Essay: Rebirth & Renewal with Shakespeare’s King Lear & the 10 Commandments

In William Shakespeare poem King Lear, the character King Lear in blind to the truth about what is going on in his kingdom and when that power starts to vanish that then they are able to see what is in front of them this whole entire time and who their friends are and who the people against them are. This relationship is shown in the poem with King Lear and Gloucester. In the poem the 10 commandments shine out which are, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not Have no other Gods before me and Thou shalt not make idols and Thou shalt not take the lord’s name in vain and Thou shalt not murder, commit adultery, bear false witness against your neighbor and Thou shalt honor thy mother and father, remember the Sabbath day, to keep that day a holy day. An article to support the 10th commandments from the bible within King Lear is, “Genesis.” In the article it talks about the 10th Commandments, as an example for, creating living spaces; they make room for the individual to develop and at the same time give protection from breaking into other people’s individual living space, the space that is individual life. Also according to the text in the bible, not only the kings, but all humans’ beings are God’s representatives on earth and shall rule it, shape it, dress it, and keep it in an ordered and purposeful way. Meaning that God doesn’t see in black or white, he accepts everybody’s faults and shows people what they take for granted in their lives will be returned to them in many different ways as he sees fit, just like with King Lear. Also in the poem of King Lear, shows feudalism and the decline from it, and an article that represents how feudalism is declining in the ways of King Lear’s courtroom and the kingdom is, “King Lear and the Decline of Feudalism”. In the poem King Lear, King Lear represents the neo capitalist economy of the Renaissance, not directly, but rather through an exploration of the philosophical concepts and moral values that are associated within that economy. It shows that Lear and Gloucester suffer a crisis of faith and intellectual doubts about who cares about them. Their crisis is a direct result of having their views, settled down into one point. So now their views and faiths are challenged by Edmund, Regan and Goneril. In Lear’s situation, the way that his power can be shown as being taken for granted is at the beginning of the when he divides up his kingdom between his three daughters. Lear’s plan is to give the biggest piece land from his kingdom to the child that he loves him with all of their heart the most, out of all of his daughters, his favorite daughter, is named Cordelia and he knows that she will win the challenge that he has put up. While his other two daughters named Goneril and Regan, are evil and cruel, they lie to their own father with a mushy tale of love and caring affection toward their father. Here is a quote, on how upset King Lear is when he is, telling his daughter Cordelia that they will never be with each other again because of her banishment, “I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad. I will not trouble to my child. Farwell. We’ll meet no more, no more see another. But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh” (Lines- 215-218). However, Cordelia refuses to play Lear’s game and wants him to love her because, she is his daughter and he should lover here and see it as that way. Lear hears what she wants, but he decides against it and it makes him insane. So he becomes enraged with angry and he cast off Cordelia completely from the family. An article that I have read to support this is, “Rebirth and Renewal in Shakespeare’s King Lear”, which talks about, King Lear and what he did throughout the poem and what it comes down into the end of the poem, “Because, Lear seeks applause for his childlike ways and that he can’t detect the difference between the truth and the falsehood, the replies please him. When his youngest daughter, Cordelia answers him in a plain, honest way, “I love your greatness according to the bond I have with you; no more nor less”, Lear becomes shocked, disinherits Cordelia and divides her third of the land between his other two daughters, Regan and Goneril (Lines-83-84). Then he banishes Cordelia from the kingdom and now that Cordelia is now banished/deprived the King of France, who was visiting Lear’s court is seeking her hand in marriage and he still wants to be with her forever. Also, in the poem King Lear is shown to act like a child sometimes almost childlike, he acts as he is cruel with passionate feelings, he is also kind as well. King Lear also, sometimes has a violent temper that gets out of control and has a blindness to what he doesn’t see also contribute to the way he is and he is really crazy as well. Lear also, gives one of his daughters away in marriage. A quote that supports King Lear is giving one of his daughters away in marriage is, “Peace Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I loved her most, and thought to set my rest of her kind nursery, Hence, and avoid my sight! So be my grave my peace, as here I give her father’s heart from her. Call France. Who stirs? Call Burgundy (Lines-113-118). Another article that I have read to support this evidence is, “King Lear and Chaos”, which talks about the chaos/turmoil that King Lear has caused to his country and to his kingdom. The article states that, like the biblical stories in the bible, King Lear begins with a kind of creation that is defined by separation, a search for order in his division of people. Lear destroys his kingdom and kingship, by believing that he is creating a new world order. His reason, “To shake all cares and business of our state, conforming them on younger years” (Lines-40-41). It seems that King Lear is being kind of selfish to his people and his land. If his kingship is such a burden, why should he impose it on others? Lear thoughtless heads towards turning everything into chaos by initiating a process of impending destruction. To those who are close to him, it’s apparent that his mind is unstable and that he doesn’t fully understand/realize what is going on in the kingdom and what he is doing for the kingdom as well. His family and friends attempt either to redirect him and his thinking into the right path or to take advantage of it. Also, in the poem there is Gloucester, who is betrayed by his son Edmund in believing that his other son Edgar is coming up with a plan against him and trying to kill him. At the beginning of the poem with Gloucester is branded a traitor for helping King Lear, and he is blinded by Cornwall who is the husband of Regan and when his eyes are taken out, he realizes that his son Edmund betrayed him, “All dark and comfortless. Where is my son Edmund? Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature to quit this horrid act” (Lines-85-87). Then he finds out the truth and that Edgar was the son that always was his side, “Oh, my follies! Then Edgar was corrupted and betrayed. Kind Gods, forgive me that, and prosper him” (Lines-88-89). In the poem Edgar is with his father wants to show him how valuable life/faith is and that he shouldn’t be gone from existence. So he takes his father to the place he wants to go but, he doesn’t take him toward the cliff instead they are on top of a hill. Edgar tells his father to jump, Gloucester does jump and he thinks that he has fallen off of the cliff in reality he just falls on his face. Edgar tells him different stories during his time with him to restore his faith in religion and his faith in living. Upon the hill with Edgar, Gloucester gets on his knees and says, “O you mighty Gods! This world I do renounce, and in your sights shake patiently my great affliction off” (Lines-35-36). Within the poem there is another article that I read which is called, “I Stumbled When I Saw”: Interpreting Gloucester’s Blindness in King Lear”. Which talks about, Gloucester’s blindness is the same as Lear’s madness, both of the characters representing the destruction of themselves and their human existence. Both are major issues with the way the play works and its tragic clash with the characters themselves in the play as well. Shakespeare understands how human emotions work when they come out when Gloucester is blinded by Cornwall and what is the powerful meaning behind what is being done in the play. Another key element in the poem is, when Cordelia and Lear are imprisoned locked up together. Before, Cordelia is about to be killed, Lear kills the guard who is trying to hang him and next he kills the guard who strangles Cordelia to death. In an instance it is shown that Lear shows compassion and more faith and shows that he is a father more than a king in that instance when his daughter is killed right in front of his eyes. His daughter is the only thing that he cares about, even when they were jailed together, she was all that he thought about, “No, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison. We two alone will sing like birds i’th cage. When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down and ask forgiveness. So we’ll live” (Lines10-15). Even though their fates are intertwined together, they are with each other at the end even, with everything that is happening to them. Eventually after the sword fight and the death if Lear’s other daughter Regan and Goneril, Lear come out screaming in pain his heart is broken into many pieces, “Howl, howl, howl! Oh you are men of stones! Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so that heaven’s vault should crack She’s gone forever” (Line-300).) Then Kent one of Lear’s trusted guards tries to talk to him, but, Lear is in his own little world of insanity and not a part of reality, “A plague upon you, murderers, and traitors all! I might have saved her; now she is gone forever! Cordelia, Cordelia! Stay a little. Ha?” (Lines-308-310). Now Lear realizes that the thing that he lost the most is his family and that without them he is nothing. Then with his last breath, that he takes in, “Do you see this? Look at her, look her lips, look there, look there” (Line-350). Then he faints or has a heart attack, but in the end he dies. Kent says, “Look up, my Lord. Vex not his ghost. Oh, let him pass! He hates him that would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer” (Lines-354-355). In the end of all that has happened in the play, William Shakespeare knows that things will begin to change for the better of the world and that nature vs. natural order of things will be a disruption of the natural order of the world and of love itself.