The Tragic Story of LearBy: Giana Marks, Tania Louis, and Courteney

DiDomenicoClass: English Honors

Aristotle’s Tragedy: Kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody. “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude.”McManus, Brenda F. "Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy." Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy. N.p., Nov. 1999. Web. 23 Jan. 2015.http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html

Aristotles Tragic Hero

Aristotle believes that a tragic hero is a character with noble stature. The tragic hero must be high in nobility status, he should also embody nobility and virtue as part of his character. He also believes that although the character should be “great”, he will have his fair share of flaws. The reason for this is because as readers we are supposed to be able to relate to the hero in some way. Every tragic hero will have some sort of downfall, which is usually due to a misjudgement, that they have made. Although the downfall is almost never intentional, their punishment is extreme. Downfalls of tragic heroes are not always total losses, because more than not, they are able to learn a lesson."Aristotle." Aristotle. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/aristotle.htm

Play Overview

The tragedy of King Lear written by William Shakespeare tells a story about a protagonist, who descends into madness after dividing his estate between two of his three daughters based on flattery. This decision brought about tragic consequences upon all. For this very reason, both King Lear and The Earl of Gloucester are tragic heroes. They are both of great nobility, and eventually fall due to poor judgement. The play depicts numerous themes throughout such; as tragedy, love, betrayal, family relationships, cruelty, and authority just to name a few. The idea of good versus evil is also presented through the different age groups. King, Warrern “King Lear Play: Overview & Resources”, NoSweatShakespeare.com. 2004, accessed

1/1/20013. http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/King Lear Play: Overview & Resources.

http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/king-lear-play/

King Lear In the beginning of the play Lear depicts the act of parental loyalty, in change for his divided kingdom. Lear decides to have his daughters portray their love to him in order to obtain the kingdom. Two of his daughters choose to take part, but the youngest opts out. This action is what sets Lear up for the fall in his royal position,loss of loved ones, and total chaos. The journey of the play takes Lear from his arrogant kingly status to the lowliest beggar and finally to understanding, compassion and self-awareness. "KING LEAR .ORG: THE COMPLETE KING LEAR SITE." KING LEAR .ORG. N.p., 2009. Web. 24 Jan. 2015.

http://www.king-lear.org/major_characters

The Earl of Gloucester

The Earl of Gloucester is said to be the foil of King Lear. Gloucester has two sons, Edgar who is the eldest, and Edmund the youngest. In the play, Edgar is known as the legitimate son because he looks out for his fathers well being, while Edmund is illegitimate. Although Edmund is the illegitimate son, he believes otherwise, because he is tricked into believing that Edgar is trying to kill him, by Edmund. For this very reason the Earl of Gloucester ends up facing tragic experiences, due to his lack of good judgment.

Lear’s Decision

Lear’s decision of picking which daughters to take over the Kingdom was his error of judgement. Lear was completely blinded by the praise of his daughters Regan and Goneril, he judges poor Cordelia’s statement as an insult rather than just a true emotion from a daughter to a father. The fact that Lear choses between his daughters for fake love and praise, showed how narrow minded he was, and how he just wanted to hear what made him feel good, no matter how true it was. This is what caused King Lear all of the turmoil he encountered.

Earl of Gloucester’s DecisionGloucesters decision when choosing which child was legitimate, and which was illegitimate was an error in judgement. Gloucester was completely unaware of what was going on behind his back. He believed that Edmund was being honest when he accused Edgar of wanting him dead, because he was a bastard child (born from adultery). For this reason, he banishes Edgar not realizing he was being tricked. In reality Edgar was actually loyal to his brother, and cared for his fathers well being more than Edmund did. Choosing the wrong child is the reason for most of his misfortune.

Reversal of Fortune: Lear’s BlindnessLear’s blindness was acquired when he was not able to notice how Regan and Goneril lied through their teeth in order to gain the wealth of the kingdom. Lear was blind to see how Cordelia was being the sincere daughter and was truly looking out for her father, while Regan and Goneril would do whatever it took to acquire the fortune. His blindness is also what causes the kingdom to fail and everyone to turn against one another out of greed, cruelty, and lust, we begin to see now that they all want to kill him.

Gloucester’s Blindness

Gloucester was blind figuratively speaking when choosing which son to believe. He was blind to the fact that Edgar really loved him and was willing to do almost anything for his father. It is often said, that when someone is blinded from the truth, the only way they will understand is if they actually are unable to see. This was indeed true in the case of Gloucester. When Gloucester is blinded by having his eyes plucked out by the Duke of Cornwall, due to Edmund rating him out, he realizes that his son was not loyal to him in actuality. Not only was he blind figuratively, he is also blind literally.

Lear’s insightLear’s insight is acquired toward the conclusion of the play. As Lear’s insanity increases his vision also begins to increase. His insight also grew more with the newfound presence of his daughter Cordelia as he begins to recognize his wrongs. It did turn out that he was too late to right his wrongs. As Machiavelli once stated “great men cannot cover great sins.” Lear was too late to fix the banishment of Cordelia and Kent.

Gloucester’s InsightDue to Edmund betraying his father, Gloucester was known as a traitor.After he had banished Edgar, Edgar fled, and disguised himself as Poor Tom. When Gloucester comes across Poor Tom, he is extremely cruel to him, never realizing that he was actually his own son. Know that Gloucester is known as a traitor, he no longer wants to live, so he attempts suicide. Still unaware who Poor Tom is, he asks him to lead him to a cliff. Although, Edgar knows he can not aid his father to his own death, so he fakes the suicide telling him to jump even though he is actually just on a hill. So he is left unharmed.

Anagnorisis: Lear

I believe that Lear began to feel sad for himself when he comes to see that everything he once had is gone. He began to show numerous amounts of self pity for example stating “I am a very foolish old man” and ...O , i have ta’en Too little care of this.” It is obvious to see that Lear only cares and pay attention to Lear. As his sanity began to diminish so did everything and everyone else around him.

Anagnorisis cont. Lear

Lear also comes to senses with his downfall when he notices that neither of his daughters really loved him and that all they really wanted was his fortune and wealth of the kingdom.

Anagnorisis: GloucesterI believe that Gloucester discovered that his misfortune was brought on by his own negative actions, once he was blinded. He realized that Edmund had played him like a fool, and he allowed him to. Gloucester had all the power in his hand and he basically gave it up by losing faith in his son Edgar. He used his power to get rid of his son. If he had trusted Edgar and gave him the benefit of the doubt, rather than banishing his eldest son, he would have never ended up in the place that he did. By choosing one son over the other, he ended up losing them both in the end. I think he believed that by getting rid of Edgar, he would be able to live happily with his bastard child but that was not the case. Edmund had no interest in actually loving his father, he just wanted his fortune. On the other hand Edgar had no desire to kill his father, and this is shown because Edgar ends up saving him from committing suicide.

Anagnorisis cont. Gloucester

You can see the change in Gloucesters character, because at first he blames his misfortune on everything but himself. In act 1, scene 2 when Edmund tells him that Edgar wants to kill him he says, “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us: though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked 'twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction; there's son against father: the king falls from bias of nature; there's father against child.” It is not until he realizes that Edmund turned on that that he sees that his misfortune is indeed his own fault.

Lear’s Fate

By the end of the play Lear is a broken man. He states that life is not even worth living anymore. All of the people and loved ones around him are dying,once he hears that Cordelia has been hung, Lear then dies of a broken heart.

Gloucester’s FateGloucester ends up dying at the end of the play. After Edgar, Lear, and Cordelia’s army fight Edmund, Goneril, Regan and Albanys army and loose, Edgar reveals himself, after being Poor Tom for a part of the play. When he reveals himself, Gloucester is said to die of grief. After realizing that Edmund betrayed him, and Edgar had been set up by his own brother, who later fights for his life. He is too overwhelmed with his feelings and dies of grief. Although he dies of grief, it is also believed that he died of joy.The reason for this is that the son he believed betrayed him, actually loved him, and was willing to fight for him

Takeaway: Lear

In my opinion Lear spoiled everything for himself with his hubris actions. If he didn’t make his daughters fight for his love in beginning I believe that everyone would be able to live in harmony. Being the self centered person he was, caused major turmoil and I believe was one of his biggest flaws. Lear had his number of strengths and weaknesses, it just turned out that the weaknesses outnumbered the strengths.

Takeaway: GloucesterI believe that Lear was a much greater man than Gloucester. Not only did he commit adultery, he then abandoned his own son, solely based off the fact that his bastard son accused Edgar of wanting him dead. Due the fact that he was of noble ranking his whole life it was hard for him to live a lesser life. When he comes across Poor Tom, he is extremely rude to him, and Lear is the one who convinces him to take Tom with them. The only thing that I enjoyed about Gloucester was his loyalty to King Lear, he cared for him deeply and would have put his own life on the line for Lear.

Who is more Tragic?I believe that in this play, The Earl of Gloucester is more tragic. He goes through hamartia, when he chooses the wrong son to have faith in. Peripeteia occurs when he goes from being a lord to a blinded traitor. He then experiences anagnorisis, because he realizes that he is now blind because his son betrayed him by reporting him to Cornwall and Regan. I believe that Gloucester realized then that because Edmund betrayed him, he may of lied about Edgar too. I think that Gloucester also had hubris, which is excessive pride, because he unable to accept the fact that he no longer lived the life he used to. Although I feel as though he lacks hubris, due to he was willing to commit suicide, rather than dealing with his fate. One last factor that makes him tragic is that he indeed had a fate greater than deserved. Edmund turned him away from his loyal son banishing him, later to realize that Edmund was actually the who was unloyal. He was blinded and turned into a prisoner when he really did not deserve it.

FIN