King Lear is a tragedy about King who, after dividing his kingdom and throwing away the love of two faithful daughters turns mad and goes on a journey with his fool. The King’s loyal courtier and friend retires to the countryside where he rules over his own small kingdom in which he must learn to be both King and father. The King’s two oldest daughters both declare their love for him and swear to be entirely loyal.
King Lear initially favors the one who says she will love him more than he loves himself, but later in the play when King Lear decides that his youngest daughter is the most loving of all, he banishes Cordelia and proclaims that he will give his inheritance to her sisters rather than her. King Lear then turns mad after being made out by one of his other loyal courtiers (Kent) due to King Lear believing that Kent was siding with Cordelia’s cruel future husband against King Lear.
King’s power starts diminishing rapidly so much so that none of the servants are willing to serve King without getting paid high wages. After Norfolk has killed off Gloucester, King Lear goes mad to a point where he sees imaginary numbers and believes he can do magic. King Lear finally finds Cordelia after the King of France makes King Lear a slave so that King Lear could work off his debts in exchange for Cordelia’s freedom. The King of France marries Cordelia after the death of King Lear.
These actions from King of France show how much love King had for Cordelia since she was treated better than any other prisoner at least when it came to food and clothing. King Lear then dies with Cordelia holding him in her arms after she is informed that Kent has forgiven her and is just outside waiting to “shake” (hug) her hand while telling her about good news while tryin gto convince King Lear that King of France is not marrying Cordelia for her money (which King Lear thinks he is). Why did King Lear turn blind?
The King’s actions between Act III scene 6 and Act IV scene 6 shows how King Lear turned blind. King Lear was afraid to go out in public after both daughters left him since the King thought his other daughter would also leave him like his other two children did. At the end, when one of good loyal courtiers who had been serving the King all this time tells King Lear why he needs a retinue with young men carrying torches, you see how King Lear turns blind in a literal sense so much so that even until near death, King can’t bear to have people follow him.
King Lear’s fool never left King Lear. King Lear was King when his two oldest daughters were loyal, but King Lear wasn’t King when the youngest daughter was loyal since King of France made King Lear a slave so that he could marry Cordelia after King Lear died. The Fool is loyal in his actions especially in Act III scene 7 when the fool carries King Lear on his back since King had become blind and sickly due to old age in addition to becoming mad once both of King’s older daughters abandoned him in order to get married (for money).
The Fool is also loyal in how he treats Cordelia with respect even though she was seen as less important than her sisters for love since they were both given land by their father while King Lear had to send Cordelia overseas. King of France sees King Lear’s loyal fool as more valuable than King Lear’s two older daughters especially Cordelia, King of France’s new wife since King of France keeps King Lear and the fool by his side all the time for entertainment purposes (and because King is indebted to them).
King Lear is a man who serves as contrast since he was very loyal in loving his children and serving others before he becomes blind to what love means after both of his daughters leave him. His loyalty also gets affected negatively when he turns mad but it starts changing positively again when he finds out that Cordelia didn’t die during childbirth like King believed so much so that King even became willing to fight against her future husband.
King King Lear’s loyalty was affected negatively when he saw imaginary numbers while King Lear believed that he could do magic. King Lear’s loyalty started turning positively again after King of France forced King Lear to work as a slave for King of France in order to buy his own daughter Cordelia back from King of France since King wanted his daughter that was never treated well due to her lack of money compared to her sisters even though King gave both daughters land.
King Lear went blind, lost his power and became sickly since both older daughters left him which leads him to turn mad because this happened. Loyalty also changes within King Lear himself since he starts believing that imaginary numbers were real and the only reason why the fool stayed loyal is because the fool got paid and King Lear starts to lose his loyal side after he turns mad.
King of France lost his power and was forced to runaway by King’s army who put King Lear back as King since King of France married King Lear’s youngest daughter Cordelia without King Lear knowing about it. King Lear, as a result, went from being very powerful before both daughters left him to scraping the bottom of the barrel since he became blind, got sickly and then turned into a slave for his new son-in-law King of France in order keep Cordelia alive.
King Lear starts out as a leader who is loved by all but becomes a man who only has one person love him which is his fool when everyone else leaves him due to old age once both older daughters leave King Lear and King Lear’s power gets taken away from King Lear. King Lear also starts to believe imaginary numbers are real which takes a turn for the worse once King turns mad but it takes a turn for the better again when Cordelia isn’t dead after all and King becomes willing to fight King of France’s army in order to get his daughter back.
King, as a result, is a man who loves being surrounded by people due to being very loyal before both older daughters leave him but immediately starts hating everyone around him because he turned mad since this happened. Loyalty can be seen through everybody within King Lear even though King Lear does have an extra amount of loyalty seeing as how both older daughters abandoned King Lear while King of France’s army took King Lear’s power away from King Lear.
King Lear, as a result of all this, goes from being very loved by everybody to having nobody love him which is almost like he goes through the five stages of grief since King Lear went from anger and denial since both older daughters left King Lear to King Lear going through sadness and King Lear seemed to be in a state of bargaining when King turned mad believing imaginary numbers were real but finally accepts what happens once King learns that Cordelia isn’t dead.
