King Lear's Journey Analysis

Superior Essays
It is good to have an end to journey toward, and in the end the experiences within the journey itself are equally as important, as such ventures can induce some form of self-transformation. Journeys, Year 11 students, are amongst the very few things in life that is completely unavoidable. Every single person in this room has embarked on a journey, whether it be a journey to senior schooling, or even a journey to self-discovery; everyone has at least once experienced the impacts journeys may potentially offer. In William Shakespeare’s marvel, King Lear, and Hai-Van Nguyen’s, Journey to Freedom, the impacts journeys can have on a traveller, are made apparent through tone, imagery, cumulative listing, irony and also motifs.
King Lear is one
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Whilst wandering off into a storm, a metaphorical projection of Lear’s inner turmoil, he finally comes to the realisation that Goneril and Regan have wronged him; ‘sharp-tooth, like a vulture, with a wolfish visage.’ The animal imagery depicts Goneril and Regan as savage creatures, and such profane language a father speaks of his daughters, proves how Lear’s journey to insanity, has transformed his demeanour to both Goneril and Regan. Think about it, in the beginning of the play, during the love test, Lear adored Goneril and Regan’s false complements. Shift to the end of Act 2, and we see that his experience of being stripped from all his soldiers has caused Lear to have animal-like degrading views upon them. It is good to have an end to journey towards, but where was Lear’s end? He didn’t have one! If King Lear had a fixed destination, then he will be striving to reach that goal, and ultimately avoid the turmoil he is experiencing. The journey in the end was equally as important as having a destination, as for Lear, it was his experience of losing his authority as King, and being turned into a madman, that transformed him into realising that his banishment of Cordelia, his most loving daughter, was indeed his fatal

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