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Sample essay topic, essay writing: Madness In King Lear: Act 4 - 782 words

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Madness in King Lear: Act 4 In Shakespeare's play KingLear, Shakespeare introduces many themes. The mostimportant theme shown in King Lear is the theme ofmadness. During the course of this play madness is shown inthe tragic hero, King Lear. King Lear develops madnessright in the beginning of the play but he actually shows it inAct 4. In this act, King Lear is not only at the peak ofmadness but it is also shown him coming out of his madnessas well. This act is likely to be the most important actbecause it shows the phases King Lear goes through, fromcomplete madness to him coming out of his madness andrealizing his mistake, the point of tragic vision.

The theme ofmadness in King Lear is first shown in the act throughCordelia's statement to the guards about the condition herfather is in. Cordelia says 'Alack, 'tis he! Why, he was meteven now as mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud, crownedwith rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, with hardocks,hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, darnel, and all the idleweeds that grow in our sustaining corn.' [Act iv, iv, 1-6].This gives a great description of King Lear's state of mind.Cordelia gives a description of King Lear dressed inflowers, and weeds, and she explains to the guards that he issinging aloud. All of these characteristics are unfit for a king,thus, leaving one reasonable explanation of him being mad,which Cordelia states in her speech to the guards. KingLear's madness is further illustrated in act 4, scene 6.Although King Lear had shown signs of madness in otheract's such as 3, he had really shown the extreme of hismadness in this scene. King Lear is shown completelyinsane, through his garments and his speeches to Gloucesterand Edgar

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In one of his speeches, King Lear makescomments about a mouse and a bird that are not present.'.Look look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of toastedcheese will do it..O, well flown, bird!' [iv, vi, 88-91]. Thisstatement was the first sign of him being mad. At thebeginning of Act 4, it was just mentioned that King Lear wasgone mad, this was the first sign of proof that he was indeedmad. Although King Lear shows signs of being mad, he alsoshows signs of being sane. This is shown through himknowing the cause of him being mad. If King Lear wascompletely mad he would not be able to justify the reasonfor his madness.

In [iv, vi, 96-105] he states that hisdaughters' have done him wrong and shows signs of insanitywhen he calls Gloucester Goneril. 'Ha! Goneril with a whitebeard? They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had whitehairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To say'Ay' and 'no' too was no good divinity..Go to, they arenot men o' their words! They told me I was everything. 'Tisa lie- I am not ague-proof.' This quote shows Lear's sanity.Lear may have qualities in him to make him seem mad but hepossess sanity, enough to know the cause of his madness.This possession of sanity soon brings King Lear to hismoment of tragic vision. King Lear's moment of tragic visioncomes when he is rescued by Cordelia and wakes up in herpresence.

At first King Lear shows signs of sanity throughhis speech to Cordelia and Kent about his recognition of himbeing mad. ' I feel I am not in my perfect mind.' [iv, vii, 63]King Lear than recovers enough to know that he is in thepresence of his daughter Cordelia, which he did not knowbefore. 'Do not laugh at me; for (as I am a man) I think thislady to be my child Cordelia.' [iv, vii, 67-69]. The phase ofthe end of King Lear's madness is when he finally admits hewas wrong and asks for forgiveness. 'Pray you now, forgetand forgive.

I am old and foolish.' [iv, vii, 84]. This is themoment of tragic vision or demonic epiphany because KingLear confesses to his mistake but it is too late because hehas already lost everything. But in order for King Lear tofinally admit to his mistakes, he has to be sane. A person hasto be in a clear state of mind in order to come up with thenotion that they have done something wrong, and being aKing with such hubris, to admit that they have done amistake. To conclude, Act 4 was an important act in KingLear. This is because it showed all three phases of madnessthat the King had gone through.

The phase of him beingmad, which was shown through his garments andhallucinations, the phase of him coming out of his madness,by knowing the means of his madness and lastly the phase ofhim overcoming his madness, shown through his tragicvision.

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