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King Lear
In the context of the play, there is no reason; Lear could have just as easily asked France first, but had Shakespeare written that so, France would have accepted Cordelia and the scene would be...
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King Lear
There are three general reasons Lear mistakes Tom for a philosopher. The most basic you've mentioned: Lear has lost his grip on reality. However, the second is quite sad: the things this madman...
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King Lear
The two views of nature are of nature as good, and nature as evil. Edmund views nature in a good light. Edmund opens in a soliloquy praising nature as a "Goddess" and seeking fortune for...
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King Lear
Yes, she is. It sounds harsh for her to say that she loves her father no more and no less than the father-daughter bond, or at least, it sounds harsh compared to her sisters' expansive claims. That...
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King Lear
I don't know about The Kite Runner, but Death of a Salesman and King Lear both deal with ideas of inheritance and legacy and portray a protagonist who experiences the agony of premature forfeiture...
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King Lear
In Shakespeare's King Lear, the Earl of Gloucester is a loyal friend to Lear. He provides a counterpoint to Lear, in that his problems with his two sons—Edgar (Lear's godson) and a bastard son,...
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King Lear
They say there's no fool like an old fool, and King Lear certainly falls into that category. His advanced age appears to have played no small part in his fatefully foolish decision to divide his...
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King Lear
To answer this question, we should examine some of the prominent themes in King Lear. Many of the themes are very human, so there are certainly a few that might apply to real-life scenarios. As we...
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King Lear
At the opening of Shakespeare's King Lear, Lear's kingdom is at peace. There is some minor intrigue going on in Lear's court involving the Earl of Gloucester's eldest son, Edgar, and his younger,...
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King Lear
At the beginning of the play, King Lear is planning to divide his kingdom between his three daughters so that he can retire. He asks each for a declaration of love. Cordelia listens while her two...
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King Lear
In King Lear, act 1, scene 3, Goneril complains of Lear’s disrespectful treatment in terms similar to, though less extravagant than, those he is later to use toward her: By day and night, he...
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King Lear
In act 2, scene 4 of William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, Lear's daughters, Regan and Goneril, put unacceptable conditions on Lear to allow him to stay in their homes. Goneril demands that Lear...
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King Lear
Cordelia is incredibly upset because of her father's implacable anger toward her. He demanded that she join with her other sisters in making a public profession of love toward him, but she wouldn't...
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King Lear
Most critics agree that the climax of the play occurs in Act III, scene 2, when Lear, cast out by his daughters, wanders madly onto the heath in a violent storm. At this point, Lear fully...
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King Lear
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the aging king decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia. To show that they are worthy of his gift, he asks them to prove...
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King Lear
Gloucester's misfortune is to misled by his son Edmund. Like Lear, Gloucester is blind to the real natures of his children. Edmund, his illegitimate son, is a ruthless villain who is plotting...
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King Lear
One of the most prominent themes, or ideas, throughout act one is the theme of power. The play opens with an aging King Lear deciding to relinquish his power and divide his kingdom among his three...
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King Lear
Please note: The post contains two questions. The eNotes Homework Help policy allows for one question per post. This answer primarily addresses the first question. The end of King Lear emphasizes...
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King Lear
The ending of King Lear is indeed very bleak. The eponymous king drops down dead, heartbroken at the death of his beloved daughter Cordelia, who has just been executed on the orders of the wicked...
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King Lear
In act 2, scene 4 of Shakespeare's King Lear, Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan, have humiliated, mistreated, and emotionally abused Lear, who leaves Gloucester's castle in an impotent rage,...
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King Lear
In act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare's King Lear, Goneril and Regan profess their intense and undying love to their father, King Lear. In return, they're rewarded with sizable portions of Lear's...
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King Lear
I think that one of the strongest points of convergence between both visions of the old man's narrative is that there is a discussion of the complexities in the parent and child relationship....
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King Lear
In Shakespeare's time, women didn't have the same legal rights to inheritance as men. Usually, after a father died, a daughter's husband would receive the inheritance and not the daughter. King...
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King Lear
Here are some of the rhetorical devices that Edgar uses in this soliloquy. First, there are multiple examples of alliteration -- where more than one word in a short space starts with the same...
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King Lear
When two characters mirror each other, those characters are called foils of each other. The purpose of a foil is to emphasize certain characteristics. Lear and Gloucester foil each other in a few...
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King Lear
Everything about Lear is over the top. His vanity and foolishness are extreme, and his eventual suffering seems beyond human endurance, yet he endures, in agony. The depth of Cordelia's abiding,...
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King Lear
The mock trial in this play occurs in Act III scene 6, and is a moment that blends tragedy and comedy. The function of this mock trial overall is to shown the descent of Lear into a state of...
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King Lear
That is for you to decide. Consider the evidence: Goneril and Reagan go on and on in the first Act, prostrating themselves in front of their father and espousing on their undying love and respect...
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King Lear
The Hero's Journey is a monomyth applied to many cultures and types of literature. Author and mythology expert Joseph Campbell offers a detailed explanation of the steps of the journey and many...
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King Lear
In King Lear, the Earl of Gloucester’s storyline resembles Lear’s. In both cases, a powerful older man thinks he knows his children better than he does. They turn against their loyal children and...
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King Lear
Lear's relationships with his daughters are important to the overall meaning of the play. In his relationships with his three daughters, the nature of Lear's roles are developed: as king, as...
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King Lear
Your question brought to mind the newspapers of a few weeks ago in which Kim Yong Il of North Korea announced the succession of his son, Kim Young-Nam as the new head of state to take over for him....
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King Lear
In act one, scene 2 of King Lear (lines 1-23), Edmund reconfirms his life's creed and its goals. "Thou, nature, art my goddess": You, nature (natural selection, survival of the fittest, etc.) are...
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King Lear
Yes, King Lear does fit Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle stated a tragedy must be a drama about persons and things of some importance, where the highly placed hero is brought low...
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King Lear
Edgar in Act IV scene 1 has suffered a tremendous reversal in fortune. He has gone from being the favoured son of a member of the English aristocracy to finding himself expelled and exiled, and...
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King Lear
Edgar adopts what critics call a southern stage dialect in his confrontation with Oswald: Edg. Chill not let go, zir, without vurther [cagion]. Osw. Let go, slave, or thou di'st! Edg. Good...
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King Lear
One way of answering this question would be to point towards the thematic unity that exists between the main plot of Lear and his slow devolution into madness and the subplot of Gloucester and his...
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King Lear
The theme of parent-child relations is so important to the meaning of King Lear that one could write a book about it. To name the heart of it, though, Lear shows that he misunderstands the way in...
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King Lear
Like Shakespeare's other tragic heroes, Lear suffers from a fault, a fatal flaw in his character. His is vanity and pride--hubris. Despite this weakness, however, it is Lear's strength that makes...
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King Lear
In Shakespeare's King Lear, Lear's youngest daughter, Cordelia, and Lear's Fool are the resident truth tellers. Both of them speak truth to power (that is, to Lear), and they also speak truth to...
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King Lear
The storm in King Lear serves a dual purpose. First, it is intended to show how Lear, a frail old man, has been rendered homeless by his two daughters. Second, the storm is intended to represent...
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King Lear
This quote is from the first scene, and basically what Lear is saying is that he wishes to divest himself of his royal responsibilities ("care and business") because he is getting older. He would...
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King Lear
In King Lear, Edmund says he is a victim of culture, not nature: he is not born evil, but made evil by society shunning him and all bastards. He is the foil for Edgar. Edmund is a Bastard, an...
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King Lear
"Caius," as he calls himself, first appears in Act I scene 4. Caius is actually the disguised Duke of Kent who, having been banished in Act I scene 1 after telling the truth to his king now...
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King Lear
The Fool plays an important role in King Lear, particularly in telling the King the truth about his behavior. The role of the Jester or the Fool in the King's court permits him to say anything,...
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King Lear
This play has been called the bleakest of all Shakespeare's tragedies, and it is certain that the play presents one of the most uncompromising and unequivocal of messages about the human condition....
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King Lear
There are two principle themes in Lear's angry raging in this scene, and that is the injustice of the gods and Lear's own anger at his daughters and what they have done to him. What is key to...
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King Lear
The answer to this is that the play starts with three men coming on to the stage. These three men are Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund. Kent is the Earl of Kent. He is a nobleman who is very devoted...
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King Lear
Lear's Fool has many functions in the play. He serves as a sort of chorus. He provides some comedy. He is a companion to Lear and thereby enables Shakespeare to have the King express his thoughts...
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King Lear
I would say that Lear achieves wisdom by truly understanding his own predicament and his own self of self in the middle of that awful storm. Prior to that point, Lear had believed that his own...
