King Lear: Amalgamation of good and evil visions

Abstract

King Lear is one of the most famous tragedies by the great Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare. Perhaps this is the most exceptional play by Shakespeare not only for its protagonist’s being an old-aged man who is nearly at the end of his life but also for its artistic blending of good and evil forces through the whole action line of the play. Here, as the protagonist is an old king, it is expected that he should have possessed some worldly wisdom being experienced by his lifetime achievements in this world. But unfortunately, the actual happening is the other way round – King Lear, the old king, is trapped by the devilish activities of the evil forces. This very play, King Lear, is often criticized for its contents of too much exaggeration of the evil forces and their frequent victory over the good ones, rejecting the traditional 'poetic justice'.

References

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