Does King Lear Justify Self Awareness?

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A person will do everything in their power to justify that they are a force of good. Not a single person truly believes that they are motivated by evil. Some will try to find justification for unjust behaviour, while others are too absorbed in themselves to even notice that they are being irrational. When they are accused of their poor behaviour, they ignore their comments and continue to allow themselves to be motivated by ignorance. These are people that lack self-awareness. Self-awareness is, “having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions” (Warmerdam). By being self-aware, any person can identify what they excel in and what they need to improve on. By identifying…show more content…
Near the play’s beginning, King Lear demonstrates that he has a lack of self-awareness, pushing away those who are close to him and enabling those who seek to abuse him to gain power. In addition, the main antagonist, Edmund, also has a lack of self-awareness, believing that he is worthless, which sets his plan in motion for the play. Both characters become aware of their traits, and try to resolve the problems at hand, but not before the damage has been done. As a result, it is clear that the lack of self-awareness from certain characters is the reason that the tragedy of King Lear occurs. For there to be a resolution to a tragedy, there needs to be a reason for the tragedy. The source of the problem comes from the one who is trying to resolve the plot: King Lear. Because the King is a character of pride, he is used to being in a position of authority to the point where he uses his position as king to justify irrational choices. His pride blinds him from what is right and what is wrong. For example, when he is planning to retire, he wishes to split the kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, based on what his children say about…show more content…
Lear’s lack of self-awareness, along with his stubbornness and his pride, causes him to eliminate Cordelia and Kent, the two who spoke honestly and cared for him the most, while giving his power to his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, who do not care for him. These actions, which are caused by Lear’s pride, enable the evil daughters to rule and force Lear out of the kingdom, causing his suffering throughout the whole play. King Lear’s lack of self-awareness is what ultimately what causes his own
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    place in the play and connects with both disorder and unseen wisdom. Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, reveals the ruin of both the King and a family of greatness. Lear’s family and kingdom correspond as they are torn apart and problems appear instantly. When a person unqualified to govern is given power, complete disorder and confusion will be the result, and this is basically what occurs in the play. When Lear is in a state of insanity, he often speaks of random facts that do not pertain to his surroundings:

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