“Don’t confuse poor decision-making with destiny. Own your mistakes. It’s ok; we all make them. Learn from them so they can empower you!” (Steve Maraboli). In William Shakespeare's play, King Lear, characters try to learn from their mistakes in order to advance their own personalities. The characters who demonstrate this most are King Lear and Gloucester. Both of these characters make irrational decisions that cause negative impacts not only in their lives, but in those surrounding them. Lear and Gloucester are blinded by their own excessive prides that they blame either their family or the Gods for their wrong doings. Lear tends to blame and hurt his most valuable friends and family, such as Cordelia and Kent. Whereas, Gloucester tends to
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They have similar personalities and they have similar stories involving their children, only one of each of their children is completely loyal to them. Both characters in this play display the tragic flaw archetypes which are blame, blindness and insensitivity. Lear makes the mistake of banning his daughter Cordelia from his kingdom and continues on to blame her for the fact that he is insensitive. Lear learns later on in the play that it in fact was not Cordelia's fault but his own and they make peace with each other. Likewise, Gloucester blames the Gods as the reasoning behind why one of his sons is out to kill him. He later learns that it was in fact his uncaring attitude that caused Edmund to hate him. Gloucester makes amends with Edgar and realizes too late that he should of treated both sons equally despite the fact that one is a ‘whoreson’. While both characters have similar family issues, their lives are still different. In addition, Lear reverts to blaming other people for his actions, acknowledges that it is a human force responsible. Unlike Lear, Gloucester blames it on the Gods and does not acknowledge that it is a human force, and instead dismisses the actions of the characters in the play. This idea is further discussed in the Peter Saccio lectures where he explains that Lear is a much stronger character than Gloucester since Lear is able to recognize that the Gods do not have control over the actions of himself and the other characters around him. Although the characters of Lear and Gloucester are very similar, the differences between them help readers to further fathom the two ideas of blame between the both of
They have similar personalities and they have similar stories involving their children, only one of each of their children is completely loyal to them. Both characters in this play display the tragic flaw archetypes which are blame, blindness and insensitivity. Lear makes the mistake of banning his daughter Cordelia from his kingdom and continues on to blame her for the fact that he is insensitive. Lear learns later on in the play that it in fact was not Cordelia's fault but his own and they make peace with each other. Likewise, Gloucester blames the Gods as the reasoning behind why one of his sons is out to kill him. He later learns that it was in fact his uncaring attitude that caused Edmund to hate him. Gloucester makes amends with Edgar and realizes too late that he should of treated both sons equally despite the fact that one is a ‘whoreson’. While both characters have similar family issues, their lives are still different. In addition, Lear reverts to blaming other people for his actions, acknowledges that it is a human force responsible. Unlike Lear, Gloucester blames it on the Gods and does not acknowledge that it is a human force, and instead dismisses the actions of the characters in the play. This idea is further discussed in the Peter Saccio lectures where he explains that Lear is a much stronger character than Gloucester since Lear is able to recognize that the Gods do not have control over the actions of himself and the other characters around him. Although the characters of Lear and Gloucester are very similar, the differences between them help readers to further fathom the two ideas of blame between the both of