king lear
...may have seemed, were foreseeable. Yet even as his eyes were being removed solely due to Edmund’s unjustified betrayal, Gloucester is still unable to accept responsibility for his own errors. He makes fate responsible for the injustices he suffers, pleading “He that will think to live till he be old Give me some help! O cruel! O you gods!” (III, vii, 70-71). The gods, who control fate, become the source of his pain and suffering in his mind. Fate, however, is no more the source of his pain than his loyal son Edgar. The only cause of Gloucester’s physical pain is his own blindness to the disloyalty of his son, Edmund. It is this metaphorical blindness which led to his actual blinding. Shakespeare’s use of irony helps prove Gloucester’s realization that he is responsible for his own fate. It is only just after Gloucester’s blinding that he is informed of Edmund’s betrayal. Finally realizing the truth, Gloucester responds “O my follies! then Edgar was abused. Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!” (III, vii, 92-93). By finally asking the “gods” and his son for forgiveness, Gloucester acknowledges his misjudgment of Edmund’s loyalty and his misplaced blame for his own duress. In the end, Gloucester was in control of his own fate and his failure to realize this hindered his own future. The irony of the situation is, of course, that in losing his physical sight, Gloucester finally sees the truth of his own error in judgment. In the end, Shakespeare’s lesson is that those who cannot see loyalty in others, blame fate for the pain they endure physically, finally seeing that individuals control their own future. Death can also be regarded as the result of fate. When individuals are blind to loyalty, death is often thought to be the result of a higher power, and in the end they become aware that they have chosen their own path. Shakespeare examines the relationship between father, son, and brother in King Lear quite in depth. Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, is quick to judge his brother, Edgar, as the source of his mistreatment without accounting for Edgar’s loyalty towards him. Without wavering, Edmund maliciously accuses his brother of treachery and has him banished from his fathers estate with the sole intention of acquiring the land to which he believes he is entitled. Believing he is deserving of the land, Edmund disregards his brother’s loyalty as he formulates his plan: Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land: Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate! Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper, (I, ii, 16-22) Consumed with his brother’s legitimacy over his own illegitimacy, Edmund betrays his brother and father to achieve his own goals. This betrayal of his loyal brother leads to his rise and eventual fall from power. In a final attempt to achieve power, Edmund enters into a duel with his disguised brother, Edgar, and is slain. As he lies fatally wounded and his brother reveals himself, Edmund says “Thou hast spoken right, ‘tis true; The wheel is come full circle: I am here,” (V, iii, 173-174). This reference to the Elizabethan wheel of fate, which symbolizes the rise to fortune and descent to misery, shows us that Edmund believes his death was the result of fate. Edmund’s character is doomed to believe that his death was the tragic result of a higher power which would not allow him to maintain his ascent to power. There is, however, an evident connection between Edmund’s betrayal of his brother’s loyalty and his death at the hands of the man he betrayed. Edmund seems to, rather naively, fail to see the correlation between his own blindness and his descent from power until his final act of redemption. As he approaches death, Edmund is able to see the errors in his beliefs and amongst his final words he confesses: I pant for life: some good I mean to do, Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send, Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia: Nay, send in time. (V, iii, 243-247) By acting against his own “nature”, Edmund is acting on the belief that individuals decide their own course. He is accepting that his own decisions influence his future and not his “nature” or fate. It is only because of his unexpected fall from power, at the hands of the brother he betrayed, that Edmund is able to realize that he chose to act on, what he believed to be, his own “nature” and it was this decision that lead to his eventual death. The reality of the situation is that people who disregard those loyal to them, place the blame of their deaths on fate, learning in the end that they have power over their own future. Finally, betrayal is blamed on fate when it is the result of an individual’s inability to distinguish those loyal to them, and it eventually leads to the discovery of one’s control over their own fate. Shakespeare uses his tragic hero, King Lear, to best prove the relationship between blindness to true loyalty and accepting the responsibility of one’s future. Hurt by his daughter Cordelia’s inability to voice her love for her father, Lear hastily replies to her silence: From whom we do exist, and cease to be; Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me Hold thee, from this, for ever. (I, i, 114-118) Shakespeare immediately reveals his hero’s tragic flaw, which leads to his loss of power. Lear’s failure to recognize his daughter’s love hints at the hardship he might eventually endure. Disowning the only daughter who truly loves him and rewarding his other daughters, Goneril and Rega...