King Lear Lear The Tragic Hero Essay

King Lear: Lear The Tragic Hero Essay, Research Paper

King Lear: Lear The Tragic Hero

The definition of tragedy in the Oxford dictionary is, “drama of

elevated theme and diction and with unhappy ending; sad event, serious accident,

calamity.” However, the application of this terminology in Shakespearean

Tragedy is more expressive. Tragedy does not only mean death or calamity, but

in fact, it refers to a series of steps which leads to the downfall of the

tragic hero and eventually to his tragic death. Lear, the main character in

King Lear was affirmed as the tragic hero because the play meets all the

requirements of a tragedy. In order for a character to be qualified as a tragic

hero, he must be in a high status on the social chain and the hero also

possesses a tragic flaw which initiates the tragedy. The fall of the hero is

not felt by him alone but creates a chain reaction which affects everyone

around him. Besides, the hero must experience suffering and calamity slowly

which would contrast his happier times. The suffering and calamity

instantaneously caused chaos in his life and eventually leads to his death.

Finally, the sense of fear and pity to the tragic hero must appear in the play

as well. This makes men scared of blindness to truths which prevents them from

knowing when fortune or something else would happen on them.

Lear, the king of England would be the tragic hero because he held the

highest position in the social chain at the very beginning of the play. His

social position gave him pride as he remarked himself as “Jupiter” and “Apollo”.

Lear out of pride and anger has banished Cordelia and Kent and divided his

Kingdom in halves to Goneril and Regan. Lear’s hamartia which is his

obstinate pride and anger overrides his judgment, thus, prevents him to see the

true faces of people. As in Act One, although Cordelia said “nothing”, she

really means everything she loves to his father. However, Lear only believed

in the beautiful words said by Regan and Goneril. Although Kent, his loyal

advisor begged Lear to see closer to the true faces of his daughters, he ignored

him and became even more angry because Kent hurt Lear’s pride by disobeying his

order to stay out of his and Cordelia’s way Lear had already warned him, “The

bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.” ( I, I, 145). Kent still

disobeys Lear and hurts his pride further as he said, “Now by Apollo, King,

thos swearest thy gods in vain.”. Finally, Kent is banished. Because of the

flaw of pride, Lear has initiated the tragedy by perturbing the order in the

chain of being as he gives up his thrown, divides the kingdom and banishes his

loyalist servant and loveliest daughter.

The downfall of Lear is not just the suffering of him alone but the

suffering of everyone down the chain of being. For instance, Lear’s pride and

anger caused Cordelia and Kent to be banished, and Gloucester loses his

position and eyes. Everything that happened to these characters are in a chain

of reaction and affected by Lear’s tragic flaw. If Lear did not lack of

personal insight and if he did not have such an obstinate pride, he would not

have banished Cordelia and Kent, then Goneril and Regan would not be able to

conspire against Lear. Without the plot of Goneril and Regan, Gloucester would

not have been betrayed by Edmund and lose his eyes and status due to the charge

of treason. Moreover, the chain of reaction was continuous until the lowest

person in the society is affected; the fool, which is the entertainer, was

kicked out into the storm with Lear by Goneril because he was smart enough to

tell the truth of Lear’s blindness.

” Why, after I have cut the egg I’ the middle and eat

up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou

clovest thy crown I’ the middle and gavest away both parts,

thou borest thine ass on thy back o’er the dirt. Thou hadst

little wit in thy bals crown when thou gavest thy golden one

away.” ( Fool, I, iv, 155-160)

Because Goneril realized the wit of the fool who could see through the nature

clearly, she kicked him out together with Lear. ” You sir, more knave than

fool, after your master!” ( I, iv, 312)

Lear’s exceptional suffering and calamity after his realization of his

true character shows the quality of a tragic hero. Due to his flaw, he gave

the two daughters a chance to conspire against him and he was finally thrown

out of his daughters home and left with a fool, a servant and a beggar. When

Lear was left alone in the storm, he started to lose his sanity and realize his

fault to banish Cordelia and Kent. Before the thrown out of Regan’s home,

Lear suffered for shelter food and clothes as he said, “On my knees I beg that

you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.” (II, iv, 155) In the storm, he

suffered from his growing madness because he could not bear the treatment o

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