). They basically see him as a nobody. As a result, the other characters do not pretend to be someone else. They are their true selves around him and thus, the Fool sees the truth. The second reason why his low position allows him to be intelligent stems from the first. Because the other characters do not consider him important, the Fool can say anything he wants and not anger anyone. No one is threatened by him or his statements, as is clear from the King's actions. The Fool's statements are usually much harsher than any other characters' words. It is the other characters, however, who are punished while nothing happens to him. When Kent and Cordelia speak the truth, for example, the king becomes so angry that he banishes them from the kingdom. However, when the Fool criticizes the King with, "The sweet and bitter fool will presently appear, the one in motley here, the other found out there" (I.4.141-144), Lear only replies with, "Dost thou call me fool, boy?" (I.4.144). The Fool is basically calling the King a fool, but the King does not even get angry.Throughout the play, the Fool provides insight into the actions of the characters. The Fool shows his knowledge through ambiguous statements and clever witticism. The only problem is that no one takes him seriously. When the Fool advises Lear to "speak less than thou knowest" (I.4.116), Kent says, "This is nothing, fool" (I.4.125). The Fool also provides simple and clear reasoning for a one sighted King. The Fool only first appears the fourth scene of act 1, after Cordelia has moved away with the King of France. The Fool knows that Lear has done wrong by giving all his land away to his two evil daughters, and tells him so when he says, "All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with" (I.4.146-147). The Fool is supposed to be an idiot, but he is anything but that. The one character in this play who is supposed to be the mad one, is in fact the one person who says things that make sense.Another character who reflects the inverse relationship between power and intelligence is Kent. He is first presented as an earl, a member of the court with a considerable amount of power. However, he is also knowledgeable since he is able to discern which daughters are good and evil. Because no character in King Lear can have both power and intelligence, Kent is quickly put into a position of no power once Lear banishes him. Throughout the rest of the play, Kent plays the role of Lear's servant. Because he is in this low position, he can continue to be knowledgeable and take care of the King.In King Lear, power and knowledge do not go hand in hand. In order to obtain one, the other must be lost. This is clearly seen in our discussion of Gloucester, King Lear, Fool, and Kent. Gloucester and King Lear both have to give up their power in order to see what is going on. It is not coincidental that once they lose their power, they are able to see the truth. The Fool is the most knowledgeable character, but only because he has no power. And Kent is forced to become a powerless figure in order to continue his existence as a knowledgeable character.Recognizing Humanity In William Shakespeare's King LearBy Noura Badawi - December 15, 1999William Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear, is not merely a story of the ill effects of aging, but an illustration of a man plagued by pride and arrogance. Initially, Lear deems himself a man worthy of worship by his family and friends, an ill for which he suffers profoundly. 'The world remains what it was, a merciless, heart-breaking world. Lear is broken by it, but he has learned...' (Stein 69). Through his experiences, Lear gradually realizes that his pride has caused him to lose touch with his humanity, which he regains when he is humbled.Lear abuses his authority when he plays favorites with his daughters. He is infuriated upon hearing that his youngest daughter, Cordelia has nothing to say while her sisters present an eloquent testimony of their love, only it is that much more insincere. He says "Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again" (I.i. 90). He is arrogant in assuming that he can control the feelings of his children and lacks the humility to accept that his daughter may not feel so strongly about him. Lear's arrogance prevents him from seeing that Cordeila's plainness of speech indicated that she loved, but not for gain. Similarly, he is unable to detect the insincerity of the crafty and flattering speeches delivered by Goneril, and Regan. After he is made aware of the truth, he is utterly humiliated at his vile treatment of his beloved, innocent daughter. He says "I am a very foolish fond old man...I am mainly ignorant" (IV.vii 60,65). Lear comes to acknowledge his limitations as a result of being humbled.Throughout his life, Lear felt that the rules did not apply to him because of his royal position. "Proud obstinacy becomes his case" (Elliott 263). His pride gets in the way when he banishes Kent. His arrogance would not allow Kent or anyone to point out his wrongs. Occupied in his pursuit of power, Lear is unable to see that Kent is one of few who are willing to sacrifice for him. He pushes him further away than anyone and eventually loses him. "His, [Kent's] passionate affection for, and fidelity to, Lear acts on our feelings in Lear's favour: virtue itself seems to be in company with him" (Bonheim 19). It is not until he is humbled that he begins to understand that his pride caused him to sink further down and lose his sense of honesty and humanity.Due to his lack of humility throughout most of the play, Lear has difficulty finding his identity. He embodies that uncertainty as he never succeeds in naming himself. He is much too occupied with his wealth and kingship that he fails to consider his flaws and shortcomings. The identity he does finally settle on is a recognition of present reality and his pitiful condition, a drastic change from an arrogant Lear of earlier scenes. He says "Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;/ and to deal plainly/ I fear I am not in my perfect mind (IV.vi 53-6). He is rather timid and apologetic, trying to kneel to Cordelia. His ability to humble himself in this manner indicates hat he has begun to learn the true essence of humility.In the same scene, Cordelia is seen tending her father. Because Lear has done her wrong, he sites reason for possible admonishment. His ability to admit to his faults and anticipate punishment is a true mark of his humility. It is at this point that Lear gives away his kingship. He refuses to acknowledge the titles with which she addresses him. When told he is in his own kingdom, he replies: 'Do not abuse me' (IV.vi. 71). Lear feels unworthy of praise. After being humbled, he comes to understand that his pride caused him enormous devastation.Later in the play, Lear puts his guilty daughters on trial. The attempt is futile, but this is justice as he knows it and desires to assert his authority. His arrogance has stripped him of patience and thus he makes this hasty decision. Lear's mind is constantly on the move, "... in a dynamic pattern of advance and retreat, surrender and resistance" (Leggatt 78). There are instances in which he fights his feelings and those in which he expresses them directly, but since he is recovering from his plague of pride, he is confused. When his frailty of mind and body become apparent, Lear realizes that his pride brought him to this point and that he cannot win and thus he is humbled.Following the confrontation with Goneril, Lear begins to remember what he has done. "I know you do not love; for your sisters/ Have, as I do remember, done me wrong./ You have some cause; they have not" (IV.vi. 66-8). His identity is gradually reasserting itself.'I know you do not love me' shows him in some danger of repeating his old mistake about Cordelia; but at least he is re-establishing some sense of his identity, not through counting up the number of knights he is allowed, or gestures of respect (he rejects those) but simply through an awareness that he has a relationship with Cordelia (Leggatt 87).His consuming pride kept him from accepting anyone's disapproval, but he is now aware that his pride has been the cause of great turmoil and is ready to suffer the consequences by virtue of the humility he has gained.There exists a tension between Lear's awareness of his worldly surroundings and his absorption with himself. His kingship was a major distraction that raised his level of arrogance and prevented him from keeping in touch with his common humanity. Goneril's mistreatment of him leads him to question his identity:Does any here know me? This is not Lear. Does Lear walk thus, speak thus? Where are his eyes? Either his notion weakens, his discernings Are lethargied‹ha, waking? 'Tis not so. Who is it that can tell me who I am? (I.iv. 208-212)Lear's sense of identity is contingent on how other people treat him. Where as before he was so confident in himself, this experience allows him to realize that his pride caused him to dismiss his humanity. As his question implies, Lear is on the verge of embarking on a journey of self-discovery as a result of his becoming more humble.Lear's diminishing arrogance is also apparent when he is given fresh clothes in order to look respectable before Cordelia's husband. "In his earlier tirades, he was grandly unaware of his absurdity. Now with nothing absurd about him," (Leggatt 86) he asks gently, 'Pray do not mock'; 'Do not laugh at me' (IV.vi. 52, 61[IV.vii]). Lear's old self-assertive nature begins to disappear. While he began "... a man that grossly overvalued material things..." (Taylor 365), he is now aware that ostentatious clothing will not erase his pain. He learns that his arrogance had caused him to lose touch with the fact that was merely an imperfect, and limited human. An application of his humility, he no longer deems himself superior and realizes that his conceit lead to his downfall.Lear's humbleness is also evident when he displays pity he feels for the Fool in the midst of the storm:Lear grows in compassion, and admits to his own failures. Although the fool is of insignificant status, Lear realizes that humans are vulnerable creatures. Whereas before Lear "...ignored if not through callous indifference, simply because he had not experienced it" (Dollimore 73), he now finds pity for a human other than himself. Lear also sympathizes with homeless poverty because he himself is homeless, and with Poor Tom because he claims his daughter did him wrong. As result of his trying predicament, he comes to discover pity for his fellow man which demonstrates his humility.As his humility allows him to accept his ill fate, we no longer see the beast like Lear, but one who is calm and further in touch with his humanity.There is some self-pity evident in Lear's words, but it is apparent that he has lost much pride. "For Lear, the assurance of interconnection between man and nature is breaking down..." (Brooke 33). Through his humbling life experiences, Lear realizes that pride no longer suits him for it was that pride that caused him to lose his humanity.Lear's humility is unequivocally a breakthrough that leads to his seeking Cordelia's forgiveness. This is not to say that he has undergone a complete transformation, but that Lear is slowly learning to be humble. "He gropes reluctantly towards his new life, trying at first to cling to the old certainties of pain and punishment" (Leggatt 88). Lear's mind is beginning to expand as his concern for his kingship, justice and power diminish. He begins to concern himself less with worldly matters and more about his family, namely, Cordelia. From the reunion, it becomes apparent that Lear is content with losing the battle and being sent to prison so long as he has Cordelia on his side.In his heart, there is a void that cannot be removed except with the company of his dearest daughter and he is willing to sacrifice his kingship to be with her. Lear realizes that being proud and only seeking wealth and status inhibits the recognition of his human need to be loved and consequently becomes more humble.Lear struggles to accept the cold fact that his beloved is dead. Cordelia's death is the play's final reality after which the efforts of human words cease to have an effect. His last speech includes aspects of the entire play. "And my poor fool is hanged! No, no, no life?/ Why should a dog, a forse, a rat have life,/ And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more./ Never, never, never, never, never (To Kent) Pray you, undo the button." (V.iii. 281-6). He mentions the fool, the animals, and Kent's service. While Lear at one point controlled vast amounts of wealth and servants, as the play comes to an end, it as though everything is bearing down on Lear which makes vivid to him his incapacity to alter destiny. He begins to understand the inevitability of mortality, a concept that was foreign to him before the loss of his kingship and family, and hence he is humbled.When it comes time for Lear's death, he is so preoccupied with Cordelia, that he doesn't know he is dying. He is exhausted and overwhelmed by what has occurred. He says "Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips, / Look there, look there" (V.iii. 312-13). He is desperate to see her alive, but again his inability to change his fate is apparent. In this scene, Lear is faced with the depth of his love for Cordelia which ultimately leads to his death. The human need of being genuinely loved and loving comes through clearly. Sadly, it was something his pride caused him to over look and after he grew in humility, it was finally acknowledged, only at too late a stage.Although Lear endured a great deal of hardship in his life, he came to realize his limitations. It was through this acknowledgment of his humanity that he became humble. "There is nothing more noble and beautiful than the effect of suffering in reviving the greatness and eliciting the sweetness of Lear's nature" (Bradley 284). While initially priding himself on his high level of authority and status, he learns that pride is evil and the cause of his loss of loved ones and eventually his own life.
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