Re-educating A King: King Lear's Self-Awareness


Halfway down
Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fisherman that walk along the beach
Appear like mice.

Although this quote from Shakespeare's King Lear is made by Poor Tom to
his unknowing father Gloucester about the terrain far below them, it accurately
summarizes the plight of the mad king. Lear is out of touch with his
surroundings, riding high upon the wave of power associated with the monarchy:
even those closest to him are out of reach, viewed with a distorted lens. It
is through this lens of madness that Lear views his friends and family, and thus
he is stripped of everything before he can realize the folly of his judgment.
Reduced to a simple man, Lear is forced to learn the lessons that God's anointed
is already supposed to know. This is the purpose of the secondary characters......

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Title: Re-Educating A King: King Lear's Self-Awareness
Approximate Word Count: 1423
Approximate Pages: 6 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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