Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Truth Will Get You Nowhere

In Shakespeare’s play King Lear, the reader finds themselves discovering the deceit and cruelty which sons and daughters can force onto their fathers. Most of the play is focused on who is telling the truth, who really loves the other, and plotting behind each other’s backs. Surprisingly this does not just happen to one character or set of characters, but across the board and involves every character in the play.

First and foremost, there is the interaction between King Lear and his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. The first two proclaim their love for their father by playing toward his prideful side and describing how wonderful he is. When it is Cordelia’s turn, Lear expects even better praise from her because she is his favorite, but she refuses to play his game and is disowned while her two sisters divide all the money and property between them with the clause that they must house their Father and his knights for a month, alternating between them both.

Meanwhile, there is also the feud of the illegitimate son Edmund and the legitimate son Edgar. So far, Edgar has not really done anything wrong except to be the rightful heir to his father’s, Gloucester’s, inheritance. Edmund is furious that because he is not legitimate, he cannot inherit. He decides to devise a plan that makes Edgar look like a murderer and villain so that their father chooses Edmund to inherit instead.

This play seems to ridicule the fake identities that most people show the world in order to gain something for themselves. Shakespeare seems to be saying that it is those that do not want to play that game, the ones that do not flatter, are really the ones that are most trustworthy. In both situations described above, those that benefit end up turning on the ones who gave it to them. Goneril and Regan first restrict their father, and then later want to kill him, while Edmund accuses Gloucester of helping the King escape (the first truth out of his mouth) in order to sentence his father to death and gain himself a title.

Even the servants get involved in this feud. Kent decides to take on a disguise after being banished in order to help his King, and Oswald stays true to his mistress Goneril. During an argument between these two in Act 2 Scene 2, Cornwall makes a very important speech which focuses in on the main point of the plot, “This is some fellow,/ Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect/ A saucy roughness and constrains the garb/ Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter, he,/ An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth!/ An they will take it, so; If not, he’s plain./ These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness/ Harbor more craft and more corrupter ends/ Than twenty silly-ducking observant/ That stretch their duties nicely” (lines 89-98). Here, he is saying that because Kent is being so blunt and honest he must be telling lies.

Even though from the moment we can talk, we are taught to speak the truth and do good, here, those that speak the truth do not come out on top; those that lie, cheat, and steal come out the victor, the brave, and the wealthy.

(i don't know why whenever i drag the text from word it always messes up only parts of the font and spacing! grrr...)

1 comment:

Cyrus Mulready said...

You're very insightful to bring up the servants here, Nikki. I think that they are very interesting characters in this play, and I'd be curious to know what others think about how Shakespeare is using them and what he is saying, more generally, about "service" in this play.