False Sense Of Loyalty In King Lear example essay topic

Loyalty and disloyalty is a critical theme in Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. Some of the characters are simply loyal or disloyal, and others show a false sense of loyalty or disloyalty. The play begins with a loyalty test to see which of Lear's daughters loves him the most. It ends with the Earl of Kent dying because of his loyalty to King Lear.

Throughout the play King Lear, the theme of loyalty and disloyalty appears in each of the five Acts. During the play Lear's daughters show a sense of loyalty and disloyalty. In Act One, scene one, Goneril and Regan give a false sense of loyalty to King Lear. They tell him, "I love you more than word can wield / the matter" (I: i: 57) and "In my true heart / I find she names my very deed of love" (I: i: 72-73).

They tell the king that they love him, but they are really lying to him. They are not loyal to the Lear because he has divided the kingdom among them, and they do not feel that they need to be loyal to him anymore. Cordelia, on the other hand, tells her father the truth and states, "I love your Majesty / According to my bond" (I: i: 94-95). She will later go on and be loyal to the Lear until she dies in the fifth Act. She tries to care for him by getting a help from a doctor, "be aidan t and remediate / In the good man's distress!" (IV: iv: 17-18). Other characters are loyal or disloyal to those who are in a position of authority above them.

Kent is loyal to Lear unto his death. He says, "My master calls me, I must not say no" (V: : 323-324). He means that he is going to die after Lear has already died. He is also loyal to Lear because he comes back after he is banished by Lear to help the King.

Lear asks Kent, "Who wouldst thou serve?" (I: iv: 25), and Kent replies, "You" (I: iv: 26). Kent even beats Oswald at the request of Lear; "I'll teach you differences... Go to! [expression of derisive incredulity]" (I: iv: 91-93). Oswald is also loyal to his master, Goneril until his death. Goneril has told him "if you slack of former services, / You shall do well" (I: : 10-11). She is telling him that he should be less serviceable to him than before.

He obeys this and rudely calls Lear "My lady's father" (I: iv: 81). He also attempts to deliver a letter from Goneril to Edmund but is killed by Edgar trying to deliver it. "Slave, thou hast slain me... O, untimely death!" (249,254). One of Cornwall's servants is disloyal to him by not helping with the plucking of Gloucester's eyes. He states, "But better service have I never done you / Than now to you hold" ( : vii: 75-76).

For this disloyalty he is killed by Regan who stabs in the back, but after he has delivered a fatal blow to Cornwall. Between brothers and their father, a sense of loyalty and disloyal can be created. There is a false sense of disloyalty between Edgar and his father, the Earl of Gloucester. Edmund has told Gloucester that his bother has been plotting Gloucester's death. He writes in a letter appearing to be Edgar's writing, "I begin to find an idle and find bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny" (I: ii: 51-52). Gloucester believes the deception of Edmund and states, "Abhorred villain, unnatural detested, brutish / villain, worse than brutish!" (I: ii: 81-82).

In actuality Edgar is very loyal to his father, and after he is blinded, Edgar leads Gloucester to Dover and does not allow him to jump off the cliff. "Give me thy arm: / Poor Tom shall lead thee" (IV: i: 80-81). There is a false sense of loyal between Edmund and Edgar. He tries to tell Edgar to run away and hid in his room when he is really wounding himself to make Gloucester believe him.

Edmund tells Edgar, "Fly, brother... so farewell". There is also a false sense of loyal between Edmund and Gloucester. Edmund makes it appear that he is loyal to his father by telling him about the letter written by Edgar and calling for his father when he sees Edgar. Edmund says, "Come before my father... Light ho, here! ...

Father, Father!" (II: i: 33, 37). Edmund is really disloyal to his father; in Act Three scene five. Edmund has told Cornwall that Gloucester knew of the French invasion, "This is the letter which he spoke / of which approves him an intelligent party / to the advantages of France... that his / treason were not" ( : v: 11-14). This leads to the apprehension of Gloucester and the plucking of his eyes. Throughout the play King Lear, the theme of disloyalty and loyal is present. There is loyalty and disloyalty among servants and their masters, daughters and their father, and brothers and their father.

There are examples of both real and false disloyal ties as well as real and false loyalties. Many characters die because they are either loyal or disloyal. The idea of loyalty and disloyalty is a main theme in Shakespeare's King Lear.