Loss of Power and Gain of Morality in King Lear

Powerful individuals are often less concerned with morality and thus struggle to experience true love. William Shakespeare’s play King Lear, details Lear’s journey of self-discovery, as the once powerful king is transformed from being selfish and unkind, to finally feeling love and remorse. King Lear is initially a powerful leader ruling an entire kingdom and he loses his wealth and authority as he makes rash, illogical decisions. As a poor man Lear becomes acutely aware of the pain endured by the poor, suffers himself and finally is rewarded with love and forgiveness from his daughter. In King Lear, as Lear is progressively stripped of his enormous power, he simultaneously gains morality, discovers love, and ultimately comes to understand what it means to be human.

King Lear is initially a powerful leader who steadily loses his authority due to his inability to control his emotions. At the outset Lear rules an entire kingdom commanding the respect of his faithful subjects. The structure of King Lear follows the typical five act structure of an Elizabethan tragedy where the opening act is the exposition and introduces the main characters and the main conflicts. King Lear is introduced issuing orders, as he demands that Gloucester "Attend to the lords of France and Burgundy" (1,1,132). Shakespeare’s initial presentation of Lear briefly places him on a pedestal as his faithful supporters diligently obey his every instruction. Shakespeare also establishes a powerful king through Lear’s language. He speaks forcefully, depicting authority. Lear compares himself to a mighty creature when he warns Kent "Come not between the dragon and his wrath" (1,1,123). Shakespeare uses this metaphor to create a vivid picture, depicting authority and ensuring that the audience initially sees King Lear as a powerful beast. The image of King Lear as a powerful man quickly deteriorates as he discards logic and reacts with emotion. Lear announces his illogical decision to divide his kingdom into three shares to be given to his daughters based on their declarations of love for him. One of the main conflicts, Lear versus the truthful Cordelia, is established when Cordelia asserts that she cannot express her love in words, and King Lear behaves emotionally as he disowns his faithful daughter. Lear decides to “disclaim all [his] paternal care, propinquity, and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me hold thee from this for ever” (1,1,13). Lear’s fatal flaw, or his hamartia, is his inability to see himself clearly and recognize that he needs to control his emotions. Banishing Cordelia from his life indicates the once rational King is losing his mind and his corresponding lack of control will lead to his tragic downfall. Those close to King Lear believe that “tis the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself” (1,1,293), both age and senility are causing his overly emotional reactions. Although King Lear was once powerful, he has “slenderly known himself”. These words are key as they demonstrate that the king never recognized his weaknesses. As he loses more power, his weakness is exposed, he continues to react more and more passionately and less logically. The reasons for Lear's fall from power are explained very well in the article King Lear: Moral Example or Tragic Protagonist. This article is written by Francis G. Schoff and published by Oxford University Press in Shakespeare Quarterly. This extract describes King Lear, and details different interpretations of the protagonist, his many weaknesses, and how he eventually leads himself into his own downfall:

”He brings on his own downfall, we are told, because he is temperamentally wrathful and arrogant; or because he is stupid and senile; or because in dividing up his kingdom and resigning power he is derelict in duty; or because he sins against natural law in doing so.” (Schoff 157)

While Schoff asserts that Lear is responsible for his own downfall, he presents alternative views on what caused Lear’s loss of authority. Ultimately the once powerful King becomes an emotional wreck as his feelings continue to intensify.

After falling from power, King Lear’s passionate emotions continue as he embraces poverty and develops empathy for others. Edgar, disguising himself as Poor Tom, parallel’s King Lear’s journey to rejecting materialism and embracing morality. To become Poor Tom, Edgar alters his appearance: “My face I’ll grime with filth,” (2,3,9). More significantly, Edgar sheds his fancy clothing: “Blanket my loins, elf all my hair in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds” (2,3,10). By removing his clothing Shakespeare has Edgar metaphorically rejecting his previous authority and possessions. The use of the words “with presented nakedness” are significant as this symbolizes a man that is completely exposed and is ready to be rebuilt. Edgar’s transformation into Poor Tom represents King Lear’s transformation from an unfeeling king to a man who is ready to explore his feelings and discover love. King Lear is astonished at the sight of Poor Tom, who is practically naked, wearing just a blanket to cover his loins during the terrible storm. With sympathy Lear describes homeless females as “naked wretches, wherso'er you are, that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your loo'd and window'd raggedness, defend you from seasons such as these?” (3,4,28). Lear expresses remorse for not having helped the poor when he was king: “Oh, I have ta’en too little care of this!” (3,4,33). Poor Tom triggers King Lear’s anagnorisis, the catalyst that awakens Lear to the suffering of those around him. Lear transforms from giving up his kingdom, with absolutely no concern for his subjects, to feeling for Poor Tom, and sympathizing with the plight of all poor people. The rationale for Lear's sudden gain of morality, and its effect on him, is outlined perfectly in the article Charity in King Lear. This article is written by Sears Jayne, published by Oxford University Press in Shakespeare Quarterly. This excerpt spells out how drastically King Lear is influenced by those around him and how this affects his sanity:

”For the first time Lear feels physical need and so becomes sensitive to the same needs in others. Lear’s discovery of concern for “poor naked wretches” brings him to the brink of madness. The sudden appearance of Tom o’ Bedlam pushes him over the brink by violently particularizing and emotionalizing his concern. From this point to the end of the play Lear’s mind flaps wildly back and forth between his old concern for himself and his new concern for others.” (Jayne 282)

King Lear identifies with Poor Tom as he recognizes that without his kingdom and his power, he is a lot like Tom. Both have been stripped of their possessions and family and Lear recognizes, “a man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art.” (3,4,99). At this point Lear is stripped naked and has metaphorically ceased to be a wealthy king and is now on a journey toward poverty, rebirth and the discovery of feelings and love.

Powerlessness and poverty have made King Lear human, more of a man and less of a king. Lear’s newly discovered feelings torment him and make his suffering worse. In poverty he finds out who he really is “there I found ‘em, there I smelt ‘em out” (4,6,102), he says about his former knights and supporters. After being powerless and experiencing periods of madness, Lear is ready for redemption. Lear’s peripeteia is to restore his relationship with his daughter. His reunion with Cordelia briefly provides Lear with some peace. Cordelia arranges to “put fresh garments on him” (4,7,20), symbolizing his rebirth. Lear tells “Cordelia, [that] the gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee? He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven and fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes” (5,3,20). Cordelia accepts his apology demonstrating the depth of her love for him. Lear finally understands that true love comes from the heart as he states that Cordelia is “a soul in bliss”(4,7,44). In Cordelia’s conversations with Lear her choice of words is significant as she elevates Lear back to his status as King: “How does your Royal Lord? How fares your majesty?” (4,7,42). Once Lear has reconnected with Cordelia, he does not want to let her go, “my Cordelia, even the gods admire how much you've sacrificed for me. Have I hugged you yet? Anyone who wants to separate us will have to smoke us out of the cave of our togetherness like foxes” (5,3,273). The reason King Lear constantly needs to feel love is presented very well in the article King Lear’s Impending Death. This article is written by Alexander Grinstein and published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. This extract explains how being deprived of love is one of Lear’s his greatest fears:

“Let us now consider Lear's need to be guaranteed that he is loved. This basic human requirement is brought into sharp focus with Lear's awareness of his impending death. We must understand that he questions his daughters at the beginning of the play about how much they love him just because the threat of complete love privation represents the greatest possible danger to him.” (Grinstein 128).

While the resolution of the conflicts in the final act of King Lear are shockingly tragic, King Lear did develop personally. The numerous corpses on the stage at the end of the play symbolize death and despair. Even the loving and faithful Cordelia dies and King Lear, carrying Cordelia’s limp body, paints a vivid picture of Lear’s suffering. However, his devastation demonstrates that Lear finally experienced the love of another. Cordelia’s unconditional love and forgiveness brought him happiness and a brief period of fulfillment and peace.

King Lear sacrifices his kingdom, loses power, experiences poverty and gains morality as he agonizes for the poor around him. Like all great tragedies, some form of healing is achieved through Lear’s intense suffering. He is rewarded with love and forgiveness from his daughter, but Lear’s real illumination consists of his transformation from a selfish and powerful king to a humble, caring individual. Shakespeare suggests that only through suffering and remorse does King Lear become human and discover love.

Bibliography

Grinstein, Alexander. “King Lear’s Impending Death.” American Imago, vol. 30, no. 2,

1973, pp. 121–41. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26302749. Accessed 31 May 2022.

Jayne, Sears. “Charity in King Lear.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 2, 1964, pp. 277–88. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2867900. Accessed 31 May2022.

Schoff, Francis G. “King Lear: Moral Example or Tragic Protagonist?” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 2, 1962, pp. 157–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2866785. Accessed 31 May 2022.

Shakespeare, William. No Fear Shakespeare: King Lear. SparkNotes, 2003.