From these thing, it is made clear that Lear is not only rash and insecure but also thoughtless and stupid. Based on these pieces of textual evidence, I think it is clear that King Lear is motivated by his self-concern, and nothing more. Shakespeare causes us to think this through both his words and his actions throughout Act
The Fool is one of the most alluring characters in Shakespeare’s King Lear. He is a choric commentator whose lines reveal thematic motifs within the play, as well as a character that strategically uses humorous language as comic relief to Lear, but does not diminish the intensity of Lear’s misery. As he alleviates the intensity through humor, he equivocates because he says metaphors that speak the truth like the three witches in Macbeth, but the opposite. The Fool’s role is essential because he is aligned with Cordelia. Like Cordelia, the Fool is honest, but his comical language masks his honesty.
In the play Macbeth, I believe that Macbeth brings about his own downfall and is not a victim of circumstance. Certain traits contribute to his downfall. Three that are apparent are his ambition, the way others can influence him, and his ignorance while making decisions. Vaulting ambition is a very obvious flaw of Macbeths. In part of the play, Macbeth even admits to his ambition, "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other."
King Lear Essay Show how King Lear and/or its main character conforms to three criteria found in Aristotle’s Poetics via A.C. Bradley’s, The Shakespearean Tragic Hero [As outlined in Viewpoints, page 687.] In the play “King Lear” by William Shakespeare it is shown as tragedy. The protagonist of the play, Lear is proud, serious, arbitrary, impatient, peremptory, humorless, and capricious and his position in life has allowed him to indulge all these traits to the fullest. Lear can inspire as well as command loyalty and obedience. Even though Lear is not a man of intellectual brilliance he is a “great soul,” with the capacity for feeling deeply the sorrow of rejection and abandonment by his own.
The Fools songs, riddles and jokes are a source of comic relief, used to break up the intensity of scenes. The Fool appears to have a deceptively simple part in the play when in actual fact his role is of key significance. The Fool and Lear have a fascinating relationship throughout the play. Lear seems to depend on his Fool increasingly to be his voice of reason or his conscience, because he reminds Lear of all his mistakes and manipulates his feelings into realising them. This is a great irony as the King who is supposed to be wise is in-fact a fool, yet the Fool himself is full of
After he abdicates his power, Lear still acts authoritarian and kingly, despite having no real power. King Lear lives in a deluded perception of reality, unexposed to a life with hardships and without absolute power. One example of his deluded reality is that he appreciates the superficial praise from his two ungrateful daughters more than the true but tempered affection of his good daughter. When Lear is denied by Goneril and forced to leave against his will, he is furiously resistant, coping with both the betrayal of his daughter as well as the realization that he lacks absolute authority. The most notable moment of Lear’s madness being reasonable is when Lear finds Gloucester and Edgar in Act 4, Scene 6.
Madness in Hamlet and King Lear The subject of madness is a major theme in two of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies, “Hamlet” and “King Lear”. In both of these plays, a character feigns insanity to carry out a motive - Hamlet and Edgar respectively. However, while it is made quite clear to the audience that Edgar is only pretending to be a mad beggar (“Whiles I may escape I will preserve myself, and am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape that ever penury, in contempt of man brought near to beast”), it is somewhat less clear whether Hamlet has crossed the line and lost control of his “antic disposition”. Shakespeare gives evidence which suggests that Hamlet is sane by having three other men also witness the manifestation of the ghost of Hamlet’s father. If Hamlet were to have seen his father’s ghost by himself, there would be a greater argument for him being insane from the outset of the play.
A ship is “bleed and calm’d” when the wind is taken out of it’s sails, and this reflects how Iago feels at being passed over promotion by Othello. Furthermore, reiterating the point that Iago displays utter contempt for Othello, Iago states that he has to continue with being his “Moorship ancient.” Iago here has used a pun on the respectful word “worship”. His pun mocks both Othello’s race and character. Possibly the only point throughout the play, where Roderigo is perceptive, is where he
Iago, who is known as the Machiavellian villain perpetuates the tragedy by bringing forward a hamartia or a fatal flaw from Othello. As soon as the play begins, Shakespeare used dramatic irony to illustrate Othello’s view of Iago as an honest and trustworthy man through his repeated description of “honest Iago” and “a man of exceeding honesty” to the audience. Of course that is not the case, the audience views Iago to be “Janus-faced” and deceptive through his constant declaration of “I am not what I am” and how he “hates the moor”. This juxtaposition is created so that the audience can empathise with Othello. I know I can definitely empathise with him.
Lear's pride keeps him from listening to the advice of Kent, the king's most loyal follower, after he banishes Cordelia and admitting he may have been wrong. Because of this pride, he willingly submits himself to the corrupt will of his other two daughters. “What wouldst thous do, old man? Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak when power to flattery bows? To plainness honor's bound when majesty falls to folly.” (1.1.146-151).