Shakespeare’s King Lear and Milton’s Paradise Lost are similar, but very different. They have many of the same elements within each story, though the stories are very different. King Lear and Paradise Lost bring deception and betrayal to the table with Adam and Eve eating forbidden fruit and King Lear going through hell just to be treated poorly by who he thought were his best daughters. The first story to be recognized is King Lear. King Lear is king of Britain and he is getting older. Lear wants to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and his youngest and favorite daughter, Cordelia. So he asks, “Which of you shall we say doth love us most” (Shakespeare, 50). The eldest daughters speak first. Goneril goes
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Within Book 9 you get to see the works of Satan on Adam and Eve and that is where the story turns tragic. In the beginning, Satan returns to the Garden of Eden and he sets out to find a disguise for himself. As he goes along, he finds a sleeping snake and decides that will be his disguise. The next day, Adam and Eve are in the garden working. Eve knows there is so much work to be done and tells Adam that they should split up and work separately. Adam is worried that they will be seduced by Satan’s temptations and wants to stay together, but Eve feels like they are strong enough to abstain from Satan’s temptations and be loyal to God. She says, “Let us not then suspect our happy state / left so imperfect by the Maker wise / as not secure to single or combined” (Milton, 337-339). Adam is finally convinced and they go their separate ways to work alone. Satan is on a mission to find Adam and Eve and when he finds Eve alone, he is delighted. He goes to her and starts to gain her attention by flattering her on her beauty. At this point, Eve is amazed that a creature of God has a voice to talk. She states, “The first at least of these I thought denied / to beasts, whom God on their creation day / created mute to all articulate sound” (Shakespeare, 555-557). The snake fed into her amazement by telling her that he feasted upon an apple from one of the trees of God and it gave him this power. He talked her into going to …show more content…
From King Lear being treated poorly by his daughters to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, Milton and Shakespeare both find ways to express betrayal, pride, and deception in ways that work all too well. These stories are timeless and will go on to teach the lessons of these three
Within Book 9 you get to see the works of Satan on Adam and Eve and that is where the story turns tragic. In the beginning, Satan returns to the Garden of Eden and he sets out to find a disguise for himself. As he goes along, he finds a sleeping snake and decides that will be his disguise. The next day, Adam and Eve are in the garden working. Eve knows there is so much work to be done and tells Adam that they should split up and work separately. Adam is worried that they will be seduced by Satan’s temptations and wants to stay together, but Eve feels like they are strong enough to abstain from Satan’s temptations and be loyal to God. She says, “Let us not then suspect our happy state / left so imperfect by the Maker wise / as not secure to single or combined” (Milton, 337-339). Adam is finally convinced and they go their separate ways to work alone. Satan is on a mission to find Adam and Eve and when he finds Eve alone, he is delighted. He goes to her and starts to gain her attention by flattering her on her beauty. At this point, Eve is amazed that a creature of God has a voice to talk. She states, “The first at least of these I thought denied / to beasts, whom God on their creation day / created mute to all articulate sound” (Shakespeare, 555-557). The snake fed into her amazement by telling her that he feasted upon an apple from one of the trees of God and it gave him this power. He talked her into going to …show more content…
From King Lear being treated poorly by his daughters to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, Milton and Shakespeare both find ways to express betrayal, pride, and deception in ways that work all too well. These stories are timeless and will go on to teach the lessons of these three