SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR AS A TRAGEDY

INTRODUCTION
King Lear is everyone's favorite Shakespearean tragedy about an aging king
who decides to become a nudist.

King Lear was written between 1604 and 1606, after King James I of England
(also known as King James VI of Scotland) ascended the English throne (1603).
(FYI—King James just so happened to attend a performance of the play at
Whitehall on December 26, 1606.)

King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and
banishes the third one who loves him.

King Lear couldn't able found different between flattery and love, this lead him
to downfall.

AUTHOR INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare,byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, (baptized April
26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616,
Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English
national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.

Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as

Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have
transcended national barriers, but no writer’s living reputation can compare to that
of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a
small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more
countries than ever before. The prophecy of his greatcontemporary, the poet and
dramatist Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” has
been fulfilled.
 It may be audacious even to attempt a definition of his greatness, but it is not so
difficult to describe the gifts that enabled him to create imaginative visions of
pathos and mirth that, whether read or witnessed in the theatre, fill the mind and
linger there. He is a writer of great intellectual rapidity, perceptiveness, and poetic
power. Other writers have had these qualities, but with Shakespeare the keenness
of mind was applied not to abstruse or remote subjects but to human beings and
their complete range of emotions and conflicts. Other writers have applied their
keenness of mind in this way, but Shakespeare is astonishingly clever with words
and images, so that his mental energy, when applied to intelligible human
situations, finds full and memorable expression, convincing and imaginatively
stimulating. As if this were not enough, the art form into which his creative
energies went was not remote and bookish but involved the vivid stage
impersonation of human beings, commanding sympathy and inviting vicarious
participation. Thus, Shakespeare’s merits can survive translation into other
languages and into cultures remote from that of Elizabethan England:

TRAGEDY ELEMENTS
Tragedy is a genre of story in which a hero is brought down by his/her own
flaws, usually by ordinary human flaws – flaws like greed, over-ambition, or even
an excess of love, honor, or loyalty.

In any tragedy, we start with the tragic hero, usually in his prime. The hero is
successful, respected, and happy. But he has some tragic flaw that will ultimately
cause his downfall. Usually, the plot of the story follows a gradual descent from
greatness to destruction. It’s especially important that the hero end up isolated from
all of his friends and companions. In the end, we feel deep sadness and pity (also
called pathos) for the hero. But we also feel a sense of understanding – the story
warns us to guard against the ordinary flaws that brought down the hero.

Elements of Tragedy
Plot

Character
 Thought

Diction

Musicality

Stagecraft

According to the Aristotelian view, tragedy represents a somber and serious

reality that is complete in itself. The tragedy is thus included over the top and
stimulating language to produce emotional reactions.

Generally, it incorporates powerful episodes of suffering, losses etc. There is a

sense of pleasure in suffering and sadness and the whole plot is governed by the
aim to produce such sensory response.

In literature, a tragedy is a drama that shows the protagonist involved in a

significant event and meeting his spectacular downfall. It is dotted with ideas of
fate, sacrifice, destiny, and duty.

The defeat also urges the hero to search for answers regarding the relationship
between human beings and the Creator. Heroes are often taken from myths and
classical literature-flawed but courageous.

Downfall or defeat is a function of an error or weakness termed as ‘harmatia’

(fatal flaw) in his characters like pride or arrogance. There exists a chorus to
provide commentary on the action.

Greeks believed that the Fates or Moirai (three goddesses) determine the
suffering in one’s life and such fate was inescapable like in ‘Antigone’ or
‘Oedipus’ etc.

The neoclassical theorists added two more, unity of time and place to the
Aristotelian unity of action.
The major characteristics of tragedy are:

Plot
It is the center of gravity for any tragedy and unites all other elements. Plots can
be complex or linear. They provide room for twists and reversals of fortunes for
the hero.

In the plot, the protagonist causes disruption of equilibrium and it, in turn, leads
to the utter extirpation of the hero. The various incidents in a plot exhibit a casual
relationship with each other.

The plot should elicit pity and fear in the minds of audiences. The plot provides
the outline like in painting and helps lends meaning to the character. It requires a
logical and ordered sequence.

Character
Characterization provides the base to the plot. Characters can be myriad in their
beliefs, appearances, and habits. They can be akin to actual people or completely
fictitious

The flawed hero is not perfect; he struggles to balance his virtues with his
demons. He is an ordinary man who aspires to become in terms of courage,
morality, and strength. It is only such an admirable character who will be able to
get pity and fear from the audiences.

The characters must represent true human nature and be loyal to the mythical or
historical personalities they are modeled on. The writer should avoid unrealistic
changes in the characters or their personalities and must stay true to their sketch.
Thought
The thought is the faculty to enunciate something as important and rational, a
condition or circumstance. It represents the ideational or intellectual element of a
tragic drama. Example: melancholy is enunciated for a tragedy

This also includes the various themes depicted in the tragedy which are
expressed through speech. Such speeches are employed to reveal and unravel
character/s.

Diction
It is the selection of words or vocabulary used by the dramatist. Since the
chosen words are deemed apt to arouse feelings in the audiences it also affects the
process of meaning-making.

Thus, diction is the portrayal of emotions through the instrument of words.

They carry with them meanings that stimulate the desired responses in the
spectators.

Musicality
Music is the spice used in a tragedy like the chorus songs. They add fluid
narrative style and educate the audiences about the events that do not occur before
their eyes of the or on the stage.

Historical or past events are explained through such commentary. It provides

an understanding of existing realities and future possibilities. Thus, such
embellishment enhances the emotional and cathartic value of a tragedy

Stagecraft
It is the organization of the stage. It is important for the conversion of writing
into a sensorial experience. It enhances the dramatic and emotional grasp of the
written word.

It adds to the relevance of an event. The addition and execution of spectacular

effects can elevate the theatrical performance to a sensational one.

CHARACTERS IN KING LEAR

King Lear
The aging king of Britain and the protagonist of the play. Lear is used to
enjoying absolute power and to being flattered, and he does not respond well to
being contradicted or challenged. At the beginning of the play, his values are
notably hollow—he prioritizes the appearance of love over actual devotion and
wishes to maintain the power of a king while unburdening himself of the
responsibility. Nevertheless, he inspires loyalty in subjects such as Gloucester,
Kent, Cordelia, and Edgar, all of whom risk their lives for him.

Cordelia
Lear’s youngest daughter, disowned by her father for refusing to flatter him.
Cordelia is held in extremely high regard by all of the good characters in the
play—the king of France marries her for her virtue alone, overlooking her lack of
dowry. She remains loyal to Lear despite his cruelty toward her, forgives him, and
displays a mild and forbearing temperament even toward her evil sisters, Goneril
and Regan. Despite her obvious virtues, Cordelia’s reticence makes her
motivations difficult to read, as in her refusal to declare her love for her father at
the beginning of the play.

Goneril
Lear’s ruthless oldest daughter and the wife of the duke of Albany. Goneril is
jealous, treacherous, and amoral. Shakespeare’s audience would have been
particularly shocked at Goneril’s aggressiveness, a quality that it would not have
expected in a female character. She challenges Lear’s authority, boldly initiates an
affair with Edmund, and wrests military power away from her husband .
Regan
Lear’s middle daughter and the wife of the duke of Cornwall. Regan is as
ruthless as Goneril and as aggressive in all the same ways. In fact, it is difficult to
think of any quality that distinguishes her from her sister. When they are not
egging each other on to further acts of cruelty, they jealously compete for the same
man, Edmund.

Gloucester
A nobleman loyal to King Lear whose rank, earl, is below that of duke. The
first thing we learn about Gloucester is that he is an adulterer, having fathered a
bastard son, Edmund. His fate is in many ways parallel to that of Lear: he
misjudges which of his children to trust. He appears weak and ineffectual in the
early acts, when he is unable to prevent Lear from being turned out of his own
house, but he later demonstrates that he is also capable of great bravery.

Edmund
Gloucester’s younger, illegitimate son. Edmund resents his status as a bastard
and schemes to usurp Gloucester’s title and possessions from Edgar. He is a
formidable character, succeeding in almost all of his schemes and wreaking
destruction upon virtually all of the other characters.

Edgar
Gloucester’s older, legitimate son. Edgar plays many different roles, starting out
as a gullible fool easily tricked by his brother, then assuming a disguise as a mad
beggar to evade his father’s men, then carrying his impersonation further to aid
Lear and Gloucester, and finally appearing as an armored champion to avenge his
brother’s treason. Edgar’s propensity for disguises and impersonations makes it
difficult to characterize him effectively.

Kent
A nobleman of the same rank as Gloucester who is loyal to King Lear. Kent
spends most of the play disguised as a peasant, calling himself “Caius,” so that he
can continue to serve Lear even after Lear banishes him. He is extremely loyal, but
he gets himself into trouble throughout the play by being extremely blunt and
outspoken.

Albany
The husband of Lear’s daughter Goneril. Albany is good at heart, and he
eventually denounces and opposes the cruelty of Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall.
Yet he is indecisive and lacks foresight, realizing the evil of his allies quite late in
the play.

Cornwall
The husband of Lear’s daughter Regan. Unlike Albany, Cornwall is
domineering, cruel, and violent, and he works with his wife and sister-in-law
Goneril to persecute Lear and Gloucester.

Fool
Lear’s jester, who uses double-talk and seemingly frivolous songs to give Lear
important advice.

Oswald
The steward, or chief servant, in Goneril’s house. Oswald obeys his mistress’s
commands and helps her in her conspiracies.

TARGICAL COMPARISON OF KING LEAR:

Like Shakespeare’s other famous tragedies, King Lear features a noble-born

protagonist who makes a fatal mistake that leads to widespread suffering and,
eventually, the death of himself and several others. Lear makes his fatal mistake in
the play’s opening scene, when he divides his kingdom among his daughters
according to the degree of love they profess for him. Failing to see that Regan and
Goneril have lied about their love, he bequeaths all his land to them and condemns
Cordelia, the only daughter who truly loves him. Lear therefore remains blind to
who his daughters really are, and this metaphorical blindness results in him making
a decision that causes enormous suffering—including the literal blinding of
Gloucester. Notably, just as Lear fails to see who his daughters are, over the course
of the play he loses touch with his own identity. He cries out painfully in Act I,
“Does any here know me? This is not Lear . . . . Who is it that can tell me who I
am?” (I.iv.197–201). Blind even to himself, Lear slowly goes mad and falls into
psychological isolation.

Pride and Prejudice

One aspect of King Lear that makes it an unusual tragedy is that Lear, though
certainly a tragic figure, is a relatively benign protagonist who realizes his mistakes
and repents for them. To be sure, Lear often speaks in an abrasive and caustic way,
displaying arrogance and peremptoriness toward other characters (notably Kent
and Cordelia). But unlike some tragic protagonists he himself never becomes evil
or directly commits any evil acts, even if he unleashes evil in the form of his
daughters. Ironically, Lear’s madness is what enables him, at last, to overcome his
blindness and see things clearly. His first moment of clarity arises in Act III, at the
height of the storm. Lear hesitates before entering the hovel and expresses empathy
for his subjects, whom he’s literally and figuratively left out in the cold.

Lear regains clarity at other crucial moments as well, like when he recognizes
Cordelia at the end of Act IV and acknowledges that he has wronged her. He
repents for his failure and hopes, as he tells Cordelia in Act V, for a chance to “ask
of thee forgiveness”

Despite Lear’s moments of clarity, the play moves inescapably toward a tragic
conclusion that, unlike other tragedies, does not feel very cathartic. Catharsis is the
moment of release an audience feels after experiencing strong emotions. King Lear
certainly engages the audience’s emotions, but whereas cathartic experiences lead
to a feeling of renewal, Shakespeare’s play does not. For one thing, punishment in
the play often outweighs the crime. Even though Regan, Goneril, and Edmund all
deserve their fates, Lear, Gloucester, and Cordelia all die despite their innocence.
Moreover, no one learns valuable lessons through their suffering. Lear realizes his
mistakes as a king and as a father, and his brief reunion with Cordelia offers a
partial redemption. Yet the pain of Cordelia’s undeserved death sends him back
into madness and suffering, and he literally dies of a broken heart. Finally, with
everyone from Lear’s family dead, there is no good candidate to assume the throne.
Albany will continue to rule Britain, but his role in the play’s disastrous ending
leads the audience to question whether the social order can really be repaired. By
leaving the audience profoundly sad and virtually hopeless, King Lear ranks
among Shakespeare’s bleakest tragedies.

CRITICISM ON KING LEAR

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A.C Bradley Shakespearean Tragedy – King Lear (Summary)

Posted on September 20, 2015 by hannahswain97

King Lear is often described as Shakespeare’s greatest works. Yet Bradley notes
that it is also the least popular amongst his ‘famous four’. It is also both least
performed and least successful upon the stage. We learn however, that twenty
years after the reformation when King Charles II came to reign, a man named
Nahum Tate adapted the play in 1681. Tate was an Irish poet and lyricist, he also
became England’s Poet Laureate in 1691.He was recognised for adapting a number
of Elizabethan dramas, including works of Webster, Marston, Fletcher and of
course Shakespeare himself. Tate changed a number of things within ‘King Lear’,
some of which are as follows:
Cordelia lives on and King Lear returns to the throne.

Edgar replaces France’s role and becomes Cordelia’s love interest.

Cordelia does not revolt against her sisters as she is not married to France, and so
the British people revolt instead.

After Tate’s adaptation, King Lear was not performed again in its true form for a
century and a half.

Bradley highlights some of the key similarities and differences between ‘King
Lear’ and Shakespeare’s other tragedies. He believes that ‘King Lear’ is ‘allied
with two tragedies, ‘Othello’ and ‘Timon of Athens’. Bradley says that ‘King Lear’
is somewhat an ‘echo’ of Othello. We can see that there are similarities between
Iago and Edmund, as they are both famous villains within Shakespeare’s works.
Similarities are often drawn between Iago and Edmund as they both manipulate
other characters e.g they use women badly and as a means to promote their own
evil. Another similarity drawn from between them is that the gulling of Gloster
recalls the gulling of Othello.

Bradley then goes on to discuss ‘Timon of Athens’, he notes that ‘Othello’ is

‘dramatically the most perfect of the Tragedies’ whereas the other is ‘weak, ill
constructed and confused’ . Bradley draws similarities between ‘King Lear’ and
‘Timon of Athens’ in that both plays deal with the ‘effects of ingratitude’. The
victims within both plays are kindhearted and unsuspicious. He writes that in both
of the plays there are ‘repeated comparisons between man and the beast’.

A.C Bradley draws attention to the shear size of the play, he remarks that it is ‘too
huge for the stage’ but quickly acknowledges that there are great scenes to stage,
particularly the scene between Goneril and Lear, the scene between Lear Goneril
and Regan and finally the scene in the fourth act between Cordelia and Lear.
In Reference to the first scene of the play, Bradley acknowledges that ‘no sane man
would think of dividing his kingdom among his daughters in proportion to the
strength of their several protestations of love’. At the start of the play we
immediately learn that the details of the divisions has already been settled, it has
been drawn out on a map and Cordelia’s suitors are aware of the proportion of land
she will be given as her dowry. Bradley tells us that he believes that the King asks
for his daughters to profess their love for him because he is ‘childish’ and needs to
feed his hunger for assurances of devotion and his need for power.

Bradley then goes on to discuss the scene where Gloster has his eyes gauged out.
He tells us that this scene is universally condemned within theaters because it is so
‘violent’ and is a mere spectacle of ‘horror’. However, he tells us there is a ‘far
more important passage’, the passage of which he is referring to is the ending of
the play, the ‘unhappy ending’. He refers back to Tate when discussing this, as we
are able to see why Tate might have wanted to alter the ending of the play, it is
because after the deaths of Edmund, Goneril and Regan, all villainous characters,
the reader wants to see Cordelia escape death and see her and her father live on in
happiness. Bradley says that if one was to read King Lear simply as a drama, it
would ‘call for a happy-ending’. Bradley feels that the ending seems ‘expressively
designed to fall suddenly like a bolt from a sky cleared by the vanished storm’. He
does not agree that the ending that Tate gives him should be the rightful ending,
rather he says that he would ‘wish him peace and happiness by Cordelia’s fireside.

A.C Bradley reveals that there is a structural weakness to ‘King Lear’, this lies in
the fourth act and at the start of the fifth. Shakespeare’s use of a subplot at this
point comes at a disadvantage to the play, as the ‘double action’ can become quite
confusing, and the readers attention can become ‘over-strained’. He also draws
attention upon other flaws in Shakespeare’s King Lear, he tells us that Shakespeare
seems to have been less concerned with ‘dramatic fitness’. These flaws are more
prominent in the secondary plot, for example, it doesn’t make sense that Edgar
would have written a letter when he lives in the same household as Edmund, he
would have surely spoken to him rather than leave him a letter, and surely, Gloster
would be able to recognize his own son’s handwriting. Of course there are also
inconsistencies in the main plot, for example, only a fortnight has passed since the
first scene and the ‘breach’ with Goneril and there are already rumours of a war
between Goneril and Regan, as well as the coming of a French army. This does not
seem plausible. Finally, we are not able to fathom where it is that Lear’s palace lies
or where the Duke of Albany lives. Essentially, all of these inconsistencies add to
the overall confusion that the reader may experience.

However, despite its flaws, ‘King Lear’ is still a great play. In fact, it is these flaws
and inconsistencies that ‘interfere with the clearness of vision’ and encourage
imagination. There are in fact advantages of the subplot of which could be argued,
outweigh the disadvantages. It’s chief value is that it parallels with the main plot,
in both ‘we see an old man with a white beard’, both are ‘affectionate,
unsuspicious, foolish and self willed’. They both ‘wrong deeply a child who loves
him’ and are treated ‘monstrously’ by the others. The effect of this, Bradley
suggests that the reason Shakespeare parallels the two is in order to show that in
their ‘cold dark world some fateful malignant influence is abroad, turning the
hearts of the fathers against their children and of the children against their fathers,
smiting the earth with a curse, so that brother gives the brother to death and the
father the son, blinding the eyes, maddening the brain , freezing the springs of pity,
numbing all powers except the nerves of anguish and the dull lust of life’.

Bradley discusses a characteristic of ‘King Lear’ that is not seen in any other of
Shakespeare’s works apart from ‘Timon of Athens’, and this characteristic is that
of likening man to that of the lower animals. Bradley assumes that the idea was so
much at the forefront of Shakespeare’s mind that ‘he could hardly write a page
without some allusion to it’. For example, the owl, the worm, the tadpole, the newt,
the civet cat, the lion etc. Bradley says that these have no symbolic meaning within
the text, they tend to be used for their typical qualities instead. However it could
be suggested that the lower animals souls may have taken lodgement in human
forms.
Religion is also embedded in ‘King Lear’ like in many of his other tragedies, there
are references to religious and irreligious beliefs throughout. We can see the
characteristics within the language of the different characters about fortune or the
stars or the gods. Bradley says that each of the character shows their answer to
‘what rules the world?’ for example, Kent says ‘It is the stars, the stars above
govern our condition’ whereas Gloster says ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the
Gods; they kill us for their sport’.

Bradley writes that the hero in this tragedy is peculiar, unlike most tragic heroes,
Lear suffers for his fatal error almost immediately, he is ‘ a man more sinned
against than sinning, his sufferings have been cruel. We as readers learn to love
Lear and pity him immensely, almost forgetting that he has brought on his demise
by his own actions.

We can see in his exchange with Goneril when he curses her that Lear has
recognised his unjust ways and attitude towards Cordelia and that he secretly
blames himself. We pity him because he feels intensely his humiliation at his
daughters ingratitude.

We learn that Gloster and Albany are two ‘neutral’ characters within the tragedy.
Gloster as previously mentioned is a parallel of Lear, both characters die better and
wiser men than they were at the beginning of the tragedy. Bradley says that Albany
is ‘merely sketched’ and he is neglected as there isn’t quite as much about him as
there is with the other characters, he too becomes a better man as the play
progresses. Albany is ‘inoffensive and peace-loving’ and is initially greatly in love
with Goneril for her beauty and her ‘imperious will’.

Bradley turns to the evil, villainous characters within the play next, he labels
Oswald as the most ‘contemptible’, yet we are able to sympathize with him
because he is being loyal to Goneril, he does whatever she asks of him, however ‘it
is to a monster he is faithful, and he is faithful to her by monstrous design’. He
then goes on to discuss Cornwall, describing him as a ‘fit mate to Regan’, Bradley
acknowledges that Cornwall gets given to him what he deserves, the shame of
being slain by a servant. He is a coward. However, Goneril is possibly the worst of
all, she commits adultery, murders her sister and plots to murder her husband. In
fact, Bradley labels her as ‘the most hideous human being that Shakespeare ever
drew’.

CONCLUSION:
The suffering that takes place at the end of King Lear seems meaningless for
multiple reasons. First, Lear’s reconciliation with Cordelia momentarily seems to
make all Lear’s suffering worthwhile. When she dies, Lear’s redemption is
snatched away. Second, Cordelia dies for no reason. The person who wanted her
dead, Edmund, has changed his mind and is dying himself, so her death serves no
political purpose. Finally, Lear dies before he can reconcile himself to his loss. His
last words are: “Look on her, look, her lips, / Look there, look there!” (V.iii.). In
his dying moments, Lear still has not accepted that Cordelia is dead. The blindness
that caused Lear to give his kingdom to the wrong heirs and fail to see Cordelia’s
love persists through the end of the play, as Lear is unable to see that his mistakes
have resulted in the death of the one person who truly loved him

The mistake of King Lead made his downfall and he lost his three daughters and
finaly he also dead. It made King Lear as great tragedy