Lear is the protagonist, whose willingness to believe his older
daughters' empty flattery leads to the deaths of many people. In relying on the
test of his daughters' love, Lear demonstrates that he lacks common sense or
the ability to detect his older daughters' falseness. Lear cannot recognize
Cordelia's honesty amid the flattery, which he craves. The depth of Lear's
anger toward Kent, his devoted follower, suggests excessive pride — Lear
refuses to be wrong. Hubris leads Lear to make a serious mistake in judgment,
while Lear's excessive anger toward Kent also suggests the fragility of his
emotional state. Hubris is a Greek term referring to excessive and destructive
pride. In the ancient Greek world, hubris often resulted in the death of the
tragic, heroic figure. This is clearly the case with Lear, who allows his
excessive pride to destroy his family.
Throughout the play, the audience is permitted to see how Lear
deals with problems. He is shocked when people do not obey as they have in the
past, since Lear is king and he expects to be obeyed. However, instead of
dealing with issues, Lear looks to the Fool to distract him with entertainment,
to help him forget his problems. He has been insulted and demeaned as king, but
he is not prepared to face those who are responsible. Instead, Lear often
responds to problems with anger and outbursts of cursing, even a physical
attack when provoked. When confronted with insults, Lear is helpless, at the
mercy of his daughter and her servants, and he often succumbs to despair and
self-pity. The once-omnipotent king struggles to find an effective means of
dealing with his loss of power.
Eventually, the king reveals that he is frightened and
apprehensive for his future, but he refuses to submit to another's decisions.
Lear wants to remain in charge of his destiny, even though the choices he makes
are poor or filled with danger. Thus, Lear chooses to go out into the storm
because he must retain some element of control. The only other choice is to
acquiesce to his daughters' control, and for Lear, that option is not worth
considering. Lear is stubborn, like a willful child, and this is just one
additional way in which he tries to deal with the events controlling his life.
Lear flees into the storm, as a child flees a reality too harsh to accept.
In spite of his despair and self-pity, Lear is revealed as a
complex man, one whose punishment far exceeds his foolish errors, and thus,
Lear is deserving of the audience's sympathy. Eventually, Lear displays regret,
remorse, empathy, and compassion for the poor, a population that Lear has not
noticed before. Lear focuses on the parallels he sees to his own life, and so
in a real sense, his pity for the poor is also a reflection of the pity he
feels for his own situation.
Lear is the anointed king, God's representative, and thus, he
shares the responsibility for dispensing justice on earth. He recognizes that
he bears responsibility for both his own problems and for those of others, who
suffer equally. His understanding of his complicity in the events that followed
is a major step in accepting responsibility and in acknowledging that he is not
infallible. Because of his own suffering, Lear has also learned that even he is
not above God's justice.
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