Essay On Human Potential In King Lear And Snow Falling On Cedars

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An individual in today’s society must have ambitions and goals in order to envision success. Respectively, the modern population is so caught up in their pursuit of prosperity, that they fail to consider their impact on family and friends who are constantly being deluded. Throughout King Lear and Snow Falling on Cedars, characters undergo a series of events where they experience the negative impacts of their wrongful decisions, but later encounter overall growth as human beings. Throughout the literary works, various forces act in ways where their power to overwhelm an individual causes a waste in human potential. As a result, characters refrain from taking action, a storm occurs causing characters to introspect, and characters commit reprehensible …show more content…
For example, when Lear is dividing his kingdoms, he first asks Goneril and Regan to express their unconditional love for him. When Cordelia is asked to do the same, she says, “Nothing, my lord.” (Shakespeare, 1.1.87). This preceding action demonstrates how Cordelia could have prevented Lear’s demise if she had vocalized her love for him. Cordelia’s lack of metaphysical abilities is the key force preventing her from hyperbolizing her love, which naturally presents itself as an uncontrollable obstacle that prohibits Cordelia from meeting the King’s superficial needs. Had this force been negligible, Cordelia would have been able to obtain part of Lear’s land, where her kind and giving nature would allow her to alleviate the troubles faced by the population. Furthermore, following the death of Carl Heine, the state swiftly jumps to the conclusion that Kabuo murdered him overnight and arrests him without any evidence. At Kabuo’s trial, he declares, “I was trying to decide what I should do.” (Guterson, 407). Kabuo’s statement establishes how he abstained from delivering crucial information to the plaintiff. The social norms that are present in the community demonstrate the force destroying Kabuo’s desire for greatness. This initiates a group of minorities to arise due to the social barrier that acts to intimidate their every action. Instead of working to earn money for his …show more content…
For example, after disputing with Goneril and Regan, Lear departs and enters a raging storm. With the fool by his side, he reflects, “I have ta'en, / Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp.” (Shakespeare, 3.4.33-34). Lear unmistakably depicts his self-contemplation with respect to his activities as the King. He recognizes that he could have supported them with medicines, instead of abusing his power and consuming them all . Moreover, the storm itself acts as a supernatural force that destroys Lear’s desire for greatness because it demonstrates Lear’s understanding of his insignificance contrasted with the forces of nature, and realizes that being modest would be beneficial. Thus, Lear embodies a humble and caring virtue when managing with his daughters’ treason. Also, due to the storm’s influence, the jurors reflect and overcome the social norms where instead of being persistent to convict Kabuo, they thoroughly reflect and obtain doubt regarding the trial. Ultimately, they end up not believing that Kabuo is the killer, which causes one of the jurors to say, “If I feel doubt, that’s all that matters,” (Guterson, 429). Forming opinions based on the social norms allows one to criticize the jurors’ human potential, but because of the storm, the jurors obtain an occasion for rumination in regards to this matter. Kabuo

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