The problems in society in King Lear?s time may be very similar to that of which we experience even today. Power and control played a roll in this story and still is a problem today. When do we fight over land or resources? The answer is obvious, all of the time. King Lear was to divide his possessions between his daughters and determine who gets those assets. His daughters see this as a moment of opportunity, and their father witnesses it as being forced to choose a side. This in relation towards today?s living and breathing world, and how it plays a major role in today?s society.
Today, someone with a position of power, or something to sacrifice has something to give away. Whether it be someone giving out their will towards the end of their life, a CEO of a major corporation giving the ownership of the company to the stockholders, or something as simple as picking the kid who gets to be on the popular guys baseball team at recess. In King Lear?s case, these very principles remain and hold true. Having to face his fate that lye before him: to give up what he has controlled for ages, to his daughters. On the other hand, his daughters (Regan, Goneril) both see this as a moment of opportunity, despite their father slipping away into madness.
Both Regan and Goneril wish to control all of the lands of Europe, however the greed for such power is so large that larger measures must be taken to achieve such a goal. To portray these ideals, I turn to Karl Marx who said ?The End Justifies The Means?(Marx, The German Ideology). Which was the backbone to supporting communism. Regan and Goneril were no different by doing whatever it was necessary to achieve these goals. Regan?s husband may have died but that did not stop her from pursuing Edmund as a potential husband as Goneril was also doing.
Exploiting the weaknesses in people is something we all do in at least one occasion in our lifetime. A good example would be in sports, you need to know your opponents weaknesses in order to come out ahead of the rest. In relation to King Lear, Regan and Goneril both use their father?s ever increasing madness against him. They dismiss the idea that Lear should continue to have one hundred knights by his side. Goneril shows her position by dismissing all of his knights instead of just a few.
Such disloyalty to their own father shows that they do not love their father that much. They show no respect or remorse for his condition, to the man who raised them since they were born. Such action is by no means less than betrayal. We witness this all of the time in today?s world. Alliances broken, treason committed, and of course a parents child seeking their own freedom at a certain age. All of this disloyalty has come at a certain point in someone?s life, which leads you to thinking, was this just a coincidence or was someone being deceived? Which brings me to my next point.
The characters had practiced such deceit throughout the story. Edmund makes a fake letter and gives it to his father, Gloucester, stating his brother Edgar had a plan to kill him. Edmund then convinces Edgar to run away. Whether we like it or not, this is a good example of how children act today. When siblings fight each other, they often like to commit an act that they can easily turn around and point the finger at their brother or sister. Lets take a young brother at the age of seven and his sister at the age of six. The brother accidentally breaks his father?s windshield with a new basketball. He then runs into the house and says it was his sister who broke it. This example is just like Edmund making up the story about his brother Edgar and the plot to kill his father.
Knowing almost no background history on any of the characters in the play, you see that there seems to be no distinguishable line between the average stranger and family. The characters almost seem to have no relation to anyone in the play. This holds true in come cases today as well. If a women?s husband were in a bar, he may talk about some things not intended for his wife to hear. On the other hand, if she somehow heard what her husband has been saying, she may feel as if there is no distinguishable line between family and stranger. Compare this to how Lear treated his daughter at the beginning of the play. He cast her aside as if she were nothing.
Overtime, people change. A criminal one-day may be a caretaker for the elderly the next. People may think the president is a great leader one day, and the next think he is the worst president to walk the face of the earth. Sometimes people only see one side of the coin and are blind to the other side it. King Lear was exactly like this. He saw his two daughters Goneril and Regan as the future leaders of his empire. Though his failure to see the other side of the coin through Cordelia cost him ultimately his life. His blindness only became clear once his eyes began to open towards the end of his life.
We can see that the lust for power and control can corrupt our views on life and potentially kill us in the end of we don?t watch our step. The deceit and treachery displayed in the story had shown us how someone appealing to be innocent and trustworthy may be quite the opposite. The greed for dominance over an empire has shown us that even once a possible loving family can break all of their ties to get the control they desire. This cost Gloucester his eyesight, and King Lear?s dynasty to come to an end.
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