Abstract
This paper analyzes and compares the language, tone, character, and plot of 'Troilus and Cressida' and of 'King Lear.' The paper examines Ulysses' "Degree" speech and explains its relevance to Act 1 of Shakespeare's "King Lear" and particularly to the relationship of Lear with his three daughters.

From the Paper
"Ulysses' speech in Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare at his most political. It echoes the concerns of King Lear's Act 1 whilst hinting at the writers personal beliefs. In this way, the speech accentuates Lear's mistakes, while prophesising his ultimate, tragic fate. Ulysses takes the role of a political philosopher, diagnosing the ills of the Greek army. He describes the "hollow Grecian tents," tracing it all to the neglect of the importance of "degree" ignoring the glue that holds society together."

Tags:cordelia, plot, tone, edmund, gloucester, philosopher, goneril, rhetoric

Abstract
This essay examines the relationship between religion and power in 'King Lear'. It draws from some of the ideas presented by Michel Foucault and applies these primarily to the characters Edmund, Edgar and Lear.

From the Paper
"Studying Shakespeare's King Lear using the new historicist method as opposed to a liberal humanist one offers a critical approach which explores the historical background of the text and studies it in the context of its social and political framework. Rather than analysing the play in isolation, with the belief that human nature is essentially unchanging, New Historicists place fundamental value on the era's political dimensions and concepts such as state power and its hold on the individual. The approach is influenced by the post-structuralist views regarding the notion that reality is textualised rather than the liberal humanist idea of literature being an enhancement of reality. The French philosopher Michel Foucault produced much influential literature. His work was political and dealt with the issues of power and the subject. The New Historicists have used many of his ideas."

Tags:edmund, edgar

Abstract
This paper examines textual and historical connections in William Shakespeare's "King Lear", including a look at the "happy ending" version of 1681, connecting the play to some of Shakespeare's other tragedies and evaluating its significance in a modern context. It looks at how much has also been made of the fact that King Lear can be read as either a tragedy or a comedy and why Shakespeare chose to let Cordelia die giving "King Lear" a tragic ending, and not as in Nahum Tate's revisionist version a happy one.

From the Paper
"King Lear, as G.B. Harrison notes, is "well known. It was one of many fables which old chroniclers inserted in the dark background of the times before the recorded history of England begins." (Harrison 17) The story concerns King Lear (or Leir, in many of the versions) and his three daughters. An earlier version of the play, The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan and Cordella, was staged at the Rose Theatre in April 1594, and published in book form in 1605 (Harrison 18)."

Tags:cordelia, nuhum, tate, tragedy, comedy

Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which the protagonists Lear and Faustus display a lack of self-knowledge in William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus". It looks at how it contributes to their eventual downfall and provides a discussion of the characters who exist to help increase the self-knowledge of the protagonists in both plays. It also shows how insight through blindness and clarity through madness are barriers to self-awareness in both plays and how lack of self-knowledge is the "fatal flaw" in both Lear and Faustus's characters.

From the Paper
"Although both characters start off with certain shared ideals, (i.e. a respect for position and wealth), by the middle of both plays we see a divergence: Lear's character has reached a crisis point which eventually leads to the development of his character, whilst Faustus continues to disbelieve what is obvious to the reader or the audience - that he is damned and must repent- instead continuing with his stubborn arrogance; "What God can hurt thee, Faustus" Thou art safe.? "

Tags:cordelia, death, evil, goneril, lucifer, madness, tragedy

Abstract
This paper discusses the issue of why King Lear declines so much in the first three acts of Shakespeare's "King Lear." The paper outlines what decline entails. The paper analyzes the consequences of King Lear's mistakes during the first act of the play, with special emphasis on the other characters' impact on his decline.

From the Paper
"Lear's decline during the first three Acts is a product of several factors, and his eventual condition at the end of Act Three contrasts sharply with his original state. Throughout Act One, Lear is confused by his own decision to split up his kingdom, and yet the play begins with a semblance of order and control. The aged monarch carefully, rationally secures heirs to unite his nation, with such sure language as "our fast intent." However, just as the formal verse and authoritarian atmosphere of the court begins to lose order, so does Lear's state of mind. Just as the play sprawls into diverse sub-plots, imagery and dialogue structure, Lear, much like Leontes in The Winter's Tale, begins to reveal a complex and unstable nature."

Tags:shakespeare, tale, winter, decline, kent, cordelia, regan, goneril, oswald, insanity

Abstract
This paper is an exploration of the presentation of the titular character in the play "King Lear", from a wide overview of his disintegration and changing role, to analysis of specific quotes from the text which give us insight into Shakespeare's intentions. It covers Lear's presentation in the first act, and how his language, introduction and interplay with the other characters is designed by Shakespeare to make him a figure of status and significance, then considers the role of characters such as Cordelia, the Fool and Gloucester in providing us with more insight into Lear's true nature. There is close analysis of Lear's use of language, and how Shakespeare crafts this to reflect the King's shifting mind state over the course of the play.

From the Paper
"Shakespeare presents Lear in the first act as having his own secret agenda. he admits to having a 'darker purpose' and explains his 'fast intent' to the court. The phrase 'darker purpose' hints that Lear masks his true objectives behind a more cautious public agenda. Shakespeare portrays Lear through such comments as a sharp King who considers his position carefully in vital matters, a man who reveals his thoughts only when he deems it to be necessary - who plots his every action. This presentation will fall in sharp and deliberate contrast with Lear's behaviour later in the play, when he sticks stubbornly to a single, unwise agenda and uses desperate tactics to try to enforce it."

Tags:gloucester, cordelia, fool

Abstract
This paper reviews the William Shakespeare's "King Lear' and in particular examines the impact of the character of Gloucester on the play. It analyzes the play's sub-plot which focuses on the fortunes of Gloucester, who like Lear, is a father suffering from "filial ingratitude" and from his false judgment of the characters of his children. It shows how this subplot is introduced in the opening scenes, in quite some detail, as if it were of as much importance as the main plot and how looks at how skilfully Shakespeare has managed to intertwine the two stories.

From the Paper
"Both tragic heroes gain insight through their suffering. Neither Lear nor Gloucester realizes he has committed an error until he has suffered. Lear's suffering is so intense that it drives him mad; it is on the desolate health that he fully realizes that he made a grave mistake in giving the kingdom to his two savage daughters and disowning the one daughter who loved him. It is not until Gloucester has been blinded that he learns the truth about his two sons. These two characters learn to endure their suffering."

Tags:sub-plot, children, edgar, kent

Abstract
This paper discusses how deception and manipulation are two strands in Shakespeare "King Lear" that are manifested in a variety of ways in different situations and with different characters. It looks at how when one character deliberately aims to deceive or manipulate another, it is done for different purposes throughout the play. It shows how the more unfavorable characters like Goneril, Regan and Edmund are prepared to use any method they can contrive to ensure they achieve what they desire and how their shrewd usage of these techniques consistently have disastrous effects for those whose their actions are inflicted upon. In contrast, it examines how there are however, other characters like Kent, who use deception and manipulation for the gratuity of others, and those, like Edgar, who are forced to deceive and manipulate, as they appear to have no other viable option.

From the Paper
"Edmund is consistently evil throughout the play, but when in the end he becomes mortally wounded he appears to undergo a transformation, in which he attempts to redeem himself "some good I mean to do despite of mine own nature." Heeding the religious context of the play, one may think that Edmund is trying to lessen the intensities of his judgment, but this, I think is unfounded, as whenever Edmund does speaks of religion he does so only to scorn at it. The only similarity between Edmund and his brother Edgar is that they are both sons of Gloucester. While Edmund may be seen as the most evil character in the play, responsible for the deaths of the princesses, the King and the maiming of his own father, Edgar may be viewed as the most favorable."

Tags:edgar, kent, goneril, regan, edmund

Abstract
The paper examines the similarities between the three characters Malcolm, Cordelia and Hamlet. It looks at how all are the children of kings and all have been usurped and attempts to determine what moral responsibility each holds towards their kingdoms and how this is manifested in the plays. It discusses the idea of legitimacy and how only the rightful heir can truly rule a kingdom and how any subversion of this "rule" leads to chaos and discord. It also goes on to examine the ways in which the responsibilities of the three characters in question differ from each other, asking whether it is possible to arrive at a definitive conclusion of how Shakespeare presents the theme of moral responsibility in his work.

From the Paper
"The whole tragedy of MacBeth seems designed to illustrate that this is the only possible outcome if the natural heir is usurped: we could conclude from this that Malcolm's moral responsibility, and indeed the responsibility of any such "natural" heir, is to reassert his own right to the throne in such circumstances. But can this view of moral responsibility be extended to the other two characters in question: Hamlet and Cordelia?"

Tags:revenge, tragedy, heir, kingdom

Abstract
This paper discusses each of the main factors of the downfall of King Lear in William Shakespeare's play, "King Lear". The author shows that ultimately, the real sinners are those who purposely and deviously try (and succeed) to force their father into a state of madness and eventual death Goneril and Regan, and their respective husbands.

From the Paper
"Lear's demise during the play is a consequence of his own foolishness and 'sinfulness'. But the decline is also accentuated and indeed encouraged by many other characters in the play. In order to judge the above question we must analyze the balance between these two 'sets' of 'sinners', and understand the difference between the King's foolishness and sinfulness. The second scene highlights the confusion that may arise over Lear's true faults (foolish or sinful?). The King plans to divide his nation into three amounts, relative to each of his daughter's love for him ('Which one of you should we say doth love us most?'). One can class this decision, in context with the rest of the play, as extremely unwise and foolish. He himself describes it as a 'darker' (1.135) purpose, and this episode paves the way for the terrible consequences that fill the rest of the play. By abdicating his throne to fuel his ego he disrupts the great chain of being, which states that the King must not challenge the position that God has given him. This undermining of God's authority results in chaos that tears apart Lear's world."

Tags:england, literature, Cordelia, Duke, of, Albany