Sympathy In King Lear Essay

Almost every character of the play can be placed with or opposed to Lear’s rule. Likewise, the people who clash with the king have motivations that are largely incomparable to those of, for example, Edgar and Cordelia. Interested only in material wealth and power, the various antagonists of the play deceive their way through life whilst the main characters that the audience would most likely emphasise with are motivated only by good virtues such as personal insight, honesty or charity. Nevertheless, it remains difficult not to just feel a notion of sympathy with Edward as he has been branded with bastardy even before his birth. He suffers from something that he cannot change or have ever been at fault for. This sympathy, however, gets justified when Edward realises the error of his ways and in one last gesture of repentance gains a sort of personal redemption, ‘ask me not what I know’(5.3.158). Much as the characters choose between two different sides morally, two separate plots also take place simultaneously. However, instead of confusing the audience, one plot’s misfortunate events simply emphasises the other’s tragedy. Every point is made at least …show more content…
While most use tragedy merely to describe any sort of disaster or misfortune, it more precisely refers to ‘a work of art that probes with high seriousness questions concerning the role of man in the universe’ (Conversi, 2015). However, more specific concepts are at play in King Lear. Originating from ancient Greece, tragedies come in many shapes and sizes, but are generally considered well defined by Aristotle:
‘The imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories […]; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions’ (Cuddon, 2013,