King Lear is a tragic hero, doomed by the misfortune of his own error. A reigning example of how a noble man can be defeated by his flaws, he drives himself to the brink of insanity. King Lear’s flaws are that he is arrogant, prideful, and biased. It’s the reason for his insanity that brings out strong emotions in the reader. King Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan are insincere about their love for him; they give a fantastical view of how daughters should love their father. Cordelia, however, gives her father a realistic view of a daughter’s love, which he isn’t equipped to handle. King Lear appears to be a good man, if not a bit egotistical and foolish. It is very easy to like him. Yet, consider that Goneril and Reagan may have turned out the way they did because their father has a clear biases, a favorite child in Cordelia. The idea that a parent has a favorite child is conceivable, yet to express that emotion so clearly can be damaging to a child’s psyche.
King Lear has always approached his daughters as the king, with an extreme expression of authority. He never visited his daughters as simply a father. It’s a shock to him when reality hits, and the love he thought he had was simply an illusion, and his only saving grace was Cordelia. At the end of the day, King Lear learns what it’s like to feel other people’s pain, but sadly with no rewards, he must find company in insanity.
All posts by Chiffon
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” ― Oscar Wilde
Temptation is a key theme in Measure for Measure: it’s a factor in discovering one’s true self. Angelo can’t resist temptation. In many ways his proposition to Isabella makes the reader view him as an immoral or evil person. He has no issue with giving into temptation and using someone’s life as bargaining tool. Angelo proves himself to be extremely human, flawed and vulnerable. Isabella, however has many traits in common with Angelo, and yet refuses temptation wholeheartedly. Isabella’s refusal of temptation actually reflects the negatives she tries to hide in her personality. She is proud, pious, and selfish even when Claudio’s life hangs in the balance. Isabella is naturally viewed as a good person: what could be immoral about a future nun?
Isabella in many respects needs to yield to temptation to truly become whole. Here is a woman who is completely uncomfortable with her sexuality, and in her turn her feminine power. How can she reach that next level of becoming holy and righteous if she has never given into the rapture of sin to understand sacrifice?
The question remains are those who give into temptation weaker in character than those who will not?
Is a Dream a Dream, or a Dreamed Reality?
I viewed A Midsummer Night’s Dream as an easy-to-relate-to Shakespearean play, having read his other works. There are elements to this play that ring true for that time period and ours. As long as we can remember there have been stories of love and fights in honor of protecting love. In this play elements of fantasy are weaved into the fabric of the play. So much so they make appearances where it seems uncommon for them to be.
At the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck comes on to the stage and states to the audience.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
Pucks is telling the audience that if they did not enjoy the show imagine it but a dream and it will all be ok. This is the final reinforcement on the importance of dreams in relation to this play. If something doesn’t please you assume that it is a dream and that will bring peace to your mind. A dream is an escape from reality or reality is the escape from the dream. Love is an escape and sometimes it’s an escape from reality as well. The things that you may have seen and believed are nothing more than fantasy taking over in love sometimes as well as when you view a play. Even if real emotions are evoked as they often are in dreams they’re separate and a fading escape from reality. This is what stood out to me most the idea of the mystical fairies along side the human reality. The fairies living and affecting the outcome of the human beings. Yet their impact could be viewed as a dream and not as the reality presented.