foolear The Very Foolish King in William Shakespeares King Lear :: King Lear essays

The Very arrhythmic King Lear  Shakespe ars tragedy King Lear is a detaileddescription of the consequences of hotshot mans decisions.  This fictitiousman is Lear, King of England, whose decisions greatly alter his life andthe lives of those more or less him.  As Lear bears the status of King, he is aman of great power, save blindly he surrenders all of this power to hisdaughters as a retort for their demonstration of love towards him.  Thisuntimely surrender of his govern sets off a chain reaction of events thatsends him through a hellish journey.  King Lear is a metaphoricaldescription of one mans journey through hell in order to appease hismistake. As the play opens, one can closely immediately see that Lear begins to makemistakes that will eventually result in his downfall.  The very prototypal wordsthat he speaks in the play be         Give me the map there.        Know that we have divided        In threesome our body politic and tis our fast intent        To call forth all cares and business from our age,        Conferring them on younger strengths while we        Unburdened crawl toward death.(Act I, Sc i, Ln 37-41) This gives the reader the first indication of Lears intent to relinquishhis throne.  He is growing old and wants to shake all cares and businessfrom his age.  In a since he wants to retire from a job that you cannotretire from.  He has no son to hand his throne down to, so he must give itto his daughters. He offers his daughters pieces of his kingdom a form ofreward to his test of love.         Great rivals in our youngest daughters love,        bulky in our court have made their amorous sojourn,        And here are to be answered . Tell me, my daughters        (Since now we will divest us both(prenominal) of rule,        Interest of territory, cares of state),        Which of you shall we say doth love us most?        That we our largest bounty whitethorn extend        Where nature doth with merit repugn.        (Act I, Sc i, Ln 46-53) This is the first and most square of the many mistakes that he commitsin this play.  By relinquishing his throne to give the sack his ego, he disrupts thegreat chain of being, which states that the King must not challenge theposition that the gods have given him.  This undermining the godsauthority results in chaos that part apart Lears world, leaving him, inthe end, with nothing.  Following this, Lear begins to banish those aroundhim that really care for him he cannot seem to realize who lo ves him