King Lear Essay
Lear as a Tragic Hero
The character King Lear in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, qualifies as a Shakespearean tragic hero. The typical tragic hero is a nobleman, tortured internally as well as externally, who makes a foolish decision. Inevitably his punishment for such foolishness far exceeds the reasonable punishment for his crime. King Lear fits neatly into nearly all nine categories that constitute a Shakespearean tragic hero. There are three categories however, that truly define Lear. They define him not only as a tragic hero, but as a distorted and tragic character. Shakespeare creates Lear as a full, if distorted, idea in the minds of his readers.
In accordance with the tragic hero idea, the person inevitably responsible for Lear’s misfortunes is Lear himself. King Lear is split in his decision to divide his kingdom. He is trying to be generous and give himself to his doting daughters, while at the same time attempting to retain his considerable power. These two actions cannot be simultaneously accomplished, and thusly Lear’s attempts to compromise end in arrant failure. The complex chain of events that follows is all due to Lear’s one judgement error, even though Lear believes that “his daughters brought him to this pass?” (Act III, Scene IV). Later on in the book however, Lear is able to recognize his mistakes. After Lear cries, “that make these hard hearts,” (Act III, Scene VI) during the mock trial of his two daughters, he never again mentions the pain his daughters caused him, but instead focuses internally. This transition comes at the cost of his sanity, and eventually his life.
Lear’s qualifications as a tragic hero cause the reader to feel a sense of pity towards his predicament. This is alluded to by the change in the descriptions of the main characters throughout the book. In Act I, Lear is portrayed as a rude or even churlish character, but even into Act II, Goneril and Regan are the two “she-foxes” (Act III, Scene VI) that become the antagonists of the play. The indications that pity is due Lear are also clear in the sub-plot involving Gloucester, Edmund, and Edgar. The most suppressed and pitiful character in the entire play is Gloucester after his enucleation. His condition in the minds of the reader is made worse by his original standing as a prominent leader of society. The parallels between Lear and Gloucester are uncanny and deliberate. These analogous situations not only make the pitiful situations more clear to the reader, but also reinforce the idea of pity through repetition.
In accordance with the Shakespearean tragic hero, Lear’s shortcoming is generosity, not greed. Lear’s initial ideas do not attest to his outcome, but to a generous and loving heart. He is willing to “divide in three our kingdom” and to “shake all cares and business from our age” (Act I, Scene I). Both of these are acts of generosity worthy of such a loving king. His only shortcoming in that regard is the manner in which he implements his ideas. This is the Shakespearean twist of King Lear.
King Lear is not only a tragic hero in the Aristotle style, but Shakespeare has put his own twist on the tragedy. After Lear’s unfortunate decision in the first scene, the plot continues in a nearly predetermined nature that twists and turns with all the expected inconsistency of Shakespeare. The largest consistency however, is Lear’s path through his time as a tragic hero.
