In act three scene four a very peculiar thing happens to King Lear. After losing almost everything and no where to turn because of the bridges he has burned, King Lear finally sees the light. After being caught in a storm with no shelter to run to King Lear kneels and begins to pray. He prays for all those people in the kingdom that he did not properly care for while he ruled them. He feels that he has done them wrong and can only imagine being stuck in a storm like this with nowhere to go on a regular basis as his people have. Lear refuses to go into the hovel that Kent has found for shelter until he has finished praying and reflecting on how poorly he had ruled and not cared for the poor as he should have.
I really changed my mind about Lear in this scene because it takes a lot to realize when you are wrong and to beg for forgiveness, even to God. It makes me think that there is still hope for this man as a leader and perhaps he is better off going through all of this suffering to come to this conclusion. It makes me think of the saying you do not know what you have until its gone. Lear did not appreciate anything that he had until he was left with nothing. It was only then that he got a taste of what the poor and wretched go through on a daily basis. Up until this point in the play I really disliked the character of King Lear. I thought of him as a pompous jerk who needed to show off and look higher than all. I cannot even express of disgusted I was in the opening scene when he makes his daughters grovel over him for land. I thought how shallow must these people be in order to just gain land and money. I could not understand how making yourself look so stupid in front of a room full of your fathers court would be worth gaining wealth over. Not to mention Lear looks like an even bigger shallow jerk when he decides that all he needs is to have his hundred knights to boss around to feel powerful and then freeload on his daughters whenever he sees fitting.
I like that Shakespeare includes this scene in the play. Perhaps it was his own way to send a message to the wealthy and royals who would attend his plays. Shakespeare is kind of sending them a wake up call saying this is what people go through day to day while you have more money and comfort to spare some. Just because a person is wealthy does not mean they should flaunt it or treat others poorly because when the wealth is gone no one will provide for them.
For the first time in the play I also see a reason for having Lear and Gloucester stories to be in the same play. I kept getting confused while I was reading and pondered why Shakespeare would put these stories in the same play. I think that scene four in act three shapes the rest of the play. Since King Lear has finally come to his senses and sees the light he will be a great advantage to helping Gloucester defeat and realize Edmund's trickery. Since Edmund is ready to get Gloucester killed for ratting him out to Cornwall to get his father's land it shows his selfishness and greed that will come back to bite him in the butt. I think that Shakespeare does this to show the karma of being a good leader and seeing your flaws compared to a greedy and selfish leader, which will eventually come back to get you.
3 comments:
I agree with you that Lear has saw the light in one way. He realizes he never paid any attention to the poorer people and that was wrong. However, although he has figured out that he was wrong for treating people wrong, he still has not come to the realization that he gave away his kingdom on superficial terms. He does not realize that he was shallow and he is not sorry for it. He is not mad at himself for giving away his kingdom. Instead, he is angry with his daughters for acting the way they are and mad that he cannot have his knights to boss around. They are acting as any ambitious queen would. In my opinion, one realization does not redeem him. He still has not taken enough responsibility for his foolish actions.
Lear was so caught up as King that it took this horrifically powerful storm to show him truth. This natural phenomenon created by God (as people would have believed during Shakespeares time)actually pushed this King out into the weather. This could be the idea of natural going against this man because he went against the natural order of the ordained king. Lear decided to give up his power, yet still wanted to be called 'King'. Perhaps God took that as a slap in the face. Who is Lear to decide to what degree or difficulty Gods holy deputy should endure in his daily work? Lear was considered privileged and I think the storm was Gods way of showing him out of his own mind.
I think you make some great observations here. Most interestingly, in my opinion, is your exploration of Shakespeare's original audience of King Lear. It's so important to remember that these are plays we are reading--they were written to be performed, not read. It's always interesting and enlightening to think about Shakespeare's target audience in each of his plays, in this case the nobility. I wonder how they might have reacted to a play like this where a divinely chosen king was diminished to a howling, decrepit old man by the last act.
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