Examples Of Overt Power In King Lear

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When a person has power they can manipulate and control whatever they desire. The plays King Lear there are examples of overt power and examples of covert power. Like in the play Medea the people in King Lear (his two eldest daughters) take the overt power by using their covert power of manipulation to take power from their father. King Lear has overt power because he is the king but loses it when he gives land over to his daughters. Power can be a very dangerous thing and can end up hurting people in the end. In the beginning of the play King Lear has the overt power of being a King. However, when he gives his land to his daughters under the thought that the love him he is powerless. The daughters start with covert power that they use to manipulate their father into thinking that they love him so they can gain his overt power. King Lear gives his daughters the chance to have his land in exchange of telling him how much they love him. Goneril says she loves him more than words can explain. When King Lear does this he gives his daughters the chance to take advantage of him and without really knowing loses all the power that he once had. When the daughters lie and say how much they love their father they are using their covert power to take their fathers overt power…show more content…
King Lear’s daughters were only thinking about themselves and the power they could take from their father by lying about how much they loved him. According to Zarrilli “ Patriarchal ideology, the belief that males in superior social and political positions had an inherent right to their authority, generally elevated the expression of male over female sexuality” (pg. 228). King Lear’s daughters would not have had any true power if they did not receive the land from their farther. The daughters had bad ambition because their goals were to take everything from their father so that they could be

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