With old age comes loss in this play, which portrays today’s autocratsA leader who is not bound by constitutional norms or checked by other sources of political authority, like a parliament or the judicial system. and despotsRulers who have absolute power and use it in a cruel way. as well as if it had been written yesterday. Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606) depicts an aged and self-indulgent monarch who, satisfying his own vanity, decides to divide his kingdom according to the results of a test of his daughters’ love. Whoever can describe their adoration for the aged ruler with the most sycophanticPraising or flattering powerful people in a way that is not sincere in order to win favour. effusionOutpourings. will prevail: in this case, his scheming and deceitful daughters Goneril and Regan. But this ill-advised poll strips the lofty Lear of his power, dignity, comfort and friendship. Onto the heath emerges a new spectacle: friendless apart from his fool, betrayed and brought to earth, he is beholden to a madman and reduced to a version of a person no more than a “poor, bare, forked animal". In a world of social division, economic inequality and populistThe term comes from the People's Party, which operated in the USA in the 1890s. Now, it is often used to refer to any movement that makes a distinction between the "people" and the corrupt "establishment". leaders, King Lear’s assertion that “distribution should undo excess/And each man have enough” is as modern as it is bittersweet.
King Lear
With old age comes loss in this play, which portrays today's autocratsA leader who is not bound by constitutional norms or checked by other sources of political authority, like a parliament or the judicial system. and despotsRulers who have absolute power and use it in a cruel way. as well as if it had been written yesterday. Shakespeare's King Lear (1606) depicts an aged and self-indulgent monarch who, satisfying his own vanity, decides to divide his kingdom according to the results of a test of his daughters' love. Whoever can describe their adoration for the aged ruler with the most sycophanticPraising or flattering powerful people in a way that is not sincere in order to win favour. effusionOutpourings. will prevail: in this case, his scheming and deceitful daughters Goneril and Regan. But this ill-advised poll strips the lofty Lear of his power, dignity, comfort and friendship. Onto the heath emerges a new spectacle: friendless apart from his fool, betrayed and brought to earth, he is beholden to a madman and reduced to a version of a person no more than a "poor, bare, forked animal". In a world of social division, economic inequality and populistThe term comes from the People's Party, which operated in the USA in the 1890s. Now, it is often used to refer to any movement that makes a distinction between the "people" and the corrupt "establishment". leaders, King Lear's assertion that "distribution should undo excess/And each man have enough" is as modern as it is bittersweet.
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Lear is betrayed by all those he trusted most, with only those he failed to value remaining by his side. Far from being the ungrateful child he appraised her to be, Cordelia is the epitomeA perfect example. In her blog post, Krug apologised to all the people she had harmed, both individually and collectively. of loyalty and a foil to her deceitful sisters, commanding an army to defend her father's kingdom despite her disgrace and banishment. Her statement "unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty/According to my bond; no more nor less" stands as a symbol of integrity in the face of her sisters' self-interested rhetoricThe art of persuasion. and brings out the force of her betrayal, both by her sisters and by her father.
Another tragic betrayed figure is the Earl of Gloucester, who follows a similar trajectory to Lear. So gullible Easily fooled. that he outlaws his loyal son and trusts the illegitimate Edmund, the curse of his blindness is reifiedMake something more concrete or real. when his eyes are gouged out by Cornwall and Regan.
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On a human level, King Lear depicts a man whose pride does not allow him to seek and receive love naturally, and who prefers to force his loved ones through ridiculous perversions of speech to make him feel adored. One critic refers to it as a fable about what it means to "foolishly refuse to admit one's need for love".
On a political level, Lear's pride is something quite different. He is an absolute monarch who is proud enough to believe that his royalty makes him superior to his subjects. Becoming destituteExtremely poor. Having no food, money or shelter. , confused, insecure and alone, he finally experiences the tough deprivation that his subjects have endured under his rule, and is stripped of his pride. Shakespeare first staged King Lear for the delectationEnjoyment. of James I at Christmas festivities in 1606, and it is difficult not to read an intended message to the King in this play. James I wrote The True Law of Free Monarchies, a text which justifies the divine rightThe idea that a monarch receives the right to rule directly from God. of kings; Lear, too, is a King who believes himself to be endowed with divine power and righteousness, but finds himself felled and humbled to the status of human.
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In King Lear, the breakdown of a family coincides with the breakdown of civilisation. All of the forces grasping towards the throne and absolute power fail; all human and moral values are abandoned in the pursuit of wealth and power; children turn against parents and sisters conspire to destroy each other. All of the values and hierarchies that society is built upon are obliteratedDestroyed. , including the family unit.
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Lear's emotional greed is matched perfectly by Regan and Goneril's greed for power and money. It is one of the most human traits, but one that Shakespeare has no sympathy for. In this play, greed is also a catalyst for death and destruction, motivating both antagonistsThe person who is opposed to something else. In a play, often the enemy of the main character. and protagonists alike. The only character spared from greed is Cordelia, who stands alone in the midst of treachery, but she is not rewarded for it, and the tragedy is absolute. King Lear's obsession with greed is emphasised by the play's language, which describes bodies and separated body parts as a kind of currency: human physicality becomes a mere platform for the transfer of goods. And whilst the characters start with everything, they end with nothing: no greater good, no moral or emotional resolution, no power. This is the consequence of greed.
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With old age comes weakness of both mind and body, and this is something that the antagonists of the play, mainly Regan and Goneril, reference frequently and gleefully. Lear's decision to free himself of his kingdom comes from a desire to "crawl unburdened towards death", the great equaliser that takes kings and peasants alike, and his anxieties about death are major aspects of Lear's psychology. Sigmund FreudAn Austrian psychoanalyst who was one of the world's foremost authorities on psychology in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Although his ideas have been discredited in the scientific community, he remains influential for literary scholars. alleged that Cordelia should be read as a symbol of death, rejected by Lear, who does not want to come to terms with his mortality. The conclusion of the play, which sees Lear carrying Cordelia's dead body in his arms, should according to Freud be read as his final realisation that his time on Earth will be finite, and that death is inevitable.
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Keywords
Autocrats - A leader who is not bound by constitutional norms or checked by other sources of political authority, like a parliament or the judicial system.
Despots - Rulers who have absolute power and use it in a cruel way.
Sycophantic - Praising or flattering powerful people in a way that is not sincere in order to win favour.
Effusion - Outpourings.
Populist - The term comes from the People's Party, which operated in the USA in the 1890s. Now, it is often used to refer to any movement that makes a distinction between the "people" and the corrupt "establishment".
Epitome - A perfect example. In her blog post, Krug apologised to all the people she had harmed, both individually and collectively.
Rhetoric - The art of persuasion.
Gullible - Easily fooled.
Reified - Make something more concrete or real.
Destitute - Extremely poor. Having no food, money or shelter.
Delectation - Enjoyment.
Divine right - The idea that a monarch receives the right to rule directly from God.
Obliterated - Destroyed.
Antagonists - The person who is opposed to something else. In a play, often the enemy of the main character.
Sigmund Freud - An Austrian psychoanalyst who was one of the world's foremost authorities on psychology in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Although his ideas have been discredited in the scientific community, he remains influential for literary scholars.
King Lear
Glossary
Autocrats - A leader who is not bound by constitutional norms or checked by other sources of political authority, like a parliament or the judicial system.
Despots - Rulers who have absolute power and use it in a cruel way.
Sycophantic - Praising or flattering powerful people in a way that is not sincere in order to win favour.
Effusion - Outpourings.
Populist - The term comes from the People's Party, which operated in the USA in the 1890s. Now, it is often used to refer to any movement that makes a distinction between the "people" and the corrupt "establishment".
Epitome - A perfect example. In her blog post, Krug apologised to all the people she had harmed, both individually and collectively.
Rhetoric - The art of persuasion.
Gullible - Easily fooled.
Reified - Make something more concrete or real.
Destitute - Extremely poor. Having no food, money or shelter.
Delectation - Enjoyment.
Divine right - The idea that a monarch receives the right to rule directly from God.
Obliterated - Destroyed.
Antagonists - The person who is opposed to something else. In a play, often the enemy of the main character.
Sigmund Freud - An Austrian psychoanalyst who was one of the world’s foremost authorities on psychology in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Although his ideas have been discredited in the scientific community, he remains influential for literary scholars.