Change King Lear Essay Example
Why is change inevitable? Why is it feared by many but then embraced with open arms by others? Change is the cause to be different, the process or result of altering. And although changes may be difficult and problematic, they often DO bring rewards to those who undergo them. But that doesn’t mean every change has a happy ending. Students, friends, I’m here before you today to discuss with you the concept of change and its results, and with the help of arguably the most influential writer in English literature – William Shakespeare – and his play ‘King Lear’, as well as the movie “Life as a House’ and the famous Bob Dylan song ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’. With these texts, I’m going to distinguish and expose the outcomes and arduousness of change.
The natural order – or in other words, the physical universe considered as an unchanging structure of life - in King Lear is absolute and when pushed, it pushes back. The most obvious example where the natural order is changed is at the beginning of the play when King Lear divides his Kingdom between his daughters. Regan and Goneril represent King Lear’s sinister attitude at the start with traits such as cruelty and greed. Their deception is seen when the two daughters use exaggerations of love to deceive the King for power. Goneril claims she loves her father, “As much as child e’er loved, or father found; a love that makes breath poor and speech unable”. But youngest daughter Cordelia –who represents the softer, purer nature of King Lear after he experiences an inner change- is seen to rebel against Lear by claiming her love as “...according to my bond, no more nor less.” This scene spins the ‘wheel’ of change, beginning the random suffering of the members of the kingdom and creates the dire repercussions that follow.
Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’ states ‘Don’t speak too soon for the wheel’s still in spin and there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’’ which reinforces the metaphor seen in King Lear
The natural order – or in other words, the physical universe considered as an unchanging structure of life - in King Lear is absolute and when pushed, it pushes back. The most obvious example where the natural order is changed is at the beginning of the play when King Lear divides his Kingdom between his daughters. Regan and Goneril represent King Lear’s sinister attitude at the start with traits such as cruelty and greed. Their deception is seen when the two daughters use exaggerations of love to deceive the King for power. Goneril claims she loves her father, “As much as child e’er loved, or father found; a love that makes breath poor and speech unable”. But youngest daughter Cordelia –who represents the softer, purer nature of King Lear after he experiences an inner change- is seen to rebel against Lear by claiming her love as “...according to my bond, no more nor less.” This scene spins the ‘wheel’ of change, beginning the random suffering of the members of the kingdom and creates the dire repercussions that follow.
Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’ states ‘Don’t speak too soon for the wheel’s still in spin and there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’’ which reinforces the metaphor seen in King Lear