DOUBLE PLOT IN KING LEAR:

Unity of Plot or Action is a quality of drama that has been praised by critics since the time
of Aristotle. The neo-classical dramatists made a point to follow this unity of plot very
strictly. But we find that Shakespeare does hot give so much importance to this quality.
Most of the plots of his plays are defective and loose. In his plays there are stories running
parallel to each other. So; critics do not consider plot-construction the major quality of
Shakespeare. They praise his characterization and beauty of language. Shakespeare’s
famous play” King Lear” is no exception to this defect. There are two plots running side by
side. A.C. Bradley ‘goes so far as to say that the sub-plot in “King Lear” weakens the”
structure of the play, and it is only the repetition of the theme of the main plot.
But most of the critics praise Shakespeare’s fusion of the two plot and they think it a great
achievement of Shakespeare. “King Lear” has been regarded as the most beautiful, the
most elaborate, the most intricate the most skilful work of artistic construction. It
interfuses two separate and distinct plots into one compact; in such a harmonious way that
one plot seems to be the natural echo of the other. They are both synthesis and antithesis of
each other. The first plot presents the story of the first guilt and first retribution. It shows
parental guilt followed by filial punishment. The sub-plot of “King Lear”’ rein-forces the
main plot. Both Gloucester and Lear are victims of filial ingratitude. The blinding of
Gloucester is the physical equivalent of the blindness of Lear. Both as a result of their
terrible experiences achieve a great wisdom at the end of the play. King Lear represents the
higher level of human nature closer to divinity where as Gloucester represents lower and
inferior position of human nature. 1t is due to the distinctive difference between the two
that Lear suffers mentally, where as physical torture is inflicted upon Gloucester. Lear
committed an intellectual error; swept away by anger and was conventionally punished by
losing his sanity. Gloucester’s sin was physical and it got the punishment of blindness.
Gloucester’s rashness and fury at Edgar reminds us of Lear’s rash treatment. Another
similarity between the two is their reactions to extreme joy and sorrow. Lear’s extreme joy
at the illusion of the movement of Cordelia’s tips and grief at the realization that she has
been mercilessly murdered finishes him. It’s renaissance proverb that sudden joy kills
sooner than excessive grief and it is also true in the case of Gloucester.
The double plot reflects the duality of man’s nature through its two protagonists. In the
beginning dualities are presented. Albany and Cornwall get equal share of kingdom from
Lear and similarly Edgar and Edmund are equally dear to Gloucester. In “Hamlet” duality
is reflected by his speeches where as in King Lear, it is shown by the structure of the play
which has two parts. At one level, the sub-plot seems to be an outline or frame of the main
plot, bringing out more clearly a contrast that is usually attained in Shakespeare’s plays.
Lear’s suffering of mind begins earlier than Gloucester’s physical torture. In fact,
Gloucester’s suffering intensifies Lear’s mental anguish. Though Gloucester echoes hear
through most of the play yet in the end his suicide and restoration prepare us for Lear’s
moving rebirth and his death. The double plot in “King Lear” probes into the mysteries of
human sufferings without finding any answer to why so much misery for minor faults of
human nature. Anyhow, most of the critics agree that the tragic flaw in the two
protagonists (characters) is “error of understanding”. But Lear and Gloucester’s errors of
understanding are different. Lear imposes his will without consideration, where as
Gloucester accepts the will of the others without consideration. And the main difference
between their roles is that Lear is active and Gloucester is passive. Both: Lear and
Gloucester learn wisdom through suffering and achieve spiritual salvation. The wisdom
that each learns is essentially the same. Like Lear, Gloucester comes to sympathize with the
down trodden who are as much human as the rich and powerful are.
Gloucester in misery cries out to the heaven:
“Let the superfluous and lust dieted man,
That slaves your ordinance that will not see,
Because he does not feed, feel, your power quickly.”
The same are Lear’s words in the storm

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“Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the super flux to them,
And show the Heavens more just.”
We note the parallel between Gloucester’s superfluous and Lear’s super flux. Again like
Lear, Gloucester, too, in his torment learns the value of patience.
In short, the two plots intermingle with each other in a remarkable manner. Lear lacks
sound Judgment, so does Gloucester. Lear rejects the loving and chooses the false one.
Similarly, Gloucester rejects the loving son and chooses the false one. As a result, both
fathers bring dire sufferings on themselves through their own folly. At the same time, both
are the victims of dynamic evil. Both are assisted in their sufferings by those whom they
have wronged. And in this way, the double plot of the play is a beautiful mixture of two
stories.
R.G. Moulton in his book “Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist” praises Shakespeare in these
words: “The Intertwining in the case of the present play is perhaps Shakespeare’s greatest
triumph of constructive skill. The two stories are made to rest upon the same fundamental
idea that the undutiful-ness to old age: what Lear’s daughters actually, do is that which is
insinuated by Edmond as his false charge against this father.” So obvious is this
fundamental connection between the main and the under-plot that our attention is called to
it by Edgar in the play itself: “he childed as I fathered” is
Edmond’s pithy summary of it when he is brought into contact with
Lear. Schlegel, a German critic says in surprise, “with what ingenuity and skill the two
main parts of the composition are dovetailed into one an other.”

Written&Composed By:
Prof. A.R.Somroo
M.A.English&Education.
0661-610063
Khangarh.