fatal flaw

in the book king lear, the main character, lear, has flaws which he fails to recognize. one such flaw was the need to be flattered by those around him.

this flaw of his, in my opinion, led to his and his daughters demise.

firstly, when lear asked his daughters to express their love and they flatter his ego, kent is the only one who seems to notice that his two elder daughters were tricking him. when kent points this out however, lear banishes a very faithful servant because kent pointed out his misjudgment.

another way we see lears need to be flattered causing demise is the hanging of the daughter who loved him most. also his two elder daughters rivalry. the conflict between his two elder daughters had he not given them the kingdom. if they had never had access or a taste of power they most likely would not have gone after each others share of the kingdom. also because of lear, cordellia became viewed as an enemy of her homeland, england, because she became the queen of france. had lear not tossed her aside, because she refused to tell him what he wanted to her, she would most likely would have been at her fathers side until she was truly ready to be married.

because of lear, his three daughters ended up dead.

similarities and differences between characters in king lear

similar characters

king lear and glocester

lear and gloucester are as both were fooled by their off spring into giving up their wealth/power. throughout the entire play they are taken advantage of and betrayed.both men put their trust into the children/child who would betray them and cheat them out of their wealth; gloucester trusted edmund, the bastard, over edgar, his legitimate heir. lear on the other hand trusted goneril and regan, his two greedy daughters over the only child that truly loved him, cordelia. both are blind to the faults of their children; at the end however, gloucester does indeed end up physically blind, but, his eyes are figuratively opened. lear is able to see but his eyes are only opened at the end of the play.

both men were also high ranking individuals in society.

goneril and regan

both women were daughters of lear. their character are both similar. both women seem to be power hungry. we see this first when lear asks for a confession of their love. goneril goes first as she is the oldest. she goes on and on about how much she loves lear; regan, when its her turn, says she feels exactly as her sister does, much like a lazy copy -cat. to impress lear however she adds a few more lines.

both sisters employ flattery to gain their fathers wealth and power.

both women are also very jealous. we see this when edmund sleeps with both sisters and pitts their lust for him against each other. in a fit of jealousy, gonerli kills her sister (and partner in crime) regan.

different characters

cordelia and her sister

at the beginning of the play one is able to see what type of personalities the three daughters of king lear posses. cordelia is somewhat shy/under-spoken but honest while goneril and regan are tricksters.

when lear asked his children to put their love into words, and based on their statements the kingdom will be divided amongst them. goneril an regan express their love in a very extravagant fashion, claiming to love him more than freedom and life itself. one i able to see however, that the two oldest daughters are not really genuine.

cordelia on the other hand, honestly states that she loves lear as much as is required of her, no moer, no less. cordelia does not attempt to over emphasize her love, thereby lying, in order to gain a larger portion of the kingdom.

unlike her sisters, she is genuine and honest with her father about her feelings towards him, unfortunately, her arrogant father does not realize this until he has lost her.

the fools comments in act 2:4

the fools first comment in act 2:4 is to laugh at the state kent is in, which at the time, was being held in the stocks.

the fool then comments and says that basically,lear is to be blamed for the disrespect his daughters are showing him as when a man is rich, people always try to be in his good graces but when he is poor, hey look down at him. he then says the way his daughters treat him now makes the future seem bleak.

the fool then tell kent that following the king will profit him nothing.he then tells kent that if he hears wiser advice than he had given, give his advice back to him.

the fool shows his loyalty to the king when he says that even if it rains he will stay with the king as he is no scoundrel.

after saying he will stay with the king he mocks him when lear tells his heart to be still. he laughs and says that speaking to his heart will not work.

the fool.... foolish or wise?

Is the fool in King Lear really a fool?

The fool in the play King Lear is not a fool at all. This is said as throughout the entire play, the fool is seen giving advice to the king. His entire purpose is to help Lear see the folly of his ways, his task accomplished, he disappears from the play.

King Lear takes this advice. Obviously the fool is intelligent as a King would not take his advice.

The fool also seems to be prophesying during the play. this can be seen in act2:4 when he says that the way lears daughters are treating him now, make the future seem bleak.

As can be seen later in the play, his predictions come true.

The fool is also quite smart. This is said as he is seen using his status to his advantage. Because he is the fool he is actually allowed to insult the king as he pleases without real fear of reprimand, unlike Kent, who seemed to become impassioned when telling Lear that he has made the mistake of his life by banishing the one child who truly loved him. Kent was then banished for his “rude” actions toward the king. The fool tells the king he ought to be wearing his coxcomb as he is very stupid for giving away his source of power. The fool plays his comment off as a joke when in reality he is quite serious. We again see the fool using his status for calling others foolish when Kent is found locked in the stocks. Obviously he is taking advantage of the fact that Kent is in bounds, unable to move to punish him.

Professor Bradley also calls the fool “an outer conscience to the king”. A conscience can never be considered as foolish as a conscience often allows one to make rational decisions.

The fool is also very loyal to his king. He truly is a true friend. This is seen later in the play when King Lear attempts to strip himself and the fool restrains him in order to keep the kings dignity.

Also, the fool seems to be the only one besides Kent, who misses Cordellia when Lear foolishly banishes her.

The fool seems to be the only one who is able to see the villains for who they truly are. For example, he recognizes Edgar for his villainy.

questions for act 2

1 the dramatic importance of curans words acta s a foreshadowing of the dispute that will eventually happen later in the book between the kings son-in-laws and between the kings daughters.

2. edmund fools gloucester by cutting his own arm and claiming that edgar attacked him when he threatend to expose his plans on trying to kill their farther. he also tell edgar to run when he hears their farther approach which edgar does. this makes it seem like he is hiding after attacking his brother.

3. regan served only to compound gloucesters fear and anger as she states that the rude knights of her farther must have infkuenced edgar into trying to kill his farther for his wealth.

4. we are able to see that cornwall is constantly trying to get people under his influence and have them become his worker. he seems to be recruiting. he also seems to have a strong sense of justice as he allows gloucester to use all his power for the capture of edgar when he believes edgar has wronged his servant

fools importance in king lear.

the fool is indeed important in king lear. he seems to be the only one who can freely tell lear that he was totall stupid in giving away ALL of his kingdom to his daughters. he acts as the kings common sense and judgement. he is completly honest no matter the cost. the fool serves as the moral character in the play. when lear is upset, the fool still tells him like it is rather than covering up reality to suit the king. the fool is dramatically significant in the play as he is the kibg judgment and is the only one who can be totally and completly honest with the king.

questions and answers for act 1 scene 1 and 2

1. in the opening scene of the play we are able to find out that king lear is very easily flattered, and not very wise as he is unable to see when he is being fooled/played. we are able to see this when he gives his two older daughters large portions of his kingdom just because he thought the words they spoke were true expressions of their love for him.



2. both gonerill and regan make a very large show of their "love" for their father. goneril claims to love him more than words can say, more than her freedom, more than anything that could be had under the sun. regan choses to say she feels exactly as her sister does except that she loves him more than goneril does as she loves no one else as much as she loves him and rejects any joy that could be had except the joy of loving him. it is quite obvious however that their words are nothing but empty flattery.



3. kent is justified in calling king lear mad because he has accepted flattery and has abnished the daughter who truly loves him in favor of his lying, money loving dauhters.



4. shakespear uses rhyming lines in kents final speech to ensure that his speech is given attention and also so persons can remember it.



5. the king of france' words are calculated to heal the ounds inflicted by lear as he says that it is because of her honesty to her father bout her love for him that he has truly fallen for her, he calls her valuable though she has been rejected . he also insults the duke of burgandy by calling him a whimp for letting go such a treasure as cordellia is. obviously, by employing falttery he is attempting to comfort her.



6. the moral state of affairs at the close of the first scene is that all the nobles are shaken by king lears reaction to such a small matter, king lear is seemingly hurt, his two older daughters pretend to be truly upset that cordellia has ''disrespected'' their father is such a way, while kent and the king of france are entirely disappointed in king lear when his own daughters are lying to him through flattery.



7. edmund uses the excuse that he is a bastard and it is in his nature to be wicked. it is what society expects of him so he will do what is expected of him. this is the excuse shakespear allows edmund to make for the course of villany he is about to pursue.

8. edmund strengthens his plot by defending his brother as by doing so, he projects an image of innocence and loyalty; while others may be looking for a villan they would never think to look at him because he has fooled them into believing he is truly good.

9. glochesters gulability plays into edmunds hand as gluchester believes everything he is told especially as it is from his beloved son, instead of checking to se if what he hears and sees is fact. edgar predictability plays into edmunds hand as edmund is aware that his brother will believe him and take his suggestion of going into hiding, indoing so, edgar only makes himself look guilty while edmund looks like a truly loyal son.

king lears daughters speeches of love

when king lear got old he decided to divide his kingdome between his three daughters based on how they expressed their love. goneril was the first to express her love.


she said:





Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;As much as child e'er loved, or father found;A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;Beyond all manner of so much I love you





my analysis:

here goneril is saying that she loves her father more than words can say, more than her vision her freedom or anything of worth that can be had in the world. she loves him more than any child has ever loved her father, so much so that it takes her breath away and makes one unable to speak. king lear is quite flattered and accepts her speech as her true feelings for him.

regans speech:

Sir, I am madeOf the self-same metal that my sister is,And prize me at her worth. In my true heartI find she names my very deed of love;Only she comes too short: that I professMyself an enemy to all other joys,Which the most precious square of sense possesses;And find I am alone felicitateIn your dear highness' love

my analysis:

her regan is saying that she feels exactly the same as goneril. only, goneril has fallen a bit short of how she, regan, feels. she claims that she denys herself all other joys as she finds that only his love can make her truly happy. again, lear is flattered and accepts her speech as well

cordelia's turn comes to speak and lear is all ready to be even more flatttered than before as this is his favoritte child. owever when cordelia simply says:

Nothing, my lord.

he is entirely dissapponted and ask' that she rephrase what she said. when she still says nothing he gets angry and banishes her because she did not express her love as he expected her to.

king lears reaction

king lear, the royal ruler of britain, had three daughters whom he loved. they are goneril, regan and cordelia whom he loved the most. when king lear became old he decieded to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. based on how well they professed to love him he would give them a share of the kingdom. goneril and regan his two oldest daughters, when asked how well they loved him employed flattery to gain their shares of the kingdom. they claimed to love him more than words could express etc. king lear was greatly impressed by them both, however, when he came to cordelia, his most loved child, he was primed and ready for a grat out-pouring of words of love. this was not the case however as cordelia said that she loved him just as much as was required of her, no more, no less.
when lear heard this, he was stunned and said that she should rephrase what she said lest he not give her any of the kingdom. she however refused to do as he said. this enraged king lear and he banished her from the kingdom and said she was no longer his child.
i think lear reacted like this because he thought that the daughter he love most and showed much favor to would flater him and say that she loved him more than life itself. when she didn't it is understandable that he was angry with her. however, that dose not justify his harsh words or actions.

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