Characters who betray someone loyal endure suffering
As characters near death they come to a realization of their initial mistake
-Lear is mistreated by his daughters, Goneril and Regan, just like he mistreated Cordelia
-Lear becomes insane but will not admit his mistakes
-Lear only admits his mistakes when he is reunited with Cordelia
-Once Cordelia passes away, so does Lear of old age and heart break
o“That things might change or cease; tears his white hair, which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, catch in their fury and make nothing of; strives in his little world of man to outscorn the to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain” (3.1.7-11)
o“If you have poison for me, I will drink it. I know you do not love me, for your sisters have, as I do remember, done me wrong: you have some cause, they have not” (4.7.82-85)
-Gloucester finds truth in all his confusion when Edgar reveals himself as the bedlam beggar and realizes his mistake trusting Edmund so quickly
-Gloucester is relieved that Edgar had no intention to ever kill him
-Gloucester dies in happiness because of this confirmation
-Gloucester puts his faith in Edmund who does not care for his well being
-Consequences: loses his eyes and all that he believed in
o“But his flawed heart (Alack, too weak the conflict to support!) ‘twixt two extremes of passion, joy, and grief, burst smilingly” (5.3.233-236)
o "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport” (4.1.44-45)
-In Edmund's dying moments he comes to terms with the mistake he made betraying Edgar and his father Gloucester once hearing Edgar’s story
-Edmund suffers emotionally and physically
-Emotionally: learns about his father’s death; physically: gets injured in a duel
o“This speech of yours hath moved me, and shall perchance do good” (5.3.237-238)
o“What you have charged me with, that have I done, and more, much more. The time will bring it out” (5.3.195-197)
-Edmund also realizes that it is his turn to die for committing all these mistakes and betrayals
o“This wheel is come full circle; I am here” (5.3.210)
Thesis:
The decisions King Lear, Gloucester, and Edmund make to betray someone who shows loyalty and honestly leads to their suffering and ultimately their deaths.
Guess the Betrayal!
Betraying someone honest and loyal
Who was betrayed yet still stayed loyal to a man who made his unfaithful daughter's blood boil?
Who betrayed who for the love of another?
-Lear betrays his loyal daughter Cordelia for speaking the truth about her love for him
-The decision to banish/betray Cordelia was made upon outrage and impulse
o “Let it be so! Thy truth then be thy dower! For, by the sacred radiance of the sun, the mysteries of Hecate and the night; By all the operation of the orbs from whom we do not exist and cease to be; Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me hold thee from this for ever” (1.1.115-128)
A witch married to a saint; who did she betray that sealed her fate?
-Gloucester puts his faith in the wrong son and betrays his loyal son, Edgar
-Gloucester also make an impulsive decision after reading the letter from Edgar that was forged by Edmund
An eye for an eye, but who took both the eyes of a man already so blind?
o“O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain! Worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him. I’ll apprehend him. Abominable villain!” (1.2.75-78)
-Edmund manipulates and betrays his brother Edmund as a way to attain more power and money
-Devised and prepared plan, was not made upon impulse
o“I have told you what I have seen and heard; but faintly, nothing like the image and horror of it. Pray you. Away!” (1.2.168-170)
Thank you!
King Lear: Betrayal