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King Lear Analysis

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King Lear Analysis
The play King Lear, written by Shakespeare, is a brutal play. It is filled with human cruelty and avoidable disasters. In the play, insanity and chaos are the reason for many of the events and set the environment. In the play madness and insanity are associated with both disorder and wisdom. The fool tries to offer King Lear insight and truth into some of his decisions that he made early on in the play. Later on in the play, when the King finally goes mad, the turmoil in his mind is a direct reflection of what is happening around him. His decisions early in the play, almost are a foreshadow for what is to come later in the play. By making stupid, thoughtless decisions, it led him to become unhappy, and distressed. The chaos in his mind is the result of the chaos happening in the kingdom. Although his mind madness isn’t doing any good for the falling kingdom, it is making King Lear wiser. By going completely insane, it strips the king of all his royalties, and makes him human. He is seeing things through different eyes, and is realizing his mistakes. He realizes as he is wandering around during the storm, the power of nature, and also realizes he is insignificant in the world. This final lets him put things into perspective and he puts his priorities in order. By seeing the world through new eyes, he becomes humble and caring, but he also learns the true meaning of humility. His madness leads him to fix the mess he has created with his closest daughter. It also makes him wiser. Although, this is the only play where order is not restored in the end, Lear tries to fix his mistakes.
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