Examples Of Dementia In King Lear

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William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, can be interpreted many different ways, but the interpretation mainly depends on the interpretation of the characters, especially King Lear. While some people see Lear as a cruel and proud King, I saw him as more of a loving, old man affected by dementia. King Lear reminded me a lot of my grandmother in the way he talked and acted. Some of the things he does in the play are analogous to what my grandmother does. Dementia also explains a lot of King Lear’s questionable decisions like dividing his kingdom, exiling Cordelia, and staying out in the storm. Goneril and Regan’s actions are still unexplainable and unforgivable, but they are made that much worse by the fact that King Lear is not capable of making very sound decisions and is not as cruel as he sometimes comes across. On the other hand, Kent and Cordelia understand King Lear’s dementia…show more content…
King Lear is slowly losing his mind and is being neglected because of things that he cannot entirely help. What is wrong with allowing him to keep a hundred knights if that is what is going to make him happy and not be any harm? It is an inconvenience certainly, but I do not know why it is that big of a deal. Why can Goneril and Regan not just humor their father and know that he is not thinking straight? It is infuriating to watch the way that they treat him. One of the problems with dementia is that people know that something is off, but they cannot think straight enough to know what is wrong. On one hand King Lear and my grandmother have to be treated like children when they are trying to do unreasonable things, but on the other hand they still need to be treated the same as they always have been. Instead of attempting to balance this Goneril and Regan just treat King Lear as a child because they can benefit from it and it is

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