Insanity and the Necessity of Madness in King Lear Essay -- King Lear

The Necessity of Madness in King LearAt the first gear of King Lear, an authoritative and willful protagonist dominates his court, making a pitch-dark decision by rewarding his two treacherous daughters and banishing his faithful genius in an effort to preserve his own pride. However, it becomes evident during the course of the calamity that this protagonist, Lear, uses his power exactly as a means of projecting a persona, which he hides behind as he struggles to maintain confidence in himself. This poses a problem, since the audience is prevented from feeling sympathy for the king. Shakespeares ironic answer is to allow Lears progressing madness to be paired with his recognition of truth, thereby forcing Lear to shed his persona, and simultaneously persuading the audience that Lear is worthy of pity.Lear is initially consumed by what Burton would call forth to as the human appetite,1 and exhibits traits indicative of someone dominated by the tearaway(a) humor he is prideful, yearns for authority, and bullies others when he doesnt get his way. After Cordelia refuses to maturate on him in the first scene, he goes into a fit of religious cultLet it be so the truth then be thy presentHere I disclaim all my paternal care,Propinquity and retention of blood,And as a stranger to my heart and meHold thee from this for ever.(I, i, 110-118) 2Lears fury, however, only masks the fact that he is really a very needy person, consumed by an insatiable appetite for power and attention. As Bloom says, Lear always demands much love than can be given.3 Lear proves this to be true when he repeatedly rejects those who love him most, banishing both Cordelia and Kent, who would protect him from his other two daughters impending betrayal. D... ...say (Trans.). The democracy of Plato The Wisdom of Socrates as Recounted by His Pupil Plato. wise York E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1957. p.171.6-Bloom, p. 482. 7-James Hutton (Trans.). Aristotles Poetics. New York Norton & Compan y, Inc., 1982. p. 51.8- Bruccoli, Clark, Layman Aristotle, in Bood, (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography Ancient Hellenic Authors. Vol. 176 (1997), pp. 55-76.9-Wilson Knight. The Lear Universe in The Wheel of Fire. London Oxford University Press, 1930. p. 20110- A.C. Bradley. Shakespearean Tragedy. London Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1961. p. 239.11- Knight, p. 203.12-William Shakespeare. As You Like It. New York Signet Classic, 1998. p. 44.13- T.S. Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. II (New York, WW.Norton, 19860. pp. 2174 ff.14-Bradley, p. 242.