Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 29, 2024, 08:22:13 pm

Author Topic: lit essay  (Read 1716 times)  Share 

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

astarael

  • Victorian
  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 34
  • Respect: 0
lit essay
« on: October 29, 2007, 08:36:58 pm »
0
hi all,

a friend of mine asked for some feedback on her lit essay on king lear...

written in one hour under exam conditions ie no resources, handwritten etc.  it is responding to th e passages on king lear in the 2005 vcaa exam.

 

some feedback would be much appreciated.  i think i go into too much narrative detail and not enough discussion of th whole text.

 

The opening scenes of Shakespeare?s King Lear, follow the events that lead up to Lear?s decision to divide his kingdom amongst his daughters and absolve himself of the responsibilities of office.  During this process, Lear?s conceit blinds him to the fact that Cordelia is actually the daughter who speaks the truth.  Lear banishes Cordelia and his other two daughters go on to betray him.  The latter of the play details the political chaos that ensues Lear?s abdication but at the same time, Lear?s emotional state of turmoil brought about by his realisation of the mistake he made.  Gloucester?s journey throughout the play is similar in that he too, is blind to the son that is truly loyal, his mistake leading to literal blindness, but eventually as with Lear, and the realisation of his mistake.  The major themes of the play are betrayal, madness, justice, redemption and disruption of the natural order and these themes are recurrent throughout both the play and passages provided.

 

Passage 1, located in Act I of the play involves both Edmund?s rage at the manmade laws which have condemned him as a bastard, and the beginnings of his attempts to trick his father into giving him his land, instead of giving his land to Edmund?s half brother, Edgar.  Edmund swears that ?Nature, art [my] goddess? to whose laws his services are bound, as his existence is hampered by both manmade laws and a decision which was beyond his control.  Much of the play is related to a disruption of natural order, but here, the audience sees an objection to a man made order.  Later in the passage, as Gloucester enters, the audience sees an example of this disruption of the natural order as Gloucester is indignant at Lear?s dismissal of his loyal servant, Kent.  Lear, of course, not only dismissed a loyal servant, but also his only loyal daughter, Cordelia.  It is, however, demonstrated in passage 3, that those who are loyal to Lear, despite having been wronged by him, have a great capacity to forgive him, and Lear is ultimately able to find redemption by admitting this fact; that he wronged those who loved him.  While Gloucester also realises, after being blinded, that Edgar is his loyal son, whom he, like Lear, banished, in this passage, the audience sees the opposite theme to redemption; betrayal.  Here the natural order is disturbed, as when Regan and Gonerill betray Lear, as a child is able to wrong a parent.  While to Gloucester, Edmund appears to want to protect his father from the contents by deeming it ?not fit for [your] o?erseeing?, the audience is aware of Edmund?s plan; to betray both his father and brother.  While Gloucester in the end, realises this, albeit after he has banished his own son, Lear comes to the realisation that he has been betrayed much quicker, and much of the remainder of the play focuses on Lear?s reaction to his betrayal at the hands of the two daughters who professed to have so much love for him and hold him in such high regard.

 

Passage 2, located in Act III, shows the initial response that Lear has to the realisation of his mistake.  Just as the natural order has been disrupted both by Lear?s betrayal but also by his decision to remove the robes of office and absolve himself of royal responsibilities, the natural elements become an important symbol.  The idea of the storm, first introduced in Act III represents both Lear?s state of internal madness and the political chaos that his decision has resulted in.  As Britain is on the verge of war, a result of Lear?s lack of political foresight, Lear himself, teeters on the brink of madness.  Lear?s dialogue with the storm in passage 2, where he proclaims himself as a ?slave? to the natural elements introduces the important idea of the dichotomy of Lear; as King Lear, and Lear the man.  Through suffering, Lear comes to have a greater appreciation for both the plight of the common man, as seen in his prayer before he enters the hovel, and the way in which the world is constructed.  In the middle of the play, the idea of Lear as a man emerges, particularly where he is walking through the heath.  Another character who goes through a similar process is Edgar.  Although Lear?s madness is genuine and Edgar?s feigned, through living as Poor Tom, Edgar gains a deeper understanding of the universe.  At the end of the play, Lear makes a final decision to remain as a man and not a King, as his last words show a feeble attempt, to once again, remove the robes of office.  Edgar, at the end of the play, shows the deeper understanding he has gained by expressing the importance of speak ones feelings and not what ought to be said.  In this line he shows an understanding of the disparity between human emotions and human communication, something that Cordelia experiences in Act I as she was unable to ?heave [my] heart into [my] mouth?.  Further on the theme of disruption of the natural order is the Fool?s dialogue in passage 2.  While much of what the Fool says seems nonsensical, the fool becomes the voice of reason as he begs Lear to seek shelter from the storm.  More ironic is when the Fool later chides Lear for his mistake, implying that Lear, himself is a fool for being so conceited and unable to distinguish between a ?glib and oily art? and true emotion.  Lear, does however, in Act V, reconcile his relationship with Cordelia, and in a true testament to both her love and loyalty to her father, she is able to forgive him.

 

Passage three shows the redemption of Lear from the grips of insanity.  Lear is driven mad both by his own mistake and by his betrayal.  While he is not reconciled with Gonerill or Regan before they die, Lear has the opportunity to beg for Cordelia?s forgiveness.  What is Lear?s redemption, is his ability to overcome the conceit that initially caused him to banish his most loyal daughter and admit to being a ?foolish old man?.  Lear recognises how he has wronged Cordelia, and whilst still unable to fathom why he was betrayed by his other two daughters, i s able to recognise Cordelia?s cause to not love him, as he had done her wrong.  Lear is redeemed here by his admission, and Cordelia?s forgiveness of her father serves as not only a testament to her character but as also, coupled with Gloucester?s reconciliation with his son Edgar, the only two suggestions that love could prevail in the universe.

 

In the events after passage three, Cordelia is hanged in prison and Lear himself, perishes upon hearing this.  The sequence of events that transpires throughout Act V leaves only three characters to walk off the stage while the rest lay dead.  Kent, before exiting the stage, observes that he is most likely, not long for the world, but would not want to be otherwise.  This statement, coupled with the fate of the characters which the audience perceive as good, fundamentally suggests that to live in the world is to suffer and that justice large just doesn?t come for most people.  While Albany upon conclusion of the play takes a legalistic view of the situation, it is perhaps Edgar who appears more fitting candidate to rule, as like Lear, he has gained n understanding of the way in which the universe is constructed by experiences many key themes of the play; madness, betrayal, disruption of the natural order, love and through his survival in the play, a sense of justice.
Vce 2007

English (50) Biology (50) Chemistry (44) Methods (39) International Studies (45) German (35)

2007 aggregate: 202.8
2007 ENTER: 99.65