King Lear Suffering

“King Lear” is one of the great works of William Shakespeare. It is the tale of an elderly king who leaves his entire estate to two of his three daughters as he slowly descends into madness. One of the main themes in this play is suffering. There is a vast amount of suffering felt by all of the major characters throughout the play, but it is nothing compared to that felt by king Lear and Gloucester. These two characters are pushed to their limits by the pain that they must endure. However, without any of this pain and suffering Lear and Gloucester would have never been able to develop as characters or gain clarity on their lives. It is obvious that king Lear was made to suffer the most. At the start of the play, Lear is blinded to the good of his daughter Cordelia. He is angry with her, believing that she does not love him enough. He is later cast out by his other two daughters who he thought actually loved him and if forced to suffer through the storm. His descent into madness is completed when he comes to the realization that Cordelia is his one good daughter and he gave her nothing and that Regan and Goneril are bad daughters and he gave them everything. Lear’s whole life he was in control of everything. Finally losing control to his madness is what made him able …show more content…
His eyes were ripped out of his head. This was not just to hurt him, being blind is a shameful and tourchous lifestyle to live. He now has to rely on other people for everything as he learns how move through his new world. Gloucester is only able to learn once his power is lost. However, the power that is lost is that of his sight. This blinding is the only thing that allows him to see that Edgar is his only good child. Similar to what lear had to learn about Cordelia. In addition, he learns of all the evil that his son Edmund has committed. Gloucester, like lear, has gained knowledge through