The Interdependence Of Man And Nature In Shakespeare's King Lear

Register to read the introduction… Men are always represented in the relation to the divine hierarchy which is the physical world and the world of animals but they are never represented in isolation. It becomes easier to understand the actions of Lear with the almost constant references to nature, once the concept of correspondence between man’s nature and the natural world is understood in terms of legitimizing the social order. In King Lear, the tragedy shown in the play is when Lear tries attempting to overthrow the ‘natural’ social order by handing over his crown to his daughters. Once disorder is initiated by Lear’s revocation of his powers and rights as King, disaster in corresponding hierarchies follow. Lear’s abandonment of his power is in direct opposition to the concept of the Divine Right of Kings. According to the laws of nature, it was impossible for Lear to stop being a king, because that was his rightful position by divine ordination and in fact throughout the play he is still referred to as the King, even though he has divided his crown. Also Lear is unable to stop seeing himself as the King, which can be seen from his banishment of Kent, soon after he has relinquished his …show more content…
He did not understand why he was not liked by the other Greeks and Ulysses tried to get Achilles mind back into action by giving him an uncomplimentary lecture on human nature. In the seventh line of Ulysses’ quote, he speaks about the ‘touch of nature’ which means ‘natural traits’. These are vital characteristics that make us all in this world kin. The phrases nowadays used for our ‘touch of nature’ as warmth or generosity or any other romantic ideal is different from how Ulysses describes it. He sees unanimity in our gaudy originalities as our ‘touch of nature’ is a short memory. The past deeds of Achilles, like beauty, wit, love, and so on, are subject to the ravages of time. In other words, it is our nature to forget these types of faded glories because they do not seem important anymore as there are bigger things that should be remembered instead of wasting it on these small glories that will be slowly forgotten in the