How Is King Lear Wise

When the audience is first introduced to Lear, they see a pompous king, who craves, and demands praises of love and admiration from his three daughters. After a few scenes, he is portrayed as a rash, impulsive old man, who “hat ever but slenderly known himself” (King Lear, 1.1, 294-295), fully exposing his flaws. However, through the course of the play, he grows into a caring and humble man, which is first showed, before he and the fool found refuge in a “hovel” (King Lear, 3.2, 61) from the storm, and Lear speaks to the Fool asking him “ How dost, my boy? Art cold?” (King Lear, 3.2, 68), showing the drastic change of his character from previous encounter, making him stronger though, he lost everything.

In the novel of King Lear, Lear was obviously a man who had everything because of course he was a king. When you have everything you sometimes forget about an important thing, and that is family.

He gave the audience a little wisdom but he was mostly depicted as king Lear's old self. I say this because due to them having a role reversal, it should also mean the Lear was wise back in his day. A wise thing that the fool says is shown by this quote, "Lear's shadow"(Act 1, Scene 4, line 220). This is wise because he wants to remind Lear that he is not the powerful king still and that he is just a faded image of what King Lear use to be. He wants Lear to think about how much power he lost when he gave it all away.

King Lear has been criticized by several scholars as being misogynistic, sexist, and anti-feminist because of its portrayal of the female characters. However, the play is pro-feminist due to how it depicts what happens to women and even men within a patriarchal society.

Although King Lear by Shakespeare and Candide by Voltaire are very different on the outside they share internal values. King Lear is a play written by William Shakespeare, who was an English poet and playwright who was widely regards as the greatest writer in the English language and the world pre-eminent dramatist (Shakespear, 1998). Candide by Voltaire is a satire, Voltaire was born Francois-Marie Arouet, he use his satirizing style of writing to make fun of the Powerful Frenchmen of his time (voltaire, 1991). The internal values of both books connect them with the Human Condition of man, His love of family in King Lear, with his

Morals contribute to the process of thinking and committing actions. Looking from a moral criticism perspective, Shakespeare's King Lear breaks many morals that today’s society values. Breaking these valued morals leads to madness that encompasses the characters’ minds and “eliminates all rational thoughts” (Bali). In Shakespeare’s King Lear, blindness results in misjudgments, leaving the person to decide to either change for the better or allow stubbornness to overrule.

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

The most prevailing images in King Lear are the images (metaphoric and actual) of nature. The concept of nature seems to consume the dialogue, monologues, and setting.

The fact that King Lear is not aware that he is Lear further proves that he is loosing his mind. He keeps asking the Fool if Lear would act the same way that he is acting. Lear’s mental decay is a cause of chaos because he is the ruler of England, and if the ruler is not able to successfully process thoughts and ideas, much less comprehend who he is, then the country will not be able to run smoothly, and as a result, chaos will ensue. This proves that chaos is more powerful that authority because the chaos within Lear is overpowering the authority within Lear, which causes his mental decay. In the following scene, Lear begins to notice that he is in fact descending into madness. Lear’s realization of his madness is triggered by the Fool’s line, “Thou should not have been old till thou hadst been wise” (1.5.41-42) The Fool’s line relates to the idea that when people age, they become old and wise. But the Fool believes that Lear is not wise, and therefore should not be old. Lear hears this line and

Although it is never too late to learn, those lessons learned in old age are the most difficult and the most costly. In his play KING LEAR, Shakespeare illustrates that wisdom does not necessarily come with age. The mistakes that Lear and Gloucester make leave them vulnerable to disappointment and suffering at a time in their lives when both should be enjoying peace and contentment. Although both Lear and Gloucester achieve wisdom before they die, they pay a dear price for having lived life blindly.

Through the play King Lear, Shakespeare shows how one should not be judged based on words, but by their actions. Goneril told King Lear that she loves him “more than words can wield the matter” (line 53-54). This quote shows that King Lear’s oldest daughter says that she loves him, and the King believes this and gives half his kingdom to her. Later in the play the King is told by the fool that he has “borest thy ass on thy back o’er the dirt” which is when the King starts to realize that his daughters, two of which were given half of the kingdom, lied to him when they told him they loved him because they only wanted the kingdom (line 157). The two daughters of the King show their true colors when they show their father they lied to him, showing that just because someone says one thing they can do another.

In books and in life older people are usually seen as wise and so this has become a stereotype. Older leaders are usually shown to be strong and always do the right thing because there wiser than their younger counterparts. This stereotype has become a little overused and so when you see a piece that goes against that norm, it becomes very interesting. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear the theme of sanity and corruption is developed through the motif of wisdom and age to illustrate the idea that older people are not always wiser than younger people. This play flips the idea of wisdom in relation to age on its head, which makes the plot all the more interesting.

First, the Fool’s loyalty to Lear drives Lear away from hopelessness, knowing that someone is always on his side. The Fool is loyal to Lear because he cares about Lear’s well-being even when Lear is delirious and because Lear depends upon the Fool’s service. As an illustration, when Lear is locked out in the rain by his daughter, the Fools comments, “O nuncle court holy water in the dry house is/ better than this rain outdoor,” (Shakespeare. III. II 13-14). This demonstrates that the Fool genuinely cares about Lear’s well-being, despite his idiocy of trusting his daughter. Additionally, in this scene, King Lear acts forlorn as his daughters left him out in the rain, and this proves that the Fool will be at his side even through his depression. Moreover, Lear allows the Fool to be loyal to him instead of pushing away his loyalty as he did with Cordelia; unlike Lear’s daughter, the Fool has a much lower standard to be held by. As stated by Viera de Jesus, “Unlike his [the Fool’s] fellows in other plays, he is nameless, with no more distinguishing badge of individuality than plain 'Fool.’” Therefore, Lear will always rely on his Fool to be his “King’s Fool” no matter how uncanny he acts because his label as Fool, which is a label for someone of a lower class, allows his actions to be justified. Therefore, the Fool supports Lear through his loyalty because he advises Lear to care for himself and because Lear entreats the Fool to stay on his side.

In the beginning of King Lear, I immediately saw how King Lear wants his three daughters to express their love for him. I believe that this could illustrate King Lear’s fear of growing old and losing importance. The first two daughters, Goneril and Regan, seem to flatter their father with their expression of love for him. It is obvious to me that Goneril and Regan do not actually love their father at all. In contrast, Cordelia, the youngest daughter, gives an honest expression of love when she says, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love thy majesty according to my bond; no more nor less” (pg. 1257). In return, King Lear believes that Cordelia isn’t truly expressing love since it is not in the form of flattery. This

King Lear an imprudent, old man symbolizes selfishness like no other. What is most daunting is the fact that he is adamantly loyal to appearances and ranking in life. He carries a title which most can not even dream of attaining, but wants to give up the position and all the responsibilities that follow it. “ Know that we have divided/ In three our kingdom, and `tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age” (1.1.37-39). It is quite understandable if he just wanted to end his reign as king, but it’s another thing when he also wants to bask in the glory of the title and be treated like he still owns it. This egotistical attitude of his is more annoying than anything else, for he brought forth all his problems upon himself, and also unto others. His most arrogant moment is at the very beginning of the play, when he demands his daughters to profess their love for him openly, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (1.1.53). The use of his words in this quote is disgusting, it exudes pride, self-importance, and flattery. It’s because of these very words, that Cordelia denied him his right to the, all so selfish public display of love. Although Lear made costly mistakes throughout the play, his love to Cordelia rang