Helping Hands

King Lear seemed to me to be a very depressing play where very little ends up going right. It's another one of Shakespeare's tragedies where more than half the main characters end up maimed, insane, dead or all of the above. But, also common in Shakespearian literature, "fools and madmen speak the truth," there is some clarity to all the madness.

I made the connection in Oedipus that human suffering is a universal phenomenon so nobody is ever truly alone, "all for one and one for all." Though Lear does not leave quite the same message of unity in suffering, I did feel as though Shakespeare was exposing the human flaw to seek greed and power for singular gain. He cements his distaste for this less-than-flattering human occurrence by writing each greedy character a death scene varying in shades of brutality.

The greedier the character, the more horrifying end they are fated to meet. Regan and Goneril, the savage daughters of Lear are poisoned and commit suicide respectively. Edmund, the back-stabbing son of Gloucester is righteously stabbed by his wronged elder brother and dies a slow and painful death. Lear, who is pitifully greedy for professed love from his daughters, dies of a broken heart after the only daughter who truly loves him is hanged.

I gathered Shakespeare's purpose to be this; humans do not thrive when we break apart and work only for selfish and self-serving motives. Shakespeare uses his remaning characters to further illustrate this idea. Albany, the kind(er) husband of Regan who takes pity on the victims of his wife's treachery, survives the rest and gives up his kingdom to be ruled by another so he may live in peace. Edgar, the legitimate son of Gloucester sacrifices his own comfort to anonymously assist his injured father and is rewarded by receiving rule of the kingdom from Albany. Thought neither of these men lusted after increased power, wealth or happiness, they each ended up happiest, most comfortable and alive at the play's close.

So Lear helped to strengthen my growing notion that unity and closeness between fellow humans is key to survival. That asking for help when I need it isn't a sign of weakness but rather a courageous act towards survival. Yes we must fail in order to succeed, but we don't have to fail alone and we don't have to dwell in our failures, rather we can take that helping hand that will pull us out of the hole and on to bigger, better or at least happier success.