Familial Themes With Shakespeare

’s King Lear Essay, Research Paper

Some of Shakespeare s most well known works are his tragedies. One of the reasons they are still read worldwide is Shakespeare s study of character and the relationships, which these characters are involved with. In order to get the full tragedy; the characters must represent basic morals or ideas. A common theme among a lot of Shakespeare works is the idea of family and what it means to be within and part of a family. This idea of a natural law, in which it deals with society s and family s expectation of what is to be given from parent to child as well as the bond which is made. In Shakespeare s King Lear, the two plots revolve around a parent s dealing with children who are not proper to what is expected of them.

King Lear is a story, which deals with the idea of familial expectation and the roles in which parents and children play. Lear s madness and his obsession with being praised blinded him to the child who was really the only one who loved him, Cordelia. The same with the Earl of Gloucester, he was blinded by his illegitimate child, Edmund, who set out to turn him away from his heir, Edgar. Within the story, these two children and a few loyal servants try to help and eventually try to save the King and Gloucester, but they are both too stubborn to recognize the goodness and true bond in these people. The story of King Lear deals with the turmoil of a chaotic world began by the boundaries of family and personal relationships being turn upside down.

The story opens with King Lear, ready to retire, calling his three daughters to the room. When everyone had assembled, Lear made the grand announcement that he would divide the kingdom three ways, a piece to each daughter. However, he added that the larger pieces were to go to the daughter who loved him most. He based this not upon their actions but the speech they gave. The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, made a flowery and obviously fake speech in which Lear preened and awarded them their kingdoms. When it came to his third daughter, Cordelia, she answered, Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, nor more nor less. (Abrams, pg. 893) In that she tells her father she loves him but will not participate in the game he had arranged for the dividing of his lands.

This starts the downfall of King Lear because in a fit of peevishness he banished Cordelia. He saw her not being able to make a speech to him as her not being able to love him. He took the superficialness of her two sisters as a testament to him more than all her actions and the words she chose to speak to him. In a fit of anger, Lear cast Cordelia out. The King of France recognized the goodness in her and agreed to marry her without a dowry, but as far as King Lear was concerned she was dead.

This poses the first question in the play about what the bond between parent and child is. Lear is following a false sense of values for what his children should mean to him, He is taking the non-essential for the essential. Cordelia was the favored daughter; Lear should have based her inheritance on that, not on her inability to make a speech to him proclaiming her love. (Spencer, pg. 143)

Shakespeare is studying the natural law of man. He takes what is expected and considered the norm and throws them off balance. Cordelia was the good daughter, but the other two sisters are the ones who win out and split the kingdom between them. In the imbalance, Lear is introduced to the unnaturalness of Regan and Goneril. The sisters violate the natural law in their behavior of their father. (Spencer, pg. 143) They may have made the speeches of love, but they were simply looking for what they can get as inheritance. As they take over their parts of the kingdom, both of them squabble with Lear over the taking care of him. They want him out of their lives and can not understand why the care is being forced upon them.

The other part of the story deals with the struggle with Edmund and Edgar, which is also breaking the rules of natural law. Unlike most subplots in Shakespeare, this plot parallels the story of Lear. It is not meant as a contrast but rather to compare the similar situations both men are dealing with. It involves Gloucester and his two sons, one considered good and one considered bad. Edmund, as the bastard son, knows that Edgar will always be favored. Edmund works out a scheme in which he convinces Gloucester that Edgar is trying to kill his own father. Gloucester sees the betrayal of his favored son as unnatural.

Throughout the play, Edgar plots to prove his innocence, but in the end, he is too late to save his father. Edmund shows his true nature by turning his own father in to gain the trust and admiration of Goneril and Albany. Goneril s nature is shown when she encourages her husband to poke out the other eye of Gloucester. She breaks the natural law by as a woman participating in the violence of the men. Gloucester, truly blinded, now can see what a fool he was for taking the word of Edmund over that of his true son, Edgar. While he is wandering helpless, Edgar rescues him and tries to bring him to safety.

The expectations of family are what is the root of the theme of King Lear. Children are expected to hold a certain amount of love and respect for their parents, especially in Shakespeare s time. Childr