Shakespeare's King Lear

     William Shakespeare's King Lear had downfalls in character which later on

caused him to suffer extreme consequences. if anyone knows the true meaning of

suffering it is King Lear.

     King Lear's downfalls are his pride, selfishness, and blindness to truth.

Pride as one of Lear's first downfalls, in the beginning Lear disowns his lovely daughter

Cordelia, because Lear is to blind to realize that cordelia loves her father for who he is

and NOT what he has in his possession. Lear sees his daughters for what they have as

far as quantity not quality. This is his downfall of selfishness. Lear offers his two

greedy and selfish daughters, Coneril, and Regan his entire kingdom, simply because

he is so damn conceded and thinks he is so great that he can not possibly see anyone

not loving him, and what he owns as far as land and power. His greedy daughters

realize this and then decide to kiss a little of their father's butt. Cordelia, and Regan

go and kiss their father's butt hoping to get all his power, and his kingdom.

On the other hand, his one daughter who loves him for what he is, not what he

is or has, realizes that she must play on her fathers side just to receive a little respect

from the king.

     Lear, by toying with loved one's emotions endues consequences upon

himself. Even at his age ,he was still perfectly capable of living up to his duties

as king. A tragic mistake Lear made was dividing his kingdom between his two greedy

and evil daughters, and by dis owning his only true daughter, whom he left with nothing.

     After a short while Lear starts to become insane, his mind begins to slip caused
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by losing both his kingdom as well as his daughters who were supposed to have loved him.

Lear slowly became mad, after all it is one thing to lose his kingdom, and his daughters

but Lear had a rough time dealing with himself. This was another downfall Lear

encountered.

     The King had made many mistakes in his lifetime, especially with his family.

He gave his two nasty,greedy,evil daughters the kingdom and all his power. As he got

older he realized it was a big mistake to do what he did. Cornelia, even though she

had been banished from his life, she still loved him very much. Lear then became insane

after he realized he wrongly judged his daughters. Finding and learning that Cordelia

never wronged him for his doings, Lear gets some of his mind back. In the end Lear and

his only true to the heart daughter join hands one last time. As a result of his actions

Cordelia is hanged, and Lear dies of heat torn apart. As you can clearly see Lear

even though a king, he has suffered a great deal. The King had opened his heart

to lies, deception, and flattery. especially to Goneril, and Regan. He punished those who

spoke truth and were faithful, like his faithful and true daughter Cordelia, who never

loved her father for what he had but for who he was.