William Shakespeare’s play King Lear is an in-depth exploration of human inadequacy and the resulting misfortunes that arise from our total inability to fully comprehend the world around us. By placing characters in negative scenarios where such proclivities are allowed to become pronounced, the play demonstrates how the underlying cause of these tragedies and misfortunes is ultimately the mistake of misjudging nature and thereby developing a flawed perception of reality. Mistaking the nature of something or someone by means of a flawed judgement gives rise to even further downfalls and sins, including misplaced identity and more personal transgressions, including as lies and deception.
An example of this can be found in the entire character arch of the play’s central figure, King Lear himself. At the beginning of the play, King Lear decides to divide up his entire kingdom among his three daughters and that the amount that each one should receive would be …show more content…
No longer able to garner approval for his daughters to validate his identity, Lear turns to his crown and his authority as king, believing that his position of authority grants him power over everyone and everything within his kingdom, even nature itself. He casts himself out upon the heath in the middle of a violent thunderstorm and attempts to defy the raging weather by standing firm in the rain, wind, thunder, and lightening. Lear soon realizes that not even the authority and power of is crown is able to shield him from the storm or keep the rain off of his face and he is forced to take cover in a “lowly hovel”. It is at this point when he casts aside all hope in his earthly authority and gives in to his humanity, declaring that man is “unaccommodated” and is nothing more than a mere beast under the power of nature, or “As flies to wanton boys we are to the gods…” – King Lear: Act 4, Scene 1, Line
An example of this can be found in the entire character arch of the play’s central figure, King Lear himself. At the beginning of the play, King Lear decides to divide up his entire kingdom among his three daughters and that the amount that each one should receive would be …show more content…
No longer able to garner approval for his daughters to validate his identity, Lear turns to his crown and his authority as king, believing that his position of authority grants him power over everyone and everything within his kingdom, even nature itself. He casts himself out upon the heath in the middle of a violent thunderstorm and attempts to defy the raging weather by standing firm in the rain, wind, thunder, and lightening. Lear soon realizes that not even the authority and power of is crown is able to shield him from the storm or keep the rain off of his face and he is forced to take cover in a “lowly hovel”. It is at this point when he casts aside all hope in his earthly authority and gives in to his humanity, declaring that man is “unaccommodated” and is nothing more than a mere beast under the power of nature, or “As flies to wanton boys we are to the gods…” – King Lear: Act 4, Scene 1, Line