William Shakespeare's King Lear - Essay Example

of Lecturer 29 October TRICK: William Shakespeare's King Lear The greatness of a man is actually determined by how well he ends and for King Lear; he did not end well in any way. What more can be as tragic as two of one’s supposedly favorite daughters ganging against their own father? King Lear was in such a situation as his two daughters that should be the ones taking care of their fathers ganged up to frustrate his efforts and thwart his plans of running his kingdom effectively. Goneril and Regan pushed their father to the wall and he reacted. Now, it is a terrible thing for a father to be at war with his children and this was the case of King Lear. This was tragedy at its fullness and it was actually due to King Lear’s decision to give his two daughters his inheritance and leave the daughter that truly loved him out of his inheritance. Lear later denounced his daughters due to their bad behavior towards him. One then wonders the reason that he gave them his inheritance in the first place. King Lear’s tragic flaw was when he decided in his own wisdom to share his estate amongst two out his three daughters. It is not a bad thing for a man to give out his property to his children but the flaw which turned out to be tragic is Lear’s decision to leave out one of his daughters out of his inheritance. This rash decision brought tragic consequences for the characters of the play. Goneril and Regan were the two daughters that ‘pretended’ that they loved their father, while Cordelia does not show any form of pretense in the extent at which she loved her father. Thus, King Lear decided to leave Cordelia out of his inheritance and will his properties to Goneril and Regan. This turned out to be his undoing and his tragic flaw. Lear began to reap the fruits of his foolishness when Goneril started disrespecting him and she even reduced her father’s retinue. Due to the power that was also placed in the hands of Regan by their father, Lear, she also misbehaved and disrespected him. Hence, Lear’s tragic flaw is to put power in the hands of his two daughters and also the decision to leave Cordelia, his third daughter out of his inheritance (Shakespeare). One thing led to the other and Lear became the object of ridicule as he was mocked by the Fool for his many flaws. The Fool played a mockery role in the live of King Lear and in the course of the play. He was seen mocking Lear for his perceived misfortunes at some points in the novel. Despite the mockery on Lear, he still had someone that had an allegiance to him and that was Kent. Kent was the servant of Lear and he was actually a loyal servant that had a total allegiance to his master. Due to his two daughters’ terrible attitudes, Lear had to disown them, but the deed had already been done. He had already given them his inheritance and disowning them does not make much of a difference as power had already been given to his two daughters, Goneril and Regan. The implication of this is that, while Goneril and Regan were given power by their father, their father lost the grip over them and he also lost control over his kingdom. This was the result of the rash decision that Lear made by giving two daughters that pretended to love him, his inheritance. People might not know that, certain decisions that they take might come back at them, but for King Lear his unwise decision of giving his estate to his two ungrateful daughters turned out to become his peril. This was a decision that he lived to regret. Goneril and Regan’s maltreatment of their father, King Lear drove him mad and this was the tragedy in the story (Shakespeare). It is only reasonable people that would imagine that, it would be Cordelia that Lear seemed to despise that would turn out to be on his side in the battle against his two ungrateful daughters. It could then be argued that, King Lear’s tragic flaw is that he could not keep his house in order. A man that cannot keep his house in order is useless and is not worthy of being called a man let alone being called a king. If King Lear had put his house in order, he would not have had any problems with his immediate family. King Lear lost his three daughters. Goneril poisoned Regan, Goneril stabbed herself and Cordelia was also killed. Perhaps, if Lear had mended the walls in his home, these tragedies would not have befallen him. This was the thing that ultimately led to his death. King Lear eventually collapsed and died as he could not stand living with the loss of his three daughters. At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that, King Lear’s tragic flaw is that he gave his authority as the king to people that are evil in nature and that are not worthy of such privilege. As a result of this rash decision, he plunged not only his family into chaos, but the whole of Britain. They say charity begins at home, what happens in a man’s home would ultimately affect the immediate society and this was revealed in King Lear. The wrangling in King Lear’s household plunged Britain into fierce battles. This was Lear’s tragic flaw; he threw his family and the region he was meant to rule into chaos and brutality. Lear ended up destroying not only the authority, but the powers that bonded Britain together (Shakespeare). King Lear’s leadership represented a failure in authority as he showed that, he was not capable of being the king. What more can one say about a king that failed in his own home? This was his tragic flaw. A king that cannot control his own family, how can he control his kingdom? While it is true that, Lear later realized his mistake that, he should not have banished Cordelia and disinherited her, the fact remains that, he was foolish to have trusted people that should have been trusted in the first place (his two other daughters, Goneril and Regan). Thus it is now clear that, King Lear’s major flaw is that he is moved and impressed more by appearance rather than realities. The implication of this is that, King Lear could be deceived by the pretence in people’s faces rather than the people that reveal their true selves to him. This was his undoing as he was deceived by the pretence of Goneril and Regan to loving him, rather than considering the reality in Cordelia’s eyes. He was made to pay dearly for this gross mistake. King Lear was more contented with being a king, but he does not want to fulfill his primary obligation of governing the people in his kingdom effectively. That he failed in his own home is enough to say that, he failed in his kingdom (Shakespeare). King Lear tested his daughter’s love for him and he made them to demonstrate his love for him. It was clear that, Lear valued a pretentious show of love than real and sincere love. We can then conclude that, Lear was blind to the truth as his eyes only accepted falsehood. This was a flaw on his part and that he paid dearly for that mistake is an understatement. He destroyed his entire family due to his tragic flaw. Now, it would have been better if Lear recovered fully from this mistake, but the fact remains that, rather than learn from his mistakes, he drove himself into insanity. It was too late for him to come in terms with reality. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006. Digital Read More