Kingship and Leadership in William Shakespeares King Lear...

Kingship and Leadership in William Shakespeares King Lear Jonathon Dollimore (1984) focuses on Lear’s identity throughout the play. ‘What makes Lear the person he is, is not kingly essence, but among other things, his authority and his family. As the play progresses Lear is forced to question his identity. â€Å"Does anyone hear know me?†¦Who is it that can tell me who I am?†. Dollimore believes King Lear is about power, poverty and inheritance. Shakespeare focuses on what happens when there is a ‘catastrophic redistribution of power’. At the start of the play Lear has a rich, powerful and complex social identity. He is King and Patriarch of his family. Being the king he was therefore†¦show more content†¦The last line which Kent speaks here is a one word line; ‘Authority’. This shorter sentence is powerful and it emphasizes and demonstrates the them of kingship and authority in the play, especially in the first act. It is also noticeable that Lear uses the third person (the royal ‘we’) early in the play but later when he realises he is powerless he uses the first person (‘I’, ‘Methinks’). Shakespeare uses this change in language as it reflects Lear’s change is status from a king to â€Å"a foolish old man†. Lear uses his authority to divide the kingdom, yet the king does not even possess this power. The power of the throne could only be passed following the death of Lear, however, he takes on this responsibility of doing so. Lear exercising this non-existent power it the cause of his hardship and turmoil. It causes him and his family their downfall from their status of authority. Regan and Goneril use emotional flattery towards their father in order to gain power and misuse the authority that Lear has given them. Even though the power and responsibilities as king are transferred to Lear’s children, he still wants to retain his recognition as king. â€Å"Only we shall retain The name and th’addition to a king; the sway, Revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm, This coronetShow MoreRelatedPower In Stephen Frears Film, The Queen And Shakespeares King Lear1316 Words   |  6 PagesPolitical authority and power play an extensive role in both Stephen Frears Film, The Queen and Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. Frears explores the theme of power through, Queen Elizabeth II, a hardline traditionalist who is blinded by old world protocols and traditions all but failing to see the transfer in balance of power. Similarly, Shakespeare explores the theme through the protagonist Lear, a king fascinated with grand showings of his sovereignty by staging and arranging situations that praiseRead MoreThe Tragedy Of King Lear Essay1745 Words   |  7 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of King Lear, human suffering is exploited through exploring social destruction caused by love, lust, and loss. King Lear’s kingdom is broken down through the excess of love and hate. Behaviors resulting from such emotions becomes tragic fla ws for the characters within the play, as the need for approval disrupts all natural social order, which is then represented by the natural world. The natural world and nature of society become intertwined as the plotRead More William Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Essay5388 Words   |  22 PagesWilliam Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Throughout his career William Faulkner acknowledged the influence of many writers upon his work--Twain, Dreiser, Anderson, Keats, Dickens, Conrad, Balzac, Bergson, and Cervantes, to name only a few--but the one writer that he consistently mentioned as a constant and continuing influence was William Shakespeare. Though Faulkner’s claim as a fledgling writer in 1921 that â€Å"[he] could write a play like Hamlet if [he] wanted to† (FAB 330) may be dismissed asRead MoreEssay The Thought Process of Shakespeares Hamlet4082 Words   |  17 PagesThe Thought Process of Shakespeares Hamlet If Hamlet from himself be taen away, And when hes not himself does wrong Laertes, Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it. Who does it then? His madness. Ift be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wrongd; His madness is poor Hamlets enemy. (V.ii.230-235) Hamlets self-description in his apology to Laertes, delivered in the appropriately distanced and divided third-person, explicitly fingers the greatest antagonist of the play†¹consciousness