Pride Vs. Character Development Essay, Research Paper

Being proud is an attribute everyone has amongst them; pride can help some and defy others. In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, it proves personality can impair your success. King Lear has many conflicts, which weakens his development as a person. Blindness to the surrounding public is caused by pride. Tragic heroes are sought out through pride. Pride inhibits character development. Conflicts throughout the play have a dramatic effect on King Lear s character. King Lear s decision to give the land and control to his two daughters Regan and Goneril, restrains his progression in character, enabling them to take command of his life. As the play opens one can almost immediately see that Lear begins to make mistakes that will eventually result in his downfall. This is King Lear s first appearance in the play and he states: Give me the map there. Know that we have divided In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age, Conferring them on younger strengths while we Unburdened crawl to death (Shakespeare I, i, 38).This gives the reader the first indication of Lear’s intent to abdicate his throne. He goes on further to offer pieces of his kingdom to his daughters as a form of reward to his test of love. “Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters (Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state), Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge (Shakespeare I, i, 47).This is the first and most significant of the many sins that he makes in this play. By abdicating his throne to fuel his pride he is disrupts the great chain of being, which states that the King must not challenge the position that God has given him. This undermining of God’s authority results in chaos that tears apart Lear’s world. The quote shows how Lear is leading himself to his own misapplication of character growth. The tone of the quote is love and honesty, which is ironic because there is none in actuality. Rivals and love are shown in the same sentence, which is significant because it illustrates the false love they show towards him. After he gives Regan and Goneril the land he understands what mistakes he made and losses his mind. King Lear has a terrible alter in his personality, which is caused from pride. Giving his land to his daughters caused him to go insane. Lear is explaining to Fool how his daughter, Goneril treated him. Arraign her first; ’tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honorable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father. Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? She cannot deny it. (Shakespeare III, vi, 47).The quote establishes that King Lear is delusional. He is talking to the stool as if it is his daughter. He wishes to punish Goneril first, since she manipulated King Lear into believing that she loved him more than Regan and Cordelia. Lear realizes what his daughter did to him. The tone is self-pity, which has remarkable impact on his character. Lear refers to himself as king , which is significant to his nature by reassuring himself with pride. The catastrophic end proves that his pride killed his character development and then himself. The final conflict is the death of Lear, which impairs his development of character. Lear dies with thoughts of the Fool and Cordelia. And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never! Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir. Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips, Look there, look there! [He Dies] (Shakespeare V, iii, 305)The final stages of his persona are left with no pride left amongst him. Battles between him and his daughters make his pride die. This shows that his pride killed his improvement of himself. The word look resembles his character of being lost and looking for his lost pieces to persona. The pain and suffering endured by Lear eventually tears down his strength and sanity. Lear is not as strong, arrogant, and prideful as he was in the beginning of the play instead he is weak, scared, and a confused old man. At the end of the play Lear has completely lost his sanity with the loss of his daughter Cordelia and this is the thing that breaks Lear and leads to his death. Lear dies with the knowledge that Cordelia is dead and dies as a man in pain. Throughout the play King Lear had many conflicts that ultimately led to the destruction of his character. Lears pride prevents him to see the true faces of people. Blindness is not a physical quality, but a mental flaw some people possess. Each character s blindness was the primary cause of the bad decisions they made; decisions which all of them would eventually come to regret. The blindest bat of all was undoubtedly King Lear. Because of Lear s high position in society, he was supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad; unfortunately, his lack of sight prevented him to do so. Lear s first act of blindness came at the beginning of the play. First, his two eldest daughters easily deceived him, then he was unable to see the reality of Cordelia s true love for him, and as a result, banished her from his kingdom with the following words. For we Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see That face of her again. Therefore be gone Without our grace, our love, our benison. (Shakespeare I, i, 265)Lear s blindness also caused him to banish one of his loyal followers, Kent. Kent was able to see Cordelia s true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father s irrationality. After Kent was banished, he created a disguise for himself and was eventually hired by Lear as a servant. Lear s inability to determine his servant s true identity proved once again how blind Lear actually was. Finally, he realized how wicked his two eldest daughters really were after they locked him out of the castle during a tremendous storm. More importantly, Lear saw through Cordelia s lack of flattering and realized that her love for him was so great that she couldn t express it into words. Unfortunately, Lear s blindness ended up costing Cordelia her life and consequently the life of himself. Gloucester also suffered from an awful case of blindness. Gloucester s blindness denied him of the ability to see the goodness of Edgar and the evil of Edmund. Although Edgar was the good and loving son, Gloucester all but disowned him. He wanted to kill the son that would later save his life. Gloucester s blindness began when Edmund convinced him by the means of a forged letter that Edgar was plotting to kill him. Gloucester s lack of sight caused him to believe Edmund was the good son and prevented him from pondering the idea of Edmund being after his earldom. Near the end of the play, Gloucester finally regained his sight and realized that Edgar saved his life disguised as Poor Tom and loved him all along. He realized that Edmund planned to take over the earldom and that he was the evil son of the two. Gloucester talks to the old man. I stumbled when I saw (Shakespeare IV, i, 19). His inability to see the realities of his sons occurred when he had his physical sight but was mentally blind; but his ability to see the true nature of his sons occurred after having his eyes taken out by the Duke of Cornwall. Albany was another character suffering from the classic case of blindness, but he survived his battle. Albany s case of blindness was purely a result of the love he had for Goneril. Although he disapproved of Goneril s actions, he would only mildly argue his case. When Goneril forced Lear to reduce his army so that he could stay in their castle, Albany protested: I cannot be so partial, Goneril, To the great love I bear You (Shakespeare I, iv, 309) Albany s deep devotion to Goneril blinded him from the evil she possessed. His inability to realize how greedy and mean Goneril was after she flattered Lear with a bunch of lies and then kicked him out of their home, just goes to show you how much Albany loved Goneril. Albany was also blind to the fact that Goneril was cheating on him and that she was plotting to kill him. Fortunately, Edgar came across a cure for Albany s blindness. A note outlining Goneril s evil plans was all Albany needed to see. Finally, Albany recognized what a devil he was married to and for once let out his emotions when he said: O Goneril, You are not worth the dust which the rude wind Blows in your face! (Shakespeare IV, ii, 29). Unlike Lear and Gloucester, Albany didn t suffer much during his bout with blindness. Not only did he survive his battle, but he lived to remain the ruler of what was once Lear s kingdom.

Pride is what creates a tragic Hero in this play. An error in judgment causes King Lear to make a rash decision. Lear talks about leaving his land to his daughters. Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answer’d. Tell me, my daughters, (Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state),Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, Our eldest-born, speak first (Shakespeare I, i, 47).He is foolish and arrogant, but later he is also humble and compassionate. Because of his good qualities, one must experience pity for him and feel that he does not deserve the severity of his punishment. Lear has a “tragic flaw”, which is pride. It is his pride in the first scene that causes him to make his error in judgment – the division of his kingdom and the loss of Cordelia. Throughout the rest of the play, the consequences of this error slowly and persistently increase until Lear is destroyed. Because a tragic character must pass from happiness to misery, he must be seen at the beginning of the play as a happy man, surrounded by good fortune. The important element in tragedy is action, not character. It is the deeds of men that bring their destruction. Many characters in the play have a tragic flaw. Lear calls upon the “great gods,” Edgar and Kent blame Fortune, and Gloucester says that the gods “kill us for their sport” (Shakespeare IV, I, 37). But in reality the mishap that occurs to both Lear and Gloucester arise because of the actions of these men. Their actions grow out of their characters: both are rash, unsuspecting, and vengeful. Gloucester has a tragic flaw. He is blind to the people that are around him. Edmund shows Gloucester a letter that evidently came from Edgar. [Reads] This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny; who sways, not as it hath power, but as it is suffered. Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should half his revenue for ever, and live the beloved of your brother, EDGAR. Hum! conspiracy? Sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue My son Edgar! (Shakespeare I, ii, 46).Gloucester undergoes physical and mental torment because he makes the same mistake that Lear does. Like Lear, Gloucester is neither completely good nor completely bad. He shows, for instance, concern for Kent in the stocks, and he risks his life to help Lear. Gloucester’s punishment, his blindness, parallel’s Lear’s madness. These two tragic stories unfolding at the same time give the play a great eminence. The characters in the play King Lear have a lot of pride, which restrains their development. King Lear has many conflicts caused by pride that consume his personality. Giving his daughters the land and power is the main step in his failure. Blindness is a significant contribution to the theme of pride vs. character development. Many characters in this play are blind to the people they are with. This causes flaws in personalities that eventually ground the destruction of a person. Tragic heroes are also found from pride. These characteristics enable someone to be successful or not, in this play it is mostly not. Pride is very ruthless when applied incorrectly. In conclusion, pride causes weakness, which deter characters from proper development.

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