Friday, August 31, 2012
Parallels Between Lear and Gloucester
Lear and Gloucester have many things in their lives in common. Each has children and some sort of standing rank in the kingdom that at least one of their kids wants from them. In the beginning of the play Lear decides that his only "loving" daughter, Cordelia, should be banished to France because she didn't play into Lear's game of tell me how much you love me. This action leaves Lear's other two daughters, Goneril and Regan, with all the control of the kingdom and even the power to drive Lear insane. Similarly, Gloucester has two sons and Edgar, one of those sons, loves and respects him very much but the other, Edmond, looks to drive Edgar out of the kingdom then take his fathers position in the kingdom from himself. These things make Lear and Gloucester very similar because their loving children get driven away from the kingdom in one way or another which causes trouble for the "old men" because then all they have left are their disrespectful children, which are looking to get rid of their fathers. Because of these similarities in the story it really helps to show all the problems that are created by the children that don't care what is best for their fathers, but only what will get them more power and authority. These actions ultimately cause everyone, expect Edgar and Albany, to die in one way or another.
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I totally agree with you about the similarity of the fates of Gloucester and Lear. They were both so blind that made a fatal mistake, for which then greatly regretted. Indeed, Shakespeare made us understand that flattery can blind father so much that an outcome can be fatal for them.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the manipulative children in King Lear are the major reason for the problems throughout the play. However, Lear and Gloucester are not completely innocent. Lear allowed his daughters to manipulate him because of his pride and his desire to hear them sing his praises. Gloucester foolishly allowed Edmund to convince him Edgar, his legitimate son, was trying to kill him. Most of the blame can be placed on the children, but the two older men played their own part in the tragedy.
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