Show r King Le Lear r L LEAR LEAK ARvas was was' I pre eminently a man of passions a man man in iri whom passion had become a disease a form of insanity aggravated by by the infirmities and eccentricities eccentricities eccentricities of age When he hated he hated fiercely vehemently with his whole soul when he loved he loved tenderly passionately He was not nota a man to be trifled with or opposed in inthe inthe inthe the least thing His temper was constantly constantly constantly con con- at white heat always ready to burst f forth rth on the slightest provocation Even in the best years of his life he had been rash and had II ever ever but known himself Therefore his life was one long struggle He was wasa a slave to violent impetuosity We find him in the opening scenes of the play what he is to the end end end- end insane He begins to feel the weight of his f four score score years and longs to cast cast off all cares of f state all anxiety and II ened crawl toward death He had grown childish eccentric and withal somewhat vain And thus we see him surrounded by his daughters to whom he be puts the absurd and irrational question question question ques ques- tion of who loves him most in order that the richest part part of of his kingdom be bestowed where natural affection merited it This opportunity to flatter their aged father was eagerly seized upon by bythe bythe bythe the two elder d daughters and Le Lear r was completely carried awa away by their extravagant extravagant ex- ex ex extravagant praises He forgot everything everything everything every every- thing in his selfish gratification and with his heart tilled filled with a simple and foolish delight he bids Cordelia speak Her answer at first puzzled him and made him impatient He cannot believe that she loves him less than her sisters He is is' is entirely incapable of understanding understand understand- ing her finer nature her words bewilder him and he asks in a pathetic way whether she speaks from her heart Aft After r her Ay my good l lord rd he asks J again a again in II So o young and nd so lIt It It is then he c can n r restrain hIs his hasty and im im- c a. a nature no longer He has been wounded more deeply than tha his pride fo for for- he loved her most she had been the the- balm of his age he had thought to end end his days peacefully with her He gives way to a violent and awful passion his his- anger knows no bounds he c casts casts aside aside- all son reason all thoughts of affection and andin andin andin in words that strike those present dumb with terror he disdains all paternal care all relationship to his once much loved child and declares her a strange stranger to him forever Yet he seems to realize even in his rage that in casting Cordelia Cordelia Cordelia Cor Cor- delia off the grave will be his only only- peace Kents' Kents interference only increases increases increases in in- creases his anger which reaches the climax climax climax cli cli- max when he be cruelly sentences that faithful servant to banishment His His- love is turned to most bitter hatred He looks on Cordelia almost with loath loath- ing To him she is a mere wretch whom nature is ashamed to acknowledge and he parts from her with a firm and relentless relentless relentless relent relent- less heart It 1 t is not until he begins hegins to tobe tobe tobe be afflicted by his strong head folly that he becomes conscious of his injustice to to- her He strives to forget it yet jet it rankles rankles rank rank- rankles les in his mind When the fools fool's pining pining pining pin pin- ing for her is mentioned to him it hurts him He for the first time feels the of r remorse and and- he answers answers- quickly No more of that I have noted it well As Goneril reveals herself he is stillmore still more keenly sensible of his rashness he begins to feel the sting of filial ingrati ingrati- tude Passion is master of him again He utters curses against her which freeze the blood H His is emotions are able He gives himself up to wild ravings He feels that he is losing losing- power over himself and the pathetic struggle t to retain his reason begins O O 0 let me not be mad not mad sweet heaven he cries in desperation His al already eady ove overburdened burd ned mind has still another grief to bear when he learns of Regan's cruelty She was his only h hope pe No curses seemed too terri terrible ble for him to call down upon Goneril and h he left her with the belief that Regan would comfort and aid him but his tenderly pathetic appeals are cruelly ignored Then in his extremity and wretchedness he pleads before both hoth his children clinging to them almost desperately until their wanton inhumanity inhuman inhuman- ity forces him away Convulsed with passion and sorrow cursing and threatening threatening threat threat- ening his unnatural daughters he goes out into the storm The fury of the elements is as nothing to the tempestuous ous anguish of his mind His childrens children's cruelty c preys upon him im with a resistless energy which terrifies him for that way ay madness lies He struggles fiercely for reason but in vain Insanity overcomes him In his delirium he rails at t the world and at Fate Then follows the awakening from that long sleep when Lear finds himself recovering from his insanity when he sees Cordelia restored restored restored re re- stored to him when he willingly willing even joyfully goes to prison with her Hi His mind restored he becomes becomes' the same passionate emotional person that he was in the opening scenes of the play All his old love for Cordelia wells up in his heart and he heis is filled with a childlike child child- child childlike like joy They two can sing like birds in the cage When she he asks for his blessing he will kneel and ask her forgiveness forgiveness forgiveness for for- and thus they may live happy even in prison But misery and suffering suffering suffering suffer suffer- ing were not t to end here Insane with passion when he casts his child off he heis heis heis is insane as an effect of these passions when in the last scene he appears mad with Cordelia dead in his arms His madness now now is the madness of despair His heart is wrung with an agony of grief his troubled and stormy life could not end in a calm This last wound to his naturally warm and affectionate affectionate heart must be fatal and he dies broken t r. r f J. J i i Li |