foolear The Very Foolish King in William Shakespeares King Lear :: King Lear essays

The truly Foolish office Lear  Shakespeares tragedy King Lear is a detailed interpretation of the consequences of one mans decisions.  This fictitiousman is Lear, King of England, whose decisions great(p)ly alter his tone andthe lives of those somewhat him.  As Lear bears the status of King, he is aman of great power, but blindly he surrenders all of this power to hisdaughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him.  Thisuntimely surrender of his dejection sets arrive at a chain reaction of events thatsends him through a nuthouseish journey.  King Lear is a metaphoricaldescription of one mans journey through hell in order to appease hismistake. As the find opens, one brush off al closely immediately see that Lear begins to makemistakes that will eventually issuing in his downfall.  The very first wordsthat he speaks in the play are         Give me the map t here.      &nbs p Know that we have divided        In three our kingdom and tis our fast intent        To shake all cares and communication channel from our age,        Conferring them on younger strengths while we        Unburdened crawl toward death.(Act I, Sc i, Ln 37-41) This gives the indorser the first indication of Lears intent to relinquishhis throne.  He is growing grizzly and wants to shake all cares and businessfrom his age.  In a since he wants to bang from a job that you cannotretire from.  He has no son to get through his throne down to, so he must give itto his daughters. He offers his daughters pieces of his kingdom a form ofreward to his test of love.         Great rivals in our youngest daughters love,        Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,      &nb sp And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters        (Since now we will divest us both of rule,        Interest of territory, cares of state),        Which of you shall we say doth love us most?        That we our largest bountifulness may extend        Where nature doth with merit challenge.        (Act I, Sc i, Ln 46-53) This is the first and most significant of the many mistakes that he commitsin this play.  By relinquishing his throne to fuel his ego, he disrupts thegreat chain of being, which states that the King must not challenge theposition that the gods have given him.  This undermining the godsauthority results in funny house that tears apart Lears world, leaving him, inthe end, with nothing.  Following this, Lear begins to banish those aroundhim that genuinely care for him he canno t seem to realize who loves him