King Lear Theme Of Identity In Traglear

King Lear is a play of Pain, Loss, and Regret. These themes are easily noticeable by simply reading the play. However, these are not the only themes. King Lear is also a play of identity through Appearance and Reality. The Appearance can be identified through word choice, tone, and imagery. The Reality, however, must be seen through analysis of the text. Identity, in the play, is portrayed in different ways: through family roles, and through the character 's motives. Per CrossRef-it, “At the start of King Lear, identity is established by family and social relationships.” Throughout the play, the roles between the character’s change and we finally see their true relationship at the end. Take for example, King Lear’s daughters. Lear believed …show more content…
Edmund betrayed his father by making him believe Edgar had planned to murder him. This led to Edgar being exiled and Gloucester being blinded. Shakespeare used irony in this family relationship to portray their identities. Gloucester was blind to Edmund’s treachery and did not truly see his actions until he was actually blinded. Yet, Edmund still had love for his father and brother. When Edmund stated, “Where, if you violently proceed against him, mistaking his purpose, it would make a great gap in your own honor and shake in pieces the heart of his obedience,” he gave up a precious opportunity (Act 1.2. 86-91). If Edmund had allowed his father to kill Edgar, like he was originally intending, it would have been easier for him. Except, he only had him exiled. This shows that Edmund did not want his brother to die, but just to be out of the picture. The same for his father. His identity was not as truly devious as a reader would first …show more content…
This play is not the type a reader should read once. There are different interpretations that the reader could make when analyzing the text. People who were once viewed as treacherous may have had good reason, while people who were believed to be good were the true villains. That is the idea of Identity between Appearance and Reality. In the beginning, everyone had an appearance, which was the first impression that we got from them, and then we do not see the reality until the end of the play. The reality is their identity in its purest form. That is the point where the reader can clearly see the character’s identity. According to Thomas Smith, “Shakespeare uses identity to see developments in relationships and characters,” which stood true. The relationships changed, and the characters changed, however the only thing that stood the same was their identities. This is because it was impossible to change who they were, even when not clearly portrayed in the