Explain the theme of power in King Lear by Shakespeare.
Explain the theme of power in King Lear by Shakespeare.
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Power of the king and father is portrayed through an ageing and struggling Lear. He struggles to retain his authority in regards to his ambitious daughters. The same is depicted through the betrayal of Gloucester by his bastard son Edmund.
Lear’s inability to sustain the power he commanded as a king led to his loss of power as the family patriarch, causing him to lose his mind, life and his one daughter who truly cared for him, Cordelia.
The lust of power drives Cordelia and Goneril to destroy their father’s life as well ruin their own marriages.They end up becoming objects of mutual hatred ending with their deaths. Similarly, Edmund meets his tragic end at the sword of Edgar, the step brother he tried to murder.