King Lear Essays: Suffering To Find The Meaning Of Life

767 Words4 Pages
Suffering to Find the Meaning of Life Humans suffer in their journey to find the meaning of life. King Lear written by William Shakespeare is a play where suffering is the beginning and end of both Lear’s main plot and Gloucester’s sub-plot. The suffering of Lear and Gloucester is easily identified through Lear’s loss of identity, Edmund’s betrayal of Gloucester and both Lear and Gloucester’s painful realization of the truth. Lear, who was once King of the kingdom, suffers from losing his identity as a king, a father and eventually losing his mind. Lear chooses to give away his crown and all of his fortunes away to his daughters. Lear asks his daughters, “Which of you shall say doth love us most?”(1.1.50), and the largest piece of land will go to the daughter who…show more content…
When it comes to Cordelia’s turn, the youngest, also Lear’s favorite daughter, she answers she loves her father, “no more nor less” (1.1.92) Lear gets so angry, he banishes Cordelia. At this point Lear is suffering by burning his own bridge by ruining his relationship with his only daughter that genuinely loves him and cares for him. Lear is in an identity crisis and loses his mind, he asks, “Who is it that can tell me who I am?”(4.1.219). Out in the violent storm, Lear cries, “ I never gave you kingdom, call’d you children” (3.2.17), Lear exposes that he is suffering because he does not have the power as a king, his two daughters’ do not want him around, and he himself pushed Cordelia out of his life. Lear feels like he lost everything because he lost his
Show More
Related

  • Uniformity In Brave New World

    3573 Words  | 15 Pages

    into turmoil after WWI. People could not reconcile their thoughts to a benign God that would allow mass slaughter. Brave New World is set in a dystopian future at approximately 2542 A.D. After a cataclysmic war, the society created is devoid of suffering to the extent that it has become a 'sin'. However, Huxley believed that beauty is the product of pain. He thought that religion's decline and science's advancement were 'working synergistically' to undermine spirituality and promote materialism

    Read More

More about King Lear Essays: Suffering To Find The Meaning Of Life

Open Document