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It seems as if every piece of literature, artwork, and any other form of individual expression has the objective, whether known or not, of finding out a little bit more about the artist or authors self, and their place in the world. The Awakening, Things Fall Apart, The Things They Carried, A Passage to India, and many other modern novels reveal a searching for identity and how certain aspects of life effect how the characters define themselves. In King Lear, the aspects of order, truth, and identity are all assessed in the lives of the characters and we examine the effects upon their lives when these aspects are altered....
Order: what keeps us sane, or makes us insane. It gives many lives meaning and structure, and when Shakespeare messes with it, chaos ensues. During the Middle Ages, it was believed that a “Great Chain of Being” existed, rigidly casting everyone into a specific group. Shakespeare toys with this idea with many of the characters. Gloucester, a nobleman, has two sons, one a bastard, Edmund, and the other a legitimate son, Edgar. In an attempt to gain power and favor, Edmund frames Edgar for injuries he inflicted on himself. This ends with Edmund, who is initially lower on the chain than Edgar, leaping above him, and sitting high with the King’s daughters. Edgar, conversely, finds himself wandering naked and mad as his alias “Tom of Bedlam”. Another example of Shakespeare experimenting with order is when King Lear has a conversation with the Fool. The Fool tells him that “Thou wouldst make a good Fool,” and that “I’d have thee beaten for being old before thy time,” because “thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”(p. 38) Lear, for sending Cordelia away, has become the fool, and the Fool has become the wiser when he sees this and comments on Lear’s lack of wisdom in his choices. It becomes clear that all of those at the top of the chain are doing evil things, and all those at the bottom are doing good. Shakespeare thoroughly scrambles the “natural” order, and this is reflected in nature itself with the massive storm that occurs in the piece. This play claims that without order, our lives are meaningless. To quote Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Up and down, up and down.” Life is a mess of chaos without this order, and does not return to normal until order is restored.
King Lear also comments on truth and its connection to making meaning. Many times in this play, the truth is twisted and forgotten. The characters mangle the truth in order to achieve their selfish goals in attempt to make meaning out of their lives, whether it is driven by good or evil intentions. The truth becomes very difficult to decipher, as the play goes on. Edmunds slaves blind Gloucester, who initially believes that his legitimate son, Edgar has wounded his bastard son Edmund. With this physical blindness, Gloucester sees the truth. As blind as Gloucester is literally, Lear is figuratively blind to the love his daughter Cordelia feels for him, as well as reality entirely. As a great teacher once said. “meaning” is a human construction therefore truth itself becomes relative.
Finally, Shakespeare speaks on identity and the search for it in King Lear. Many characters in the play embark on identity journeys in search of their true selves. King Lear, for example, begins his journey when he requests his daughters to proclaim their love for him in exchange for land and wealth. This request alone reveals his need to feel powerful and loved, to define himself with material possessions and empty proclamations of filial love. When he loses his titles and material items, he is lost, because that is how he had previously and solely identified himself. Edgar also loses and regains his identity in the play. When his bastard half brother banishes him, he takes on the guise of Tom of Bedlam, a poor beggar, because he does not know him place anymore. He has been pushed out into the cold, as a beggar, so he takes on the identity of one. When his newly blinded father, Gloucester, comes to him, he eventually realizes his identity and the need for him to go regain order by defeating his brother.
Order: what keeps us sane, or makes us insane. It gives many lives meaning and structure, and when Shakespeare messes with it, chaos ensues. During the Middle Ages, it was believed that a “Great Chain of Being” existed, rigidly casting everyone into a specific group. Shakespeare toys with this idea with many of the characters. Gloucester, a nobleman, has two sons, one a bastard, Edmund, and the other a legitimate son, Edgar. In an attempt to gain power and favor, Edmund frames Edgar for injuries he inflicted on himself. This ends with Edmund, who is initially lower on the chain than Edgar, leaping above him, and sitting high with the King’s daughters. Edgar, conversely, finds himself wandering naked and mad as his alias “Tom of Bedlam”. Another example of Shakespeare experimenting with order is when King Lear has a conversation with the Fool. The Fool tells him that “Thou wouldst make a good Fool,” and that “I’d have thee beaten for being old before thy time,” because “thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”(p. 38) Lear, for sending Cordelia away, has become the fool, and the Fool has become the wiser when he sees this and comments on Lear’s lack of wisdom in his choices. It becomes clear that all of those at the top of the chain are doing evil things, and all those at the bottom are doing good. Shakespeare thoroughly scrambles the “natural” order, and this is reflected in nature itself with the massive storm that occurs in the piece. This play claims that without order, our lives are meaningless. To quote Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Up and down, up and down.” Life is a mess of chaos without this order, and does not return to normal until order is restored.
King Lear also comments on truth and its connection to making meaning. Many times in this play, the truth is twisted and forgotten. The characters mangle the truth in order to achieve their selfish goals in attempt to make meaning out of their lives, whether it is driven by good or evil intentions. The truth becomes very difficult to decipher, as the play goes on. Edmunds slaves blind Gloucester, who initially believes that his legitimate son, Edgar has wounded his bastard son Edmund. With this physical blindness, Gloucester sees the truth. As blind as Gloucester is literally, Lear is figuratively blind to the love his daughter Cordelia feels for him, as well as reality entirely. As a great teacher once said. “meaning” is a human construction therefore truth itself becomes relative.
Finally, Shakespeare speaks on identity and the search for it in King Lear. Many characters in the play embark on identity journeys in search of their true selves. King Lear, for example, begins his journey when he requests his daughters to proclaim their love for him in exchange for land and wealth. This request alone reveals his need to feel powerful and loved, to define himself with material possessions and empty proclamations of filial love. When he loses his titles and material items, he is lost, because that is how he had previously and solely identified himself. Edgar also loses and regains his identity in the play. When his bastard half brother banishes him, he takes on the guise of Tom of Bedlam, a poor beggar, because he does not know him place anymore. He has been pushed out into the cold, as a beggar, so he takes on the identity of one. When his newly blinded father, Gloucester, comes to him, he eventually realizes his identity and the need for him to go regain order by defeating his brother.