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King Lear is one of the principal tragedies of Shakespeare, usually clubbed with Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello. The play is primarily the tragedy of Lear. He is the king of Britain and, therefore, occupies the highest position in his country. The play depicts the physical and mental suffering of Lear. The sufferings of Lear are of a special kind because Lear is a high born personage and his actions bring about many difficult situations. Lear is the protagonist of a tragedy, and in the Aristotelian sense, the misfortunes of a tragic character proceed from his actions. A.C. Bradley also writes: “The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent; they proceed mainly from actions, and those the actions of men” (2000:11). It means the hero determines his fate and destiny. This view places a Shakespearean tragedy in contrast to a Greek tragedy in which the hero is merely an agent of fate and not the master of his destiny. Humphry House discusses Aristotle’s views on tragedy: “misfortune...is brought upon him (tragic character) not by vice and depravity but by some error of Judgement (hamartia) on his part” (2002:93). The tragedy of Lear is mainly and largely due to a defect in his own character. He has an error of judgement. The article explores Lear’s error of judgement and journey to self-knowledge and repentance.

Buchanan states: “The important thing in King Lear is not the circumstances in which the characters find themselves, extreme though they are, but rather what they do with it. After all it is not what happens to us that shapes us most - but, rather our response to what happens. In Lear many of he main characters undergo psychological change in some way. In the face of their adversities, or in the pursuit of their aspirations, they  become ennobled or corrupted; they become self-aware or they are overtaken by their base natures” (2015:21). Ronald Carter and John McRae also make a significant statement about Lear’s understanding of the world after enduring suffering. They mention that Lear is reduced to ‘nothing’ when his most loving daughter Cordelia announces that she can say ‘Nothing’ about her love for his father. Here, the ties of family love fall apart, taking the king form the height of power to the limits of endurance. “This is a maturity that comes of learning from experience” (2009:88).

King Lear is a play that unfolds the misfortunes resulting from the filial ingratitude shown to Lear by his two eldest daughters. The play depicts not only the suffering, mental and physical, which the old king undergoes but also the wholesome effect produced by this suffering on his character. We meet a different Lear at the end of the play. Between the beginning and the end, there are, of course, certain intermediate stages through which Lear passes. In the opening scene, Lear appears to be a proud, arrogant, short-sighted man seeking flattery and lacking judgment of character. His weakness appears in the very opening lines of the play. He decides to transfer all his power and authority to his daughters. Before doing so, he wants to hear from their lips how much they love him. The whole tragedy of Lear springs from this irrational love test. Goneril expresses her love thus: “Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter/Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty” (I.i.60-61). Regan also expresses her love in the same manner. At this stage, Lear is immature, selfish and does not know what love means. His concept of love is materialistic. The answers of Goneril and Regan make him happy and he is easily flattered. However, Cordelia is genuine and honest in her reply of love. She behaves like a practical woman and clearly expresses her opinion by saying: “I love your majesty/According to my bond; no more no less” (I.i.98-99). Here Lear concludes that Cordelia is haughty. This is his initial discovery and all other discoveries are opposite to it. As Cordelia fails to come up to his expectations, he proceeds to disinherit and disown her in his anger: “Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her” (I.i.138). It is obvious that Lear loves flattery and lacks in the judgement of human character. He is blind and deaf at this stage as he ignores the advice of Kent who openly criticizes Lear for his injustice to Cordelia:

Kent:  Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak

When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour’s bound

When majesty falls to folly. Reverse thy doom;

And, in thy best consideration, check

This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgement,

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least.

                                                                                                             (I.i.157-63)

Lear is not ready to listen and understand the words of Kent and, in outrage, banishes him. By banishing Cordelia, Lear breaches the father-daughter relationship and in expelling Kent, he defies the king-subject relationship. Lear’s impulsive decision becomes the cause of his tragedy. “Lear is characterised as a man who insists on his subjects and daughters obeying his orders and submitting to his will” (Saathoff, 2011:4). Lear gives power and authority to Goneril and Regan and foolishly declares: Only we shall retain/ The name and all th’ additions to a king” (I.i.144-45). Soon, both the daughters begin to reveal the cruel aspect of their nature. They misuse their political power and authority. Lear lives in a world of illusion and punishes those who dare to tell him reality. The underplot of Gloucester is also introduced in the first scene of the play and develops with the main plot. Chowdhury and Goswami’s observation highlights the importance of sub-plot: “In the equally significant sub-plot, the earl of Gloucester suffers in the hands of his illegitimate son” (2015:102). Gloucester also lacks insight like Lear and is trapped by Edmund’s forged letter. He makes Edmund his heir and banishes his faithful son Edgar. Gloucester is irrational and commits the same kind of error of judgement as Lear does. In haste, he asks Edmund: “Find out/ this villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing/ do it carefully (I.ii.110-12). Here Gloucester puts his family relationship in danger. This parallel plot works as a comment on the main plot and also highlights the universality of human weakness.

          Lear feels satisfied after dividing his kingdom but his happiness is momentary. Lear is not aware of his error of judgement in the opening scene. The Fool in King Lear is the true philosopher and rational in this irrational world. His comments make Lear understand that he has lost his identity by giving power to his monstrous daughters. The Fool’s wisdom is evident in his answer to Lear’s question:

Lear:  Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool:All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thogh wast

born with.

(I.iv.149-51)

Now Lear pays heed to the words of Fool and the fear until now lying in his subconscious mind becomes the part of his consciousness. He starts thinking of his loss of identity. The Fool is poignant in his comments and has no hesitation in replying to Lear’s question of identity:

Lear:   Does any here know me? This is not King Lear:

Does Lear walk thus? Speak thus? Where are his eyes?

Either his notion weakens, his discernings

Are lethargied- Ha! Waking?  ‘Its not so!

Who is it that can tell me who I am?

Fool:   Lear’s shadow.

                                                                         (I. iv. 227-232)

Lear’s actions reduce him to a copy of his former self. The Fool tries to open his eyes and does not stop here. One of the most poignant comments of the Fool is this: “Now though art an O without a/ figure. I am better than thou art now: I am a fool though/ art nothing”(I.iv.193-95). It is clear that Lear has lost his identity and it would not be possible for him to regain it. Goneril knows that now her father is no more than a figure. she treats him like a babe. She reduces his retainers and expects her father to be obedient to her. Lear realizes that his daughter is cruel and unkind. He is reminded of his obedient daughter Cordelia and we can even notice a sign of repentance when he utters: “I did her wrong” (I.v.23).

Then he decides to visit Regan to get her favour. But Regan tries to defend Goneril’s attitude towards Lear, which comes as a shock to him. He now feels grieved beyond all words. Lear seeks God’s intervention but the gods do not interfere in human affairs. Lear has no power as he is uncrowned. There is no use of debate with disobedient and thankless daughters. That is why he decides to give them up. Lear now understands the absurdity of situation and prays to God: “You, heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!” (II.iv.309). He is broken and no one is there to share his feelings. He will not allow himself to weep for relief:

King Lear:  No, I’ll not weep,

I have full cause of weeping, but this heart

Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws

Or ere I’ll weep. O Fool! I shall go mad!

                                                                                                                 (II.iv.321-24)

In such a situation, the words and tears give relief and if both the options remain unused, then madness saves a life. Lear would have committed suicide if he had not gone mad. The storm of madness raises its head in him and the actual storm of nature is also seen approaching. The storm makes his suffering universal as it symbolizes anarchy and destruction. Hamilton states: “Lear’s mental weather is poetically enhanced by association with a storm metaphor” (2017:13). At this stage, Lear begins to win our deepest sympathies, and we begin to hate Goneril and Regan for their unnatural conduct.

Lear’s rage and fury match the rage and fury of nature’s elements but, as an old man, he cannot remain unaffected by the violence of nature. The Fool comments: “Here is a night pities nether wise men/ nor fools” (III.ii.14-15). Now he discovers himself as “A poor, infirm, weak and despis’d Old Man” (III.ii.22). At this stage, his search for self finds a logical point. Under the stress of the storm and his daughters’ ingratitude, he shows signs of becoming somewhat philosophical. We perceive the beginning of a new Lear when he makes his moralizing speech. He calls himself “a man/ More sinn’d against than sinning” (III.ii.63-64). Lear comes up to his self-knowledge and discovers that his destiny is not different from common humanity. His sympathy for the poor, the base and the needy gets a natural outburst:

Lear:  Pooor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,

That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,

How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,

Your loop’d and window’d raggedness defend you

From seasons such as these?

(III.iv.35-39)

When it is suggested to him that he should move a nearby hovel, his first concern is for the Fool to whom he says: “Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart/ That’s sorry yet for thee.” (III.ii.78-79). At this stage, we find that Lear’s is becoming aware of the suffering of others, besides his own sufferings. There is, thus, a distinct development in him.

Another sign of development is visible when he comes into contact with Edgar and thinks that he is also a victim of the ingratitude of his daughters. He feels drawn towards Edgar and refers to him as a noble philosopher. In his mad state, he becomes conscious of the many evils which prevail in human life. The transformed king reinterprets the world in the Fool’s language. He clearly sees the fundamental human condition in this world: “When we are born, we cry that we are come/ To this great stage of fools” (IV.vi.199-200). Here Shakespeare wants us to identify with the situation. Carter and McRae are right when they say: “The audience is invited to share the experience rather than simply watch it from a distance, and to identify with the characters in their joys and sufferings (2009:90). Like Lear, Gloucester also realises his faults when it is revealed to him that Edmund is the accuser and Edgar is innocent. He bursts out: “O my follies! Then Edgar was abus’d” (III.vii.112). However, his eyes open when Cornwall and Regan blind him on the charge of treason. As Lear does, he also seeks God’s intervention but the gods are indifferent to men and allow them to act freely. “As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods/ They kill us for their sport” (IV.i.46-47). Gloucester also learns to sympathise with the needy and the week. Lear after madness and Gloucester after blindness begin to see better. This point is made clear by John Peck and Martin Coyle: “Lear goes mad but is clear-sighted in many ways” (2002:107). It is paradoxical but true.

Towards the close of act IV, we come to know that Lear is restored to his senses by a doctor who had administered certain herbal medicines to him. On opening his eyes, Lear finds himself in the arms of his loving and faithful daughter, Cordelia. When she asks for his blessing, he is still not sure that it is Cordelia speaking to him. He repents saying: “I am a very foolish fond old man” (IV.vii.73), he says, adding that he is not in his “perfect mind” (IV.vii.76). He has some difficulty even in recognizing Cordelia, but he does recognize her and says that she has reason to feel annoyed with him. This is a changed Lear we see. Humility and gentleness are the keynotes of this new Lear. However, the development in his character does not end here. We meet Lear again in Act V when he and Cordelia have been taken prisoners. At this time, he paints a lovely picture of the kind of life that he and Cordelia will lead in prison:

Lear:  Come, let’s away to prison.

We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage.

When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down

And ask of thee forgiveness.

                             (V.iii.12-15)

Thus he is now fully reconciled with Cordelia, but he is also reconciled to his life even though he is a prisoner. However, this blissful reunion with Cordelia is transitory. Cordelia is hanged under Edmund’s orders. We see Lear once again with the dead Cordelia in his arms. He is grief-stricken and almost crazy again. He now appears as a most tragic figure bewailing the death of Cordelia. He has a feeling that life is returning to her, and with this feeling, he also dies. There has been a complete transformation in Lear’s character. There is a big contrast between the Lear of the opening scene and Lear of the final scene. Through suffering, Lear learns wisdom and attains salvation. He learns to be patient under affliction. He learns repentance, humility and charitable fellow feeling with even the lowest of distressed humanity.

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