Rukhsana Rahim Chowdhury
ENG 217
5thth February 2014 King Lear as a tragic hero. “The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch and Sweetheart – see, they bark at me.” When a king finds himself to be in such a position that even the dogs bark at him seeing his distresses, you can easily understand the tempestuous situation of his mind. King Lear is tragedy of emotions where we find a mighty king disclaiming his youngest daughter from his parental care and suffer greatly due to the betrayal of two elder daughters. King Lear is affirmed as a successful tragic hero because of his Hamartia that leaded towards his downfall and reversed his fortune, recognition of an essential truth, punishment that exceeded his crime. First of all, King Lear is a tragic hero because of his hamartia that helped precipitate his downfall. Lear had the utmost position in the society and was a noble person. Subjects loved him very much as we saw them helping the news of his distresses pass to his youngest daughter Cordelia. Lear was such a subject loving king that even being shelter less in the stormy night with extreme mental agony, he thought that he should have done more for the homeless poor people of England. Lear had imperfections also because without having imperfections audience will never find a tragic hero reflecting theca normal human being. The fatal flaw (Hamartia) of King Lear was his pride. When the youngest daughter Cordelia expressed her true love to her father rather than flattering him for the portion of the kingdom, the king’s pride was struck with a big blow as he wanted show in front of everyone how beloved he was to her daughters especially to the younger one. Finding his pride broken into pieces, Lear got angry and disclaimed Cordelia from all her inheritance and parental care and said, “Here I disclaim all my parental care, Propinquity and property of Blood,”(Act 1 scene 1)
The moment of disclaiming and disowning Cordelia triggered the tragedy. The two evil daughters of Lear, Goneril and Regan now inherited the two portion of Lear’s Kingdom and Lear decided to stay with them and enjoy his leisure. The king was given the first blow by his eldest daughter Goneril when she instructed all her servants to behave rude with the King and king’s knights. A father who nourished her with all his care and love, gave away his kingdom to her was greatly hurt when Oswald told the king that he treats himself not as a king but as his mistress’ father. Goneril gave another slap to his father when she said that her palace turned to be even worse than brothel or a riotous inn. The king was so hurt that even he cursed her own daughter saying, “Into her womb convey sterility, Dry up in her the organs of increase,”(Act 1 scene 4)
The astonishment of King Lear did not end with the awful behavior of Goneril. Another daughter of Lear also ordered the king to return to his another sister Goneril. After this Goneril came to Regan’s house and both the daughters scolded their father about having 100 knights. They doubted even whether the mighty king Lear needed one knight. Lear was greatly hurt finding his daughter forgetting about his Kingship. He should have hundred men with him for just simply he was a king. Lear then described ina poetic manner of having so many people with him saying, “O reason not the need! Or basest beggers Are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs,”(Act two scene 4) At this part, Lear discovered the very essential truth about his two elder daughters that all the loving words uttered by them while dividing the kingdom was nothing but flattery and Cordelia truly loved him. It was too late for the old man to understand this and the recognition of this essential truth (anagnorisis) brought the reversal of the fortune (peripetia) of our tragic hero. Lear with extreme mental agony went outside accompanied by the Fool in a stormy night. The king, whose angry gaze could make anyone in the kingdom tremble with fear, was shelter less in the stormy night in freezing cold. The king was not concerned at all about his pain due to the bad weather. He was so hurt by his daughters that he was inviting nature to annihilate him. He said, “Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow, You cataracts and hurricaneous, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurous and thought-executing fires , Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Siege my head; and thou all-shaking thunder,”(Act 3 scene2)
It breaks the heart of any reader when they find Lear saying Edgar “Didst thou give all to thy daughters? And art thou come to this?” King Lear had such a broken hurt that he matched the distressed condition of Edgar with his own and being insane thought that Edgar’s daughters also betrayed with him (Edgar). At times we see Lear getting mad and was having a crown of weeds. We see that King Lear’s hamartia (pride) precipitated his downfall and after knowing the truth regarding the love of his two elder daughters, he confronted the reversal of fortune (Peripetia). This very structure proves King Lear to be an ideal tragic hero. Secondly, King Lear’s punishment of disclaiming and disowning Cordelia and go for the flattering love of the other two sisters Gonerila and Regan, exceeded the crime. He not only lost his pride, esteem of being a powerful king, he also lost his most adored daughter Cordelia. King Lear repented enough and his punishment could end with only the disrespect that he had to receive from even the servants. The death of Cordelia at the end was too much for him to bear. After a long time when Lear met Cordelia he said, “If you have poison for me, I will drink it.” The old man was so hurt by the other daughters that he thought due to his injustice towards Cordelia, Cordelia would bring poison for him to take the revenge. Such a poor man could have easily be forgiven by nature. As we know the punishment of the tragic hero should exceed his crime, it happened the same for Lear. Cordelia lost the battle against England and with Lear she was imprisoned. At last, Cordelia died giving Lear the utmost and last shock. Lear turned mad and cried like beast, Howl, howl, howl, howl!O, you are men of stones Had I your tongues and eyes, I would use them so, That heaven’s vault should crack. She is gone forever.
The old man died due the last shock. Excessive punishment of the crime also makes Lear a great tragic hero.
To conclude, I would like to say that King Lear is a an everlasting and universal tragic hero as he suffered due to his children that aroused the extreme feeling of pity and fear among the audience(Catharsis). In the article King Lear Shakespeare, Dr Ronnie Bai says that King Lear’s tragedy becomes completely shocking as it touches on the basic relationships between father and children that has gone completely wrong. With all the elements of being a tragic hero, King Lear touches our heart with extreme emotion of sufferings as a father. Work Citation Bai.R.King Lear Shakespeare. < http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/king-lear-shakespeare-23889/>
"King Lear: Lear the Tragic Hero" StudyMode.com. 10 1999. 1999. 10 1999 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/King-Lear-Lear-The-Tragic-Hero-3850.html>.
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