Suffering In Shakespeare's King Lear

Superior Essays
Shakespeare, the author of King Lear, writes in a unique style. While writing the tragedy of King Lear he has many of his main characters go through an experience that takes them far out of their comfort zone to change them for the better. Throughout King Lear, Shakespeare shows that man cannot be morally strong without over coming suffering.
At the beginning of the play Shakespeare portrays King Lear is an old, foolish man. He splits his kingdom into three, a piece for each of his daughters, as they will receive it if they can confess their love to him. Although he physically can see, he is blind to everything occurring around him. He is blind to his oldest daughter’s, Regan and Goneril, treacherous lies of their undying love for him. He
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In Act IV, scene VII, Shakespeare has the scene occur in a tent in the French camp. Cordelia thanks Kent for all the service that he has shown her father and asks him to take off his peasant 's clothing. However, Kent insists, he must remain in disguise for a short while longer. Cordelia then asks the Doctor how her father is doing. The Doctor replies that he is asleep. Cordelia then prays “…O, you kind gods…” (Shakespeare 4.7.17). Then she proceeds to say “…Cure this great breach in his abused nature! The untuned and jarring senses, O, wind up of this child-changed father…” (Shakespeare 4.7.18-20). Cordelia is recognizing that her father’s mind has become disturbed because of the treatment he has received from the hands of Goneril and Regan. Cordelia’s comments show the love and care she has for her father, as she hopes he can be cured from the treatment of her sisters. The doctor decides that they will wake him up. Two servants enter, carrying Lear on a chair. The Doctor cues for music to be played. Cordelia kisses her father, while commenting on her astonishment at her sisters ' cruelty in throwing Lear out into the storm, “…Mine enemy 's dog, though he had bit me, should have stood that night against my fire…” (Shakespeare 4.7.42-44). this quote represents that like Lear, Cordelia marvels at the unkindness of her sisters using an animal comparison (she would …show more content…
Lear is faced by his daughters who never truly loved him, in which he was blind to there lies and then in return was pushed out into the thunder and rain. Cordelia, his youngest daughter, was banished by Lear himself for telling the truth and honestly caring about him. In Act IV they meet again and forgive each other. Cordelia is shocked with her sisters’ behavior toward their father, who she believed at his old age deserved better treatment. Both of them grow throughout the play by Shakespeare’s unique writing and e processing styles by talking them out of there comfort zone and making them better in the end. In the tragedy King Lear Shakespeare used different them such as Old Age vs. Young, Natural Order and Blindness vs. Sight to show that no person cannot be morally strong without over coming suffering, like Lear

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