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In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare the King is perceived as being very unstable and sometimes hints of having sudden mood swings. My essay will explain my opinion to prove or disprove that King Lear was in fact sane or sometimes insane. At the beginning of the play, Lear and his two noblemen the Earl of Kent and the Earl of Gloucester are in his throne room discussing how to divide the kingdom among his three daughters; Regan, Cordelia, and Goneril. The Earl of Kent makes a very humble decision and the king takes it the wrong way. The king says to him, come not between a dragon and his wrath. This is a very good indication that the king is very edgy and does not want advice from no-one.
After Kent sees that Lear is very foolish in disinheriting the only daughter that really loved him he is exiled from England forever. After Lear banishes Kent, Goneril and Regan both talk amongst themselves about how weird and inconsistent the king has been and how people will talk since he has just disinherited his only daughter that loved him. In scene IV Goneril comes to the castle to see her father and starts to insult the retainers. The king can not believe this and he wishes an evil curse or jinx upon her. He says, She may feel how sharper than a serpent s tooth it is to have a thankless child. Nobody ever wishes that much pain or sorrow upon a person even if its your greatest enemy, not eve a father which he is first.
In scene V Lear is finally getting his act together and getting his sanity about him. After the new servant which is really Kent in a disguise, talks some sense in to Lear he says that he has done her wrong and he is very sorry. Also Lear says, To take it again! Monster ingratitude.
Which he is really saying that he has done a terrible thing to his daughter. He also says, O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be mad! In that last line before the next act Lear is begging to the heavens to not let him become mad and insane but he is really not becoming. I think he does that to let everyone else around him think that he is insane. Works Cited: 1.
Shakespeare, William. Louis B. Wright, ed. 1957 Washington Square Press
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