King Lear , written by William Shakespeare is a tragedy of King Lear because of his immature decision to break the kingdom and giveaway to his daughters. The power and authority of the king was transferred into the hands of the young generation who mishandles and tears the kingdom apart. It is a tragedy of Lear who at the end sees all of his daughters dies and commit suicide. He turned mad when he was unaccepted by his own daughters giving implications of the tragedy that will soon follow.
According to Aristotle’s idea of tragedy, the plot is the soul of the tragedy because all the actions and events takes place in the plot itself. The plot of King Lear also moves in a sequence of natural flow not followed by an antecedent events. Shakespearean tragedies exposes the tragic atmosphere in the beginning of the play. The tragedy is forecast when the court room is filled with tension when Lear decides to split the kingdoms and pass unto his daughters. This sequence of event is followed as the plot moves naturally leading to the climax of action and Lear’s tragedy.
Lear is the tragic hero of the play and shows a hammartia of flattery. He loves flattery and his daughters Regan and Goneril took advantage of it and decides to flatter his own father who justify their love for him in front of the court. They were sycophants and eventually wins over his father and decides to give away the kingdom to them except for Cordelia who refused to flatter Lear. Lear’s hammartia becomes evident when he banishes Cordelia from the kingdom as he becomes blindsided with his own egoism. Critically, Regan and Goneril represents the ego or the reality principle whereas Lear represents Id which is the instinctual principle who loves to be flattered and Cordelia represents superego or the morality principle.
The characterization in the tragedy highlights that characters should be true to life. The characters especially Regan, Goneril and Edmund were evil characters. They behave and act in an evil. Edmund shows the character of Machiavellian skills who is able to manipulate and control others. It is seen when he deceives and manipulates Edgar stating that his father Gloucester is angry at him and will kill him at once he met him. This made Edgar to leave the house and stayed away from his own father. The characters behave in their own convenience which is the essences of the tragedy.
In the tragedy , the anagnorisis is the discovery and the play shows that discovery is seen when Lear found out the true reality of their daughters who actually betrayed him. Lear believed that his two daughters loved him but the discovery showed that they did not love him at all for Lear was banished from his own kingdom by his own two daughters. The storm that pass during that scene projects the upcoming tragedy and symbolizes the insanity of Lear reflecting his mental state.
However, Shakespearean tragedies differs slightly away from Aristotlenian concept of tragedy. The plot shows many interwoven events where many characters fought within themselves giving varieties of plots. The character such as Cordelia tries to come back to save his father but she failed miserably as Edmund defeats the French troops . Cordelia and Lear was captured and Cordelia was sentenced to execution in a prison and Lear commits suicide after his daughter’s passing. The other two daughters was also tricked by Edmund and Goneril posions Regan out of jealousy for Edmund and Goneril commits suicide after she learns Albany’s treachery who knew Edmund’s plot. Hence, the tragedy strike for the other characters while only Edgar, Kent, Albany were left to take care of the country.
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