Death of a Salesman & Oedipus the King

King Lear

As the play opens, one can almost immediately see that Lear begins to make mistakes that will eventually result in his downfall. His character encompasses both power and weakness, good and evil; however, not all characters in this play have both of these characteristics. Two of Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan, have evil tendencies such as ambition, disloyalty and deception but Kent, Lear's servant, is not only loyal to his king, but also truthful and compassionate. Accordingly, Shakespeare suggests that true good lies in the community

When we are first introduced to King Lear, he is a most compelling mature figure, although he is obsessed with power.

"Let it be so; thy truth then be thy dower:

For, by the scared radiance of the sun,

The mysteries of Hecate and the night…" (792)

Cordelia speaks the truth about her love for her father, unlike her sisters who garnish it, so Lear turns on her and disowns his once favorite daughter. Lear must go through an agonizing journey through self-discovery and out of Lear's conflict with nature and his subsequent madness comes a new and better man, a man cleansed, literally and figuratively, by the raging water of the storm. Gauvreau 2

"Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered

body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more than this? …

man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal" (843)

Lear tears off his clothes, as a gesture that he has lost everything, and shows pity to all the poor people in the world who have nothing. Lear shows his compassion universally and has achieved a deeper maturity that comes from self-knowledge.

Goneril, the eldest daughter of Lear, is cold and relentless in her villainy but remains relatively calm. She is not afraid of Lear; she does not tremble when he utters his terrible madness on her,

"Life and death! I am asham'd

That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus,

That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,

Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee!" (812)

Goneril is the first to begin Lear's agony with her contemptuous treatment of him, and she is the first to begin taking away his power by reducing the number of his knights.

"Hear me, my Lord.

What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five,

To follow in a house, where twice so many

Have a command to tend you?" (833)

Gauvreau 3

Furthermore, Goneril's sister, Regan, is as much to blame for the destruction of Lear as she is. Regan appears to be weaker than Goneril, but