King Lear Essays (1251 words) - Literature, King Lear, British Films

King Lear King Lear, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic tale of filial conflict, personal transformation, and loss. The story revolves around the King who foolishly alienates his only truly devoted daughter and realizes too late the true nature of his other two daughters. A major subplot involves the illegitimate son of Gloucester, Edmund, who plans to discredit his brother Edgar and betray his father. With these and other major characters in the play, Shakespeare clearly asserts that human nature is either entirely good, or entirely evil. Some characters experience a transformative phase, where by some trial or ordeal their nature is profoundly changed. We shall examine Shakespeare's stand on human nature in King Lear by looking at specific characters in the play: Cordelia who is wholly good, Edmund who is wholly evil, and Lear whose nature is transformed by the realization of his folly and his descent into madness. The play begins with Lear, an old king ready for retirement, preparing to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. Lear has his daughters compete for their inheritance by judging who can proclaim their love for him in the grandest possible fashion. Cordelia finds that she is unable to show her love with mere words: Cordelia. [Aside] What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent. Act I, scene i, lines 63-64. Cordelia's nature is such that she is unable to engage in even so forgivable a deception as to satisfy an old king's vanity and pride, as we see again in the following quotation: Cordelia. [Aside] Then poor cordelia! And not so, since I am sure my love's More ponderous than my tongue. Act I, Scene i, lines 78-80. Cordelia clearly loves her father, and yet realizes that her honesty will not please him. Her nature is too good to allow even the slightest deviation from her morals. An impressive speech similar to her sisters' would have prevented much tragedy, but Shakespeare has crafted Cordelia such that she could never consider such an act. Later in the play Cordelia, now banished for her honesty, still loves her father and displays great compassion and grief for him as we see in the following: Cordelia. O my dear father, restoration hang Thy medicine on my lips, and let this kiss Repair those violent harms that my two sisters Have in reverence made. Act IV, Scene vii, lines 26-29. Cordelia could be expected to display bitterness or even satisfaction at her father's plight, which was his own doing. However, she still loves him, and does not fault him for the injustice he did her. Clearly, Shakespeare has crafted Cordelia as a character whose nature is entirely good, unblemished by any trace of evil throughout the entire play. As an example of one of the wholly evil characters in the play, we shall turn to the subplot of Edmund's betrayal of his father and brother. Edmund has devised a scheme to discredit his brother Edgar in the eyes of their father Gloucester. Edmund is fully aware of his evil nature, and revels in it as seen in the following quotation: Edmund. This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeits of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. ... I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing. Act I, scene ii, lines 127-137, 143-145. Clearly, Edmund recognizes his own evil nature and decides to use it to his advantage. He mocks the notion of any kind of supernatural or divine influence over one's destiny. Edgar must go into hiding because of Edmund's deception, and later Edmund betrays Gloucester himself, naming him a traitor which results in Gloucester's eyes being put out. Edmund feels not the slightest remorse for any of his actions. Later on, after the invading French army has been repelled, Lear and Cordelia have been taken captive and Edmund gives these chilling words to his captain: Edmund. Come hither captain; hark. Take thou this note: go follow them to prison; One step

Book and Movie Comparison Sample Essay

Book and Movie Comparison Sample EssayThere are a lot of ways to do a book and movie comparison sample essay. You can combine or contrast both books and films and do your own independent study on the subject of the movie you are analyzing, or you can just add a couple of clips from both books and use the script of the film as your source material.But let's face it: you're not going to sit down at your computer and try to create a comparison sample essay by hand. Even if you happen to have a copy of both books sitting on your shelf or in your closet, you probably aren't a highly skilled writer. This is why you need a good book and movie comparison sample essay service.The first step in compiling a good book and movie comparison sample essay is to find a good book and movie comparison service. The best way to do this is to go to some of the sites that are focused on this type of research and check out their sample essays.Once you find one that you like, you'll want to write up a genera l overview about each book and movie. It needs to be descriptive enough so that when you start writing the body of your essay, you are already in the right frame of mind to do it. If it isn't descriptive enough, you won't be able to get into the meat of the topic.Of course, you need to know what kind of analysis you are going to do before you begin writing the essay. Will you be basing your conclusion solely on the book or on the film?What's more, you'll want to think about how to write about the book and the film so that you will know how to answer the question of how do I compare these two books and movies? This is a good test for you to make sure that you can write about the book and the film objectively.Finally, you need to figure out whether or not the book and the movie are similar enough that it would be an effective way to write an essay about them. In other words, do you think the book and the movie will be similar enough to write about them independently of each other? A b ook and a movie comparison sample essay can only have a single argument: is the book better than the movie?If you really feel like your writing skills are lacking and you don't have any connections to those who can help you, then a good book and movie comparison sample essay is something you can do on your own. However, if you know a few people who can help you, then it may be worth it to take the time to compile a good book and movie comparison sample essay.