Love is a fickle thing//SLT

     In full honesty, I wasn't invested in the story until the end of Act 3, and by the end of the play, the setup made for a great tragedy, as tragedies go. However, Lear's last minute of half clarity realizes Cordelia's love for him and Edgar's return to his station being the most notable moments to me.

    Though it takes him the entire play to do so, Lear realizes in the end, by way of her actions, how much Cordelia truly loved him compared to her lying sisters. Lear's character took a spot in my heart I didn't think he would, I began to feel sorry for him and root for any good fortune he had. Along with Gloucester who seemed insignificant at first but becomes Lear's companion in my pity. They both are fooled by their children only to be saved by the child framed and outcast in the beginning. Edmund and the sisters Regan and Goneirl though end up dead while the one they wished the worst of lives in the end. All three figures caught in a web of lies.

   Unfortunately, these sisters lie so much end up being each other's demise as they're unfaithful to their respective husbands with Edmund. Cordelia, however, hears of her father's condition and brings an entire army back to save her father from her sisters. The reversal of the first Act's action is glaring. The cruel sisters lose everything, Cordelia and Lear reunite, and Edgar takes his rightful place while Edmund is remembered as a scheming bastard child in the end. 

    The idea this play presents of love bringing downfall is an interesting one, as love also is what saves our few survivors. The love of glory brings down edmund as he fall before reaching the peak of his upward journey in station. Cordelia's love for her father despite his actions ends with him grieving over her dead body. This love filled grief subsequently kills Lear. The sisters unfaithful love for Edmund ends with poison and suicide as he chooses neither of them in the end. Edmund dies thinking of love as his brother kills him for what he did. Gloucester dies in shock that his beloved son, was framed, exiled, and lost his title but, still decided to take care of his father despite it all. 

This leaves us though with Albany who's lack of love conflict and level head spares his life, and Edgar who regains his positon thanks to Albany. The fool also lives, but I would argue he wasn't so foolish to disappear after Act 3.

As someone who finds Shakespere necessary, but annoying. This play was hard to read until Act 4, then, and only then did the story really grip to the point I wanted to read it to the end. The idea that love somehow was the common thread through the "good" and "bad" characters demise is a fun one to think about. How could such loveless daughters find themselves so in love with a man one poisons the other? Or, why love a father so much you risk everything to save him after banishment? Love in King Lear plagues all our major characters, it is what they all desire in some form. Their expressions or lack there of are pivotal plot points. The contrast of love spoken and love shown sheds light on maybe what Shakespeare thought meant more. Cordelia, arguably the character with the highest morals, only knows how to show her love. Lear, morally ambigus desires verbal love but in the end learns the value of love through actions. Though no matter how they loved, all but Albany and the Fool lose something dear because of love in the end.

-Samantha L Tedder

P.S. Honors Council, I will be commenting on Justin's and Anna's (aka Bug's) posts.

Comments

  1. Ashlyn ScismAugust 31, 2021 at 12:23 AM

    I love the points you made! It is fascinating how love seems to tie everything together and ultimately lead to the downfall of most characters. This made me consider another common thread in the show: loyalty. Often coinciding with love, loyalty or the lack there of can be seen in many of the dynamics. The eldest sisters, Regan and Goneril, appeared to be loyal to the king but it was a false loyalty. Edmund used a similar tactic to convince his father of his pure intentions only to turn around and do the same to his brother. Of course his loyalty was a disguise for his malicious plot. However, unlike these characters Cordelia, Kent, and Edgar, were the epitome of true loyalty. All three of them were all snubbed by the King/Duke but in their time of need the each of them came to the rescue. So by the end of the show those who abused the virtue of loyalty were in turn abused and those who displayed true devotion were recognized.

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  2. Justin JAugust 31, 2021 at 12:34 AM

    I honestly didn't even notice the parallels between Gloucester and Lear, that's a pretty cool insight into the story and some of those things can be easily overlooked in a story so long and drawn out as this one. They did, however, also share in my pity for them. Lear from the beginning naturally draws a sort of contempt from the audience. "What a narcissistic fool!" we say to his selfish and dangerous actions at the beginning, yet once we see the man humbled and struck down from the top of society to the very bottom, we cannot help but feel sympathy for the man who has lost it all. I think THAT may be the merit of a tragedy. Even a selfish and somewhat cruel man, when toppled down to rock bottom, draws pity and almost a sort of redemption from us in death. His actions in life doomed him, yet in doing so they also won over our hearts as he learns what truly being loved by his daughter means. Once he has seen the truth, he cannot bear to live without it

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