King Lear And Dante's Inferno

While Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dante’s Inferno were written in very different time periods, they both make similar statements regarding human suffering and the consequences of our actions. Both of these works share the same thematic ideas of lament and admonition. Shakespeare derived King Lear from the legend of Leir, a pre-roman Celtic King. The play is about a King who gives his kingdom to his two deceitful daughters and disowns the one daughter who truly loves him. The rest of the play is about the decent of him and the rest of the characters, and eventually the whole kingdom is left in despair. Because of this bleak ending, the idea of lament is more significant in this play; it leaves readers feeling guilty and sorry. Dante’s Inferno …show more content…
In Dante’s Inferno, the first people readers encounter are the people in limbo, or ante- inferno. These people were neither committed to heaven or hell and because of that they do not deserve either punishment. In the book it said “neither heaven or hell would receive them” (Dante. 470), and Virgil told Dante “let’s not speak of them, they do not deserve fame.” (Dante. 471). These people lived a life with no purpose. They had no opinion or moral code. Dante was trying to say that was not a good thing. No matter what someone’s beliefs are that having something to believe in and trying to live a life with purpose is important. The people do not deserve to be spoken about because they did not amount to anything and therefore deserve to be in limbo and not be spoken about. Shakespeare had similar ideas on avoidance, and evasiveness. Through the entire book the phrase “nothing comes from nothing” (Shakespeare 1.1.90) is said. King Lear and Gloucester often used that phrase because they were avoiding conflict. The “nothings” became a very big “nothing” at the end of the book when the conflict climaxed and all of the characters are affected. If both King Lear and Gloucester had not avoided facing their problems the whole play, then maybe the kingdom would not have been ruined. Shakespeare was trying to make the point that “nothings” are not nothing because they have …show more content…
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante warns of those who were stingy with their money. At this point in the narrative they have made it to the fourth circle of Hell. Dante is trying to show that at either end of the spectrum, spending too much or not spending at all, is a bad thing. Money becomes a burden and it shouldn’t be. It creates problems with people and ourselves. There is this idea of fortune Dante speaks about and he is trying to say that fortune is something that needs to be spread around. It doesn’t need to reside in one place, that God calls us to spread our good fortune with people and other nations (Dante. 580). Similarly, in Shakespeare’s King Lear, the idea of selfishness and frugalness is important. King Lear is trying to decide on who he gives his fortune to at the beginning of this play. Because he is so selfish with his fortune he tries to get each daughter to compete with each other to see who loves him the most. Cordelia is King Lear’s favorite daughter but that quickly changes. Cordelia understands that if she has to tell her father how much she loves him that it is not worth it. She did not care about the money at all, just her fathers love. She tries to tell him that here when she says, “What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.” (Shakespeare 1.1.63). King Lear was too caught up in his own vanity and selfishness that he could not see that. Because Cordelia would not