Shakespeare is an author that students are either excited for or dread with all they’ve got when they see his name up next on the syllabus. I have always enjoyed his works and therefore was intrigued to begin reading King Lear.
I was very interested that the basic framework for the start of the play considers the issues with medieval inheritance guidelines. In those days, it was typical for the patriarch to pass his fortune down to the eldest male of the family. As someone who loves history and has taken a European history course, I have read a lot about this and it immediately caught my eye.
King Lear runs into a problem with this task because he has three daughters. Of the three, only two of the three have married. Okay, no big deal, he decides that he will divide his fortune up based on how well his daughters can proclaim his love for them.
This is where I started to question Lear’s decision making and ability to handle authority. It seems to me that pride clouds his capability to make informed and productive choices.
To start, he decides to divvy up his kingdom because he wants to remain king but doesn’t want the work. It is pride that prompts the idea to selfishly keep his title without the duties and responsibilities of actually being king. Instead of passing the title or keeping any of the work, he has too much pride to lose the position that places him as a leader.
He then orders his daughters to declare their love for him to determine how much of the kingdom they get. There is no other excuse for this than King Lear wanting to hear how loved and wonderful he is. In this way, his pride plays a major role again. It backfires because all of his daughters understand that this contest is to determine their future power and two of the three play into it as much as possible. Goneril and Regan both exclaim how they love Lear as much as life or how he gives them the most happiness they could imagine. Both of these declarations play right into Lear’s desire and need to boost his ego and play into his prideful nature.
It isn’t until his third daughter, Cordelia, makes a notion that she understands the game and isn’t willing to play into the prideful characteristics that Lear gets unsettles. She recognizes that she will never be able to declare her love with words as well as she can act on it every single day. When she refuses to contribute to this game, Lear goes so far as to completely banish her from his kingdom. He also banishes a loyal helper, Kent, for trying to show Lear what his youngest daughter meant.
Lear is unable to understand the magnitude of his actions because he is so overwhelmed with his damaged pride. We know his decision to banish his youngest daughter and loyal helper are outlandish because Shakespeare makes a point to include some reactions of other characters, including the two Princes battling for Cordelia’s love when the incident occurs.
This battle between King Lear’s ability to make sound decisions and option to side with his Pride will be very interesting to pay attention to as the play progresses!