Fate decides how you are born Essay

As with all Shakespearean tragedies, King Lear, lays bare all the possible permutations and combinations in human relationships. It is not uncommon to hear modern writers to lament the fact that Shakespeare has not left untouched any aspect of human interaction. The sub plot of Gloucester and his two sons, the legitimate Edgar and the bastard son Edmund is a curious complement to Lear’s own follies of trusting the outwardly affectionate and as a consequence alienating the sincerely loving child. The lesson of human nature this sub plot provides is about knowing when the bitterness towards an accident beyond your control takes primacy of purpose in your life. Edmund let his illegitimate status drive him to indulge in all villainous acts only to further the depravity of his soul. You might not be able to help certain circumstances that stigmatize your existence but the best way out of it is to lead a life of virtue and not resorting to illegitimate acts to get back at the world and the society that condemns you for no fault of yours. The essential difference between Lear and Gloucester is the motivation of the usurpers of their kingdoms. In the case of Lear, they are just greed and ambition. It is not quite that simple with Gloucester. He does love his illegitimate son Edmund and acknowledges his status as the young man’s father openly and publicly. But, every kind word and every single attempt at showing Edmund that he is loved by his biological father translates into a sting aimed at the circumstances of his birth. His entire personality is defined by the antipathy that kindness evokes in him. Through Edmund’s characterization, Shakespeare shows the readers that the stigma that affects any person and changes his personality traits need not necessarily be external. The stigma attached to any person tends to color his judgment, his motivation and actions for all his life and he continues to see the world and its actions through the refracted light of his yearning for legitimacy. Though it might be known to Edmund that whatever he achieves, legitimacy is one thing he shall never achieve as his status is indelible for all future. This drives him to a state where he wants to snatch things from his half brother, usurp his father’s crown and also help others in similar quests. One thing he fails to cultivate in all his life is a relationship based on trust. He can trust nobody and become trustworthy to no body in return. Failure to accept one’s station in life can be a great factor that evaporates any kindness and nobility from the soul which is what happens in the case of Edmund. The paradox of a mind consumed with one single purpose – retribution- aimed at world at large is brought forward elegantly in the soliloquy of Edmund before he sets up on his decided path of deceit. He wonders why he is not worthy in the world’s eyes and laments the fact that he can never be accorded the tag of legitimacy. EDMUND â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Why brand they us With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? †(1. 2. 11-12) But he fails to recognize the veil he is allowing to grow in his soul as he proclaims â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper: Now, gods, stand up for bastards! †(1. 2. 20-22) Such evil intentions are enough to provide proof to Edmund that his mind is playing games with him and making him the slave of his deep rooted stigma of irregular birth and his yearning for legitimacy. But he fails to see them or perhaps, he wants to fail to see them. In the same context, Shakespeare also tries to invoke the belief held by man that stars and celestial events have a bearing on the behavior and relationships of man. GLOUCESTER â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction;†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †(1. 2. 101-108) It is an attempt by a father to hang on to his last vestige of love for his son by claiming that un natural or non-regular celestial events like eclipses had something to do with his son turning against him. In private, Edmund completely rubbishes any such possibility and laughs at the weakness of his father for attributing his misfortunes to stars and nature. In support of his argument he says that his nature would have remained the same even if he had been fathered under the auspices of the luckiest celestial combination EDMUND â€Å"when we are sick in fortune,–often the surfeit of our own behavior,–we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ (1. 2. 118-120) â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Tut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1. 2. 132-134) The treachery of Edmund and his subsequent blinding at the hands of Cornwall, alienation from his son Edgar all lead to a decidedly defeatist philosophical outlook in Gloucester and he tries to explain his misfortune by saying that Gods inflict pain and suffering on humans for fun and as a pastime. He laments GLOUCESTER â€Å"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport. † â€Å"(4. 1. 37-38) He then decides to take his and asks the mad man (his son Edgar in disguise) to lead him to a cliff and let him jump from the heights to give up his life. Edgar cleverly takes him to a flat bit of land and pretends that he has let him jump, then quickly changes the way he speaks to make Gloucester believe that he has survived a fall from a great cliff because he was led by some angel posing as the mad man. Though far younger in age and having endured infamy and difficulties galore, Edgar had wisdom beyond his years and whenever his father falls prey to despair, he helps him out of it by explaining the meaning of life’s journey. When Gloucester decides that he shall go no further and shall prefer rotting in the same place, Edgar tells him that man’s duty is to endure and the journey can not be cut short for despair. Ageing, losing one faculties, suffering reversals are all part of life and shall not impede the journey. The success of a life well lived lies in the times that one has fallen and in spite of his fall, has managed to stand, dust himself off and started moving forward again, with hope in his heart that good shall overcome evil. It is well captured in Edgar’s entreaty to his father EDGAR â€Å"What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither; Ripeness is all: come on. † (5. 2. 9-11) After several trials and tribulations Edgar finally accosts his half brother Edmund when he is invited for a duel and vanquishes him without identifying himself. When there are questions all around about the accusations he hurled at Edmund – as the chief perpetrator of cruelty and brutality against his own father Gloucester – Edgar finally reveals that he is the originally noble blooded son of Gloucester and he explains the difficulties he had to endure and the compulsion of his to act like an almost naked mad man, the attempted suicide of his father Gloucester and how he managed to save him with most implausible of stories. In the midst of all this exchange one more facet of Edmund’s villainous treachery bears its evil fruit. EDMUND â€Å"Yet Edmund was beloved: The one the other poison’d for my sake, And after slew herself. † (5. 3. 272-274) Edmund managed to manipulate even the love of two married ladies for him and this ends in tragedy when Goneril poisons Albany and subsequently kills herself. Misery and tragedy is what results in every venture that Edmund starts out on because his heart is so corrupted with wanton revenge and retribution but it is directed not at any person but at the circumstances of his birth and his burning desire to camouflage it with a magnitude of achievements that border on fantasy. As he senses the end of his life, Edmund suffers a conscience attack and wants to do some good. He finally realizes that ambition coupled with treachery ca take one only thus far and no further. Nobility of soul and purpose always manages to carry the day and it is evident from the fall from grace and favor of Edmund all so suddenly in the last act of this tragic play. Just before he is challenged to a duel by his half brother Edgar, he issues an order to kill Cordelia and King Lear. He also plans to pass it off as an apparent suicide. When he finally sees the mayhem he has created and the result of his treachery leading to two sisters dying, one by poison and other by her own hand, his conscience beseeches him to do at least one good deed before he is dead. He entreats the gathering to send some one to stop King Lear and Cordelia being killed as per his orders. EDMUND â€Å"I pant for life: some good I mean to do, Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send, Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia: Nay, send in time. †(5. 3. 276-280) The sub plot of Gloucester launches the main villainy of Edmund on to the main stage of the play and holds his evil nature central to all misfortunes, well helped by the human infirmities of King Lear’s two daughters. But it also cleverly counters the numerous noble characters of the play – Albany, Kent, Edgar- and the like. Evil wins several battles but ultimately loses the War. Good suffers several trials by fire but manages to hold its own at the end. Two kings who let flattery and suspicion take over their better judgments suffer the moist implausible of consequences and in this, Shakespeare leaves a lot of lessons for all future generations. He almost seems to list out some commandments about human nature 1. Thou shalt not fall prey to flattery – King Lear 2. Thou shalt not allow suspicion to encroach your judgment but shall seek out complete facts – Gloucester 3. Thou shalt not let bitterness pervade your soul, in acting with bitterness you invite bitter ends – Edmund Apart from all these, Shakespeare seems to ask us to evaluate at every step if our intentions and actions have the desired effect on the people who are affected by it. If you love, let not the love patronize or smother the loved ones. And as one learned professor confessed to a student conversationally â€Å"When in doubt about how to go about life, read Shakespeare. You might very well find the answer you need†