DEMAL BIJEDI UNIVERSITY OF MOSTAR

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

Nature in King Lear

Term paper

Student: Professor:

Aida Kulogli Selma Raljevi, PhD

May, 2017

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................3

Animal Imagery.....................................................................................................................4

Storm Imagery.......................................................................................................................5

Nature of Human Relations...................................................................................................6

Human Nature........................................................................................................................7

Conclusion............................................................................................................................8

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 Introduction

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare based on the story of Leir of Britain1, who
was a legendary king of Britons. The book is about an old king who decides to retire and give
his realm to his three daughters. But before leaving his realm into their hands, he first wants
each of his daughters to tell him how much she loves him. The one who he thinks loves him
the most will get the greatest part of his kingdom. This is where the tragedy of King Lear
begins. The two eldest daughters declare their infinite love for their father, loving him more
than anything else in the world, but the youngest, Cordelia, has nothing to say. When Lear
asks her to speak again Cordelia says:

"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty

According to my bond, no more nor less."2

Cordelia has no words to describe her love for her father, she loves him just like a daughter
should. This is where Lear's irrational nature, his madness comes into play. He banishes the
only daughter who loved him and soon he finds out that he made an enormous mistake, one
that can only end in a tragic way.

Speaking of nature, which is the topic of this presentation, we can look at nature from
different aspects, especially when it comes to King Lear. We can talk about human nature,
about the nature of characters in the play, main one being King Lear, but also nature of his
daughters, as well as nature of Edmund and Edgar and their father Gloucester. Connected
with that is the nature of human relations, speaking about the relationship between Lear and
his daughters. We will also talk about nature as a physical force, connected with characters'

1 The story was recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical 12th century History of the Kings
of Britain

2 Shakespeare, William, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf, p. 13, Act I, Scene I,

line 100-102
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inner struggle. There is also a very important aspect when it comes to nature in King Lear and
that is the use of animal imagery.

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 Animal Imagery

Animal imagery is most noticeable in King Lear using it when talking about the two
daughters who betrayed him, Goneril and Regan. In Act I Scene IV Lear calls Goneril a
detested kite which is a type of a prey bird. He calls her that when she complains about his
knights in her castle. This word kite truly describes Goneril in a sense that she is preying on
her father, she managed to take the most of his kingdom and now she is plotting to make him
completely helpless.In Act II Scene IV Lear calls Goneril a vulture. A vulture is a type of
scavenger bird that mainly feeds on dead animals. This is symbolic of Goneril's behaviour
who is like a scavenger waiting for Lear to die so she can inherit his kingdom entirely. Also in
Act I Scene IV Lear compares his daughters and their betrayal to a serpent saying:

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is

To have a thankless child! Away, away!" 3

Here we can see Lear's disappointment clearly and his realization of the nature of his
daughters whose betrayal stings like a bite from a serpent's tooth.

In Act III Scene IV Lear calls Goneril and Regan pelican daughters. A pelican is a type of
prey bird that feeds on fish. Again we see the nature of two sisters who are preying on their
father and are ready to do anything to get what they want.

In Act IV Scene II the Duke of Albany describes Goneril and Regan as tigers, critisizing their
behaviour towards their father. They have no mercy and again are preying on Lear just like a
tiger preys on a helpless animal.

There is also an imagery of fox when Regan calls Gloucester a fox because he is a traitor to
her and because of his sneaky character.

3 Shakespeare, William, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf, p. 61, Act I, Scene IV,

line 302-303
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In conclusion when it comes to animal imagery in King Lear, it is mostly used in a negative
context, to refer to characters in a negative way.

Storm Imagery

The storm on the heath in Act III is a very important imagery. Up until this point Lear had
hope, he didn't completely give into madness, but when he rushes out after a fight with his
two wicked daughters, into a raging storm, that's when he is completely given into his
madness.

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!"4

A storm is happening inside Lear's mind as well as outside in the world. He is now completely
driven insane, the storm is not destructive enough, he is not satisfied with it, he tears his
silvery hair and goes into a complete state of rage.

He wants the elements to drench him with water and to burn him with the fire of the thunder
bolt and do whatever other horrible acts on him as it pleases them.

The storm is important because it shows the inner struggle that is happening to Lear, so he
rages at the storm, but even he eventually realises that the elements of the storm are not his
children and that he didn't give his kingdom to them. The storm represents a climax of Lear's
madness and rage against his daughters.

4 Shakespeare, William, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf, p. 127, Act III, Scene

II, line 1-4
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 Nature of Human Relations

Nature plays an important role in the play King Lear. There is a distinction between the
natural ways in which humans wish to behave as oppose to what is considered natural in
society. The relationship between parents and children are conflictive creating tension
amongst both families. The overall shift of power and obverting the natural order results in
King Lears loss of his daughter, Gloucesters death and Lears despair. The natural and
unnatural behavior of characters influences and determines the events presented in both King
Lear and Gloucesters families and are paralleled in each of the plots. Therefore, nature is an
important thread throughout the play and has several meanings which include the true nature
of individual characters, the external violence of nature and its consequences, and the innate
impulses of individuals which determine their actions.

From the way Lear asks his daughters to praise him and to tell him of their love shows an
unnatural relation that a father has towards his daughters. He is glad and satisfied when his
daughters tell him how they love him more than moon and stars, more than their husbands,
but is dissatisfied when the youngest daughter shows a natural love towards her parent:
because he raised her, because he is her father. We can say that Lear's unnatural expectations
of a daughter-father love is what led to his tragedy.

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 Human Nature

Shakespeare portrays human nature in a rather excellent way through Edmund and Cordelia.
By placing them in a similar situation, he demonstrates that humans act in a way that is
natural to them. These two very different characters had all of their royal wealth taken from
them due to social norms. On one hand, Cordelia faces adversity being a legitimate loving and
obedient daughter, yet she doesnt follow the selfish and disloyal path that Edmund does.
Cordelia is one of the few genuinely good characters in the entire play. In contrast to her two
sisters shes a saint. Lears poor judgment and misunderstanding of the father-daughter bond
ultimately leads to his tragic loss. The subplot of the main plot is the relationship between
Gloucester and his legitimate son Edgar and his bastard son Edmund. Gloucester as Lear,
misunderstands the natural behavior of his sons. Edmund, a natural son, feels he is more
deserving than his brother despite the social law of legitimicy. By calling Edmund "loyal and
natural boy", Gloucester mistakes Edmunds unnatural behavior to be natural and casts out
Edgar from the civilized world to the natural world. Lear and Gloucester share that they are
both deceived and furthermore, mistake unnatural behavior (conspiracy against parents) to be
natural (loyal and loving behavior). These misunderstandings ultimately lead to their
downfall. Edmund calls on Mother Nature: "Nature, art my goddess."5 This statement implies
that nature provides an evil force. Edmund's views this as natural. Furthermore, Edmund
recognizes his own evil nature and decides to use it to his advantage. He mocks the notion of
any kind of supernatural or divine influence over one's destiny in the following lines: as if
we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsions; knaves, thieves, and treachers
by spherical predominance, drunkards liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience of
planetary influence6. In Edmund's soliloquy at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 2, we learn of
his malevolent intent to degenerate his legitimate half brother.

5 Shakespeare, William, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf, p. 29, Act I, Scene II,

line 1

6 Shakespeare, William, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf, p. 37, Act I, Scene II,

line 128-132
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On the other hand, Cordelia decides to come to her father's rescue despite the fact that he
banished her. In this we can see her noble and good nature, which she remained until the very
end. Cordelia is a true noble character with all the traits of a heroic figure.

Conclusion

What we can conclude is that Shakespeare used nature in a quite magnificent way to portray
the characters in this play, most noticeble being the usage of animals, even though he used
animals to give negative traits to characters it really does give us a closer look into the
character that is talked about. Then using the powerful storm scene to create an extraordinary
portrayal of King Lear's inner turmoil really shows how nature can be used to represent
human condition more than anything else.

Whether King Lear is a tragedy of a mad king, a tragedy of a betrayed father, a tragedy of a
lost individual, or a tragedy of human nature in general remains up to individual
interpretation. What's for certain is that the ideas that Shakespeare represented in his plays are
universal and that's what makes them so great.

When it comes to nature in King Lear, as we already saw nature has also many different
meanings, nature in literal sense, but also nature when it comes to human condition.

In my opinion, what makes the tragedy of King Lear is his own nature, it is a story of an
egoistic and narcissistic father, whose spoiled nature led to his innocent, naturally good,
daughter to death, as well as his own.

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Bibliography

-William Shakespeare, King Lear, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Lr.pdf

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leir_of_Britain

-Harold Bloom, Shakespeare The Invention of The Human, Riverhead Books, New York,
1998

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