English Notes Latest Questions

  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Love is pitted against treachery and sycophancy in King Lear. Lear’s daughter are forced to enter a battle to prove their love to him. Cordelia who truly loves her father is banished while the flatterers Goneril and Regan win his approval. Similarly, Kent is a loyal servant of Lear and is dismissedRead more

    Love is pitted against treachery and sycophancy in King Lear. Lear’s daughter are forced to enter a battle to prove their love to him. Cordelia who truly loves her father is banished while the flatterers Goneril and Regan win his approval.

    Similarly, Kent is a loyal servant of Lear and is dismissed for preferring true compassion than empty agreement with the King. Edgar is another character who truly loves his father Gloucester and sticks with him even after he mistreats him.

    His and Claudia’s love is unselfish whereas Goneril, Regan and Edmund are antithetical to true love and believe in more carnal love of power, wealth and physical form.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Justice comes full circle in King Lear, well almost. Cordelia is hanged but her father finally realizes his mistake in disowning her. King Lear goes through an ordeal for his arrogance and pride and ends up going insane and finally meets his tragic death. The evil plotters, Goneril and Regan are kilRead more

    Justice comes full circle in King Lear, well almost. Cordelia is hanged but her father finally realizes his mistake in disowning her. King Lear goes through an ordeal for his arrogance and pride and ends up going insane and finally meets his tragic death.

    The evil plotters, Goneril and Regan are killed as well. The most devious character of the story, Edmund is killed by Edgar in a befitting manner as well. Edgar also gets to inherit his father’s legacy after being invited by Albany to rule.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Nature is used thematically and metaphorically throughout King Lear. Shakespeare describes the conflict within the royal family as a storm, thunderbolts, wild seas etc. Even Cordelia uses these natural elements as metaphors to make a case fir restoration of her family. Physical weather elements likeRead more

    Nature is used thematically and metaphorically throughout King Lear. Shakespeare describes the conflict within the royal family as a storm, thunderbolts, wild seas etc.

    Even Cordelia uses these natural elements as metaphors to make a case fir restoration of her family. Physical weather elements like thunderstorm is introduced into the play when Lear wanders into the heath,

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Ownership and possessiveness- The discussion of the wall in the poem suggests us how the innate nature of human beings makes them possessive. The barrier is set only when people employ right to own. Boundaries and borders- The image of fence in the poem makes us think how far one should go to set baRead more

    Ownership and possessiveness- The discussion of the wall in the poem suggests us how the innate nature of human beings makes them possessive. The barrier is set only when people employ right to own.

    Boundaries and borders- The image of fence in the poem makes us think how far one should go to set barrier between fellow human beings.

    Tradition- The neighbour says what he learned from his father that good fences make good neighbours. It is a traditional thought coming from an ancient animal memory. So the poem also deals with this fight against tradition of regression.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Pathetic fallacy is used in King Lear to project the internal emotional flux of the characters on to the physical elements of nature. The winds are assumed to being caused by invisible mouths which are goaded to crack their cheeks. The fire is ascribed thoughts while thunder is seen shaking and smitRead more

    Pathetic fallacy is used in King Lear to project the internal emotional flux of the characters on to the physical elements of nature. The winds are assumed to being caused by invisible mouths which are goaded to crack their cheeks.

    The fire is ascribed thoughts while thunder is seen shaking and smiting the world. The scene describes a cataclysm and is exactly what King Lear is experiencing internally in Act III.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    The tragic hero of King Lear is King Lear himself. He enjoys supreme power and comfort and is magnanimous enough to give it all to his daughters. However, he suffers from his fatal flaw i.e. he is blinded with pride. He falls prey to flattery of his elder daughters and banishes Cordelia, the only daRead more

    The tragic hero of King Lear is King Lear himself. He enjoys supreme power and comfort and is magnanimous enough to give it all to his daughters. However, he suffers from his fatal flaw i.e. he is blinded with pride.

    He falls prey to flattery of his elder daughters and banishes Cordelia, the only daughter who truly loves him. This started a vicious cycle of ill fate and misadventures that lead to Lear’s ordeal, insanity and ultimately death.

    His flaw of arrogance brings his whole kingship to its knees and he is forced to rush into storms defenceless and alone. Even though Lear is not blameless hero he is manipulated by his daughters into committing an error of judgment. Therefore, his fall is tragic and receives sympathetic response from the audiences.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Betrayal is widespread in King Lear. Cordelia is betrayed by his father. Lear is betrayed by his two eldest daughters. Albany is betrayed by his wife Goneril. Gloucester and Edgar are betrayed by Edmund. Edgar is also betrayed by his father Gloucester. Kent is betrayed by his master Lear. In the endRead more

    Betrayal is widespread in King Lear. Cordelia is betrayed by his father. Lear is betrayed by his two eldest daughters. Albany is betrayed by his wife Goneril. Gloucester and Edgar are betrayed by Edmund.

    Edgar is also betrayed by his father Gloucester. Kent is betrayed by his master Lear. In the end, all these betrayals bring much grief to the ones perpetrating them. Both Goneril and Regan lose power and die.

    Gloucester is blinded and Edmund is killed by Edgar. King Lear learns about his error is judgment and laments the loos of Cordelia and dies sad and alone.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Many of the terrible events that occur in King Lear are foreshadowed in advance. The utter ruin of kingdom after Lear decides to divide it is foreshadowed by his declaration. Gloucester blindness is foreshadowed by multiple mentions of vision and ability of sight. Even Lear’s madness and exclusion iRead more

    Many of the terrible events that occur in King Lear are foreshadowed in advance. The utter ruin of kingdom after Lear decides to divide it is foreshadowed by his declaration.

    Gloucester blindness is foreshadowed by multiple mentions of vision and ability of sight. Even Lear’s madness and exclusion is foreshadowed when his fool imagines how good a fool his master would be.

    One unfortunate outcome that is not foreshadowed and really sneaks up for the readers is Cordelia’s death.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    The two parallel stories of two families in King Lear exhibit the same theme of filial ingratitude. In both family, Lear’s and Gloucester’s, the preferred heir/s become the cause for pain for the patriarch. Lear trusts Goneril and Regan with his kingdom only to be banished and ridiculed by them. GloRead more

    The two parallel stories of two families in King Lear exhibit the same theme of filial ingratitude. In both family, Lear’s and Gloucester’s, the preferred heir/s become the cause for pain for the patriarch.

    Lear trusts Goneril and Regan with his kingdom only to be banished and ridiculed by them. Gloucester also suffers indignity at the hands of his illegitimate son Edmund who only covets his wealth and power. In both cases the noble child, Cordelia and Edgar are punished for their loyalty and compassion.

    See less
  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    In terms of religion, King Lear lacks any definite form of organized religion. Gloucester openly flouts religious morals by glorifying his extra marital affairs. Lear himself mentions few ancient deities but shows a kind of authority over them because of his position as the king. Most noticeable forRead more

    In terms of religion, King Lear lacks any definite form of organized religion. Gloucester openly flouts religious morals by glorifying his extra marital affairs.

    Lear himself mentions few ancient deities but shows a kind of authority over them because of his position as the king. Most noticeable form of christian belief is shown through Edgar, who is pilloried and punished by his own.

    However, when he sees his father suffering, he only has compassion for him. That is a very Christian thing to do. There are also examples of rebirths or new leases of life in the play with the likes of Kent, Edgar and Gloucester, another reference to the Christian faith.

    See less