King Lear
King Lear is a story written during ancient Britain. It is a story where the king of Britain, King Lear (Lear), has three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Lear wants to divide his kingdom to his daughters. He comes out with a childish question, asking them to express their love to him. Then, he will distribute the portion of property according to the amount of love the daughters can express.
This story portrays irony where the daughter who love Lear the most get nothing while the others who only greed and not filial get the biggest share of property. This can be seen through the speech of Goneril and Regan that shows greed and do not love Lear:
“Pray you, let us hit together: if our father carry authority with such disposition as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us.”
Cordelia is a responsible and filial child. When she knew that her sisters have cast Lear out of power, she return with army to help restore her father kingship. This can be seen that she is not greed of power or fame but the love towards father.
“No blown ambition doth our armys’s incite, but love, dear love, and our aged father’s right.”
Through analyzing King Lear, a lot of irony can be found. These include the death of Goneril and Regan due to jealousy. As well as, Edmund become the king and not Lear anymore. This story portrays the relationship of human in the stand of power, materials and love.
1 comment:
Well, I was interested with the word “irony” in your blog. As what you have said, this story portrays irony when Cordelia who loves Lear the most and sincerely do not get any division of the Kingdom. On the other hand, Goneril and Regan who are greedy and not filial get the biggest division of the kingdom. Besides this, I think there more elements of irony can be found in this play. For an instance, the role of Fool is ironic. Though his name is negatively connotated as stupid, ironically, he is the one who is filled with wisdom and takes the courage to advice and help the King. Furthermore, at the end of the play, it is Cordelia and Kent who has been chased away by Lear at the beginning come back to help Lear. Those irony have suggested to us that life is so unpredictable.
Life is a stage. Hence, just like this play, our life is full of irony. As Ju Vian has mentioned, Cordelia gains nothing in the division of Kingdom though she loves Lear sincerely. This happens in our real life too. Sometimes, we treat or help people with a sincere heart, but it turns out that we might not be appreciated and even worst we might be blamed for nothing just like Cordelia. In contrast, people who are pretentious or with bad intention in their heart might gain something better compared to those who are sincere.
However, I believe that God is in control of all. He judges everything in wisdom. God knows how to differentiate between good and evil. For those who are sincere, they might not be rewarded, yet one day their named would be cleared. Those who are evil will be judged and punished at the end of the day. Hence, though sometimes we may get frustrated when thing does not turn out as it should be, keep in mind that God sees everything in His eyes.
Karen
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