King Lear :: Literary Analysis, Shakespeare

...the error of age is to believe that experience is a substitute for intelligence. (Lyman Bryson) In the play power Lear by William Shakespeare, such an idea is explored. Lear is a pouf who is physically aged but as the play progresses, it give ways clear that he lacks the intelligence which usually accompanies it. The play is set in a judgment of conviction where the King was equal to God himself, he was set apart from the jet man as somewhat of a transcended being. Shakespeare breaks this unspoken relationship finished the events of his play. Lears rash decision to banish his loving daughter Cordelia and debate total power of his kingdom over to devil his uncaring daughters, Goneril and Regan sets of a chain of events which send him on a downward spiral to become the basest of human beings. Shakespeare uses the characters of the ingest, Cordelia, Kent and Goneril as well as satire, foreshadowing, and diction to portray Lear as nothing more than an unseeing old human bein g.The Fool is a character in the play who is the embodiment of Lears conscience and by means of him, the audience is able to witness the folly of the King. His name bears quite a significant irony as through with(predicate)out the play it is made plain that it is the Fool who is the wiser. He states that, this fellow banished two ons daughters, and did the tierce a blessing against his will (1,4,101-103) The Fool lays bare the folly Lear in not recognising the worth of a true daughter yet through his foolish act, he has done Cordelia good. In a way this irony of the Fool foreshows the future judgement of this judgemental monarch. In the play it is Cordelia who is banished and the other two who have blessings poured on them, but the Fool provides the audience with a diametric perspective on this matter one, which is increasingly unapparent to the ailing King who is quick to continue his living in denial, stating that, All This is nothing, Fool (1,4 127) Shakespeares office of t he Fools as Lears conscience allows the audience to feel the emotions which the king should be experiencing. In the event of Cordelias banishing the Fool hath much pinned away (1,4,71-72) Shakespeare shows the Fools sadness to contrast with the apparent lack of some in the King. This also evokes audience empathy. Through the Fool Shakespeare is able to convey to the ref the apparent folly of a vain King and the enormity of his folly.