Resumo de Power, Love And Self-discovery In King Lear

King Lear, written in 1605, was one of Shakespeare?s most powerful tragedies; it explores the theme of power and its destructiveness within the family system. Lust and greed are lesser themes, and when joined with power, they provide a background of acute human weakness, desolation and loss. When wielded in the hands of children against parent, it is particularly heinous. However, King Lear is also about self-discovery and the redemptive power of love.

King Lear, an aged king who wants to live out his last years in rest and freedom from kingly responsibilities, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters and their husbands. Before these are bestowed upon them, however; he must have a verbal confirmation from each daughter attesting their love and devotion to him as their father and king. The proclamation must include fervent and outward emotional displays of affection, the more skillfully and convincingly displayed the better.

Lear, in his doddering narcissistic request, creates a linguistic contest and general strife between the three sisters. The eldest daughters, Goneril and Reagan, flatter their father unabashedly, willing to say anything to appeal to the king?s vanity and to gain the kingdom and the power they so strongly lust after. Then comes the youngest daughter, Cordelia?s turn. She is the youngest and the one most loved by Lear. Cordelia does not know what to do; she knows her sister?s professions and praises are deceitful and shallow. She refuses to play this game and trusts that her father knows her great love for him through all the years of faithful demonstration. She assumes wrongly, for Lear insists upon her verbal affirmation and adulation. Cordelia understands that her future hangs in the balance; however, her true love for her father includes not to wrongly appeal to his vanity. Her refusal enrages Lear and he disowns her and banishes her from the kingdom.

The transference of the land to Goneril and Regan is also a transference of power and authority. Lear has literally given away his kingdom and his home. However, Lear does not discern this. The agreement was for each daughter to house her father and one hundred of his men, each a month at a time. Neither one of them are happy about this stipulation; they know that their father is almost senile and that they will have to suffer his unbearable behavior.

Lear believes that he still has authority in his daughter?s houses and that he can use it whenever he likes. But he is sadly mistaken as his daughter, Goneril reveals to her father disapproval of his company and insults him and his men. Lear becomes hurt and angry and leaves. At Regan?s house things get worse. When Lear mentions Goneril?s transgression, Regan defends her sister?s actions. Leer, with no place to go and becoming desperate, begs Regan to give him shelter and food. However, Regan is even more cold-hearted than her sister; she proposes that Lear return to Goneril and beg for her forgiveness, for Regan will not house her father.

Here is a moment of truth for Lear; he discovers the true nature of two of his daughters and his own folly and vanity. His kingdom is forever lost to him; he is driven out on the stormy heath with no roof over his head.
Shakespeare uses the wild heath symbolically to reveal Lear?s inner turmoil, insecurity and immaturity. Stripped of all the trappings and elements of kingship, Lear embarks on a journey of self-discovery and knowledge.

When Lear is most vulnerable, he finds in the person of Gloucester. A devoted subject, Gloucester has been blinded by the cruel Regan. Both Lear and Gloucester are like brothers now, both equalized by their own tragedies: "If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes....Thou must be pataient, we came crying hither." Lear also gains wisdom on the moor: "When we are born, we cry that we are come, to this great stage of fools." He curses his stupidity at renouncing his youngest daughter, Cordelia, the only daughter that truly loved him.

Lear does find her, but only too late, for she is dying. He loses his precious daughter, but gains a wonderful thing, his own freedom from self delusion and vanity. And he will remember Cordelia?s love for the rest of his life.

The denouement of King Lear carries a change of fate for all the players, especially for Lear?s oldest daughters. The force and consequence of evil power finally destroys Goneril and Regan; in her jealousy, Goneril poisons her sister. She also dies by being stabbed in the heart.

Shakespeare?s King Lear is a timeless tale about negative and positive power; about the negative force of the love of power and the positive strength of the love of family. It is also a story of self-discovery, all themes that are relevant even today.

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