One man’s tragic journey from Mighty to Humble: King Lear

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!

-         King Lear, Act I Scene IV

One of the best tragedies ever written by the Bard, has to be King Lear. I can say this safely, that there is not one student in English Literature who has not read or heard about or is familiar with King Lear.

The tragedy makes so many poignant observations on human behaviour, and the characters in the play (even secondary ones) are so well defined & multi-layered, that the play is one of the most adapted one for Broadway musicals, theatrical adaptations of all kinds, films etc. King Lear’s character is supposedly one of the most coveted roles that the greatest actors of the World intend to play in their career even today, and those who have had the luck to play it (Sir Laurence Olivier amongst many others) consider reaching a hallmark in their career!!

So what makes King Lear so time transcending & poignant after 400 years?!! What makes it one of most adapted stories after 4 centuries?

Just to give you a synopsis of the play’s story:

King Lear follows two plots, both dealing with situation of an almost similar vein:

Main Plot: King Lear & his daughters

Sub Plot: Earl of Gloucester & his rightful heir Edgar & bastard son Edmund

MAIN PLOT:

King Lear is the reigning King of Britain. He has three daughters; Goneril, Regan & Cordelia. The older daughters Goneril & Regan are married to Duke of Albany & Duke of Cornwall respectively. The youngest, Cordelia, is pursued by Duke of Burgundy & the King of France.

King Lear, who is now old & has lived his years as a monarch of Britain, decides to retire & divide his kingdom amongst his 3 daughters. He calls them each, in front of all the court & asks for a proclamation of their love towards him, in supreme vanity. The older sisters proclaim undying love for their father in the most flattering tones. This pleases their father, who decides to divide his kingdom on the basis of blatant flattery. When the turn comes for the youngest of the lot, Cordelia, she replies:

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; no more nor less.

Cordelia, being a simpler person, and one who carries more genuine emotions, is unable to rattle away pretty words to please her father to profuse her love for him. This offends the vain King to no end, who banishes Cordelia from her share & the Kingdom in disgrace after disowning her. Cordelia’s suitors also back away, seeing that she does not have any wealth now. However, The King of France later comes to his senses & accepts her as his betrothed.

When Earl of Kent, a close confidante of Lear, sees this gross injustice and speaks his mind in front of Lear, he is banished too!!

What sheer power can make us do in one moment of vanity is simply astounding. The realisation is so different and many times devastating when we wake up from that fake world & come to the real one.

King Lear, now off his title as a King, plans to spend his remaining days with a 100 loyal soldiers at his task & his time divided in peace between his older daughters, whose “love towards him” he was so assured of. He is grossly mistreated by both his daughters, now that he is of no use. The mistreatment happens with his retinue of 100 soldiers reduced to 50, then 10 & then none…but an old fool from the court. Lear goes mad with grief at this turn of events; a powerful monarch of Britain at one time, he is now just an old man with just his own name behind his back, nothing else.

Here I would like to allude a moment to Bhagvad Gita, that quotes:

ahańkāraḿ balaḿ darpaḿ

kāmaḿ krodhaḿ ca saḿśritāḥ

mām ātma-para-deheṣu

pradviṣanto 'bhyasūyakāḥ

-         Bhagvad Gita, 16.18

Which means: Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demons (humans who have these qualities) become envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion.

Taking it back to the context of King Lear – when a man (or woman) becomes overwhelmed or enamoured by qualities like false ego, pride, power & anger (all of which controlled King Lear), he becomes a demon (a carrier of such negative powers) and loses the sense of God (the better judgement, the conscience, the positive power) which actually resides within him, and also fails to see that inner God in others (Lear fails to see Cordelia’s true emotions because of his own vanity and Kent’s better judgement because of his own anger). The real religion mentioned here is nothing but a person’s “dharma” – his positive side, his better judgement, his conscience & his soul.

King Lear, was trapped in these basic human behavioural aspects, and was overwhelmed or blinded by them. Thus he became a demon of his own vices & lost the conscience that was residing within him. The same conscience that could not help him see faith from deceit in his own children.

And it is not only Lear; in the play many of the primary & secondary characters are overcome with same emotions of vice, which is what features their resultant destiny.

Coming back to the story, well rest is for you to read…how Lear’s life shapes up next is an example of the lines quoted above from Bhagvad Gita. We might cry in front of the Almighty, thinking our bad fate is an injustice to us, when we actually forget that it is a result of our bad “karma” (actions). Lear’s lament in later scenes is a poignant tale to solidify this philosophy of human nature.

SUB PLOT: Earl of Gloucester & his rightful heir Edgar & bastard son Edmund

Parallel to the story of Lear, we have the story of Earl of Gloucester in his court. The aging Earl has two sons, one legitimate, Edgar & one bastard son, Edmund.

Sick of his status in life Edmund poisons his father’s mind against Edgar, who truly loves his father. Edmund makes Gloucester believe that Edgar is trying to murder his father & take away his position and wealth.

In rage (again alluding to the verse of Gita mentioned above), Gloucester banishes his older son from his fortunes & soon sees the deceit & betrayal he was up against from the bastard son Edmund.

Lamenting upon his ill luck (as pointed above), he goes mad with grief and tries to escape the tyranny that he was up against.

Both Lear & Gloucester serve as an example of excess of:

False ego, Strength (power), Pride (in Position), lust (excess & blinding love and a desire for a spoken proof of love) and anger

This leads them to their tragic destiny that makes King Lear one of the best Tragedies ever written.

Inspirations for King Lear:

King Lear was re-written or re-adapted by Shakespeare between 1603-1606. However, against all popular notions, King Lear was not an original. It was an adaptation of an old tale, most possibly “Leir of Britain” that was recounted by Geoffrey of Mormouth in his 1136 AD pseudo-historical book – Historia Regum Britannie (The History of Kings of Britain). It was an account of all historical & mythological stories of the Kings of Great Britain (King Arthur being the most prominent one amongst them).

This also tells the story of a pre-Roman Celtic monarch, a semi-mythological figure, Leir, who ruled Britain and had three daughters Gonorill, Ragan & Cordella. This story however had a happy ending.

Shakespeare picked this story up almost 5 centuries later to adapt it into the biggest Tragedy stories of all times!!

Reception of The Bard’s King Lear:

When King Lear was first acted out of theatre, it received very unflattering reviews. Many considered the end to be too depressing & negative & obviously a deviation from the older take of Leir of Britain. It was not accepted popularly.

At that time, another playwright, Nahum Tate, re-wrote or adapted Shakespeare’s King Lear to his own; one that had a happy ending. And it was this play by Tate that was repeatedly performed & popularised until mid 19^th century, when Shakespeare’s “King Lear” was finally considered a stronger, more philosophical, and a play with many layers – in short a classic!!

It was then that The Bard’s King Lear got its due & was performed unanimously all over the World displacing Tate’s version forever.

Today King Lear happens to be the most adapted tale of parent-child relationship.

But its subtext was much deeper than that. Its subtext & context was made of the human tendency to fall prey to notions of false sense of pride, anger, lust (desire – Lear’s desire to hear love showered upon him) and making you a demon who in turn destroys his/her own life.

If you have not read this great Tragedy, grab a book today. If you can read the original play, then nothing like it, but if Shakespeare’s English is not your thing, then there are many story form adaptations of this play in simpler English.

Language will not matter. King Lear is a powerful story that will leave an indelible mark on you with the interplay of human emotions & symbolism in a way nothing else can.