I don't necessarily agree with Kahn's entire argument but I do agree with certain parts of it. I definitely agree with point #2 about how Lear finally manages to let the woman's feelings in after a lifetime of defense against it. The entire play is about how King Lear is finding himself and how things can change in an instant. I think that he is realizing that in order for him to succeed in relating to his daughters, he must try to think like them. Since there is no "mother" figure, Lear must assume that role also so he can try to understand how his daughters can do such terrible things to him in his old age.
I like the fact that Shakespeare makes King Lear realize how vulnerable men and women (fathers and mothers) are when it comes to their children. King Lear doesn't think that his daughters will do anything to hurt him and that they will take care of him. He expects it. That is not what happens though. He is very upset and hurt when he finds out that two of his daughters only want what is best for them. He realizes that he doesn't understand how they would not take care of their own father.
I definitely understand King Lear's hesitation to embrace the "feminine side" of his life. Shakespeare doesn't portray women very kindly in this play. Either women are wives (and in this play very sneaky and cunning) or they are courtesans which are to be enjoyed by men and then left.
Shakespeare portrays King Lear as an aging man who is crazy. Kent consistently refers to him as his wits being gone. I think that King Lear has always been a little off in his wits but that with his advanced age, it has gotten much more noticable. I think that this is why it is such a big surprise to me that his two daughters won't care for him. They can clearly see that his thinking is not rational but they won't even try to apease his sense of self. After he gives up his land to the daughters, he seems to have lost all value to them. It seems that they were only being nice to him to get what they wanted. I don't think that King Lear really understands what is going on in his life until he sees his daughters turn against him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I 100% agree with you that Lear doesn't understand what is going on in his life until he realizes his daughters turn against him. It is kind of sad. He dis owns the one daughter that really loved him, and then after he finds out the others betrayed him, I think he feels shame. Which in turn I think bring his "feminine" emotions to light. Another coupling of characters in the play actually do the same thing, Gloucester and his sons Edmund and Edgar. The same shame Gloucester feels when he finds out the son that he disowned is actually the good son and the other is the bad. It actually seems to mirror Lears situation, I find that interesting. I also agree that throughout the play Lear does come to accept his feminine ways, but I also did not fully agree with the essay either. Until I read this, I didn't think about how the play could relate how vulnerable parents are to their children. It is a interesting opinion and now I can see how that was represented in this play as well. It's nice to see another post that I can see eye to eye with.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think that if King Lear had sons how his whole life would have been different. As you mention King Lear changed his emotional outlook to be able to connect more with his daughters, if he had sons instead he would have suppressed the feminine outlook even more and had lived much the same life. It is also interesting to think that the questioning of love would have been much different. However, like you stated Shakespeare uses this play to display how vulnerable men and women are, and he also teaches that lesson to King Lear.
ReplyDeleteYou also mention that he expects his daughters to take care of him at his old age and he is shocked when they do not. Once again Shakespeare gives King Lear daughters so that he is forced to see that not all of his daughters love him and can care for him unconditionally. King Lear understands this to be a translation lost in the gender difference, so he does finally try to grasp his inner, long suppressed, feminine outlook. This lesson is also hard for King Lear to comprehend because of the generation gap between himself and his daughters. He probably grew up expected to love his father and mother and he did, and to see that lost in his children horrifies him.