King Lear Essay, Research Paper

Suffering takes on many appearances, depending on how it is received. In King Lear,

suffering was very painful to two people, and the giver wasn?t necessarily an enemy, pain can be

from the ones you love. A storm isn?t something you wouldn?t think of when pain comes to

mind, but it is an element and part of your environment, so are the people one deals with. Pain

can come from many areas, both far and near.

The enemies in our lives are their to balance the goodness that we feel. The world has

balance and they provide it. The pain that they furnish us comes in many forms, mental and

physical. In Gloucester?s case, physical was the main one. Getting your eyes gouged out must

be an excruciating way to experience pain. The blinding of a person is not only painful, but

demeaning and tormenting as well. Imagine being blinded and having to experience the world

all over again. The frustration of depending on other people and learning how to navigate your

surroundings, with all the grace of a child. This kind of suffering could lead to suicide, and it

would have, except Gloucester was blind and couldn?t see that there was no cliff to throw

himself off of. His enemies didn?t want to kill him, but they already did, internally.

The internal death is the final stage of mental suffering, but there are many stages before

the one must go through to get to that last stage. Many of these stages are shown in King Lear,

as he breaks down from a powerful man to a crazy derelict, all because of someone close to him,

that he trusted, stabbed him in the back. The family is part of your environment and so is the

weather. A storm can be a gusting hurricane or a conflict with your sister. Both conflicts cause

damage, and the damage may or may not be repairable. In the case of King Lear, his mental

state diminished rather badly. He was seeing small rodents on his arm and even a elaborate

courtroom scene, all in his head. The pain of falling down from grace and having your own

children disown you and refuse you love you was too much for old King Lear. The king was not

in good health, either. He was old and not the young man that he used to be. The general poor

health and stress from the family were physical things he had to deal with. A weather-beaten,

hallucinating king isn?t a very good king.

The stress and anguish of both enemies and elements on a person are enough to break

them in every way possible. The process of taking away, or stripping, the needs of a person is

clearly shown in Shakespeare?s King Lear.