Family Themes in Shakespeare :: essays research papers fc

Some of Shakespeare’s most well known works are his tragedies. One of the reasons they are still read worldwide is Shakespeare’s study of character and the relationships, which these characters are involved with. In order to get the full tragedy; the characters must represent basic morals or ideas. A common theme among a lot of Shakespeare works is the idea of family and what it means to be within and part of a family. This idea of a natural law, in which it deals with society’s and family’s expectation of what is to be given from parent to child as well as the bond which is made. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the two plots revolve around a parent’s dealing with children who are not proper to what is expected of them. King Lear is a story, which deals with the idea of familial expectation and the roles in which parents and children play. Lear’s madness and his obsession with being praised blinded him to the child who was really the only one who loved him, Cordelia. The same with the Earl of Gloucester, he was blinded by his illegitimate child, Edmund, who set out to turn him away from his heir, Edgar. Within the story, these two children and a few loyal servants try to help and eventually try to save the King and Gloucester, but they are both too stubborn to recognize the goodness and true bond in these people. The story of King Lear deals with the turmoil of a chaotic world began by the boundaries of family and personal relationships being turn upside down.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story opens with King Lear, ready to retire, calling his three daughters to the room. When everyone had assembled, Lear made the grand announcement that he would divide the kingdom three ways, a piece to each daughter. However, he added that the larger pieces were to go to the daughter who loved him most. He based this not upon their actions but the speech they gave. The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, made a flowery and obviously fake speech in which Lear preened and awarded them their kingdoms. When it came to his third daughter, Cordelia, she answered, â€Å"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, nor more nor less.† (Abrams, pg. 893) In that she tells her father she loves him but will not participate in the game he had arranged for the dividing of his lands.