Shakespeare s King Lear Essay Power Of Honesty

Mathew Larosiliere King Lear essay Dr K The Power of Honesty Shakespeare s King Lear is a play that follows Lear, the aging king of Britain, as he decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. Lear and a handful of other characters encounter many obstacles throughout the story. This play highlights human nature at its highest and lowest. Characters such as Edmund, Regan, and Goneril illustrate the ugliness and horror of man’s persona. While characters such as Cordelia, Edgar, and Kent show the noble, heroic, and moral nature of man. In the beginning, both Goneril and Regan appear to be conscientious and reasonable people. However, this quickly changes when they trick their father into believing that they truly love him. There is little good to be said for Lear’s elder daughters, who are largely indistinguishable in their villainy and spite. Goneril and Regan are clever—or, at least, clever enough to flatter their father in the play’s opening scene—and, early in the play, their bad behavior toward Lear seems matched by his own pride and temper. They prove that man is no better than a beast because they lack the virtues needed to be compassionate, loving human beings. Honesty is the most important character trait that anyone should have. Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, andShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s Much Ado About Nothing And King Lear3685 Words   |  15 PagesNothing† and †Å"King Lear Introduction Shakespeare is seen to value the role of women as his plays often portray women as heroines. These women have strong characters that endear them to readers. Readers in our current world, and especially women, are encouraged to be self-assertive in demand for equal treatment in our society. This has been the tradition for women in the Western world and is one that should be spread across all societies in the whole world. The characters that this essay chooses toRead MoreExpo5600 Words   |  23 Pagesaudiences can come to some general agreement on what the play is about, provided that they can offer answers to the two major questions of understanding that the play poses. These answers, it need hardly be said, cannot be precise and absolute, since Shakespeare s plays, like life, never allow us the delusion of perfect understanding. Nevertheless, we do need to decide what we are invited to think and feel about Macbeth and what he does. In particular, we have to consider why he acts as he does; why, inRead More Edward Ii - To What Extent Is Edward Responsible For His Own2078 Words   |  9 Pages‘Edward II plantagenet King of England, Whose incompetence and distaste for government finally led to His deposition and murder.’ The Elizabethan drama, Christopher Marlowe’s, Edward the Second is, according to Aristotle’s definition of the word, a tragedy. That is to say it concerns the fall of a great man because of a mistake he has made or a flaw in his character. During this essay I will demonstrate how this definition of tragedy applies to Edward II. Edward II was king of England, and reigned