ipl-logo

King Lear Character Analysis

1158 Words5 Pages

In William Shakespeare 's play, King Lear, there are many villains, which are used to help enhance the meanings throughout a work. Villains add to the intrigue that a reader has as they are reading, as they add to or cause some of the major conflicts of the plot. In King Lear, Lear divides his kingdom between his three children based on how much they said that they loved him. This backfires as he gives all his kingdom to the two daughters, Goneril and Regan, who were plotting against him from the start, leaving him with nothing. Ultimately, his bad decisions and the cold-heartedness of his daughters leads to the death of him, his daughters, and many others. The main villain, Goneril, helps to add to the meaning and to the plot of Shakespeare’s play. Goneril can be seen as the most villainous character throughout the play because she lied to and was cruel to her father, King Lear, she was the most ruthless and brutal with her punishments, and she did most everything merely for self gain. Goneril not only lies to her father, but she is nothing but cruel to him. When Lear decides how to divide his kingdom, he does so based on how much his daughters love him. In order to gain the land and power, Goneril lies and goes on and on about how much she loves him, even though she really doesn’t. “I love you more than words can wield the matter, dearer than eyesight… no less than life… A love that makes breath poor and speech unable” (1.1.55-60). The King, however, does not

Show More
Related

  • Evil Vs Villainy In Macbeth

    794 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lady Macbeth puts on a fierce and intimidating front but proves incapable of the egregious act of murder. Macbeth, however, actually commits murder and determines to do any vile deed to fight for the crown. He holds this disposition even until the point of death, unlike Lady Macbeth who dies repentant. Macbeth’s murderous actions and attitude prior to death ultimately demonstrate that he is the worse villain of the

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Destruction And Evil

    408 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kaila Hyder Williamson British Lit 05 October 2016 Macbeth Macbeth is most reliable for his own destruction and evil, but other characters played a big part in his reasoning behind the crimes he committed. The Three Witches gave Macbeth a idea of how to follow and obtain the goal the he had been wanting for a long time, to be king. His wife, Lady Macbeth, was a huge influence to commit the crimes he committed. She manipulated Macbeth in many ways.

    Read More

  • The Fool In King Lear

    986 Words  | 4 Pages

    play. Especially, when the Fool first appearance is in Act 1, scene iv, after Cordelia had moved away with the King of France and Kent has banished out kingdom even after the storm and others disguiser figures, It seems, they are appearance on the stage at the same time frequently . Indeed, the Fool becomes Lear 's voice of reason and conscience, actually, Fool tries to move Lear 's Conscience at most times but when he feels that Lear seems to be torturing within his mind and heart, again he tries to calm him by the cleverly way ."The Fool sees or tries to see, the humorous potentialities in the most heart wrenching of incidents"(Knight,2005:187).

    Read More

  • Motifs Theme In Macbeth

    1525 Words  | 7 Pages

    William Shakespeare is considered as one of the best play writers in history. One of his most well known plays is Macbeth where a Scottish general named Macbeth has a strong desire to be king which leads him to betray and murder his king, Duncan. He also kills the nobles who have been loyal to him in order to maintain his title as king. Throughout this play, Shakespeare uses the motif of ambition, guilt, and fate to characterize the characters, show the different themes present within the play, and how the motifs are still relevant today.

    Read More

  • Internal Conflict In Macbeth Essay

    1064 Words  | 5 Pages

    Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, analyzes the tragic downfall of a man who pursued his prophecy given to him by three witches, and suffered the downfall because of it. Told his power was inevitable, Macbeth explores the idea of murdering the King to achieve his goal of becoming King himself. Macbeth continually faces this, contemplating the moral issue of committing murder to in turn, fulfill his powerful destiny. While facing this internal conflict, Lady Macbeth developes an influence over Macbeth as well. Driven by her own desire to be Queen, Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to commit the murder, by challenging his manhood and often reminding him that it is, in fact, his destiny.

    Read More

  • Rashness In King Lear

    1388 Words  | 6 Pages

    ACT I Early on in the Shakespearean play, King Lear makes the decision to refuse giving Cordelia a portion of the kingdom and disowns her as she does not falsely amplify her love to her father the way her sisters had. The decision is rash and even Lear’s servant Kent tries to tell Lear that he is not thinking on this decision clearly. Lear stubbornly keeps his word even though he admitted that Cordelia was his favorite and that he planned to spend his old age with her. The question as to why Lear did not swallow his pride despite his regret and hands the kingdom over to Cordelia’s two sisters and their husbands.

    Read More

  • Sympathy For King Lear's Redemption

    249 Words  | 1 Pages

    The audience sympathise with King Lear’s redemption. Throughout the play, he gets a chance at redemption to make up for his mistake of having “thy truth being the dower:” for his daughter. He realises the folly of his actions and redeems himself stating “I am a very foolish fond old man”. This demonstrates King Lear's change in character as he learns that he is not as powerful as thinks he was and starts to become more humble. There is a lure of sympathy for King Lear because a story of redemption inspires people and catches their imagination, that anything is possible.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Character Analysis

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth, in many cases, is portrayed as being evil. However, his character is not truly the evil force driving the actions of the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, as well as the witches and their misleading prophecies, are the real driving forces of Macbeth’s unspeakable actions. Macbeth is driven mad by the evil around him, causing him to turn to the violent behavior displayed throughout the many murders of the play.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Strengths And Weaknesses

    824 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.

    Read More

  • Lies And Manipulation In King Lear

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout William Shakespeare’s tragic play, King Lear, the goal of gaining control over the kingdom and boasting about one’s status drove the characters to deceive each other through the use of lies and manipulation. Right from the start, King Lear demanded that his daughter profess their love for him, causing Regan and Goneril to exaggerate their love all to flatter their father and gain the most of his land. When it was Cordelia’s turn, even though she spoke from her heart about how much her father means to her, her words did not praise her father enough as he insisted she revise her confession. Act 1 Scene 1 started the destruction of the Lear family as Regan and Goneril proved successful in gaining their father’s land by spreading lies

    Read More

  • Nature And Culture In Shakespeare's King Lear

    1226 Words  | 5 Pages

    William Shakespeare's King Lear is depressing and has no mercy, but it also encounters many more aspects which are quite important for everyone to know, such as: trails of deaths, battles, love, hatred, treacheries and most importantly nature and culture. Shakespeare created a play where the world was cruel and there was only plotting and tragedy with no shining light at the end of the tunnel. Shakespeare makes King Lear, a natural figure to show the hypocrisy. The connection between King Lear and Cordelia is an analogy for the relationship of nature and culture. It seems that King Lear believed in culture instead of nature, he could not understand his youngest, nicest and the most loving daughter Cordelia only because she had no words to

    Read More

  • Patriarchal Society In King Lear

    1987 Words  | 8 Pages

    Witnessing the powerful forces of the natural world, Lear comes to understand that he, like the rest of humanity, is irrelevant in the world. This realization proves much more important than the realization of his loss of political control, as it enforces him to set up his values and become gentle and caring. With this newfound understanding of himself, Lear hopes to be able to accost the chaos in the political realm as well. King Lear is a symbol of a strong man, who has a Reason that counts, a powerful King who gives everything and gets nothing. King Lear, we may say that he lost his authority to his daughters, as a father, once he gave them

    Read More

  • King Lear's Character Growth

    1955 Words  | 8 Pages

    King Lear is an arrogant and powerful individual who is very much aware of his authority. Lear’s most obvious flaw at the start of the play is that he values appearances over reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to also enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to take the king’s responsibilities of ruling for the good of his kingdom. Likewise, his test for his daughters establishes the fact that he would much rather prefer a complimentary public display of

    Read More

  • King Lear Theme Analysis

    858 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is often said that the opening scene or chapter of a drama sets the stage for the major themes that the reader will see throughout the book or play. This theory is proven to be true in William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The first scene in act one helped to introduce some of the themes that would be seen throughout the rest of the play like the idea of madness, reconciliation and the idea of authority versus chaos. One major theme was reconciliation. In the very beginning when Lear was asking his daughter how much they all loved him, Cordelia couldn’t come up with the right words to say that would express her feeling for her father and accused her sister of exaggerating their love for him.

    Read More

  • I Am A Man More Sinned Against Than Sinning Analysis

    1327 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the interesting quote, "I am a man more sinned against than sinning" (Hamlet, act 3:2.58-59), Lear states the unjust treatment he received from his daughters, while acknowledging that he has not been a saint himself. Through this quote shows his belief that although he has mistreated people and not acted right, his behaviour has yet not been worse than how others have treated him. Lear’s character is highly flawed and has undoubtedly acted unjust while having a shallow view on relationships and how they should be. Lear can be viewed as a stubborn old man whose mind cannot be changed easily.

    Read More

More about King Lear Character Analysis

Open Document