Essay about King Lear - Seven Deadly Sins - 1206 Words

King Lear: The Seven Deadly Sins The Seven Deadly Sins In the play King Lear Shakespeare demonstrates the tragedy that can occur once humans allow themselves to be taken over by any one of the seven deadly sins. Greed The sin of greed is perfectly exemplified in the character of Edmund. Throughout the play Edmund’s greed is the motivating factor behind all of the decisions that he makes. Edmund, as the illegitimate son of Gloucester plots against his brother in order to obtain his inheritance completely ignoring all familial responsibility in the pursuit of land and money. At the beginning of the play you see that he merely wants to take his brother’s inheritance but as greed gets the better of him he begins to plot against†¦show more content†¦A lust for power is also displayed through Goneril and Regan as they reject their own father in favour of material possessions and power. Wrath At the beginning of the play King Lear denounces Cordelia as his daughter in a fit of rage. He has this reaction simply because she refused to flatter him and speak exaggerations of her love for him. As his favourite daughter, Lear was expecting Cordelia to shower him with compliments and praises like his other two daughters and when this did not occur he was overwhelmed with fury and denounces her as his daughter. Lear also falls victim to wrath once he realizes what his other two daughters have done to him. â€Å"I will have such revenges on you both, That all the world shall--I will do such things,-- What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be The terrors of the earth.† (2.4.305-9). In this quote Lear reveals the wrath that he wishes to inflict on both of his daughters for deceiving him and rejecting him after he gave them everything he had. King Lear’s wrath is fueled by his daughters’ betrayal. Lear never actually did proceed to inflict his wrath upon his daughters but he did however have every intention of doing so if given the opportunity. Sloth The entire play is built around one man’s laziness. As the play commences one may question why Lear would decide to prematurely give up his kingdom. It is quite possible that he transferred his authorities before it wasShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Sin In King Lear782 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Sin is a matter of opinion. Sins are only sins if you are hurting other people.† (Corey Taylor). The seven deadly sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride) are often examined by authors in attempt to inspect the nature of man. As we know â€Å"Man is a born sinner†, hence while considering Shakespeare’s King Lear play the characters were seen committing four sins i.e. greed which led to destruction, wrath which led to anger, pride led to disgrace and envy led to hatred. These four sins,Read More Consider the accuracy of Lear?s claim that he is ?a man / More sinned against than sinning?1480 Words   |  6 Pages King Lear is throught the whole play a man who is a sinner and the victim of the evil deeds of those who surround him, those he keeps most close mostly are the worst sinners against him. He thinks he does the right good things but has to find out that almost everything he did out of meaning well by the people he considered as the good ones at the time he did it were the wrong moves. When Lear realizes that his moves seem to have been wrong he tells Kent and the Fool during a storm that he is â€Å"aRead MoreEssay about Powerful Animal Imagery in King Lear1144 Words   |  5 PagesIn King Lear. Shakespeare uses imagery of great imaginative depth and resonance to convey his major themes and to heighten the readers experience of the play. There are some predominant image patterns. In my opinion, it is the imagery of animals and savage monsters that leave the most lasting impression. The imagination is filled with pictures of wild and menacing creatures, ravenous in their appetites, cruel in their instincts. The underlying emphasis in such imagery is on the vileness of whichRead More A Comparison of Pride in King Lear and The Duchess of Malfi Essay1567 Words   |  7 PagesThe Sin of Pride Exposed in King Lear, and The Duchess of Malfi  Ã‚   In this brief monograph, we shall be hunting down and examining various creatures from the bestiary of Medieval/Renaissance thought. Among these are the fierce lion of imperious, egotistical power, a pair of fantastic peacocks, one of vanity, one of preening social status, and the docile lamb of humility. The lion and the peacocks are of the species known as pride, while the lamb is of an entirely different, in fact antitheticalRead MoreThe Tragedy Of King Lear By William Shakespeare1671 Words   |  7 Pagesdramatic enlightenment. The tragedy of King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, illustrates the story of a proud and self-centered king, whose obtuse judgement shapes his demise. Lear’s impulsive actions catalyze a chain of events, inspiring emotion from the characters and the audience alike. On the surface, King Lear fits the description of Aristotle’s tragic hero. Discrepancies in Lear’s tale, however, contradict the idea of an idyllic relationship betw een Lear and the philosophies of Aristotle.Read MoreChildrens Literature13219 Words   |  53 Pagesprecious (Bingham and Scholt 1980). Amusing books written specifically for children would have been economically and psychologically impossible (Townsend 1996). Children would probably have listened to adult works such as Beowulf, Song of Roland, El Cid, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. Children and adults also enjoyed folk tales and literature rich with fantasy and imagination, as myth was the way they made sense of their world. While there were no manuscripts devoted specifically to â€Å"children’s literatureRead MoreElizabethan Era11072 Words   |  45 Pageswith vigorous life. A special stimulus of the most intense kind came from the struggle with Spain. After a generation of half-piratical depredations by the English seadogs against the Spanish treasure fleets and the Spanish settlements in America, King Philip, exasperated beyond all patience and urged on by a bigots zeal for the Catholic Church, began deliberately to prepare the Great Armada, which was to crush at one blow the insolence, the independence, and the religion of England. There followed